The late October night was frostbite cold; the large crowd gathered in front of the 6 Feet Under Hunted House was huddled together in line, wearing sweatshirts and coats, their breath leaving little wisps of fog visible in the night air. I leaned against my boyfriend, Adrian, the top of my head barely reaching his broad shoulders. I shifted my feet trying to get rid of the feeling unease that rolled over my body, slowly climbing up from my stomach to throat. "Could we just leave and call it good?" I asked Adrian. He just chuckled and did not answer. I took that as a no. Damn it. I love Halloween and all but I honestly can barely force myself into haunted houses anymore. It wasn't as bad in my early high school years….I was always the hyper one that was like "Hell yeah! Let's go!" Not so much anymore though. I mean haunted houses are fun and all only after you're out though, then you're free to joke and laugh as much as you like about how much you were freaking out inside. While you're inside is a totally different story. The rush pumps through my veins and the fear is so bad that it is almost tangible. And I cannot help but think what if this isn't some just joke? What if people are actually dying inside and you just don't know it? Paranoid…I know. I shoved the thought from my mind as I looked up at Adrian, my eyes questioning. His face was spread into a huge grin, amusement present in his eyes. "Nah, I think you will be fine Audrey," he finally answered as he draped an arm lazily around my waist.

Within what seemed like twenty minutes at the most we had moved to the front of the line unfortunately. I franticly scrambled for excuses in my mind of why I could not possibly go in. Heat attack prone…? Have to run to the bathroom and then disappear to the car…? Wait. There were no bathrooms or even port-a-potties here. There went that idea and as for the first I doubted Adrian would fall for that one especially. Try to look pale as possible so he maybe will ask if I feel alright and I could tell him that I'm sick and need to go home? Ah…that sounded like the most likely plan to work. So for the first few minutes before the people in front of us went in, I concentrated on looking as pale as possible…but it didn't seem to be working…instead my fear seemed to escalate as they were ushered in. Too late for my excuse making now but inside would be a different story. I was even willing to cry (yes girly girl I know…but I must get the hell out of here before Mr. Chainsaw Man made his first appearance!) to persuade Adrian to let me out the first exit door (and I hate crying!).

My unease had gotten much worse when we were finally the next ones to be let in. I think Adrian could tell by my face that I was afraid. Great…if he could tell I'm sure all the actors in this place would be able to tell too. Way to make myself a sure target. Ugh. He wrapped both of his arms around me now, tighter than before. It was slightly comforting but hardly made a dent in calming my nerves. I grasped his tattoo-covered hand back, squeezing it as hard as I could. I couldn't stop myself from glancing back and forth between the security guard who would soon be letting us in and the painted black door that was the entrance. Adrian suddenly rested his head on my shoulder about making me jump twenty feet in the air. "Shh…it'll be fine," he whispered reassuringly in my ear, his breath hot on my neck, "It won't be as bad as you think. It'll be fun, you'll see." Before I could respond we were quickly ushered inside.

The room that was behind the entrance door was almost pitch black with the exception of a single red-tinted light bulb that casted an eerie red glow on Adrian, the usher dude and myself. The man's face showed no emotion. He stood there for moment not moving and not speaking. I almost had the urge to reach out and touch him, just to see if he was real but found I really did not feel like it. I eyed him with disdain, I didn't like the way he seemingly measured Adrian and I up as if he was an animal going to try and eat us or something. It was just giving me the creeps worse than before. I held tighter to Adrian's hand. He was an older man, probably approaching his late fifties with this unfriendly grandfather-ish look about him. The more I thought about he seemed like the type of old geezer who would scream at teenagers to "get off his yard!" When he finally decided to grace us with his words it was in a low and serious tone, with an almost gravelly sound to his voice. "Welcome to 6 Feet Under," He about whispered, his face contradicted his words greatly…his face almost made me positive that we weren't welcome and I should just take off running while I still could. "I know….you must be rather curious of what the rules concerning here are…. (Um…not!). But there are no rules…" He paused, and decided to eye me with this creepy pervert look on his face. Ick. "The people who come here….get what they deserve," He muttered darkly, anger now appearing on his face. I looked up at Adrian trying to give him my best 'let's get the hell out of here now' look but he seemed to be as easily amused as he was before. I glanced back at the old man to check if he still had that look on his face. Sure, enough he did only with this foul grin now. Just gross. "Are….you….ready?" He asked, raising an almost all gray eyebrow at us. I barely heard Adrian answer with a "yeah" before the usher stepped aside from the door behind him and quickly gestured Adrian and I through it. I shifted my position so Adrian would be forced to lead, while I would hang like a spider monkey to his back. I peered over his shoulder on my tiptoes trying to see into the black room ahead of us. I could not see a thing. Great, I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could manage and buried my face into his sweatshirt hood. It made me forget where I was for a moment, smelling of his cologne and just of him in general. "Alright, come on Audrey," Adrian said over his shoulder to me, jarring my fantasy that I was not here, and was anywhere else from my head, an air of confidence in his voice.

