Page 11 of Shattered Souls

The night is too young, and we’re too much of a popular duo for me to just sit and stare at the door. “She’s not going anywhere,” I repeat over and over in my head as I exit the door in the maze.

I find my victim and drag his body back to the hidden door, and toss him in. I can deal with him once the night is over with. For now, I have to go find Seek and let everything seem as normal as possible.

“Where the fuck have you been?” He growls in my ear when I finally catch up to him. He was stalking the outside of the manor, charging at everyone that ran past the mad scientist at the exit.

“Finding our hider.” I reply.

“What did you do with her?” I shrug my shoulders as a response. “Hyde.”

I turn away from him and head towards the exit of the park. It’s getting close to closing, so the traffic at the exit should be thick enough to frighten many more before slinking back to my quiet room.

“Hyde!” He doesn’t grab me, knowing it would cause unwanted attention. His eyes do, however, move to my crimson coated hook. “Did you fucking kill her?” He interrogates me in sign language, just to be safe.

I shake my head with pinched brows.

He massages his exposed temple.

“Did you kill someone?” He signs.

“Yes.” My hand replies. Even with the mask in place, I can see the stress in his features.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He says, forgoing the signing.

I walk away from him to find unsuspecting victims to scare. I trail my hook along a woman’s hair and she practically faints, from fear or from attraction, I have no idea.

For four years in a row, Hyde and Seek have been the most popular scare actors here at Shattered Souls. I can’t say I see the reason for it, but sometimes I can see it reflecting in many people’s eyes when I lean in and threaten their lives. They all think it’s nothing more than a prop, but I’ve taken too many lives to count with this single hook.

An announcement plays over the speakers that Shattered Souls is officially closed for the evening and all guests must find the exit before they become a part of the park.

I take that as my cue to retreat and go plan what to do with my new toy.

“You’re in deep shit.” Seek jogs to catch up to my side.

“Nothing new.” I sign.

We walk in silence towards the dressing rooms, where the other scare actors are going to be undressing for the night. The mirrors are mostly empty this early into closing.

Maverick, the plague doctor, is wiping his face free of the black face paint we wear under our masks. He nods to Seek and averts his eyes from me. Everyone here has some level of fear for me due to my lack of words.

Though, they’re scared of the wrong one.

I unstrap the muzzle from my face and toss it onto the counter. Seek removes his mask beside me and immediately starts wiping away the face paint he wears as well.

It’s honestly uncanny how identical we look. Though, I must admit it’s done us good here and there. As teens, Seek would often skip class, and I would flash my face in his class before slinking off to my own.

Now, we’re basically one and the same once the masks are off. No one here can ever tell the difference. But then again, I never show my face really, unless I have my muzzle on.

I rip the contacts out of my eyes and, reluctantly, place them into their respective cases. I wouldn’t be Hyde without the fucking contacts. Before even letting Seek finish ridding himself of his persona, I head down a hallway and slip past a door that leads to our home.

The small room that my new toy is currently in sits just off of the living room. Besides those two rooms, there’s three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a fun room, if you’ll call it that. This has become my safe haven ever since Seek found it.

He struck up a deal with the owner of Shattered Souls that we’d work every single time the gates opened, as long as we got to live under the park grounds. He was skeptical at first, but after seeing the success we had in our first month here, he quickly agreed.

The door slams shut and I internally roll my eyes at the incoming conversation.

“Where is she?” Seek comes around the couch, turning one of the pillows, and heads towards the small room. He unlocks the door and throws it open.

My little scarecrow whimpers and crawls backwards as far as she can. My eyes immediately see the blood coating her hands, and my stomach knots.