Date Night

It was a cool October night and the carnival was in full swing. The air was filled with the crisp scent of fall and the distant sound of laughter and music. The bright lights of the rides and games illuminated the entire area, this night has been everything I have wanted.

I had been looking forward to this date for weeks. Jake had just returned home after serving 2 years in Ukraine and seen heavy combat. This was our first real date since his return, the return to normalcy has been indescribable, truly a dream.

We walked hand in hand, taking in all the sights and sounds of the carnival. We played games, won stuffed animals, and rode the many spinny rides that leave one coursing with adrenaline (and a little bit of nausea). We had a great time together, and I couldn’t believe my luck. I told him I thought we would never do things like this again, but he assured me that it was the start of many more adventures to come.

As the night went on, we stumbled upon a haunted maze that was tucked away in a corner of the carnival. It was made to look like an old, abandoned mansion, complete with creaky floorboards and eerie lighting. I’ve always hated these sort of things, and wasn’t really feeling up to walking through it. Jake reassured me.. “Whats the worst that could happen babe? I’ll be by your side the whole time.” Although reluctant, he was right. Nothing was actually going to be haunted about this place, so we entered.

As we walked through the maze, we were greeted with dark and narrow corridors that seemed to go on forever. The walls were adorned with cobwebs and eerie paintings that seemed to follow us with their eyes. Every turn we took led to another spooky room, each one more terrifying than the last.

The first room we entered was a library, filled with dusty books and flickering candles. Suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared out of nowhere, causing me to jump and cling to Jake tightly. But as quickly as it appeared, it vanished into thin air.

As we continued through the maze, we entered a room filled with coffins, each one with a skeleton lying inside. The room was dimly lit and the skeletons seemed to be moving on their own accord. It was hard to tell if it was just an illusion or not, but the fear was real.

One room in particular stood out for its level of terror, this was the last room before the exit. It was a pitch-black room with a single light shining on a figure hanging from the ceiling. The figure was dressed in tattered clothes and had a hood over its head. It was standing right next to exit motionless, as if a dead body was draped in cloaked hood. As we approached, a strobe light turned on out of no where, and that's when I felt Jake’s grip tighten around my arm very tightly.

As we approached the figure, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my arm and I realized that Jake’s grip had tightened to the point of hurting me. I turned to him and said “You’re hurting me, Jake.” When I looked at him, I saw that he was as pale as a ghost, with a lost and distant look in his eyes. He seemed on edge and defensive, as if something had triggered a deep fear within him.

We approached the door to exit the maze, but just as we were about to leave, the cloaked figure lunged at me. It was as if it had come to life and I was paralyzed with fear. Jake quickly pushed me out of the way and stepped in front of me, shielding me from the figure. But as the figure lunged towards us, Jake’s demeanor changed, he was no longer Jake, the man I was looking at looked ready to fight for his life. He quickly reacted, using his military training, in an instant he was strangling the cloaked figure, he looked up at me and told me to run.

I screamed at Jake telling him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I ran over and tried to get him off the cloaked figure. Jake was too strong, I could here the person under the hood trying to gasp for air, and screamed at Jake to stop. Suddenly, Jake twisted his arms violently, and that's when I could hear the noise that I will never forget.. It was like the sound of a tree branch giving way under too much weight. The robed figure went limp, and Jake let go of the figure like a young kid dropping a toy he is no longer interested in. The figure fell to the ground and the hood fell off of him.

He was just a young kid, 17 years old. His name was Brian and he was volunteering for the carnival as part of a volunteer group he had formed at his high school. Brian is dead. When I seen him laying their I ran out the exit of the mansion and found an on guard cop. Jake had been arrested…

Date night was over.