part 3/5: the haunted house

“If you scream you owe me a hundred bucks.”

“I won’t scream and you know it.”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard you say th- ow!”

“Not so loud! There are kids here, moron.”

Sehun rubs at his arm while shooting Jongin, who’s glaring daggers at him with a not-so-apologetic smile on his face. They’re standing in line for the, surprisingly, nice-looking haunted house that’s located in the center of the mall. At least Sehun thinks it looks nice for something that was most likely put together an hour ago. He looks up and inspects the house, or rather, dragon since it’s literally in the shape of one, and admires the perfect paint job. Whoever designed and set up this thing needs a raise, he thinks before taking a step forward in line, closer to the entrance. There are about a hundred kids in line with their parents and Sehun lowkey feels sorry for them all because, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it due to his and Jongin’s conversation prior to coming here, it looks pretty darn creepy. Or maybe it’s just the far-too-loud growling lion-like sound effects and the smoke flying out from the beast’s nose in all directions. Sehun settles for the latter.

“Are you looking forward to it?,” Jongin suddenly asks, snapping Sehun out of his brief trance. Fixing his parting, Sehun nods with a smile. “Probably not as much as you are, but yeah I am.”

“So you are?,” Jongin asks with wide, innocent eyes and Sehun fights the urge to kiss him. He’s so darn cute.

“I said I am,” Sehun says with a chuckle before reaching out and buttoning the top button on Jongin’s coat. It’s freezing out and Sehun is surprised Jongin isn’t wearing more than he is. Or maybe he’s just naturally warm-blooded, Sehun thinks to himself and jumps a bit when a child’s scream suddenly fills the air, nearly scaring him out of his wits. Jongin visibly stiffens as well and Sehun can tell he’s starting to get second thoughts. He’s about to ask Jongin if he’ll chicken out when a voice cuts him off.

“Four dollars, please.”

Sehun blinks. He shoots a look at Jongin who looks away, presumably on purpose and Sehun inwardly sighs. This kid, I swear. He sticks his hand in his coat pocket and fumbles around for his wallet, pulling it out and pulling out a five dollar bill, not wanting to make a scene in front of the presumably three hundred or so people behind them in line. Well, that and because he really doesn’t want to piss off the lady who’s standing with her hand stretched out in front of him, an impatient and less-than-friendly expression on her stale face. “Keep the change,” Sehun mumbles under his breath, avoiding the lady’s gaze, who only waves them inside before turning to the next person in line.

Once they’re inside Sehun instantly grabs hold of Jongin’s arm before the latter can proceed through the main entrance. “Hey.”

Jongin looks at him with doe-like eyes and Sehun almost laughs. “Hm?”

“You never said we needed to pay for that.” 

“I know,” Jongin says with guilt in his voice, instinctively crossing his arms and looking away. “It’s just…I thought you wouldn’t want to come if I told you it cost.”

Sehun blinks. “Because you thought I’d say no?”

Jongin nods and keeps his gaze fixated on a skeleton hanging by a string two feet away. “Are you mad?”

“No,” Sehun replies, and it almost comes off as suspiciously fast. “No,” he says again, slower this time. “It’s just…nothing. God, you’re so cute sometimes.”

Jongin is about to say something when he hears the sound of other people entering, reminding both of them that they’ve fallen behind and need to get a move on. “Remember,” Sehun says once they approach the black door with a ‘DANGER’ sign nailed above it. “Our bet.”

It takes Jongin a second to realize what Sehun is talking about. “I don’t have that much money on me!”

Sehun chuckles. “Fine. New bet, if you scream you need to wear that shirt. No exceptions or excuses.”

Jongin blinks before his upper lip curls upwards in a smirk. “Damn you. Fine. I’ll make it in and out without making a single noise, easy as pie.”

You won’t last a second, Sehun thinks to himself before nodding and ushering Jongin inside. “Do you need me to hold your hand?”

“No!!”

