Mark sighed as he stared at Jackson, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t sure how his friend had convinced him to do this. Well, no it was really easy to understand how Jackson got him to this stupid haunted house attraction. Mark needed the money. He was a college student living on his own and though he worked part time during the week, it didn’t bring in enough money so he needed a little extra to help him get by. And with Halloween right around the corner, it only made sense he did some sort of seasonal job. Though working with Jackson...that was always questionable.

 

He loved his friend and his outgoing and silly personality. But sometimes Jackson could be a little much. And sometimes he could be nothing at all. As in, he didn’t contribute to anything. And that’s what he was afraid of. This job required them to do a lot of improv to scare the customers and doing repeat after repeat could get quite boring, especially if the people had been there more than once; their jump scares would just get predictable. Jackson….wasn’t very good at doing improv. But for the sake of this job and keeping his friendship, Mark would try and work with the other. He just hoped the other could come up with something good they could do together to scare the visitors.

 

Jackson scratched at his side and let out a loud whine before looking over at Mark. “Why are these things so itchy?” He asked as he kept on scratching. “When was the last time this costume was even washed?? And do they not know what fabric softener is?!” He asked as he scoffed and then rolled his eyes. “Whatever. So. What exactly are we having to do again? I know we are scaring the actual out of people but.. I need details.” He said and looked Mark over with a grin.`

 

Mark stared at him and shrugged. ‘I don’t know. We’re supposed to improv every scare. So it’ll be different for everyone’s experience.” he said and looked around, cocking his head as he took in their surroundings. “I mean, we’re zombies, so we’re like supposed to eat brains and stuff, maybe?” he asked with a hum. ‘What do you think? What should we do?”

 

Jackson snorted and shook his head. “That's so cliche though.” He said and then shook his head a little bit. “So.. Hear me out on this okay?” He said and then paused as he thought for a moment before grinning and then held his hands out in front of himself dramatically. “So.. You go through the wall covered in blood right?” He stared off and then nodded to Mark with a eating grin on his face.

 

Mark eyed him before looking over to the blood covered wall. He nodded his head and looked back. “Uh huh. Got ya.” he said and hummed, waiting to see where this was going with the other. What could he possibly have thought up so quickly?

 

Jackson went over to the wall and tapped it with his hand. “ Then.. You go … Boo!” He said as he jumped forwards towards Mark, his hands out in a clawing motion when he said the word ‘boo’.  He gave two big thumbs up to the elder, obviously not taking this as seriously as he should. Because come on.. Zombies in a haunted house?

 

“Boo?” That was it? Boo? That was their big surprise. Boo? That was so childish. Like that would be from a child’s show that, at the time seemed very scary, but was really nothing more than just a ridiculous plot with just equally as ridiculous graphics. It was down right stupid and Mark sure as hell wasn’t going to go Boo!

 

Jackson nodded quickly and ketp the grin on his face as he wiggled his thumbs in the air, wiggling his top half from side to side. ‘Yeah! Boo!” He repeated and then chuckled as he lowered his hands. It was a haunted house attraction right? They didn't have to make all of their scares super planned out… Right?

 

Mark sighed and smacked his forehead, giving it a share. “...Could we not think of anything scarier to say?” he asked and raised a brow at Jackson. ‘Like I don’t know, anything other than boo!?” Frustrated, he turned and paced the floor. “I guess if we’re sneak attacking we could just go “Ah!”

 

Jackson rolled his eyes and then let out a small whine. “What's wrong with Boo?! Its just about the same as ‘ah!’ In fact its probably better anyway.” He said and folded his arms over his chest, huffing a little. .”Psh.. No one says ‘ah!” When trying to scare someone. People say ‘ah’ when they get scared! It would be weird if both victim and predator say aah!” He rambled on quietly to himself and then pouted.

 

“What do you mean? You go ‘ah’ when you want to scare someone in a tense situation.” Mark said. ‘And don’t lie. You did it the other day with that freshman...what’s his face, Youngjae?” he asked as he snapped his fingers, trying to recall the person that had been over at their dorm. “Ah is scarier. So don’t even try to say it’s not.” he said and sighed. Pacing around a little more, he nodded to himself. “Fine. You go boo and I’ll go Ah.”

 

Jackson let out a disgruntled whine and threw his hands up in a little display of frustration.”That was different! Okay? This is a haunted house! Scared people say ‘ah’ Mark!” He whined out loudly as he shook his head and paced around. He was flabbergasted at the fact that mark had complained that he couldn't come up with anything better then boo.. But then had came up with ‘ah!’ Instead.

 

Mark waved his hand and shook his head. “I’m going to scare more people saying ‘ah’ then you will with saying ‘boo’. Just you watch.” he said and grinned.

 

Jackson glared at Mark and all but shoved one of his fingers against his friend’s nose and then smirked. “You're on!”

 

~.~

 

12 people. That was the number of people he had scared.. a whopping 12 people! It was nothing compared to mark's 23. But he still had time to catch up. There was a large group entering the building and he was in position waiting for their cue. He glanced over at mark who had moved further down to another hiding spot, a brick wall with styrofoam bricks in the center that could be knocked out. “i'm going to win. “ He threatened playfully as he stuck his tongue out at the elder.

 

Mark heard the whisper and turned to look back at Jackson and smirked at him. “Tell that to my 23 people.” he snickered with a wink. He turned back and waited, listening as the group came closer and closer. He waited for the right moment and when it came, he jumped out and screamed. “Ah~!” The group screamed loudly and started running.

 

Jackson jumped out behind the group and yelled boo as loud as he could right behind one of the girl’s heads, resulting in a high pitched squeal from her and a few other girls. He ran back behind the wall and snickered as he counted out five more tallies on his board. “17!!” He cheered happily and did a little dance. “See i told you i was going to catch up! I'm almost there!”

 

“28.” Mark smirked and laughed. “I scared them first.” he reminded the other and wiggled. “Just letting you know, you’ll never be able to catch up to me.” he snickered. “Let’s just call it end now and you can buy me dinner when we get off.”

 

“I don't want to buy you dinner though! You're the older one here you should treat me to dinner at least once in awhile.” Jackson whined out and then frowned as he peeked around the wall. Perfect. A new group was making its way into the hallway they were in. He waited for a few seconds and then jumped out in front of them and shouted ‘boo!’ hoping they would scream.

 

Their screams echoed loudly at the scare and Mark watched as they hightailed it down the area, not even giving him time to scare them. There were six of them, so that brought Jackson’s count up to 23. , he could possibly not win. . Taking a breath, he sighed and waved his hand. “Okay okay. I’ll buy you dinner. But let’s just say I won, okay?”

 

Jackson huffed and rolled his eyes, his arms folded over his chest. “Fine. But no you did not win. Lets say.. it was a close tie. That way everyone wins!” He grinned cheekily as he walked off to the staff room to grab a soda out of the vending machine.

 

Mark laughed and shook his head. “Fine. I can agree with that.” he said, watching Jackson. “But tomorrow is another day.” he added with a cocky smirk.