"Oh my gosh, guys... Please don't, I am scared..." Kamin whimpered as the three pulled her towards an intimidating haunted house. It was a colossal one where it was said to have frightened the toughest of the toughest guys on deck. Screams emanated from the scarily charcoal black house every few seconds. The haunted house stood tall, towering over the trio and Kamin. There were fake bats flying around the house and cobwebs hung from every corner. 

 

"Hey... This isn't very scary. I mean look at the cobwebs and bats. They are super fake. How can they even scare us with this?" Sooyeon complained. 

 

"Aish, Sooyeon ah. The good things are always inside. Don't judge a haunted house by its bats." Kai smirked," lets join the queue. We are lucky the queue is short. We would be in there within no time." 

 

"Come on, Kamin." Sooyeon grinned as she dragged a reluctant Kamin to join the queue. 

 

"Sooyeon ah, I don't feel very good. I am honestly really scared." Kamin whispered, fiddling with her clothes uneasily. 

 

"Don't be scared, Kamin. Everything in there is fake and the ghosts or zombies or vampires are like random people who put on make-up to scare you. This is just for fun." Sooyeon giggled. 

 

"Zombies?!" Kamin squeaked. 

 

"Boo!" Kamin jumped, screaming.

 

The boys sniggered as they popped out from behind them. "Gotcha." Kai smirked as he high-fived Baekhyun. "You know what, Kamin? You are gonna have a whale of a time in there." 

 

"You mean a wail of a time..." Kamin muttered, rolling her eyes. Baekhyun smiled,nudging her gently,"you can come with me. I will keep you safe." 

 

"Pfft. No thanks. I shall walk alone." Kamin turned away.

 

"Hey guys. Stop your couple-quarreling thing." Kai whispered.

 

"Welcome to the haunted house. Before you guys go in, I would like to caution you of a few things before you enter. There are two parts to this journey and please abide by a few rules. The first part is a two-person thing where the two of you would go into a cart together and travel through the land of souls and the ghostly trail would be the second one where you are free to roam. There is no short way out and you will have to go through all the routes. Good luck to you to making it out alive." The hooded person smiled mysteriously as he opened the gates. 

 

"Kai! Hop in, lets go." Sooyeon called impatiently, dragging Kai along. He grinned at Baekhyun,"good luck." He whispered before he hopped into the cart beside Sooyeon and they were driven off into the darkness. 

 

"Kamin-ssi, come on." Baekhyun gestured to Kamin who stood rather far away from the cart.  

 

Kamin bit her lip as she stepped in gingerly. She clasped her hands together. Her hands were getting clammy and cold from fear.  Baekhyun climbed in beside her and the cart started moving, as if pulled by an invisible force into the abysmal darkness. Kamin jumped as the cart started moving. The hairs on her necks stood up as they travelled seemingly aimlessly into the dark.

 

"Where are we going, Baekhyun-ssi?" Kamin spoke hesitantly. 

 

"I don't know." Baekhyun replied shortly after,"are you scared?" He asked gently.

 

"Uhh, no. Why would I be-" Kamin stopped in mid-sentence as a old and wrinkled hand came towards her. "Take us with you...take us with you." There were murmurs all around.Kamin screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to get away from the hand. She leaned closer to Baekhyun. At the same time, she didn't want to be physically in contact with him.oh god, save me from this nightmare. 

 

"Ahhhhh!" Kamin jumped as a face appeared out of nowhere and many hands were starting to crowd around their cart." Baekhyun ahh." She clung onto him, burying her face into his jacket, trembling. She was terrified. She trembled, sobbing a little,"Baekhyun-ssi. I...lets get out of here." Eerie music started playing, the atmosphere was getting scarier and eerier by the second and that definitely did not help ease Kamin's fear.

 

Baekhyun, taken aback by her sudden physical contact, slowly eased into it. He placed a comforting hand on her back, patting her gently as he murmured,"Kamin ssi, don't worry. I am here. You are safe with me."  Kamin nodded silently as she stayed in that position. He held his hands over her ears, blocking out the eerie music. Baekhyun's warmth radiated from his body and she could feel his heart beating. It was the first time she had been this close to a guy and perhaps if this counted, this was the first time she hugged a guy, besides her father. For a second, she felt calm and secure and safe in his arms. Thank you, Baekhyun-ssi. She thought silently.

 

Slowly, she sat up as the cart halted, looking around before she jumped to see a broken signboard that wrote "Ghostly trails". The signboard was smudged with red handprints and the sign was broken and creaked softly when the wind blew. Kamin shivered, not because of the cold but because of fear. Her heart palpitated as the cart moved on, now in a series of sudden jerks. She looked down and screamed a ear-piercing scream as a face smeared with blood and mud stared back at her. 

 

 

"Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" Kamin screamed, fear escalated in her. She held on tightly to baekhyun's hand and buried her face into his jacket whenever anything or anyone came close. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was not exactly afraid. He smiled at the ghosts and deadly faces that came looking at him, probably dazzling the female ghosts in the haunted house. "Don't fear, Kamin ah. It's okay. It isn't scary." Baekhyun gently squeezed her hand. 

 

"Neh?" Kamin managed to utter a word as she looked at him. Fear was evident in her eyes and baekhyun was rather apologetic that he did not disagree to this idea, though he couldn't deny that he enjoyed having his fingers intertwined with Kamin's. They were a perfect fit. 

 

"Kamin ah. Kamin ah. Come to us. You belong with us. Come." A ghost floated by, his hands close to touching her face. "Kamin... Be our queen. Come..." Kamin shrieked as it touched her face. "It's cold...his fingers are cold...he's dead." Kamin stuttered, looking at the ghost timidly. 

 

"Ya. Are you a byuntae? Go away, dude." Baekhyun shooed the ghost away,annoyed. How could he touch her face? He's obviously a byuntae smitten by Kamin-ssi. 

 

After several more encounters with ghosts, coupled by Kamin's ceaseless screaming, the cart abruptly screeched to a halt. "Please exit and walk to your left for the next stage of your horror." The announcer's voice boomed. 

 

"What?! Another stage? And we are walking?" Kamin stood dumbfounded,"there is no way I am gonna walk through that thing." She pointed to a door which had mist escaping from under it. 

 

"Come on, Kamin ssi." Baekhyun stretched out his hand. Kamin looked at it, considering it though she walked off towards the door herself. "It's okay, I can do this. " she muttered to Baekhyun as she walked along. 

 

"Fine then." Baekhyun grinned," I am going away then. Enjoy the terror and horror. Good luck to making it out alive." With that, he disappeared.