requested by and dedicated to kiichirose
i hope you like it!

~ Halloween (personalized) ~

It was a chilly night, and rightfully so. The end of October is not very well known for its warmth. And this wasn't just any day in the latter half of the autumn month; it was the last. A day known as Halloween.

I rubbed my arms as I walked through the field, the icy air making clouds of my breath as I exhaled. It was colder than it should be, considering it wasn't actually winter yet. I was glad I'd had the sense to bring a jacket-- something my companion clearly lacked.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked him as we trekked through the tall grass.

"Not really," he replied, shrugging. "Don't worry, it'll be warm in the house. You won't be freezing in there."

I sure hoped I wouldn't be. Axl may have had the tolerance of a polar bear, but I got cold in sixty-degree weather.

We finally made it out of the field surrounding the large house. Creepy music was playing from somewhere inside. High-pitched shouts rang through the air as children ran around, playing in the edges of the tall grass and scaring each other. Axl and I took a spot in the line for the house, me still rubbing my arms and him looking around at the playing kids.

"You don't think it'll actually be really scary, do you?"

"Becca, I'm not paying the entrance just to come out without having gotten so scared I almost pissed myself."

I laughed at his choice of words and lightly shoved his shoulder. "Right, of course not. But you remember there's a kids' section and another for adults, so before you start complaining about how not-scary it was, make sure we've gone through every part."

"Yeah, I know. Seriously though, I don't think it'll be super scary; it's a haunted house. They're supposed to be fun-scary, not traumatic experiences."

"You have a point. Get ready, we get to go in soon."

"I know. And just remember, if you get really scared, I'm right here," Axl said as we finally made it to the front of the line. He paid both fees and we headed into the haunted house.

"Yeah, same goes for you," I told him. Internally, I knew I was probably going to get scared, but I didn't have to let him know that just yet.

He laughed and nudged my arm. "Sure, thanks."

I nodded and pointed to something above his head. He turned and saw the ugly little bat hanging from the ceiling, then turned back toward me with an amused expression on his face.

"That's terrifying, isn't it? Damn, I think we should turn around. If it stays at that level of fright-inducing, I don't think I'll be able to handle it."

"I don't think you will," I laughed, "let's get out."

"Uh-huh. The way out is through here." He gestured toward the rest of the haunted house.

"Smart." I noticed a flight of stairs leading to an upper floor. "Come on, that's gotta lead somewhere."

"Right behind you."

That was a bad idea on his part, because I had no sense of direction in the dark house and was really just following other lost people. We went through the kids' part of the haunted house about four times before he decided to take over.

With him as the leader, we quickly made it past the children's section and into the darker part of the house. That was a trip, because it was already plenty dark in the upper section. Now we were in some kind of underground tunnel, and as the ground gently sloped downward I felt the cold rising.

"This better be the right way. I swear if this is the way to some murderer's cave..."

"It is, look. All the other people are coming down here." I hoped I was right.

"We could all be on our way to our deaths, and we wouldn't know," Axl said with a shrug. "What a fun idea."

A little laugh escaped me when I caught sight of his bored expression. "Wow, and you're practically shaking in fear."

Finally, we reached the end of the tunnel, and... I couldn't see anything.

"Axl? You're still there, right?" I reached out and my hand hit a head of very silky hair. "Yeah, that's you."

Axl's hand covered mine and he laughed. "I'm right here. Blindie."

"That's not a word. You made it up."

"All words are made up. Seriously, now what?"

"Uh... this way," I responded, pulling him toward a blinking light. It turned out to be the flashing eye of a creepy-looking mummy. I stared at it for a moment before it suddenly screamed and lurched forward. I jumped backward, accidentally crashing into Axl.

"You big baby. I-I saw that coming," he said.

"No you didn't. C'mon, let's keep going."

We walked past a small source of light illuminating a figure crouched by what looked like a body. It leaned down and took a bite out of the 'body' and began loudly chewing it. I averted my eyes and kept walking, slightly creeped out. It kept getting darker the further we went, and I bumped into something hard. A dim light flashed on and the person I'd bumped into lifted a chainsaw covered in blood.

I screamed and stumbled backwards as the chainsaw roared to life and the masked person began advancing toward me. Axl grabbed my shoulders and steered me away, but the person kept coming.

