Short Story

I LOVE IT WHEN YOU SCREAM

The Sicilian Storyteller

“Are you coming or not?” Carl demanded as he took a few steps further into the haunted house at the Springwood Halloween Fair.

Sharon stood there fiddling with the drawstring of her hoodie. She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes wide and brimming with tears.

“I’m really scared of these places, Carl. I mean, they terrify me. I don’t want to do this.” And the tears came.

This was nothing new to Carl; Sharon hid behind her hands when she tried to watch “The Walking Dead” with him in the comfort of their own living room. He rolled his eyes, tired of Sharon’s childish fears of creatures that don’t exist.

“Look, babe, as I told you a dozen times already, everybody knows this is the best haunted house in the county” Carl replied in his usual condescending tone. “My friends at work said it was awesome and even Hal brought is girlfriend Darleen who’s afraid of her own shadow and she thought it was fabulous. I promise, it’s gonna be a blast.”

Sharon could hear screams coming from inside the haunted house but everyone came out laughing and quickly lined up to go in again.

“OK, I’ll do it but you have to promise to take me to see the Taylor Swift concert on the big IMAX screen next week.”

Carl happily agreed knowing there was no way in hell he was going to sit through a Taylor Swift concert. Laughing, he grabbed Sharon’s hand and pulled her into the haunted house.

“Don’t let go of my hand, Carl!” Sharon cried out.

“Sharon, just chill out. Why can’t you get it through your head that it’s all fake, it’s just for show and none of these characters are real? I promise I won’t let go of your hand. Now stop being a drama queen and try to have some harmless fun, ok?” Carl could really be a nasty SOB.

The inside of the haunted house was complete sensory overload; there was constant screaming as zombies, vampires, witches, skeletons, ghosts and hideous slasher movie characters jumped out of doorways, flew into windows, dropped down from the ceiling and popped up through the floor.

The place was madness and Sharon was getting claustrophobic. The only thing that kept her from running out in a panic was the familiar feel of Carl’s hand in hers. She couldn’t see an inch in front of her and there was something popping out at every turn. It was horrifying for Sharon.

Before Sharon knew what was happening, the grotesque image of Freddy Krueger suddenly appeared from behind a wall of smoke and menacingly brandished his deadly bladed glove; Sharon couldn’t take it any longer. She screamed out for Carl and pushed her way through the crowd, grateful that he was still with her.

Once outside, Sharon gulped in the fresh air and blasted Carl. “That was the worst experience of my life! It was terrifying and you tricked me. How could you?? I’m not kidding, Carl. I’m really pissed! Carl!!  Are you even listening to me, dammit?”

And when Sharon turned to face Carl, she discovered she had been holding on to his severed arm. The next morning Carl’s body was found in the woods behind the haunted house. He had been sliced to pieces. They say karma’s a bitch.

At least Carl was true to Sharon about one thing that night; he never let go of her hand.

NAR © 2023

Fandango’s Story Starter #120

Fandango’s Story Starter #120
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Why?

This is “Freddy Krueger Sings A Song” (Scary Horror Halloween Parody)

43 thoughts on “I LOVE IT WHEN YOU SCREAM”

  11. I’m glad screaming time only comes once a year. Spooky story!
    I’m humming the song “Twilight Time” by the Platters. Except I’ve changed the words to “Scary Shades of night are falling, It’s screaming time.”
    Too late for this year. Maybe do it next year. lol

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  12. Good morning, sis! Well, that sucked the idiom right out of Macbeth’s hand-in-hand. “The weird sisters, hand in hand, posters of the sea and land, do thus go about, and about
” đŸ€Ł

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