Page 4 of Run, Little Rabbit

The doctor held up a string of intestines and shook them, blood spraying on Bethany and two other girls. We all screamed in disgust and started laughing then moved on, each room seeming a bit more intense than the last.

People jumped out at us, their bodies bloody, wearing masks that looked like their faces were melting. Some had their skin peeling off while others had their eyeballs hanging out.

And although it certainly ticked off all the boxes of a haunted house, I found the whole thing a little anti-climactic, if I was being honest.

Someone jumped out at me and grabbed my shoulders, screaming in my face. I was surprised and retreated, nearly kneeing them in the crotch. They cursed and moved back, and I pushed them fully away as I kept walking.

“Damn. Careful with that deadly weapon.” The voice was male and muffled because of his clown mask, but he pointedly looked down at my knees. “Prized jewels here.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Then keep your hands to yourself, asshole.”

I turned back around, but Bethany and the group were nowhere to be seen. I wandered the hallway, but when it split off into three different sections, I stopped in the center and tried listening for my group. But all I could hear was spooky mood music and patrons screaming.

So, I ended up taking a left.

There were a couple more forks in the hallway. I took another left, then a right.

I have to run into them at some point, I told myself. This place couldn’t be that big. But it amazed me how large the interior of the haunted house was, given the fact that the carnival itself didn’t seem that big.

I got turned around in one hallway and stood in front of a plain, normal-looking door. Certainly not anything that had been decorated to terrify people. A glance over my shoulder showed the hallway I could go back through, maybe find a way out of here to meet up with Bethany outside. But instead, I opened the door to see if there might be an exit that way.

When I stepped inside and let go of the handle to peek around some shelving units, hoping for an exit on the opposite side of them, I heard the door close. And for a moment, I just stood there, staring at what was obviously a large storage room—with no other way in or out.

There were a bunch of boxes scattered around, Halloween decorations spilling out of them like someone had been rifling through them in a hurry. The light above flickered as if it needed to be tightened or changed, giving me a more ominous feeling than anything the actual haunted house attraction had.

“Shit.” I turned around and made my way back toward the door, but when I pushed down the handle, nothing happened. I started yanking and pulling, my heart beating a little faster as panic started taking over.

I was locked inside.

I let go of the handle and took a minute just to calm myself and breathe. It wasn’t like I was lost and wouldn’t be found. I was at a carnival in the middle of a haunted house. Surely, an employee would come by at some point.

I pressed my ear to the door and couldn’t hear much of anything except distant screams and laughter. Had I wandered so far off that I wasn’t even close to the exit? Why hadn’t anyone stopped me? Why hadn’t there been anything blocking patrons from entering a staff-only area? Not even a sign of warning in the hall or on the door itself.

I tried the handle again and then resorted to beating on the door with my fist.

Only when the back of my palm was sore did I stop, take in a steadying breath, and pull my phone out.

First, I tried calling Bethany, but I knew she wasn’t going to answer. She probably couldn’t hear her phone through all the noise.

I tried a couple other people, but nobody else answered, either.

“Fuck,” I cursed and looked around, seeing if there was at least a window.

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

My panic turned to irritation and then rose again to anxiety. I had my back to the door as I looked around for something to use to pry the thing open, but then I heard a softclick.

I glanced over my shoulder, saw the door was now open, and got excited as I took a step toward it. But that excitement was short-lived as I watched in confusion as it slowly began to close.

I made a squeak of urgency as I lunged toward it, but my effort was thwarted as I tripped on an errant box. I braced myself for impact, but right before I hit the ground, an arm gripped me around the waist and righted me from behind.

I cried out and spun around, pushing away from whoever had a hold of me, my instincts still screaming for me to reach the door before it locked in place once again. But when my gaze landed right on a hard chest covered in black, I slowly lifted my eyes to stare into a terrifying skull-face mask.

The eyeholes had dark mesh covering them, so whoever was behind the frightening mask could clearly see me, yet I couldn’t make out who he was. But Iknewwho it was. It was the man I’d seen earlier. The one who towered over all the others in the crowd.

He’d been with his entourage then but was now alone, smelling of leather and a sweet kind of smoke. He had leather gloves on his hands, and that hood was still in place. But despite all his clothing, I could clearly tell how big he was. Muscular. Powerful.

Now, my instincts made me take a step back.