Page 27 of Things Get Dark
“Stupid plan, by the way. Nana’s dying, not dumb,” she deadpanned. “Sure, she doesn’t want us to be alone when shegoes, but she wouldn’t be fooled by you bringing that wet blanket of a man to meet her.”
I chewed my lip, considering her words. My reasons for wanting to sleep with Andy really weren’t the best. He was attractive enough for me to want to sleep with him, but his personality could suck a bag of limp dicks for all it was worth. And I barely wanted this man in my life for the night, let alone for however long until Nana passed.
“Y’know what? I’m just gonna make the best of this.” I got to my feet and looked towards the manor, the eerie building instantly hyping me up. “This tour has been on my bucket list forever, so I’m going to go on that tour and find a way to fucking enjoy myself, with or without the sex. I could go get orgasms any night. Halloween is for getting scared, and I’m not gonna let him get in the way of that.”
“Hell yeah! That’s my girl!”
After saying our goodbyes, Lena hung up to go back to work, and I pulled up my big girl panties, ready to get through the rest of this date. But as I headed to the tour’s meeting place to find Andy, I couldn’t help but feel eyes on me again. A wolf’s howl pierced through the crowds, deafening compared to all the laughs, cheers, and screams surrounding me, and I spun to see where it could be coming from. But while I frantically tried to figure it out, I noticed that no one in the crowds seemed bothered by it. In fact, I was willing to bet by their lack of reaction, they hadn’t heard it at all.
Forcing the howl out of my mind for now, I continued on to the manor, each step making my heart beat faster.
Chapter Two
Icaught up toAndy at the edge of the festival garden but didn’t tell him about the strange wolf howl. He must have heard it, though. The music and chatter from the festival was a lot quieter over here, and only dimmed as we slowly walked down the gravel pathway to the tour’s meeting place. A few other people were dotted around the path—other tour ticket holders taking a pause, I assumed—but it was much calmer here. Soon, the only sounds were our footsteps.
I glanced up at Andy; his mouth was set in a hard, straight line. I wondered why he agreed to come tonight when he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. Maybe it was an obligation for him at this point. That sucked to think about.
“Are you looking forward to the tour?” I asked, hoping to at least get some awkward small talk out of him. “I haven’t been inside here since I was a kid, but it was during the day, so I’m sure this’ll be a different experience.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I like history and stuff from just before the industrial revolution, so it’ll be interesting to see the house. But I guess we won’tseemuch of it in the dark.”
“Might see some ghosts instead?” I offered. “You could ask them history questions and try to explain what the internet is.”
“Do you really believe in ghosts?”
I shrugged, thinking for a moment. “Sure, why not? It’s not like I know how life and the afterlife work in the grand scheme of things. So who’s to say there aren’t ghosts? It would make things more interesting, that’s for sure.”
His eyes flicked down to me, but he didn’t say anything. I guess he really wasn’t on board with anything spooky.
As we continued down the path in a painful silence, I suddenly felt an odd warmth at my back. I glanced at Andy, but both of his hands were tucked in his pockets, so it wasn’t him putting an arm around me. And I couldn’t hear any footsteps besides ours.
Curious, I turned around and screamed, nearly jumping out of my skin as the harlequin man from earlier swiftly swerved between me and Andy, barely an inch away from my face.
“Holy shit!” I yelled, my fist swinging before I could think to stop it.
The harlequin was fast, though. He dodged the blow with a graceful backbend, leaving my fist to continue flying right into my date’s nose. Where it landed with a bloody crunch.
“Jesus, FUCK!” Andy yelled, cupping his nose and recoiling from me. “What the fuck iswrongwith you, you psycho cunt?!”
I gaped at his sudden outburst. Not because I thought it was unjustified, I just hadn’t expected him to know about the wordcunt.
The harlequin stepped back as blood poured from Andy’s broken nose, but his eyes weren’t on the man groaning in pain. For some reason, they were on me. Well, I guess I had just tried to punch him in the face. That was probably worth a few stares.
Unsure of what to do, but knowing I had to dosomething, I carefully stepped towards Andy. He was still hunched over and groaning in pain, but his eyes flew up to mine as I approached.
“Stay the fuck away, bitch!” he yelled, frantically backing away from me before turning and running.
Part of me wanted to go after him and check he wasn’t about to do something stupid. A bigger part of me wanted to do a joyful little bounce that my date was over.
As I mentally debated what I should do, the harlequin carefully led me to a bench at the side of the path, beneath a flickering lantern. Guess he was afraid I’d try to deck him again.
“You okay? You’re shaking. Here, sit down.”
I laughed nervously, unable to contain it. “I’ve never hit anyone before.”
“Really? You have a natural talent.” He chuckled, then gently picked up the hand I was planning to nickname ‘Nose-Breaker’ and inspected my red knuckles. They were sore, but I tried not to let it show on my face. “Wait here a minute, okay?”
Before I could reply, he ran towards the festival grounds, returning a few minutes later with a towel in one hand and a plastic cup of ice in the other.