✰ ✰

"𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝"

The sky had darkened entirely, with only a few dotted stars visible. As we progressed up the line, my gaze shifted away from it.

My palms were sweating profusely, and I jerked my hand away from Roman's, thinking it might gross him out.

Currently, we were in a queue for a ride. A ride I deeply resented and avoided all night to go on.

Nicolo and Kara, on the other hand, both forced all six of us to go on it.

My mouth parted once we all made it in front of the horror house.

This haunted house ride's theme was influenced by a new horror film that had just come out this spring.

Nicolo smiled broadly and my heart tempo picked up.

If you hadn't guessed already, I fucking hate everything to do with horror. Especially jump scares.

"Only two at time folks!" The worker in front of us shouted just as two boys ahead of us walked through, holding hands.

"Aydan and I will go first," Nicolo stated, a big grin on his face.

Aydan looked a little unsure of this but walked up to the front either way.

The man waited a few seconds before letting them through. After a minute of walking through the hidden doors, Kara and Theo were next.

I felt my stomach drop to my ass as Roman and I approached the front.

"Oh gosh," I muttered nervously as the man examined both of us.

I looked up at Roman, who had taken my hand in his. He peered down at me emotionlessly but caressed my palm soothingly to calm me down.

"Alright, have fun guys," The man moved to the side and opened the door with one arm.

"You go first," I said as I took a position behind him.

He chuckled amusedly as he walked through the room, and I trailed following him into the darkness.

My grip on his hand was tightening, and the area we proceeded into was dimly lit with only a few blue led bulbs on the walls.

"Oh fuck," I exclaimed as my anxiety grew and my eyes feverishly scanned everywhere.

He chuckled deeply yet again.

"Relax, Ella."

I scoffed and stayed right behind him as we made our way through the dimly lit corridor.

We went through another door, and the room was significantly brighter, despite the flashing lights that encircled it.

There was fake blood all over the walls, possessed looking dolls sat all over the room, and a girl dressed in a white dress with her hair falling in front of her eyes—sat in a rocking chair in the far corner of the room.

Fortunately, it was exactly next to the next door we needed to exit through.

"Oh my god," I clenched my grip on Roman's arm and stayed close behind him, but peered around the area to check my surroundings.

"Roman, I swear if she mov-

The unexpected sound of the girl screaming her lungs out cut me short, and I joined her in her screams.

As the girl ran towards us, I jumped behind Roman and pressed myself against his back.

"Roman!" I squealed, and he turned and quickly picked me up, laughing loudly.

My eyes were tightly shut as I clung to his body like a leech.

He promptly exited the room, passing the screaming, running girl. He sat me down once we'd made it into the other room.

My heart was racing so fast that I was convinced I was going to die of a heart attack.

As we walked through the next room, I huddled behind Roman once more, grasping his arm like before.

This time, instead of dolls, the room was crammed with fucking clowns. They stood all over the place, some of them frighteningly realistic.

And I did not doubt that at least half of them were real.

He rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at me before continuing to walk. My eyes glared holes into his back at his excessively amused self.

I trailed behind him as he began walking. As we proceeded my eyes anxiously searched the room.

A screech was heard from beside me as a clown with a horribly creepy face lunged at me.

I jumped on my spot and shrieked, falling to the floor I squeeze my arms around my head to protect myself.

"Oh fuck!" I screamed and I was momentarily scooped off the ground, recognising the contact I wrapped my legs around his waist and cowered in his neck.

"Just keep me here until the end, please." I mumbled and wrapped my arms around his neck, bracing myself in case he was going to let me go.

He kissed the side of my head as he walked away from the clown room.

"I've got you, Ella."

If I wasn't shitting myself right now, I would've most definitely died of how sweet that sounded. I raised my eyes when I sensed us moving into the next room.

There was a lot more noise in this room, there was some unknown hard rock music playing.

In the centre of the room, a bloodied and masked man using a chainsaw appeared to be decapitating a body.

Fuck it's a real-life Michael Myers.

When he chopped into the 'fake' body, blood splattered onto his face, and he glanced at both Roman and me.

"If it comes at me, you're going to have to kick some ass," I uttered in his ear.

He smirked and glanced at me with his piercing eyes. He strolled through the room, shaking his head.

I watched warily as we came closer to the man, Roman, who seemed very unconcerned as if we weren't inside a haunted house ride with possessed creatures charging at us.

As we directly walked across him, he jumped right up and slung the chainsaw in front of Roman and me. Roman didn't even blink, let alone flinch.

My restless self jerked and hid away from him.

Roman's arms had thankfully protected me, wrapping across my body—with one hand pushing down the back of my neck.

He moved right by him and entered the last room without looking back.

"Jesus, how many are there," I mumbled to myself and studied the room.

"Last one." He reassured me and strengthened his grip on me.

This room was entirely dark, with no light at all. Roman, for some reason, was able to look right through it and blend his way through the room.

Flashes of white flashed across the room as he walked, and with each flash, terrifying faces appeared behind them.

My heart began to race again, and my hands automatically grasped the back of his shirt, moving my gaze between the multiple faces.

A tiny woman clothed in white with frightening makeup that appeared extraordinarily real—smeared on her face as his pace picked up just a tiny bit.

She scurried across the floor like an animal and pounced at us, her eyes only focused on me.

"Oh my god," I scrunched my eyes shut and buried my head deep into Roman's shoulder.

Roman's height was practically the main source of my safety right now. Though they're not allowed to touch us, if they were to, they wouldn't be able to get to me because I was way too high up.

Roman made it out of the room, the fresh breeze telling me we were back outside.

Purely frightened, I stayed right in his arms where I felt mostly safe at this very moment.

That's going to be in my nightmares.