With him leading, we edged almost painfully into the pitch black room with ludicrously slow steps (probably because I was almost strangling him). The door from where we had entered suddenly slammed shut behind us, making me jump once again and strangle Adrian worse. He didn't mention it though. The door's closing seemed to trigger a strobe light to come on, momentarily blinding us so badly that we paused for a second. "Damn!" Adrian cursed. Curiosity getting the better of me, I peeked over his shoulder. A body laid to our right not too far from us. My stomach sank, realizing we would have to directly go right by it. When we started to get close enough to pass it is when I noticed the foul odor. Something reeked of that distinct smell of rotting road kill. It was so strong that I almost started to immediately gag. Adrian pulled his sweatshirt over his nose and mouth because of it ( I may have loosed my grip just a little). What the hell was that? My eyes were suddenly drawn to the body. I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. It looked so real. Someone had to of paid major money for it by the looks of it. The corpse was of a young man, probably just in his twenties. There was a disgusting wound that ran from his jaw to his chest, with some of the bone, especially in his jaw exposed. Reddish-pink muscle hung out of the lower part, mostly on his chest. Blood had dribbled slowly from the fatal mark to the cement floor beside him, dripping in a dirty reddish pool. Was…this what the smell had originated from? But wait…this was false? Looks pretty damn real to me.

"Dude!" exclaimed Adrian in almost amazement. "Look at how real it freaking looks!" Apparently I was not the only one who thought so then. A frown crossed my lips. Another feeling of dread rushed over me, much like what had happened outside, but this was much worse. It completely overwhelmed my body and made me feel totally numb. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck seemed to prickle even. What the hell was going on here? I felt like there was a sick secret here that no one had bothered to fill me in on. I clutched Adrian closer, not giving a crap if I looked afraid or not. I wanted to find the first exit door now and get out! If not…I felt like something bad was going to happen to us… I was just about to tell Adrian that I was done and wanted out now when I felt a pair of strong hands grasped onto my shoulders. I let out an ear-piercing scream directly in Adrian's ear. "God-damn…blow out my ear drums why don't you?" He complained but then stopped when he turned his head part way around to look at me. I could feel the tears brimming at my eyes and when the person behind me started breathing heavily on my neck…in the wrong way…not like Adrian has done….and started whispered my name I thought I was going t lose my mind in a spilt-second. I could tell that they smelled my fear and were not going to let go anytime soon. "Audrey," Adrian said loudly over the whispers, "It is not real. Fake. I promise all fake." "I want out…." I almost blubbered back. "Yes, Audrey. As soon as I see one we will go out, okay?" He answered, hearing how freaked out I was.

I tried concentrating on what Adrian had told me, that it's not real and how I'd been out of here soon but then the salty, rusty smell of blood filled my nose. We were passed the corpse…so what the? The person behind me reached around me and started to scratch at my hands with their blood soaked gloves, trying to pry me off of Adrian. That explained the smell and somehow I was not convinced that it was fake blood. My body started shaking uncontrollably and I about had a panic attack. My grip was loosening. "Adrian!" I screamed, as the stranger ripped my hands off of him and pulled me away from him. The tears began to overflow as the man held me against him, securing my hands with a single one of his bloody ones. He kept me from reaching out for Adrian, even though I used all my strength trying to break away. I…was overpowered. Adrian had whirled around the minute he had felt me disappear and heard me screaming for him. He stared at the man who held me in curiosity. "Adrian! Fucking get me out of here!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I watched as he stood there frozen his expression growing more disturbed by the second….what was he seeing that I wasn't? Oh god. Sobs began racking my body. "Adrian…please! Please!" I pleaded. My cries seemed to fall on deaf ears. He seemed almost entranced. The man let out a bone-chilling snarl loose directly in my ear that left me shivering. I stared at Adrian trying to get the message through with my eyes: 'Help me God dammit!' He finally took a step toward me. The stranger's breath was overpoweringly nasty. He smelled like he had not taken a shower in years, no decades.

Suddenly the man grabbed something out of his pocket, startling me. Adrian kept his eyes glued to the object in the stranger's hands. Within the next strobe light flash I realized what it was, a feeling of fear freezing my whole body. It was a knife…not just any knife, a huge cleaver that you would find in someone's kitchen. Terror suddenly flitted through Adrian's features as the man lifted it, almost cruelly. Panic erupted through my body and I about killed myself thrashing wildly against him trying to break free. He kept the cleaver up in the air, making me nervous at the same time. I kept fighting him using all my strength; I was finally finding a loose end in his grip. I almost had it….

My eyes seemed to work in slow motion as he swept the knife down towards my throat; I prayed this wasn't happening as I watched the silver blade come closer to me…too late. The blade came crashing down on my neck, cutting it almost instantly. There was no pain at first…but soon enough it came. It was a burning pain, and I wished someone would just put it out and that Adrian would fucking move and get this creeper off me. But then it hit me as a liquid suddenly dripped down my front and the salty, rusty smell filled my sense again….blood….my blood was running like a river down my body. The panic got worse as I found I could not breathe….like what I imagined drowning was like….My mind could barely register that I was drowning in my own blood. Terror filled my vision. I tired moving my hands to try and stop the blood….anything to stop it….but they wouldn't move…like I was paralyzed. "Ack!" The sound barely flit from my lips as the blade was pressed deeper and deeper….my vision was starting to run red. I tried to speak to scream for help but only a gurgle escaped my throat. Suddenly everything was gone….Adrian, my attacker, the blood…..I was dead before I hit the ground.