Why did I sign up for that?

Last night was Halloween. My friend Casey was throwing a Wild West Murder Mystery party. It was a blast. My boyfriend Jared and I went and a lot of our friends were there as well. We all were assigned our own characters last week so we could plan our costumes accordingly. It was a lot of fun trying to discover who the murderer was. I was awarded at the end for acquiring the most money from other players. After the game was over, we all discussed what we should do for the duration of the evening.

The first plan was to go to the theater to see “Ouija.” We all planned to sneak in, who wants to pay for a movie? However, not everybody was up for that so we decided to seek other options so that everyone could be involved. This is when there was first mention of a haunted house. I looked at Jared and he looked at me and we both said “It’s up to you.” Neither of us are into scary movies and definitely not haunted houses. Casey looked at me and said “Would you go?” I was battling with myself because the night was young and there was nothing else to do. I was having such a good time with everyone, they all wanted to go and I didn’t want to be the one that wimped out. So I decided what the hell let’s do it. That was my first mistake.

The drive to the house was about thirty minutes long and we took Casey’s mom’s minivan so some of us could car pool. It was a hilarious ride there and back. It was what happened in the middle of the trips that really petrified me. “I really hope they don’t split up the group,” I told everyone. We show up to the haunted house titled “House of the Living Dead” and there was hardly a line which was nice. “Four at a time guys,” the man outside the gate told us. I was so mad because I knew they were going to do that. Jared and I decided that we would go with our good friends Chris and Alexis. We were the last four of our friend group to enter the house.

I spoke with the gate keeper guy before we entered. “Tell it to me straight, how bad is it,” I asked him. “Oh it’s not that bad, it’ll only take about fifteen minutes,” he assured me. And later I would realize that it was the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I then told him this was my first time ever going through a haunted house. That was my second mistake because he almost made me go first. A scary looking person opened the door and screamed “Next!” We walked in and got checked for weapons. I asked the lady, “They aren’t going to touch me right?” She said there would be absolutely no touching. That didn’t deem to be true.

We entered the house, Chris in the front followed by Alexis then me and Jared in the back. Thank God for the men because there was no way Alexis or I would have gone in the front or back. In the second room of the house, I was already crying. The tears would remain on my face for the duration of the walk through the house. I had several hysterical fits throughout and often times put my hood right up against Alexis’ jacket to block out everything around me.  When the people running the house saw that I was crying, I became an immediate target because they knew they’d get a reaction out of me. I remember walking through spots thinking it was over just to be surprised with yet another disturbing person in my face threatening to kill me. I also remember repeatedly saying, “oh God, there’s more?” while crying and sniffling.

 In one room, a chop-shop hillbilly refused to let me by him, separating Jared and me from Chris and Alexis. I remember yelling “Don’t touch me!” Which of course he replied, “I’m not.” When indeed he was, later we would report him.

When we finally reached the end I practically ran Alexis over trying to get outside. I stood there crying and trying to calm myself and telling myself it was over. I turned around to hug Jared and let him hold me, which was my last mistake because I was traumatized by the last terrifying guy we’d seen in the house. He’d followed behind us and came up from behind me. When he jumped in front of me, he was about four inches from my face. I screamed so loud and started running while having another hysterical fit. Jared ran after me, then held me telling me that it’s really over and that there’s no one left. I finally pulled myself together and was fine after we got to the parking lot.

Looking back on it now, they did a fantastic job running that house. There were so many awesome effects and features that I actually thought were pretty cool. There was a slide in the hillbilly chop shop. There was a truck that came at you with the lights and horn blaring. There was a room that had a slanted walkway with railings that had a revolving ceiling which surrounded you and made you feel like you were spinning. The actors were fantastic and did their job justice. Point taken, I’d much rather work in a haunted house than go through one.