Haunt

“All new haunted house open this weekend! Located just off I25 in Abadon, North Carolina!”

Aston looked at the advertisement in the daily newspaper. A haunted house? located just a few miles away? what a strange location. Aston pondered the advertisement further. Why here? Aston looked up the place on his desktop. Looks pretty legit, he thought to himself. He calls up his friend.

“Hello?”

“Hey dude, there’s this new haunted house located a few minutes away from me. I was wondering if you wanted to go through with me.”

“Fuck that, I hate those things,” his friend hung up immediately after saying that.

“Damn. Guess I’ll have to go on my own,” he says to himself.

On the day of the event, Aston heads to the location. The building looks different than Aston had envisioned. It was a white two-story building, no more than around 4000 or 4500 square feet. A short queue line was created with fence posts and a rope. 7 or 8 people stood in the line.

“You lost?” Aston looks over. A man dressed in normal clothes stood by him. He was taller than Aston by a few inches.

“Yeah… where’s the ticket counter at?” Aston looked around. There seemed to be nothing around. No building, no trailer, nothing that looked like it could maybe sell tickets.

“We don’t do tickets here. You give an amount money at the door. We accept checks, cards or cash. You should see the booth once you’re at the front of the line.”

“Oh, alright.” Aston headed into line. Adrenaline consumed him. Or was it fear? Maybe both? Aston couldn’t think. He looked around and saw a poster a few feet away. It seemed to be a rules chart. He read some of the rules to himself.

“The actors WILL touch you, do not attempt to hit, shove, or injure the actors in any way.”

The actors… touch you?

“You may get wet or leave with some damages to your clothing. We aren’t responsible for any damages.”

What the hell is this place?

“You will have 2 opportunities to leave the haunt. Once at the beginning of the attraction and once in the middle. If you don’t use those two opportunities, you can’t leave unless you have some form of medical issue (seizures, unresponsive etc).”

This isn’t a haunted house, this is a goddamn torture chamber, thought Aston.

“NEXT PLEASE!” Aston looked up. He was at the front. He had to enter now. He had waited a while, and he didn’t want to waste it.

“Hey there, so it’s going to be $25.”

25 for this?!

“Cash, check or card?”

“Cash.”

Aston takes $25 out of his pocket.

“Now just wait a minute, we wait for someone to exit just so the actors can reset.”

Aston wanted to leave, but he didn’t.

“You may now enter, have fun!”

I’m sure I will, Aston thought. Being stuck inside a torture chamber for however long, oh boy sounds so fun. Aston stepped into the white building. The room he stepped into was pitch black, with absolutely zero sound. It seemed as if sound, light, and feeling had evaporated. All of a sudden, a person grabbed his hand and yanked him against the wall.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” The person screamed in his ear. Aston stood quiet.

“HELLOOOO?!” The person, seemingly mocking him, pushed him into the wall more. His face was squished against the wall. The pain was already being induced. If this is the start, I don’t want to continue Aston thought.

“I’M GONNA GIVE YOU ONE MORE TIME TO TELL ME WHO YOU ARE OR IM GOING TO SLIT YOUR THROAT OPEN AND FUCK THE WOUND.”

“Aston! My name is Aston!”

The person let go.

“Aston, eh?”

A light flicked on. A nude man stood mere inches away from him. He was much taller than Aston.

“Ooh, a pretty boy. We’re gonna have so much fun with you.” The person let out a maniacal laugh. He grabbed Aston again and pushed him onto the floor. The pain shot through his entire body. The person squatted in-front of him.

“Fuck…” Aston winced.

“How DARE you swear in-front of me?!” He grabbed Aston and pulled him to his feet.

“Sit.” The man pointed to a chair in-front of a CRT TV. It was playing a static screen. The person inserted a tape into a VHS player.

“Now to make sure you don’t leave this seat early…” the man pulled out a roll of duct tape and taped Aston’s legs and hands to the chair.

“There we go. Now, watch the entire thing without looking away.” Aston watched the screen as a horrifying scene played out. The nude man had grabbed a woman and abused her in all sorts of ways. It was one of the most grotesque scenes he had ever saw. The man then grabbed the woman and pushed her into a closet and left her there.

