Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 26

Betty’s hand was in mine, soft, warm, slightly sticky from the ube ice cream she held in her other hand. I held her tighter. I didn’t want to let go, not even for a second. Drake carried Corey on his back like a sack of rice, wobbling as Corey flailed his arms like he was crowd surfing. Inez and Tim were bickering, again. This time it was about ice cream or halo-halo.

“You can’t seriously think crushed ice with beans beats actual creamy dessert,” Tim said, his face scrunched.

“It's texture, Timothy,” Inez replied like a professor mid-lecture. “Not everything has to be smooth and basic, like your opinions.”

Betty giggled beside me, her nose slightly crinkled as she tried to keep her tongue from freezing off.

“Want some?” she asked, holding out her ice cream.

I leaned in, slow at first, like I was going to give it a dainty lick, but instead, I opened my mouth and shoved nearly half of it in.

She gasped. “James!”

Brain freeze hit me like divine punishment. I grimaced as my temples pulsed. “Mercy,” I whispered dramatically.

“You deserve it,” she said, sticking her tongue out with a mock pout. “That was mine.”

“I’ll buy you boba later,” I managed between gulps of air, still half-frozen.

Her eyes lit up instantly. “Okay. Forgiven.” Then she leaned in and kissed my cheek, like a stamp of approval.

I swear I could still feel the warmth of it long after she pulled away.

“Yo guys,” Inez suddenly announced, her voice slicing through the laughter, “Let’s try the horror booth.”

Corey groaned. “Of course it’s you who’d suggest that, Inez.”

Tim groaned too, “I’m not emotionally prepared---”

But we all laughed. And we all followed her anyway.

The horror booth was tucked between the back of the science lab and the edge of the school garden, its tarp entrance dark like the open mouth of something waiting to swallow you whole. Fog machines hissed near the entrance. A cardboard sign hung above, dripping with fake blood:
“ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER.”

Of course, Inez was already skipping toward it like she was on her way to buy candy.

“Why do I feel like she helped build this thing?” Corey muttered.

“She did,” Betty whispered with a grin. “She was one of the volunteers. I saw her sneaking around school with a chainsaw prop the other day.”

Tim groaned. “No wonder this thing looks like trauma waiting to happen.”

We handed over tickets, and the student by the entrance, dressed in a blood-stained lab coat, gave a twisted grin. “No screaming too loud. You’ll wake the patients.” He opened the flap.

The darkness inside was near total. Instantly, a mix of metallic scent and cheap latex hit my nose. Betty clutched my hand tighter. I held her close, one arm across her shoulders. Inez led the group, of course, followed by Tim, then Drake and Corey, then me and Betty. The floorboards creaked under our steps. Speakers hidden in the corners played soft whispering, words we couldn’t understand, but still made my neck feel cold. A flash of strobe light, then a mannequin in a nurse’s outfit dropped from the ceiling, hanging by a noose.

Corey screamed. Like really screamed.

Drake burst out laughing. “Man, that was not cool.”

“Don’t touch the walls,” Inez warned just as Betty grazed one—hands reached out of it, grabbing at her. She yelped and stumbled back against me.

“It’s okay,” I whispered into her ear. “I’ve got you.”

Another hallway. This time red lights blinked above. A recording of slow, wet breathing filled the air. Suddenly, a student in full zombie makeup crawled out of the locker beside us. Betty jumped. I instinctively stood between her and it, only for the actor to scuttle away, laughing softly.

We turned a corner and Inez screamed.

But not because of the props.
Because Tim had suddenly disappeared.

“Tim?! Not funny!” she shouted.

Then a panel opened and he burst out, face painted like a clown, yelling, “WHO WANTS COTTON CANDY?!”

Inez shoved him hard. “I will dump your body in real life.”

We were all laughing now, even Betty. I looked at her, her eyes wide but shining. She was still holding my hand like it was a lifeline. Her hair had fallen a bit from the braid. She looked alive. Light. Young.

And so impossibly beautiful in the flickering red and gold.

We neared the end of the maze—one last hallway. Silence. Then a chainsaw started. Loud. Close.

Everyone screamed. Betty bolted, dragging me along, both of us laughing hysterically. We burst out of the booth into the daylight, gasping, nearly crashing into a group of younger students.

“You okay?” I asked her.

She nodded, breathless, glowing. “Yeah. That was… fun, weirdly.”

“I like this side of you,” I teased.

“This terrified side?” she laughed.

“No, this alive one.”

She leaned her forehead against my chest, still catching her breath. And for a second, it was just the two of us again, outside the chaos, outside the crowd.

Just us.

And I knew I’d walk through a hundred haunted halls just to keep seeing her laugh like that.