Meet Me Where It Doesn't Hurt

Chapter One

There were only two things that I thought of as I looked at the tickets in my hand. The first was that I didn't understand why tickets to a haunted house would be so big. Normally, they were smaller and could easily fit inside your palm. These ones were large, and I wondered how much it cost to print all of them. The second thing I thought of was how far away Brian's voice was. Here he was, my boyfriend of four years, standing in front of me, telling me that he'd been cheating on me. 

"I'm sorry, Nora. I really am, but you haven't really been around, and you know how lonely I get when you're not around."

I looked up and blinked. His large dark eyes looked anywhere but at me. Here he was telling me that he'd been cheating on me with a girl from our favorite cafe, and the only thing I noticed as I looked up at him was that his hair was annoying perfect today. He'd styled it back in a way that complimented his eyes. 

I was going crazy. My boyfriend was telling me that he'd been cheating for the last six months and I was thinking about his ears. 

I blinked again. 

"Nora, are you listening to me?"

"I think I'm good now." The words escaped my mouth before I had time to register what I was really saying. 

He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I'm good. I'm done with this." I was surprised at how natural the words came, and part of me wondered how long I subconsciously rehearsed saying them. 

"Wait," Brian's voice started to rise, "you can't just decide that. We're in this together."

I shrugged. "Did you think that we were in this together when you put your dick inside the barista?" And with that, I quickly turned and headed towards the haunted house.

"Nora!" 

Panic struck me, and I started to run before he could try and stop me. I quickly gave a large man in a ghoul costume my ticket, and he let me through. The last thing I heard before the doors closed behind me was, "But my girlfriend has my ticket!"

Dick. 

Then the tears came. I hadn't been unfazed by Brian's news. In fact, I had known about it the moment it happened. I could taste his memory of their first kiss. And their second. And the first time they slept with together. 

I knew it because I can taste memories. From someone offering me food they made to a kiss. I can taste and live other people's memories. What should be more astonishing is not that I could see the exact moment Brian decided to cheat, but the fact that I still chose to stay with him.  I knew, and I stayed and I didn't get to cry about it.   Wet droplets rolled down my cheeks, and I quickly wiped them away.

A few people dressed up in costumes jumped out and I flinched, but for the most part, I walked past them as fast as I could. The sooner I made it to the end, the sooner...that Brian would probably be waiting for me at the exit. 

I clenched my fists in frustration and covered my eyes with them. 

This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening.

"Hey, are you okay?"

My head jerked up. "Yes, sorry I--" My jaw dropped as I looked up to see a man in a skeleton costume staring down at me. He was tall, maybe 5'11, lean, and waiting for me to respond. "Yes," I finally said as I straightened my posture. 

"You know, if you're this scared of haunted houses you shouldn't have come in by yourself."

"I wasn't going to come by myself." I felt myself grow defensive. "There was just a slight change of plan. And wait a minute," I narrowed my eyes, "I'm not scared."