lost_boy | (no subject)

I understood a lot of Halloween traditions in Darrow, as they were similar to things we had done back in London, and it was nice to have something so familiar and comforting as that. I was excited for it, I enjoyed knowing it was something that didn't make me feel entirely out of place, even though some aspects weren't quite the same.

The haunted houses, for example, were very new.

I had already been to one with Eddie and some of the other kids from the home, but it seemed like there was a new one nearly every weekend. When Elio asked if I wanted to go, I nearly jumped at the chance, because I had liked the first one so much. Being scared, as it turned out, when there wasn't really anything to be truly afraid of, was an exhilarating kind of experience. I had laughed and screamed and jumped in the last haunted house, clutching Eddie's hand or Beverly's shoulder, and I wanted to do it again.

I was waiting impatiently outside of the Home for Elio. I had been told I had a curfew, as usual, but that was okay. I had some money in my pocket for the entrance fee and for dinner if we wanted to have some. Mostly I was excited for the haunted house, though. I couldn't wait. I hoped Elio was the sort to scream.

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"He's nice," I answered with a laugh, then lowered my voice. "He just... asks stuff. About me and Eddie. Mostly to embarrass us, I think, but not in a mean way."

Nothing Richie said seemed to be intended to be cruel. He teased and made jokes and asked us if we had touched dicks yet and it made me squirm and turn red, but I never felt like he was trying to be mean. I just also felt really young and really uninformed. I wanted to ask Elio about sex, because I thought he would be honest with me, and between him and Magnus I might actually figure some things out, but I was too nervous to just come out with it now.

I gave a snort of laughter when Elio said I would have to hold his hand. "I bet even you could fight the plastic ghosts inside," I teased back. "Maybe you'll have to protect me."

"That does sound like a teenage boy," I admit with a chuckle, smiling softly when I notice the faint flush on Jamie's cheeks. Boys can be cruel without meaning to, and Jamie has it hard enough to navigate through all of this. "Don't let him tease you too much. And you know you can always talk to me."

We get up to the front of the line and show off our wristbands, and I reach down to take Jamie's hand and thread our fingers together as we wait to be let into the house. "You know, there was a horror movie with scary twins. That would make a killer Halloween costume."

"Scary twins?" I asked as Elio took my hand. "What made them scary?"

I didn't really understand how it could be a costume, since we already looked alike without even trying to do anything special. I also didn't think we were particularly scary, not just to look at us.

The rest of it I left alone for now. I decided I would be able to ask him after the haunted house, I would think of what I wanted to know and would just come right out and ask. The problem is that I didn't always know what I wanted to know. I had tried to do some research in the library, but it hadn't really told me much.

"I suppose the setting is more what made it scary," I reply, nose wrinkling a bit. Not many people in Darrow would get a Shining reference, I imagine. We would just look like two guys in matching dresses. "They were creepy. But we're not creepy. We're adorable."

We step up to the minder outside the door to the haunted house still holding hands, and maybe they have seem The Shining because he gives us a bit of a double take before waving us into the pitch black entryway. The fake rolling fog burns my sinuses and I peer into the darkness, laughing a bit when I hear the screams coming from ahead of us. We barely make it around the corner before something jumps out at us in a flash of light, and I let out a very unmanly yelp as I flinch away, immediately laughing at myself as I drag Jamie along.

In another situation, one I didn't know was supposed to be fun, I probably would have struck the thing that jumped out at us. It was still my instinct, to protect myself, to protect others, but I was prepared for it and I laughed, jumping into Elio's side when he yelped.

From deeper within the house came an ominous laugh and I laughed again in return. I knew it was supposed to be frightening, but mostly I was just having a good time.

Then, right under me, someone grabbed my ankle and I swear I jumped nearly a foot in the air. At least I didn't kick them. "Something grabbed me," I told Elio, still giggling.

"Jesus." Jamie jumps up and I laugh, keeping a hold of his hand as we dance away from the grabber. "I hope these people get hazard pay. There's no way they don't get kicked in the face."

We turn a corner and push through heavy black plastic flaps to enter a pitch black hallway. I can't see anything and the spooky music gets louder and more ominous. A creepy laugh filters through a speaker near my ear and I dart forward, heading straight first into a wall. I bounce backwards and bump into Jamie, laughing around a groan as I reach up to rub at my nose. "Okay, hands out. No more finding the way with my nose."

With Jamie's hand still in mine, I reach out with the other to feel my way along the wall until we turn a corner and push through another heavy curtain. The next room is bathed in red light, and I dart away as a clown chases after me with a knife. "Oh fuck that. Next room, next room!"

"Careful, be careful," I said to Elio, laughing when he bumped into the wall. He'd gone forward so quickly, I hadn't been able to stop him, even though it hadn't been a very good idea in the dark.

Clowns were an odd thing. I had never really liked them, but it wasn't until coming to Darrow that I realized just how many people were afraid of them and I nearly cackled with laughter as Elio ran from the clown, cursing as he went. The clown turned on me next, which I didn't want either, and still laughing, I chased after Elio and ran into his back in the next room.

"Clowns are-" But I was cut off by a moaning sound right near my left ear and I jumped, grabbing Elio by his shoulders.