May's Workshop Stories

The House of Fear

When they first came up with the idea of visiting an escape house for Halloween, Marjory was hesitant. She should have known that something would go horribly wrong.

The first thing that should have told her that something was wrong was an escape HOUSE, a thing that she hadn't heard of before. Still, it made sense to her that the idea of an escape room would evolve into an escape house. That was why it didn't raise any doubts in her mind.

As the door shut behind them, Marjory had a presentiment that something horrible would happen. Yet, she brushed it off as Halloween jitters, as the excitement that preceded doing something scary.

"Come on, are you coming?" Phoebe asked impatiently.

Marjory just stood there for a few moments, wondering if agreeing to her friend's idea was the best decision she had ever made because something felt off.

"Are you okay?" Alden asked, gently putting his hand on her shoulder.

He was always a great friend to Marjory. Having been bullied by Phoebe into accepting this activity, she needed reassurance from one of the kindest people she knew. Even though she had made it clear that Phoebe's idea of a double date wouldn't work as she wasn't into him, Alden stood by her side, defending her from her friend's controlling nature.

"Yes, sorry, just a bit of an adjustment," Marjory said, looking into Alden's kind eyes and wishing that she could see him as more than just a good friend.

Then they proceeded down the long hallway with many different doors along the way, just in time to see Phoebe and her boyfriend, Seth, enter a black door at the end of the hallway.

"Wait up," Marjory yelled, not wanting to be left behind in the unfamiliar place even if it was with Alden as her companion.

However, Phoebe either didn't hear her or didn't care and the door slammed shut behind them before Marjory and Alden could reach them.

"I am sure she just didn't hear you," Alden said as he opened the door for her.

He was always trying to make peace in their friend group, but Marjory sometimes wondered if there was any peace left to keep. If perhaps the friendship should have been disbanded the moment they finished university.

They had stayed friends and Marjory couldn't help but wonder if their friendship was real or if it was just a habit that neither one dared to break. What was worse, she was unsure about the people Seth and Phoebe were becoming. They were turning into the types of people Marjory would have never willingly chosen as her friends.

"Where are they?" Alden asked, interrupting Marjory's bleak thoughts that stopped her from realizing that her friends weren't in the room.

"They aren't here," she said, confused beyond measure.

"But we saw them enter this room, didn't we?" Alden asked, thinking that they might have gotten the room wrong.

"Yes, we did. I saw them go through the black door. Besides, all the other doors are of different colors," Marjory said, trying to figure out what was going on.

The room wasn't big enough or furnished enough for them to have a place to hide in and pull some of their awful pranks. Yet, for the first time, Marjory wished that was all it was, a prank that only they would consider funny.

"Maybe we should go back to the hallway and try another door, the one closest to this one?" Alden asked as they were supposed to do this together.

It did seem like Phoebe and Seth preferred to have some alone time. Alden wasn't even sure why they invited him and Marjory as they didn't hang out for months.