—

The first thing that greets them is the sudden drop in temperature, closely followed by a blood-curling scream coming from somewhere in the distance, a scream Jongin hopes to God belongs to a visitor. They’re standing in a long hallway, windows with thick jail-like bars lining the torn-up walls. It’s eerie for sure and Sehun nearly shudders but stops himself in the last second, turning his head to look at Jongin who’s staring down the seemingly endless hallway with wide eyes. Sehun almost lets out a chuckle at his boyfriend’s petrified state and fights the urge to pull out his phone and snap a picture. The end of the hallway is practically impossible to pinpoint, the only thing visible at the very end being blackness, closely resembling a void or a black hole. Sehun sees Jongin gulp.

“Jesus, it’s like staring into another dimension,” Jongin says in an emotionless tone, gaze fixated on the blackness ahead of him. Sehun nods, choosing to focus his attention on the creepy windows lining the wall instead. He almost walks up to one just to see what’s on the other side but decides against it. It’s then that Jongin seems to snap out of his trance and he takes one step forward, Sehun following close behind. 

Whoever designed the interior needs a freaking raise, and fast, Sehun thinks as he walks down the hallway with Jongin at an incredibly slow pace. It’s dark and they can hardly see each other and Sehun thanks the Lord they both chose to wear white that day because otherwise they would’ve been practically invisible to each other. He looks down and sees Jongin’s hands are clenched into fists and chuckles low in his throat. He tries his best to listen for the sound of any visitors nearby to no avail. It isn’t until he looks beside him and sees Jongin is no longer next to him that he realizes he’s multiple steps ahead and he’s about to turn around and ask the latter if he needs to drag him out of here because they do really need to pick up the pace when high-pitched shriek shatters the silence, nearly making Sehun jump out of his skin as adrenaline rushes to his brain. He’s about to whirl around when Jongin is by his side before he can even blink, wide eyed and panting. “What ha-” Sehun doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before he feels a hard grip on his shoulder, adrenaline skyrocketing as he lets out a yell and literally bolts down the hallway, Jongin hot on his heels. 

They run until they’re sure they’re out of the hallway, doubling over and panting for air. “If we come here next year remind me to walk in the middle and not anywhere near those damned windows,” Jongin says between breaths as he puts a hand to his heart. There’s cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and Jongin has to grab onto Sehun’s coat in order not to lose him in the cotton-y white-ness.

“You screamed,” Sehun says, smirking when he sees Jongin’s annoyed expression. “You lose. Now you need to wear the…hey, what?” His words slowly die and his smirk fades when he sees the horrified expression on Jongin’s face, feeling his own pulse quicken when Jongin slowly raises a hand and points at him. Or to be more exact, right next to him. Sehun squeezes his eyes shut when he sees in what direction Jongin is pointing and exhales slowly. Damn . He slowly turns his head to the left, apparently too slowly for the liking of whoever’s standing next to him because the next thing he knows he’s locked in a tight grip as well as staring into the face of something he doesn’t get to process properly since he’s sprinting away a fraction of a second later (all he can remember is that it was nightmare inducing. He blames it on the cobwebs blocking his vision). 

He doesn’t stop running until he’s sure he’s lost whatever monster that just grabbed him and swallows when he realizes Jongin is nowhere in sight. He backs up a bit and nearly sumbles over a coffin that’s laying just at his feet, the impact triggering the lid to open and Sehun lets out a breathy chuckle when an extremely doll-looking figure sits up in the coffin with smoke emerging from its mouth. Jongin’s name is on the tip of his tongue but he stops himself from yelling it out at the last second in fear of attracting more grabby monsters. He makes a mental note to apologize to Jongin for losing him and is just about to turn around and continue without him when he hears footsteps quickly approaching him. For a second Sehun panics because damn it, he’s a monster magnet and he contemplates making a run for it but his panic quickly subsides when he sees a familiar long white coat come into view. He frantically waves a hand in front of his face to get rid of the smoke that’s currently blocking his vision and nearly collapses in relief when he sees Jongin running towards him. He has terror written all over his features and Sehun isn’t sure if that makes him relieved or that much more terrified. He settles on the latter when they both hear an evil, crazed laugh coming closer and closer and they both share a look of utter horror before Jongin grabs Sehun’s coat sleeve and they bolt out of wherever they currently are, nearly tripping over each other’s feet in a panicked frenzy.

