The Den of Souls

The Den of Souls - Chapter Two

As we entered the cement building, we were greeted by a man wearing a white Michael Myers mask. He didn't speak, but he gestured for our hands where he stamped them both with a glow-in-the-dark circle before letting us further inside.

Inside the cement room, it was dark, but there were strobe lights and neon glow sticks everywhere that one would think this was a club and not a haunted house. Teenagers wore green and pink glow stick bracelets and rings while others had flashlights and lamps. All of them as excited as Lily.

Towards the back of the room, there were three metal doors. Above each door was a timer that counted down from thirty minutes and a red light. In front of the doors, on the ground, was an outlined square box in different colors – pink, blue, and orange.

I could practically feel Lily's anticipation of the Den as she grabbed onto my arm and shook it. She squealed in delight as she saw attendants inside wearing masks of her favorite horror show villains.

"Look! It's Pennywise! Ooh! And Freddy Krueger! And Jason! Oh my gosh! It's the people from The Purge!" she cried as she pointed at them. I just shook my head and pulled Lily with me as an attendant with a zombie mask took us over to the orange square in front of the third door.

"Wait here," zombie attendant said before he left to corral other people towards the doors.

As soon as he left, I grabbed onto Lily's hand that was on my arm.

"This is the last time I will ask you this, Lil. Are you sure you want to do this?" I said. I knew she would say yes, but I was really hoping she'd say no.

"Yes, E," she replied, looking straight into my eyes. "I know you're scared, but you'll be fine. I told you already, this thing is fake. Nothing's real."

I swallowed hard and tried to nod, but at this point, I didn't think I managed more than a slight shift of my head. I really hated this.

"Seriously, Eve," Lily said. "I'm really happy that you're here. I know you're scared of this kind of stuff, but I'm just really happy you're here with me. Thank you. And know that I'll protect you. You can even close your eyes the whole time," she offered.

I gave up. "Fine," I said again before I stared up at the timer counting down towards zero.

When it came to Lily, I rarely ever said no. She was like the little sister I never had. That and we'd known each other since we were children and have been best friends since. As kids, we'd both get bullied – her for not knowing who her father was and me for having weird-colored eyes. I'd stand up for her and she'd stand up for me, but we both knew that she was bullied more. I always protected her, but today, my protection would all be on her. I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer to whatever Being was out there.

Please, let me make it out of here without peeing my pants. Please don't let me see weird things. Please don't let anything bad happen. Please. I'll fast for a week! I'll . . .

My thoughts were interrupted when the zombie attendant returned.

"Wait here," he said again before he left. I turned from the door and looked behind me. Mr. zombie attendant had brought over five other people, three guys and two other girls.

"Hey," one of the guys said. He was tall with curly brown hair and bright green eyes.

"Yeah, hey," said the guy next to him. He looked exactly the same as the first guy – tall with curly brown hair and bright green eyes. The only difference was that the second guy was wearing a navy blue t-shirt while the first guy wore a red plaid cardigan over a white t-shirt.