KRIS POV

“Kris! How about that one?” Amber asked as she pointed at the direction of the Horror House. It was already late in the afternoon and both of them had toured more than half of the theme park. Kris offered to get a late lunch which Amber immediately declined. She was too absorbed in all the attractions that she was only able to see in pictures before and that ended with Kris buying a hotdog for himself. Not that he was complaining though. In fact, he found the sight of an excited Amber bouncing around quite entertaining. While he was busy munching on his snack, Amber was busy taking pictures with her phone. She was all over the place. She even bought some blue cotton candy on a stick when she saw a kid eating some. She decided to try it and scrunched up her nose when her tongue came in contact with the soft sugar because of the foreign taste. Kris laughed at her reaction and again, almost choked himself on his canned soda.

“You don’t like sweets?” Kris asked.

“Nah, it tastes gross.” Amber said as she threw the treat into a nearby bin.

“ I don’t like sweets that much too.” Kris said as he crumpled the empty soda can in his hand. “I had a bad case of cavities when I was a kid and it wasn’t pretty.”

“Hm, I never had any cavities.” Amber said.

The sun was setting and both of them were standing at the theme park’s sea side square. There were metal railings at the edge of the square that met the 5-feet high cliff. The place was bathed in the orange glow of the dying sun and Amber was too mesmerized by the sparkling ocean in front of her. Kris was mesmerized too but it wasn’t the ocean. It was her. Her face was radiant in the light and her hair was tousled in a messy but attractive way. Her dress fluttered behind her as her curious eyes absorbed the view.

“I will never get sick of a view like this.”Amber said as she stared at the setting sun.

“Me too.” Kris said as he stared at her.

The sun was disappearing as if it was being swallowed by the sea. Kris’ eyes landed to the sea down below. He felt like he was being pulled into a trance. He stared at the crashing waves as his mind began playing tricks on him. He was hearing faint cries and screams and the water was slowly turning darker, more violent below. He was seeing a blurry image of a girl looking up at him with tear tracks clearly visible on her pale cheeks. Kris could see her grip loosening and right before his eyes, she was falling to her death. Kris shook his head and got himself back to the present. He tried pushing the image of the girl into the back of his mind. To distract himself, He placed his attention on Amber. He was taken aback when she turned to him, her face illuminated by the last rays of sunshine. She smiled at him for no apparent reason. A mannerism he noticed that she developed lately. He fell speechless as he looked at her. She looked past his shoulder and the tiny smile soon spread into a cheeky grin. He didn’t even have enough time to react when she suddenly grabbed him by the wrist as she giggled like a young child.

“Hurry up, slowpoke! People are already lining up for the Horror House!” she said as she ran. Kris grinned as he picked up the pace and ran alongside the girl. He can’t remember when she started to get this playful and expressive. She was usually shy and quite but now she’s even starting conversations with him. He was not complaining though. He just found it strange and at the same time, amusing.

They joined the line for the Horror House. In about five minutes, they were ready to enter the building along with a couple other people for their batch. Kris wasn’t scared of the dark and he wasn’t scared of the monsters or props inside either but he just felt a little nervous because the sound effects coming from the speakers sounded a little bit too realistic to his ears. Amber on the other hand was feeling this unusual feeling of something palpitating in her chest. Her fingers shook and though it was a foreign sensation, she didn’t mind. She was far too consumed in the excitement and thrill to even care about what the hell is happening to her. Soon, the employee who stood at the door instructed the group what to do and then he ushered them to an entrance which led to a dimly lit waiting room inside. It was cold and dark but the people were too excited to mind anything at all. Then, another employee who came from inside signaled the other one that it was okay for the next batch to come through. Everybody cheered in glee.

One by one, they entered the building.

Kris and Amber were the last ones to enter. They did not want to be trampled on by stampeding scared people inside the dark building, nope. They decided to fall back and waited for everyone to enter before they walked in. Before they were fully engulfed by the darkness, Kris grabbed on to Amber’s tiny hand. She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“What is it?” she asked.

“So we won’t lose each other inside.” He said.

“We won’t” She reassured him as she squeezed his hand.

They walked into the Horror House hand in hand.

“Holy !” Amber and Kris heared a yell coming from somewhere ahead of them. They both laughed because the man sounded so scared. There were lots unexpected ghosts and monsters waiting from every corner but they remained calm. However, there was one instance when the ceiling gave way and a prop which was apparently a fake dead body fell, dangling only from a rope. Surprisingly, it frightened Amber. She shrieked as she took a couple of steps back and almost fel