Page 7 of Shattered Souls

My eyes never leave the muzzled one.

Not even as he reaches out and grabs a piece of my popcorn. He lifts it to my lips and I hesitate for a second before I open my mouth, letting him lay the food on the pad of my tongue.

“Mm,” the porcelain one groans. “Such a good little scarecrow.” I forget everything. They share a look before backing away from me and heading onto the stage.

“Holy shit, Rayvn.” Allie spins me by my shoulders. “How does it feel to live my fucking dream?” Her eyes are lit up with lust and excitement.

I smile, but I can’t find it in me to form any kind of words. I move my eyes back up to the stage.

Two dirt bikes have been brought out for the masked men, Hyde and Seek. They each take a seat upon one of them, and the muzzled one’s eyes bore into mine the entire time he sits atop his.

They bring the bikes to life with a roar, and the crowd goes crazy once again.

“Say hello to Hyde!” The plague doctor shouts to the crowd as the muzzled man drives his bike into an opening in the cage of death. The door closes behind him, leaving his companion Seek to stare at me now.

Hyde rocks his bike back and forth a few times before, to my shock, he circles the sphere's wall entirely. I watch, completely transfixed, as he rounds the ball with gravity defying ease.

He stops his bike on the ground again, and a wave of cheerful shouts come from around me. Seek moves his bike and slips inside the same door.

“No way they can both do that.” I say more to myself than anyone else.

“I could do that.” Karla chuffs from behind me, snaking a hand around me to steal a bite of popcorn.

Hyde and Seek both rock their bikes before surging forward in opposite directions. I watch in awe as they circle one another and never once get close enough to touch.

One of them hugs the center of the sphere while the other circles the top and loops down to the bottom. They never touch, never crash, even though they look as if they might a handful of times.

When both bikes come to a halt at the base again, the crowd erupts again. This time, I can’t help but join in. They both make their ways out of the ball, but I’m drug away from the scene by two pairs of arms pulling me towards the Shattered Souls manor.

“If we hurry, the line will be shorter.” Eleanor swears as she hurries towards the Victorian house.

“That was awesome, Rayvn.” Karla says as she’s also drug by Eleanor. “How did it feel?” Her eyes are just as hungry as Allie’s were.

“Strange,” I answer honestly. How can I explain to someone that knows nothing about me that what just happened feeds some strange and twisted part of me?

“I should’ve shoved your ass out of the way instead of hiding in your back.” Allie fake pouts as we halt in the thankfully short line to the manor.

It takes less than five minutes before we are let inside the house, sans my popcorn because it was confiscated at the entrance. We huddle in a tight group as we creep through the eerie corridor.

A chandelier swings on the ceiling, and while you’re busy looking at it, a man dressed as a ghost butler mumbles pleasantries under his breath in the corner.

We enter the next room, a library, and all of us jump as the floor board breaks under Allie’s foot. We can’t help but giggle as books fall from shelves on every side of us, and a chilling breeze laps at our faces.

The house leads you to an attic that has a horrible mildew smell, as rats skitter in front of you. Eleanor goes to whisper something to me when a man falls from the fucking ceiling. We all scream, break formation, and run.

The final room, after a few hallways of jump scares that have my heart threatening to vacate my chest, is a basement. We make it halfway through the silly, torture victim props when my eyes find a man with his head slumped over and blood pouring out of his mouth.

My entire body freezes as I look at the figure that reminds me too much of a scene that I’ve seen before—no, a scene that I’ve caused. I take a step towards the man, the other girls still advancing towards the exit.

Just as my hand reaches out to touch the body, a man with a syringe screams and comes charging at me. All four of us girls scream and bolt out of the house. Eleanor and I stumble and fall to the cold earth, gasping for breath.

“Fuck,” Allie laughs. “Where did he come from?”

I stand up and help my other fallen friend to her feet, all of us still softly laughing at our terror.

“Can we please go to the Dollmaker next?” Karla asks, her eyes already set on the attraction.

“Hell yes!” Allie bounces from foot to foot.