Yours to Hold

As soon as everyone was finishing off their meals, Jimmy started yelling hysterically at the rest of us.
"Come on, everyone! Lets go to the Den of Darkness first!"
I chuckled under my breath at his enthusiasm and finished off my chicken sandwhich; I wiped my hands off on my jeans before gathering up my trash and tossing it in the trash can.

"I don't know about everyone else, but I'm certainly down to hit up Den of Darkness first," I commented.
"Sounds good to me," Brian agreed, stepping up to my side and slipping his arm around my shoulders.
Jimmy grinned at me and Brian before turning his attention to the others.
"Awesome! Is that okay with you guys?"

Matt ran a hand through his dark hair and shrugged. "Fine by me, dude."
"HELL YEA! Lets do it," Johnny stated excitedly, causing the rest of us to laugh.
Jimmy turned his attention toward Val and Michelle. "What about you two?"
Michelle shrugged her shoulders as if to say she didn't care, but Val turned away.
"I'd much rather do the hayride first," she stated in a snobbish tone.

"We can't," Matt stated shortly.
"Why is that?"
Matt's jaw tightened a bit, and I could tell that he was trying not to snap at his girlfriend.
"Because, its not dark enough for them to run the hayride."
"Then, we can wait for them to run the hayride." Val was being impossibly stubborn, and I was starting to get fed up with her antics.

Brian was clearly starting to get irritated, too.
"Thats not fair to us, Val. Its going to be at least another half hour before its dark enough for the hayride to start running. We came here to do the attractions and get scared, so there is no point sitting around and waiting for one attraction to open when we can start out with one of the others."
"Well, I want to do the hayride first, so we can wait for it."
Mr. Sullivan wasn't having it, either.

"Valary, I bought your ticket for you and I am more then capable of tearing it in two pieces and having you wait alone in the car while the rest of us enjoy the attractions. Brian is absoutely right. Everyone else wants to start doing the attractions, so its not fair that we have to wait around just because YOU would rather start with the hayride."

Jimmy's dad paused to look at the rest of us, before returning his attention to Val.

"We are going to go do the Den of Darkness and the Frightmare Asylum, so you may feel free to stay out here and join us for the hayride. However, the lines are going to get longer as it gets later, and we sure as hell aren't going to wait for you to do the other two attractions. So, you may join us for the other two and go through all three, or wait for the hayride and therefore only do one attraction. Its your choice."

"Whatever. I don't care. Matt will sit out here with me, won't you, baby?"
The expression Matt gave his girlfriend was priceless, and I had to cough to cover up a giggle.
"Seriously, Val? With how you've been acting tonight, I'm really not sure I want anything to do with you right now."
Val glared at Matt for a few seconds before scowling and shaking her head. "Whatever."

Matt watched his girlfriend for a few seconds before grunting and turning his attention from her.
"Come on, guys. Lets go before she makes me do something I'll regret later."
Mr. Sullivan nodded his head. "Well, I guess that is that. Lets go do the Den of Darkness, everyone."

Since it was still relatively early to be at a haunted attraction, the Den of Darkness didn't have a line and were able to walk straight up to the attraction. The two indoor attractions at Field of Screams don't look large from the outside, but the attractions effectively make use of all the available space; the Den of Darkness has three floors and the Frightmare Asylum is a four level attraction.

According to the Field of Screams website, the barn used for the Den of Darkness has a dark and mysterious history. After it was used as barn and then a farmhouse, the building was transformed into the The Garden Hotel. Sometime in the early 1900's, the hotel suffered a mysterious fire that took the lives of a hundred hotel patrons. The spirits of the deceased patrons are the many characters that visitors to the Den of Darkness come across.

I think its the best story for an haunted attraction I've heard yet, although Shocktoberfest in Reading and Pennhurst Asylum have some very slick stories, as well.

Michelle must have talked some sense into Valary, since the girls entered the final indoor portion of the queue line behind me and Brian. I was kind of hoping that Val would continue her little temper tantrum and stay in the entertainment area, but I had a feeling that the monsters in the attraction would get her good.