“You saw what happened to her?” Aston nodded.

“Now, meet her.” The man walked over to the closet and opened it. The woman ran out in-front of him. Her calls for help were muffled by a piece of tape over her mouth that almost reached her nose. Her blond hair was covered with blood and other gunk. Her eyes were swelled like she had cried her whole life.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, you’re in good hands.” The man caressed her slowly. He grabbed a metal object out of a drawer.

“Now then, Aston,” the man pointed the object to the woman. It was a gun. The man racked the gun. The woman flinched with a cry.

“I’m going to let you make a decision here. You saw what happened to her, and I can tell you’re disturbed by it, and I have an… idea. An idea that you wouldn’t enjoy, but I would enjoy greatly. So, lets make a deal. Your two options are, I kill her, but you don’t have to see my idea, or she’s set free, but you have to see my idea.” Aston looked at the man, then the woman. She was shaking her head.

“5 seconds, Aston. Time’s ticking!”

“K-kill her!” Aston yelled out. He didn’t want to see the idea.

“Really, Aston. You see her, all helpless, and you want her to die? Look at her face.”

Tears stormed down the woman’s face.

“Kill her, just do it!”

Without hesitation, the man pulled the trigger. Blood splattered on Aston’s shirt and on the man. Aston sat in shock, he really did it.

“One thing you’ll learn about me, Aston…” the man walked over to Aston and untaped him from the chair.

“I’m a liar. So, you, my friend, are going to see my idea.” Aston panicked.

“Oh hell no, please, I’ll do anything, please man.”

“Sorry, I made my decision.” The man grabbed Aston and walked him over to a mattress.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” The man grabbed Aston and pulled him onto the mattress. He rolled him onto his back. The man got on top of him.

“Heh, let’s see what this pre-“ the man was pulled off of him.

“Now what the hell are you doing?” A woman yelled at him.

“Uh, uh, n-nothing!” The man uttered.

“Don’t you DARE do anything to this poor boy,” she looked him up and down, “And go put some damn clothes on!” The man walked off. The woman picked Aston up and led him to a room. This room was brightly lit, with a few curtain LED lights scattered on the walls. There was a person standing in the corner of the room.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with him, he’s a bit insane.”

“No shit.” Aston said.

“Man, you’re just a big ol’ potty mouth huh?” She slapped him. A slight pain shot through his face.

“Sorry.” Aston told her. He glanced around the room. He noticed that the woman in the corner was staring at him.

“Hey, who is… her?” Aston pointed to the woman in the corner. She let out a groan that reminded him of the grudge.

“Oh shit.” The woman that saved him from the man grabbed him.

“Run with me, this isn’t safe.” Aston tried to run, but the man had injured him a bit. His leg was hurting badly. He limped as fast as he could, but it wasn’t enough.

“Shit!” Aston fell to the ground.

“Oh fuck!” The woman from the corner grabbed him and pulled him away.

“HELP!” He yelled.

“I’ll try!” Aston was pulled around a corner and the woman that tried to save him disappeared.

“Hello there.” The woman from the corner had a deep tone. Her voice sent shivers down his spine.

“H-hello…” Aston replied. Fear had fully consumed him by now. The woman pulled him into a corner. She pulled his hands behind his back and tied them together.

“Now, I want you to meet someone.” She pulled him to his feet and guided him to a purple room. The room was covered in newspapers soaked in blood. There was no chair.

“Sit down on your knees.” The woman told him. He sat in the center of the room. A man walked into the room. He was fully clothed luckily. He had a video camera and a knife.

“What’s your name, young man?” The man asked Aston. His tone was very calm.

“Aston…” he replied.

“Aston, hm. I like that name.” The man stepped closer. Aston looked up at him. The man took the knife and slowly dragged it across his face forming a smile.

“What the fuck…” Aston said out loud. The man looked at him. Suddenly, he grabbed him and pushed him over.

“Do not fucking speak unless I tell you.” The man took the knife and slowly brushed the dull side against Aston’s neck. Then, Aston was lifted off his feet.

