Rules for working at a haunted house
I saw the add in the school newspaper.
"Employees needed at (local haunted house). $20 a night if you're over 16. Call Toby".
Sweet man! $20 a night, I just turned 16 too! $20 may not sound like much to all of you, but for me it is worth it to scare people and kick back!
I mustered up the courage to give a call.
"May I speak with Toby"?
"Yeah this is him. How can I help"?
"My name is Jack and I saw your ad in our school newspaper. Are you hiring"?
"Yeah I'm hiring, have you ever worked in a place like this"?
"No I haven't, but I'm involved in my school's drama club. And I am a horror fanatic".
"Ok that sounds good, I'll tell you what. Don't show up here in some dollar general costume. Find some cool character and I'll give you a few spots to float around in. If you do good, I'll find a permanent spot. Show up at about 6:30 so we can talk further this Friday".
Sweet, I landed the gig. But now I had to find a costume. And at 16, I just had lawn mowing money I saved.
I talked with my drama teacher and she let me borrow some items from the theater.
To paint you a picture, I'm about 6'1. Roughly 160 pounds, so I didn't have a big intimidating factor. But, I was able to borrow a solid black outfit. Almost like a 3 piece suit. I put some chains around the buttons and I spiked my hair.
What little money I had went to face paint and eye contacts that were red.
I showed up and ran into Toby.
"Hey Toby! I'm Jack, I spoke you with you the other night".
"Oh hey dude. Sweet outfit, much better than the normal teenagers that come here. Let me walk you back to the spots and you can take a pick. First come first serve, ya know".
So he walked me around and I saw several spots. One that involved flipping a switch to shoot a ball of propane at a candle to make a small explosion. A picture drop where I scream. One where I could jump around a corner at people and scream.
But we found my room! It was a pretty cool set up! But I would be sharing it with a partner. Which is fine, a more experienced dude. The room had strobe lights quickly flashing. There was a chair in there facing a TV with the TV static running. Creepy piano music playing. A mirror in the corner. Perfect.
Toby let me go and told me to have fun and see him at the end of the night for payment.
My roommate, Chet was cool as hell! He brought in airplane bottles of vodka and let me hit his wax pen. He would sit in the chair and stare at the TV, when he saw our victims come in through the mirror, he would go crazy. Start shaking and stand up. He would turn over and flip the chair with his foot and charge at them.
Of course we were not allowed to touch guest, but we could intimate them. They would run and there I would be in the corner, looking statue like and i would let out a might laugh (which I proudly practiced all week) and would start banging on the tin near me. All of the noise, flashy lights, and general atmosphere scared ever single group, every single time. I'm pretty sure we even made one dude piss himself.
While we had a slow moment, Chet handed me a list. He explained to me there were rules here. To survive. I laughed until I saw he was completely serious, and I observed them.
Rule #1: if you see a man with his dog carrying a bucket in the evening whenever you come in to work, be sure to ask him if he is also working tonight. If he says yes, tell him that you are as well and which room you'll be in. If he tells you no, tell him to enjoy the night off.
Rule 2: if you hear someone knock on the door, quickly hide under the bed. Do not get out until you no longer see what comes in. He can sense you, but he will not look for you.
3. Don't step outside after 1:50 am to smoke
4: If a woman comes in alone and offers you a drink, sip on it. But do not accept her kiss.
5. Have fun. This is really a cool job, but it does have its risk.
"Woah that is some deep shit. You swear this is serious"?
"On my life, bro. You're spot is only available because the guy before you didn't follow the rules".
Well the night went as intended, great. No signs of anything wrong. Right as we got to the parking lot, I realized I forgot my jacket. I ran back into our room and that's when I heard it. The knock.
I quickly hid under the bed and not ten seconds after, a figure walked in. I didn't get a good look of him. But he walked to the bed and I could see he was wearing some work boots.
"Oh boy, do we have us a new feller here. We're gonna have fun. I know where you are, better not let me see you, cowboy".
As he walked away, I got out from my hiding place and ran to the car.
I'll see what happens tomorrow!
Posted by u/Grandaddyspookybones