Watch as Your Darkest Fears Return to Life

Halloween Night

Vic’s POV

For fuck’s sake, this was supposed to be the ‘party of the year’, according to my boyfriend Kellin. He always dragged me places, saying, “Oh Vic, it’ll be fun! I promise!” and so that’s how I ended up here, at this fucking haunted house in the middle of fucking nowhere. It had originally been a party, but we had been dragged here about 4 hours ago. I glanced at my watch; it was 2:47 AM. Fuck. I wasn’t scared, but I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. I shone the light of my iPhone on the walls, trying to navigate the abandoned building, which was a lot bigger than I had originally thought. I clenched my teeth as my hand ran over spider webs, but not wanting to seem like a pussy, I decided to keep going. I was sure the others hadn’t left me, considering how many of us had come over from the Halloween party. This had always been my biggest fear; I was scared of lots of things, but I fucking hated haunted houses. The ghosts were real, and if you bothered them, they would bother you.

“Kellin..?” I called out tentatively, for about the millionth time. Once again, I looked at my phone, still no service. Vic, calm down. I said to myself. You’re going to be fine. I thought back to earlier in the night, when Jaime had announced the party was moving to the haunted house. Halloween had always been my least favorite holiday, anyways. I would’ve preferred staying in bed, cuddling with my boyfriend. But no, of course Kellin had made other plans. It was 2:51 now. Only four more hours until the sun came up. I could make it. I took a deep breath, slumping against the wall and letting myself slide to the ground. A shiver went down my spine, and I wrapped my arms around my knees.

“Get up.” I said firmly to myself. I hoisted myself up the ground and used my phone as a light… until it died, about 2 minutes later. I wanted to scream. Now I had no light, and no way of telling the time. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I wandered down the dark hallways, wondering what kind of place this could have been when it was still in use. I needed to think rationally, or else I would be overcome with fear. I kept my hand running along the wall, until suddenly it dipped into nothingness. A door? Holding out my arms, I went into the room.

The temperature dropped immediately, and there was a large crash behind me. I started to shake. I needed to get out of here. I spun around in the pitch dark, trying to find the exit. But it didn’t seem like it was there anymore. I felt a scream rising in my throat. I pushed myself against the wall, throwing my body at it over and over.

“KELLIN, GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. KELLIN, FUCK. FOR FUCK’S SAKE, I AM GOING TO FUCKING-“ my voice cut off, partly from fear and partly from the feeling of something- or someone- pressing on my throat. I was going to die here; the presence was pushing down on me. There was something very evil, and very not human in this room. It had lured me in here, to kill me. I felt my breathing started to slow as I crumpled onto the floor and let whatever evil was here overcome me.

THE NEXT MORNING

Kellin’s POV

I woke up in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. I knew immediately from my splitting headache that I was immensely hung over. What the fuck even happened last night? I remembered the party, I remembered going to the haunted house, and Vic… oh, fuck. Vic. Where was he? I looked for my phone, but it was gone. I was always losing it was parties. Shit, the house had to be close to here. I got up and looked around at the emptiness surrounding me. I spotted my phone lying in the grass a couple yards away, which was a slight relief. Now, to find my boyfriend. I dialed his number and had it go straight to voicemail. I called Jaime, who picked up on the first ring.

“Dude, where are you? You fucking left us last night!” He yelled on the other line. Shit, that hurt my head.

“For fuck’s sake, quiet down. When did I leave?” I asked, trying to recall any details of the night. Jaime laughed, not helping my head.

“Bro, you were so shit faced. You left at like 12, said you had to go get Vic. We pulled that haunted house prank on him, remember?” shit. “How is he?” I felt my mouth go dry as I realized he wasn’t with them.

“Wait, I thought he was with you?” I asked tentatively.

“Nah, Kellin. You told us not to come.” Jaime’s voice was too light for this subject.

“For Christ’s sake, Jaime, I don’t know where the fuck he is or where the fucking house is! Come get me, we need to find him!” I could feel the panic rising in my chest.

“Whoa, we’ll find him, Kell. Tony and I are on the way. We’ll come to where we dropped you off and keep driving down that road.” He said, more calmly this time. I just hung up. It took them a good 15 minutes to get to where I was, but at least they came. I climbed into the back seat.

“Where was the house we dropped him off at?” I asked.