They nearly trip and fall face first in what Jongin assumes is an operating room, Sehun nearly landing on top of him when he trips over the same stair he did. They scramble to get up on their feet and hastily check out their surroundings: White walls splattered with bright and dark red blood (Sehun almost giggles at the genericness but something tells him laughing wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do considering the circumstances), empty bloody operating beds, two on which there are sheets laid out with human-looking forms underneath and Jongin forces himself to look away. The floor is marble (Sehun doesn’t know if it’s green or red due to the dramatic amount of blood splattered across it) with a few operating tools strewn about. A poster of the human body hangs loosely on a nail on the wall and it’s so torn up Jongin can barely tell what it’s about. The room is dead silent save for a the sound of the ventilator as well as both of their labored breathing and Jongin inwardly wishes something would happen already so he won’t have to listen to the sound of his heart nearly beating out of his chest.

The sound of the door automatically slamming shut next to them nearly scares the daylights out of them, Jongin letting out a shriek at the unexpected noise and instinctively runs and hides behind Sehun (never did he think Sehun’s broadness would act as an advantage. To him, at least.) who curses under his breath at not having anywhere to hide. Sehun’s entire body tenses up when the sound of a lock clicking into place echoes through the room, the feeling of Jongin gripping onto the back of his coat in fear doing nothing to calm Sehun’s own nerves. He doesn’t get the chance to tell Jongin to stop hiding and stand next to him instead when a person suddenly comes into view. Or at least Jongin and Sehun think it’s a person but they aren’t a hundred percent sure since all that’s visible is their silhouette. Both boys nearly jump out of their skin when the booming noise of a chainsaw fills the silent air and Sehun nearly reaches up to cover his ears. Jongin wonders how such a simple sound could be so terror-inducing. Something tells him he doesn’t want to know.

It happens so fast Sehun barely gets a chance to register it. A sudden bright explosion of light illuminates the entire room and nearly blinds them both, the darkness of the room being replaced by a yellow-orange-y glow and Jongin’s hands instantly let go of Sehun’s coat to scramble upwards, covering his eyes. Sehun uncovers his eyes and blinks, momentarily wondering if he’s gone blind before Jongin jumps five feet in the air next to him, hands scrambling and grabbing onto Sehun’s arm. The latter’s head whips around to stare at Jongin who stares back at him with an equally terrified look in his eyes. “What?,” Sehun mouths, highly dreading Jongin’s answer. 

“I…I think something touched me,” Jongin whispers, or more specifically, shouts, in Sehun’s ear so the latter can hear him. Sehun is about to ask him what he means when he sees a pale arm emerging from under the sheet on the hospital bed a foot away from Jongin. His body acts before his brain does and he quickly grabs Jongin’s arm and hauls him to the side so he’s standing on the opposite of Sehun. Jongin, not having expected the sudden contact, looks up at Sehun with a confused and questioning gaze and his eyes widen to an impossible degree when his gaze lands upon the hand that just tried to grab at his leg. Sehun’s heart is threatening to pop out of his chest any second but he does his best to remain calm and collected for Jongin’s sake since the latter is clearly much less coordinated at this point than he is. 

Sehun’s head whips around for an exit when he feels something tap his shoulder and he squeezes his eyes shut. Damn . A light suddenly shines and illuminates a trail of red footprints on the floor just by their feet. Their eyes follow the trail and they both gulp in agony when they realize the footsteps lead straight into a black abyss. Sehun lets out an expasterated sigh and tries to regain the rhytm of his heart, looking down to make sure Jongin’s still holding onto him before sprinting forward, following the bloody footprints. He never looked to his left and he thanks the lucky stars he didn’t. He runs through the darkness with Jongin behind him who’s grabbing onto his coat for dear life. They run through what they persume is a hallway but they can’t tell for sure since it’s literally pitch black and Sehun sticks his hands out as he fumbles blindly around in the darkness. He exhales a breath of both panic and relief when his fingertips don’t come in contact with anything and he walks forward until the sound of what sounds like a steam engine comes out of nowhere, nearly scaring them both to death. They pick up the pace and Sehun half-heartedly prays he’ll touch something soon because right now it feels like he’s running through a black hole, getting deeper and deeper into nothingness. He has a feeling Jongin feels the exact same way.

