The Haunted House Horror Show
"Hey," Kazuki said suddenly, letting the soda can drop with a clatter. "Why don't we go to that haunted house downtown? You know, the one that's supposed to be super scary?"
Crimson immediately perked up. "Oh, you mean the one where people say they've seen actual ghosts?"
"Those are just rumors," Kai said, rolling his eyes. "But yeah, it sounds fun. I'm in."
Leon shrugged. "Sure, why not? Could be interesting."
MJ adjusted his glasses. "As long as no one does anything dumb like trying to fight a ghost, I'm fine with it."
Everyone turned to look at Crimson, who was already grinning mischievously.
"What? I'm on my best behavior," he said, trying and failing to look innocent.
"Yeah, right," Kazuki muttered.
The Haunted House Adventure
The weekend arrived, and we all met up outside the haunted house. The place was old and creepy, with ivy crawling up the sides and a sign that read "Enter if you dare" in flickering neon lights.
"This looks... sketchy," Leon said, eyeing the building.
"Perfect," Crimson said, already marching toward the entrance.
The inside was dimly lit, with eerie music playing and fog machines spewing out clouds of mist. We started walking through the first hallway, pretending to be completely unfazed.
"This isn't so bad," Kazuki said. "Kinda lame, actually."
That's when the clown appeared. It jumped out of nowhere, waving a chainsaw (obviously fake, but still terrifying). Crimson let out a high-pitched scream that echoed through the hallway. Without thinking, he swung his fist and punched the clown square in the nose.
The clown stumbled back, clutching its face, and we all burst out laughing.
"Did you just punch a clown?" Kai asked, doubled over with laughter.
"He scared me!" Crimson protested, his face red. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Not scream like a little girl, for starters," Kazuki said, wiping tears from his eyes.
The clown, clearly over it, muttered something under its breath and walked away, still holding its nose. Crimson glared at us as we continued to laugh.
We kept walking, and things seemed to calm down for a bit. That is, until we turned a corner and came face-to-face with a zombie. It was groaning and dragging one leg behind it, reaching out toward us with creepy, realistic makeup.
Kazuki and Kai exchanged a look, and without saying a word, they both grabbed Crimson and shoved him toward the zombie.
"Get away from me!" Crimson screamed, flailing his arms as the zombie reached for him.
We were all doubled over, laughing so hard we could barely stand. Crimson finally managed to scramble away, glaring at us. "You guys are the worst!"
"It's called tough love," Kazuki said, still laughing.
"More like betrayal," Crimson muttered, brushing himself off.
The next room was even darker, with strobe lights flashing and creepy dolls sitting on shelves. As we walked through, one of the dolls suddenly moved and let out a sinister laugh. MJ, who was leading the way, froze in place.
"Uh, guys?" he said, his voice shaking.
"What?" Leon asked, peering over his shoulder.
Before MJ could answer, another doll dropped from the ceiling, landing right on his shoulder. He screamed and started running in circles, flinging the doll off and nearly knocking over a shelf in the process.
"It's just a doll!" Kai shouted, trying to catch him.
"It moved!" MJ yelled, still running.
We finally managed to calm him down, but not before Crimson had recorded the whole thing on his phone. "This is going on the group chat," he said, grinning.
MJ glared at him. "Delete it."
"Never."
Things only got more chaotic from there. In one room, there was a guy dressed as a vampire who popped out of a coffin. Leon, in an attempt to look brave, tried to high-five him. Instead, he accidentally knocked over the coffin, sending the vampire sprawling onto the floor.
"Uh... sorry about that," Leon said, backing away.
"Smooth," Kazuki said, shaking his head.
In another room, there was a fake ghost hanging from the ceiling. Crimson, being Crimson, decided it would be a good idea to jump up and grab it. The ghost's string snapped, and it came crashing down on top of him.
"Help! The ghost got me!" he yelled, flailing around under the sheet.
We were laughing so hard we could barely breathe as we tried to pull the sheet off him. By the time we got it off, a staff member had come over to scold us.
"Please don't touch the props," she said sternly.
"Sorry," Crimson said, not looking sorry at all.
The final room was supposed to be the scariest. It was pitch black, with only a single flickering light in the corner. As we walked in, the door slammed shut behind us, and eerie whispers filled the air.
"Okay, this is actually kinda creepy," Kai admitted.
"Nah, it's fine," Kazuki said. "There's probably just gonna be some guy in a mask jumping out at us."
"Or a ghost," Crimson said, grinning.
"Don't even joke about that," MJ said, looking around nervously.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the corner, its face hidden in shadows. It started moving toward us, its footsteps echoing in the silence.
"Nope, I'm out," MJ said, turning to leave. But the door was locked.
"Guess we're stuck," Leon said, sounding more amused than concerned.
The figure got closer, and Crimson, true to form, decided to confront it.
"Hey, you wanna fight?" he said, raising his fists.
The figure stopped, tilted its head, and then lunged at him. Crimson screamed and bolted, nearly tripping over Kai in his panic. The rest of us followed, yelling and laughing as we tried to find the exit.
When we finally made it out, we were a mess. Crimson's hair was sticking up in all directions, MJ's glasses were crooked again, and Kazuki had somehow lost a shoe.
"Well, that was... something," Kai said, catching his breath.
"Best haunted house ever," Crimson declared, grinning.
"You screamed more than anyone," Kazuki pointed out.
"Details," Crimson said, waving him off.
As we walked away, still laughing and recounting everything that had happened, we all agreed on one thing: chaos followed us wherever we went, and we wouldn't have it any other way.