“We’re headed there now, we’ll be there in like five minutes.” Tony said quietly. I jumped out of the car and ran across the field to the old building. Shit, who’s idea was it to bring Vic here? I started to feel terrible. The place was disgusting. My head was still pounding, but Vic was more important than my damn hangover. Tony and Jaime trudged far behind me.

“Hurry the hell up, fuckers. Vic could be hurt!” I yelled, which made them kind of jog. I reached the house and barged in. “VIC?” I screamed as loud as I could. (Again, not helping my head.) “VIC, I’M SO SORRY BABY. WHERE ARE YOU?” Damn, this house was huge. I walked through spider webs and through pieces of wood aside. I heard Tony and Jaime come in, finally. I jogged back to the front room. “I’ll take the second floor, Jaime you get first, and Tony take third.” They nodded grimly and set off, all of us yelling Vic’s name.

I started to get really upset after about 15 minutes of searching. It was all my fault, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something had happened to him. I wandered through the hallways, feeling tears beginning to pool in my eyes. What the fuck had I done? I turned to the wall, kicking it in anger and frustration. It almost sounded hollow. I turned and kicked it again, feeling the wood strain against my force. I started to hit it, but it wasn’t until I heard the faint groan from behind the wall that I became really frantic.

“TONY! JAIME!” I screamed. “GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!” I started to bang on the wall with all my strength, slamming my body against it. I couldn’t quite get it to move. I heard two sets of footsteps coming behind me.

“Did you find him?” Jaime asked as he approached. I nodded, short of breath.

“Behind this wall. Help me get it down.” I panted. We all began to bang on it as hard as we could.

“Guys, we’ll all slam on the count of three.” Tony suggested. Jaime and I nodded. “One…Two…Three!” I felt the wall start to cave through as we were pitched into a dark room. There was no light except from the gaping hole we had just managed to make. The room was dusty and even more ominous than the rest of the house. My eyes had to scan the room a couple of times to see the small figure balled up in the corner.

“VIC!” I screeched. I ran over to him, taking him into my arms. He made a small sound. I pressed my fingers to his wrist, feeling his pulse was slow. Fuck, he had to be okay. I looked up at our friends. “Call a fucking ambulance, dammit!” I yelled at them. I heard Jaime talking to the operator as I rocked Vic back and forth in my arms. “It’s gonna be okay.” I cooed. “I’m so, so sorry.” We stayed like this until the emergency vehicles came.

I rode with Vic in the ambulance, watching as they strapped him up to one of the breathing machines. They unzipped his yellow hoodie and began checking his arms and stomach. I pushed his hair back from his forehead, feeling something sticky. Blood. The nurse immediately pushed me away, muttering more stuff into her walky talky thing. There was nothing I could do but wait.

Three days. Three fucking days later and Vic was still in that coma. It was all my fault, which made me want to die. There had been cuts and bruises all over his body, some looking a lot like punches or scratches. They suspected his coma was caused by head trauma, but they weren’t sure.

On the fourth day, the doctors were starting to give up hope. I had new flowers, in case he woke up. I stayed by his bed as long as they would let me.

It was the fifth day. The doctors told me to say goodbye. I asked them to leave me alone with him, and they did. I set down the wilted flowers next to him. Scooting my chair close to his bed, I took my hand in his.

“Vic, I am so sorry. I love you, okay? I fucking love you. I never meant for this to happen.” My voice started to crack. I ran my hands through his hair. “I love you.” I whispered one last time. I took off his breathing mask and I kissed him on the lips. I heard the heart rate moniter behind me jump. I turned to look at it, and in the second I looked away, Vic opened his eyes. He was terrified. He clamped down on my hand as the doctors rushed in.

“Kellin, where am I? What happened?” He stammered, gasping for air. His hands clawed at the tubes hooked up to his body, causing the nurses to grab him. I reached out for him, only to be pushed away.

“Vic, Vic, I love you. I love you.” I yelled as I started to sob. I was pushed out of the room and left to cry in the hospital hallway.

Four Months Later

Neither of us remembers what happened that night. I was too drunk, and god only knows what happened to Vic. He still wakes up in a fit almost every night from the dreams, which breaks my heart. He insists that it wasn’t my fault, but I put all the blame on myself. He still has scars, especially massive ones on his forehead and throat. Every time I look at them, I wish I could rewind, and change that night. But I can’t. We’ve moved to New York now, and started over fresh. There’s only one thing I can promise: No more parties.