Screw this, that might be real. I'm getting the hell outta here. I started to run, hoping Axl would follow. I almost crashed into several people, and internally I hoped the chainsaw-wielder would go after one of them instead. They seemed intent on catching me, however.

I finally hit a dead end and noticed Axl was next to me. I was relieved to see he had followed, but his "it's a dead end" wasn't very helpful.

He moved to the right as the person drew nearer. I followed a little too quickly and ended up knocking him onto his butt. Somehow I ended up lying perpendicularly across him, desperately trying but failing to get up.

"My God, come on," Axl said with a panicked laugh. I finally managed to spring up and grabbed his foot, dragging him along with me.

The chainsaw-person stopped, and I heard them choke back a laugh. The mask was removed and thrown to the floor as the newly revealed guy doubled over in laughter.

"That was amazing. Ah, I'm gonna pee myself. Thank you guys." He picked the mask up and walked away, shaking his head.

Before Axl and I could react, a mummy started shambling toward us. I screamed and started dragging him away again, but I couldn't go that fast.

"Let me get up!" he called. I dropped his foot and went for his hand, promptly yanking him off the ground. "Hurry up now."

We made it away from the mummy but got caught in a cobweb. Crap, now I couldn't see at all.

When we finally tore it off, a person in a plague-doctor mask was approaching us. We took off, hearing a crazed raspy voice yell, "it's time for your medicine!"

"I've had enough of this place," Axl said bitterly after another fifteen minutes or so of us blindly scrambling around. A live bat had come down to attack us at one point, and I was ready to call it quits as well. Unfortunately, you couldn't just quit this place; you had to find your way out.

A minute later, I understood the reason for the warning posted at the entrance. A strobe light came on and blinded us both. Were we ever going to be able to see in there?

A deafening screech sounded from above, and something dropped from the roof onto the floor. I almost had a heart attack then. Even Axl gave a little yelp. Luckily, it went after another pair of people, and we were spared the horror of being chased again.

Eventually, we stumbled back out into the night, and I realized just how much time had passed since we'd gone in.

Neither of us spoke as we exited the house. Our eyes were wide and we were stiff as boards.

"I guess I got my money's worth," were Axl's silence-breaking words.

"You got double your money's worth," I said, still in shock.

"It looked... so real. Man, I'm never going back in there again."

We decided to go on the hay ride to relax. He helped me into the back of the truck and I sat on one of the hay bales, patting the space next to me. Axl sat and let out a breath before putting an arm around me. "At least this won't be terrifying."

He was wrong. A few minutes into the gentle ride, the truck suddenly lurched forward into the woods surrounding the property. The ground was bumpy and someone almost flew off their hay bale. It was cold and foggy there-- I almost regretted getting on. Something attacked the side of the truck, causing me to jump and shove myself closer to Axl.

"I... hate this place," he said, slouching. He jumped and sat up straight when something was thrown into the bed of the truck. It was a hand, and it was moving. It looked so realistic, I could only hope it wasn't actually real.

Once we'd cleared the woods, the truck slowed down, and it was a peaceful ride. I couldn't fully enjoy it, though, because I was still thoroughly terrified. Every now and then I recalled Axl's scared face and laughed, but it was a nervous laugh.

We went around a small pond, and I watched the moon's reflection in the water. It was beautiful-- there was a full moon that night. The stars happily gleamed, matching the bright twinkle in Axl's eye when I looked back at him.

The hay ride was over not too long after. I was shaking as I jumped off the truck. Axl looked steady, but he took a step and tripped. I couldn't even laugh at him that time.

We both bought drinks from the stand and sat on a hay bale on the ground. We sat and stared straight forward, sipping our lemonades in silence. We were both slumped forward, neither wanting to look up out of shame.

"That was awful. I'm never coming back here," Axl said.

"Yeah, me neither. I thought the ride was gonna be fun, but it was almost as scary as the house. Serves me right. Let's never come back."

We looked at each other for a moment before I asked, "we're coming back next year, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course."

***

i have done Duff, Izzy, Steven, and now Axl. if i do Slash, i would have the complete set
also this hit 4k reads today, that's amazing! even though i bet half of the views are from me going back to read the comments lol. thanks so much to everyone for reading, and to those who vote and comment. this was a little shorter than my usual update, i hope it was enough. also hope everyone enjoyed, until next time!