“I’m gonna take you somewhere. You’ll look completely different by time you’re done in there.” The man took him to a room that had a bathtub full of water. The man untied his hands and stopped in the middle of the room.

“Touch the water.” The man set Aston down. Aston squatted and touched the water. It was ice cold. Just as Aston was touching the water, the man shoved him into the water. The cold sensation ran over his whole body. He splashed violently like a fish out of water.

“F-fucking hell!” Aston thrashed violently as the man laughed. The man grabbed Aston’s leg. Aston froze.

“Look at me,” the man commanded. Aston looked over at him. The man was holding a… toaster?

“O-OH FUCK NO-“ Aston wailed. The man dropped the toaster into the tub. Aston thrashed as a flurry of pops and bangs played quickly. The man was laughing again. Aston was sweating bullets despite being drenched in cold water.

“Get up,” the man commanded again. Aston stood up sharply. The man lifted him and brought him back to the purple room. The man then grabbed a black bag and pulled it over Aston’s face. He could feel multiple hands touching his head and chest. He soon heard a flurry of chants.

“Give up,” they repeated over and over. “Give up.”

“I’m not giving up!“ Aston yelled out. The chants stopped. Someone grabbed him and threw him into a corner. Then, he was picked up and shaken around like the inside of a bartender’s shaker. He was then thrown to the floor. Soon, he was being dragged away from the room. Someone lifted the bag off his head. He let his eyes adjust to the new environment. It was a dimly lit kitchen space. He soon heard someone walk into the room. He looked over and saw a woman standing not too far away. The woman reached into the fridge and pulled out a substance that he couldn’t exactly make out. It seemed to be a black soup with some kind of string inside it. He looked closer. It was… worms.

“Looks good doesn’t it?” The woman pushed the bowl closer to him. Aston looked away and made a face. The woman simply set the bowl down on a table and guided him to the table.

“Sit down, hun.” The woman had a thick country accent. She was wearing clothes similar to Dolly Parton. She had a pair of light blue jeans on that seemed too tight on her and a yellow button down shirt that seemed too loose on her. Aston sat at the table. Was he going to have to eat whatever this was?

“C’mon, eat hun. It ain’t gonna hurt you.” Aston took another look at the bowl.

“I said EAT HUN!“ The woman suddenly grabbed his face and pushed it into the bowl. It tasted like pure and unadulterated shit. The woman lifted his face out the bowl. He was breathing heavy. The woman lifted him and pulled him into a room. This room was seemingly a public restroom. He stood. No one attacked him. No one grabbed him. There was literally nothing in the room.

“Above you,” someone whispered. He looked up and a man dropped on top of him. He pulled him into a stall. He looked into the toilet in-front of him. The rim and water had vomit all over them. The man proceeded to push his face into the toilet.

“Eat that shit, bitch!” Aston kept his mouth shut. No way he was going to eat that. The man lifted his head out the toilet.

“I said EAT IT BITCH BOY!” The man pushed his face into the toilet again. Aston suddenly felt lightheaded. His arms dropped and he couldn’t feel his face. Next thing he knew, he was in the back of an ambulance.

“He’s waking up!” A paramedic stood over him. He was out of that hell hole. Finally. They pushed him beyond his boundaries.

A few weeks later, Aston sat in his living room watching the news.

“In a new story, a local haunted house is being shut down due to being quote ‘too extreme’.”

Aston sat up.

“Visitors recount being put into violent scenarios such as a mock rape scenario and being thrown around a room with a bag over their head.”

The screen cut to a person who seemingly had gone through.

“This place is severely unsafe. I was thrown around like a sack of meat. I was forced to eat something that tasted exactly like animal shit. I was put into a mock rape scenario, there’s too much for me to all say here.”

“This house have revealed similar houses all over the United States. These houses have a very niche market and will now all be shut down. The government says that any house that physically abuses their patrons in any form will be shut down.”

Aston sighed, what a relief. That hell hole had been shut down, and so had every house like it. No longer would anyone have to experience anything like it. Than fucking god he though, thank the fucking lord.