Since we had decent sized group, we decided to split into smaller groups to head through the attraction; Jimmy, Matt and Mr. Sullivan entered first. As soon as they had entered, me, Johnny and Brian were allowed in a short time later, leaving Val and Michelle to go in alone. I would have loved to go through with Jimmy and Matt, but Matt still seemed pissed off with Val and I didn't want to risk making him more upset.

The Den of Darkness leads visitors through the three levels of the hotel; it is one of the few attractions in our area that uses the sense of smell as well as hearing and sight. The morgue literally smells awful, which caused me to gag and Brian and Johnny to hold their noses as the three of us passed through. The sense of hearing is also especially crucial in the Den of Darkness, since there are a couple of actors wielding chainsaws.

The Den of Darkness is one of the most intense attractions I've ever been through; unlike Terror Behind the Walls that is a family friendly attraction, there is a lot of blood and other gruesome stuff in the Den of Darkness and its obvious that this attraction is more geared toward mature audiences. The actors are also very dedicated to scaring people and aren't araid to touch you or aim their chainsaw at you. They don't aim to "kill" you, no these actors aim for the major tendons to slow you down.

Even though the chainsaws aren't dangerous in the least bit, it still isn't exactly comfortable getting hit by one.

It took the three of us about a half hour to go through the Den of Darkness, since we got a little confused on the third level. When we exited the attraction, the other three were already waiting for us. Jimmy gave ue a huge grin when we approached them.

"You three survived! Man, isn't that an amazing attraction? I thought I was going to have an epileptic seizure in the last few rooms with the black-and-white checkered patterns and strobe lights. Holy shit, I so totally didn't see that actor, either."
Matt grinned and nodded his head in agreement. "He about gave me a heart-attack," he admitted. "That is the scariest attraction I've ever been through."
"God, I know," I commented. "The stenches in the morgue was a great touch. I actually gagged."

"Man, that attraction alone is worth the ticket price," Brian added.
Johnny nodded his head in agreement. "I agree with Matt. Best attraction, hands down."
"Can't wait for the asylum," I said, causing Matt to nod and give me a smile.

Just then, Val and Michelle ran out the attraction; they were both screaming, which caused the six of us to laugh.
"That was the scariest thing I've ever done. I'm never going through one of those again," Val commented, causing me to arch an eyebrow and chuckle.
"The point of a haunted attraction is to scare you. Besides, we still have to go through the Frightmare Asylum and the Haunted Hayride, "I pointed out.
"Well, you guys can. I'm not doing any of the other attractions. That was way too intense." Michelle nodded her head in agreement, causing me to roll my eyes.

I had a feeling that neither Val or Michelle had never been to a haunted attraction before. Way to do some damn research before agreeing to come.

Mr. Sullivan shrugged and motioned for us to follow him.
"Fine, Val. You and Michelle can stay out here in the entertainment area while we do the other two. Everyone else, lets head right over to the Frightmare Asylum."

I wached as the two girls headed over to sit in the entertainment area before shaking my head a bit and giggling quietly.
"Zacky!"
Hearing my name being called, I turned around to see Matt jogging over to me.
"Sup, Matt?"
"Hey. Do you want to go through the Frightmare Asylum with me? It'll be just us two; it'll be super fun," he exclaimed, holding out his hand for me.

I gazed at Matt's hand for a second or two before turning my attention to Jimmy, Brian and Johnny; the other three smile nodded their heads.
"Have fun with Matt in there," Brian commented.
"Good luck, you two," Johnny exclaimed.
"Have fun, babies!" Jimmy squealed, bounding over to us and hugging us both.

Matt and I both laughed as Jimmy hugged us, and I turned my attention toward Matt as the other male let go of us. I smiled at him and gently took a hold of his hand, causing Matt's eyes to light up.
"Lets go for it," I exclaimed.
"Lets," Matt agreed.

We waved to the rest of the group before walking over to the entrance of the Frightmare Asylum together; I saw on the website that there were a few clowns in this attraction, so I had a feeling that I'd end up clinging to Matt through a portion of the asylum.

I hoped that Matt was okay with that idea.