The sound of the steam engine seems to increase in volume as they run faster through whatever it is they’re running through and Sehun feels his blood pressure rise, feeling anxiety building up in his chest. He wants to cover his ears but he doesn’t in fear of accidentally bumping into something and breaking his nose. The darkness is driving him crazy and he opts to running even faster with Jongin hot on his heels and lets out a shriek when something sticky tangles and wraps around his fingers. He doesn’t get the chance to think about it when he sees a certain light in the distance and his knees nearly give in in relief when he runs faster and hears the familiar sounds of children and adults laughing and talking. He shouts something along the lines of ’babe, I can see the exit!’ but he’s ninety nine percent sure Jongin doesn’t hear him over the sound of the engine blaring all around them. It isn’t until Sehun sees they’ve got at least ten feet to go that he reaches down and grabs Jongin’s hand, practically crushing it in his own as he literally charges through the darkness and towards the exit.

The first thing that hits them is the sudden increase in volume, the sound of young children chattering filling their ears mere seconds after emerging from the exit and literally throwing themselves out and onto the carpeted floor of the mall. Sehun is on all fours, struggling to catch his breath as he attempts to regain control of his pulse. Jongin is laying spread out next to him in a snow-angel position, chest heaving up and down as his mind races a million miles per second. They both emit a hiss when they open their eyes and are literally blinded by the strong lights of the mall, blinking furiously for their eyes to adjust. They lay in silence, waiting for the adrenaline to leave their systems before a staff member walks over and asks them to get up and leave. 

Neither of them say a word on the way out of the mall and to Sehun’s car, both of them trying to come down from their adrenaline-filled states. A full minute passes before Jongin speaks up. “How’s that, Mr. Too-cool-for-haunted-houses?”

Sehun glares at him before giving him a rough shove. “Shut up. I didn’t think it’d be that advanced. Seriously, I feel sorry for the kids in line.”

“They’ll be scarred for decades to come,” Jongin says as a matter-of-factly and Sehun merely nods in agreement. “But hey,” he says after a while. “Thanks for going with me. I’ll pay you back if you want me to.”

“God, you’re so cute. And no, it’s fine. Consider that your Halloween present from me,” Sehun says with a laugh and shudders before he can stop himself.

“Aw,” Jongin coos in false sympathy. “Is wittle Sehun scared?”

“Shut it,” Sehun retorts. “You’re as pale as the thing that grabbed you.”

Jongin only giggles and moves to interlock their fingers but quickly pulls away like he’s been burned. “What the heck?,” he says while untangling a piece of cobweb from Sehun’s middle and index finger. “How’d that get there?”

“Probably while I was in the midst of saving both of our lives towards the end,” Sehun says in a sarcastic tone. “You know, when I was busy trying to guide us to the exit while your hid behind me and left me to do the dirty work?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jongin says after successfully detangling the string of cotton from Sehun’s hand and throwing it on the floor. “You got us out in the end, I admire that. I probably would’ve gone mad.”

“Trust me, for a second there I nearly stopped and asked myself if I was,” Sehun says in a serious tone. “Never again. Ever.”

Jongin giggles and shudders when they step outside, briefly letting go of Sehun’s hand to wrap his coat tighter around himself. “Damn, it’s gotten cold. And dark, as well.”

Sehun nods before turning to walk in the direction his car is parked. “Better hurry up or you’ll die of hypothermia, tough guy.” He begins walking but stops suddenly and whirls around, staring Jongin square in the eye. “Oh, and by the way, you’re wearing the shirt.”

Jongin blinks. Damn. “Uh. Okay.”

“Good.”

Jongin jogs to catch up with Sehun. “Hopefully it won’t get too dark,” he says before linking their arms together. “Otherwise we won’t be able to see where we’re going when we’re trick-or-treating later.”

Sehun stops dead in his tracks and nearly topples over. 

God damn it.