User blog comment:CrashingCymbal/Halloween Writing Competition 2013/@comment-24062254-20131022200122

''Me being a dumbass, I uploaded my pasta before reading the rules entirely. Sorry! I'll copy and paste it here, though:''

I love Halloween, for many reasons. The main one is that I’m a huge horror fan, and this time of year means that I can actually ask my friends to sit down and watch a horror movie with me. I adore the genre of horror, and over the many years that I’ve been reading, watching or maybe listening – I’ve grown accustomed to all of what it has to offer. There isn’t anything fresh that horror movies have to give that actually manages to frighten me, for example, I am totally immune to jumpscares. I always see them coming.

I want to tell you about a terrifying experience I had, that wasn’t anything to do with a horror film, but something that happened in reality.

It was this time of year – Halloween – and it was about three years ago now. I was 18; just starting university and I had a pretty good group of friends. As with every university student social group, we all ran out of money pretty quickly after blowing it all on alcohol or parties. In a vote, we all decided to get jobs and work part-time in order to get some money flowing. My friend Jenna, studying an acting degree took a role at a ‘haunted house.’ You know, one of those places where actors in ghost costumes are paid to try and scare the shit out of you? It was a pretty sweet job for Jenna, because she was right in her element.

Months go by and Jenna doesn’t really talk about her job. All we knew was that she got a steady paycheque; therefore we didn’t really question it. If any of us asked her how work was, she’d reply with a “fine,” but when I think about it… it never really sounded sincere. She often seemed distracted.

October 31st loomed on the horizon, and I was wholeheartedly excited for Halloween. On the night of the 30th, one of my friends decided to ask Jenna if we could go to the haunted house for some cheap fun and laughs. She was reluctant at first, but we managed to persuade her as long as we stayed out of trouble.

The day came around, and we all set off at about half past 8. The whole place was surprisingly deserted, especially as it was the night everyone had been waiting for. I personally put it down as people being too distracted by trick-or-treating to actually go to any real attractions. There was a small group of about twelve of us, my friends included, and we had a guide to take us all over the house. We paid our fares and gathered in the lobby.

It was really dark – to the point where I could only just make out my hand in front of my face. Dusty too, but it was all part of the effect, and I had to applaud the place for that much. After waiting for ten minutes or so, we set off. The tour guide was making up some bullshit story about the owners of the house going crazy or something stupid. Your classic corny jumps ensued. A terrible ghost costumed actor would jump out and scream at us – causing a few of the kids to wail. This carried on for several minutes, and I was enjoying it, until I fell to the back of the group. I was twelve or so feet behind, but it was mostly because I was just trying to soak up the creepy atmosphere of the place.

The group turned a corner and entered another room; I felt a huge pressure on my back. As though someone put a heavy rucksack on it. Whatever it was collided gently with my head, and I was expecting some terribly co-ordinated ‘scare.’ The thing that was on my back caused me to stumble forward, and fell to the ground with a huge crash, causing dust all around the outline of the figure to rise up and cause me to cough. Several antagonising seconds past before the dust cleared, and someone dressed up had fallen to the ground. They were wheezing, their throat sounded as though they had been ripped and scratched to pieces. Still face down, the high-pitched panting drew to a crescendo of horrendousness and finally died away. I was in shock – this was much more realistic than the corny Halloween fun I was expecting.

The group were several rooms away now.

I mustered out a “Hey… are you okay…?” to the lifeless body beneath me. Fearing the worst, I propped them up off of the floor. Blood gushed out onto my hands, and I felt the entrails and organs of this person, as though it were a huge pile of ‘guts’ taken from a hollowed-out human. The blood was flowing down onto my trousers, and I was shouting at the top of my lungs at the form in front of me. This person, who I assumed to probably be a young lady let out a hoarse scream before they once again fell out of my grip and into the floor once more, face-up this time.

At that moment, tears gushing down my face, Jenna turned a corner – no mask or costume, just Jenna.

“Jenna… what the fuck is this? What’s going on?” The words were hard to say, I had to force them out of my throat behind a veil of tears and voice-cracks.

“Oh,” she answered calmly, “that’s Sarah, one of my colleagues.”

“Is she dead…?”

“Yeah, that happens sometimes. Customers just get so scared shitless, they respond physically. We’ve been told to expect some pretty strong reactions, so it’s just normal now. She had her throat torn? Nasty.”

I slumped to the floor, shaking, quivering at the sight before me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Jenna extended a hand in front of me.

“Look, I was like this the first time too.” Gently, she said, “Come on, get up. I’ll take you outside for some air.”

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