I could hear my brothers voice from a distance but I still kept my eyes shut and face buried. Roman's grip on me relaxed slightly, but he remained close.

"You alright, amore?"

"Mh," I grumbled against his neck and slightly opened my eyes.

The only view I had was the sharp edge of his flawless jaw and a glimpse of his eyes. Above him, the sky was also on exhibit.

"Oh shit, is she alright?" I heard Aydan ask.

Roman nodded and glanced down at me.

"Just got scared," He replied and looked back up at him emotionlessly.

Nicolo cackled loudly and anger boiled up inside me. I submerged from Roman's neck and swerved my head in my brothers direction.

"Shut up Nicolo, says you who's been scared of Michael Jackson since four years old."

He scowled at me right away, and all I could do was shrug while the others laughed.

"All right, where are we going now?" Kara asked.

I grinned as I saw her and Theo, who were both smiling, with her leaning on his side and his arm wrapped around her.

"Nicolo and I are going on that rollercoaster ride," Aydan added, pointing down the park's far end to the extraordinarily high rollercoaster.

"Oh, we'll come with you!" Kara said and tugged on Theo's hand.

They all turned to look at Roman and me, and I went completely still.

I've been traumatised enough for one night.

"Uh, yeah... I just have to go pee first," I said and dropped down from Roman's hold.

They all gave me strange looks, and Kara only raised her brows in scepticism.

"And Roman has to help me," I grinned as I grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me as I managed to get away from them.

"Help you pee?" I heard Kara mutter.

"Okay! We'll meet at the front of the park later!" My brother shouted and I turned, holding one thumb into the air.

They all turned around and walked the other way while I hauled Roman and myself somewhere.

I exhaled a sigh of relief and returned my gaze to Roman, who was approaching me from behind.

"Close one," I murmured, raising my eyes to him for a brief moment.

His expression was impassive, yet amused. I scanned him slightly, taking in the highlighted features the park illuminated.

As I did, he looked down at me, catching me in the act.

"You didn't want to go on it, did you? If you did, you can go with the others. I don't mi-

He shut me up by pushing me against a wall and urging his lips onto mine. I kissed him back softly, completely caught off-guard .

He caged me in by softly kissing me with both arms resting on the wall beside my head. As he kissed me deeply, my hands wrapped around his neck.

Our tongues slid enticingly in and out of each other's mouths, and one of his hands was now roaming around my upper body.

He was the first to back away, heavily breathing against each other's lips. As I registered the abrupt kiss, I gradually began to smile.

"Been wanting to do that all night," He grumbled and peered back slightly.

With my hands still around his neck, I giggled and glanced up at him.

"Really?" I pondered, leaning my head even further towards him.

He switched his attention between my eyes and lips, smirking slightly. His untamed curls slid over his forehead, and my hand instinctively reached out and brushed them back.

It didn't do anything, but the smooth, silky soft hair against my fingertips felt like a content sigh.

His hands, which were around my waist, traced a circle against it as I continued to comb my fingers through it.

"I actually have to pee though," I murmured and cupped his cheek with one hand.

He shook his head and smiled slightly, leaving his lips on my cheek and stepping away from my embrace.

I looked around for a sign of the bathrooms while he hooked his hand with mine and then found it only a yard away.

I shifted on my feet and lead us over there.

Passing through a crowd, we arrived at the bathrooms which looked a little sketchy but I was busting to go so I didn't complain at the time.

"Wait here for me?" I spoke as I opened the single bathroom door.

He nodded and leant against the brick wall, next to the bathroom.

I smiled as I walked in and locked the door behind me.

My gaze was diverted to the single bathroom, which had unclean floors and a rotten sink.

I walked over to the toilet bowl and wiped it down with toilet paper before sitting on it.

Sighing as I released, my thoughts had conveyed into a mindless conversation.

I was overthinking my humiliating behaviour, which I had the misfortune of displaying in front of Roman.

It was truly pitiful. I made a living assassinating people, yet I was terrified of some random actors who pretended to be possessed demons or something.

I was also a little worried because he didn't even flinch once. Like does he just not even get scared of demons or anything possessed. It was undoubtedly out of the norm; like what if they were real?

Progressing on, I flushed the toilet and shrugged off my thoughts.

Massaging my hands with soap, I turned the tap on and proceeded to clean my hands.

I took a good look at myself in the mirror, noticing my slightly weathered appearance.

My hair had loosened from its low ponytail, leading the sides of my face to reveal fewer hairs and the sides of my ears to be obscured.

My eyes continued to analyse my appearance as I cleansed my hands under cold water.

Then, from the perspective of the mirror, I noticed a little vent in the ceiling that was emitting some sort of smoke. I frowned and continued to stare at it, blinking again to be sure I wasn't seeing things.

But then I inhaled deeply, and my entire body went into shock. My brain and lungs were both burning, and I began coughing violently.

As I stumbled away from the faucet, I placed my wet hands over my mouth and slammed my head against the wall. The smoke easily fogged the small room as I fell to the floor.

I tried not to inhale by breathing through my shirt, but it didn't help much because it had gotten out there as well.

As I continued to cover my mouth with my shirt, my head spun with dizziness and my eyes blurred.

The melodic sound of my boyfriend's voice calling my name was the last thing I heard before slipping into darkness.

✰

Fun fact, Arabella's haunted house experience was very similar to my own. Except I didn't have a fine-ass man next to me. I ended up just leaving halfway through because I mentally thought I pissed myself.

My friend ended up leaving with me though, he said it was because he wanted to make sure I was okay, even though he was the one hiding behind me the entire time.

I'm extremely traumatised and will never go on a 'haunted house' ride again.

lmao anyways hope you liked this chapter, thank you for reading beautiful!

- lei <3