4. Ghoulfriends

FOUR

GHOULFRIENDS

NICHOLAS

Jason's left eye twitched. His chest rose and fell as his breathing increased. If it hadn't been for the romantic music I had asked Gary to put on, we might all have heard his heart pounding.

"Why is your face so red?" I whispered, still kneeling in front of him. "Did you think I was going to ask you something else?"

I had him. He was sweating. It was a different kind of scare, but this had to count.

He took a deep breath, his left eye blinking wildly. "I… do… want to be your Ghou lfriend," he said, pulling on my hand to get me back up.

Gary applauded, and the woman I had made wait at the cash register joined him. I pushed myself up without taking my eyes off Jason. His hands still holding mine, he leaned in closer. His mouth was now only an inch away from my face.

Was he going to kiss me? In front of everyone?

His lips parted as they passed my face and reached for my ear. "You've won this round," he whispered. "Brace yourself for tomorrow. Now it's my turn."

His breath prickled my ear.

Oh, no.

His words, combined with him being so unfamiliarly close, sent all the blood in my body rushing to my groin.

Luckily, I was wearing loose pants and tight underwear that hid everything

My gaze was drawn to his lips as he drew back with a mischievous grin. His eye lingered on me for a second too long, teasing me that his words weren't meant as a threat but as a promise. He turned around and headed for the break room while I remained frozen in place.

It took Gary squeezing in between me and the counter to pull me out of the trance Jason had put me in.

I turned back to the woman whose purchase I hadn't finished.

Gary had already taken her credit card. "Don't worry. I'll take it from here," he said, already punching his code into the register.

"I'm fine finishing up?—"

"You should take care of the important things right now," Gary said with a fatherly warmth as he fed the woman's credit card into the reader.

"Thank you."

My eyes wandered to Jack, who was waiting next to the energy drinks. When he noticed me staring, his eyebrows raised, and he motioned for me to follow Jason.

I spun around and took big steps through the small corridor. If they both said to follow Jason, it was most likely the right thing to do.

The door to the break room was ajar. I pushed it open—and for a moment, my brain imagined catching Jason taking off his work shirt, even though he had never done that in the last five days I had worked here.

Jason stood in front of his locker, pulling out his coat. As I walked in, his head lifted. "There he is."

"Here I am," I replied, leaning against the door frame.

Jason threw the coat over his shoulders, his arms reaching high as they slipped into the sleeves. "Okay. Heads up. Tomorrow, I have to work until seven, but as soon as Stan takes over, I'm ready. Does that work for you?"

"I'm free whenever. Tomorrow, now …"

Jason shook his head and ambled toward me. "I'll see you tomorrow, Nicholas." He manifested in front of me, and even though his face was further away than it had been two minutes ago, it felt closer. "Then we'll see who makes who scream, sweat, and beg for more." He licked his lips and stepped into the hallway. "Wear something warm. We'll be outside for a while."

My back was still pressed against the wall as I watched him walk away. I was sweating. This didn't sound like we were going to have a regular Halloween date. It sounded like I could and should expect a lot of things to happen. Things that would be suitable for mature audiences only.

The morning behind the gas station was warm enough to keep my jacket open, even though the sun was still roughly forty-five minutes away from coming out.

My feet dangled over the asphalt as I sat in the driver's seat with the door open. I drummed my fingertips on my knee and hummed. The radio had played my favorite Halloween monster song an hour ago, and it hadn't left me alone since. I was excited. I had expected to have a sleepless night, but it was a breeze. Just a minute before my alarm, I awoke refreshed, as if this was a new life and I had a new body.

Headlights illuminating the trees across the street announced Jason's arrival. I finished my daily banana, jumped out of my seat, and shut the door as Jason parked next to me. I searched for his face, but as soon as I saw it, my head snapped back.

He wasn't wearing his eye patch.

Jason waved me good morning as he got out of his car, making a face like he was still tired.

"Today, of all days, you're not wearing your eye patch?" I asked him because… it was Halloween. If any day of the year would be perfect to have one, it would be today, wouldn't it?

Jason frowned. "What eye patch?"

I stepped closer before pausing, my eyes glued to his face. Had I crossed a line? He didn't like to talk about it, and it was the first thing I commented on.

"Sorry, I—" I shook my head. "I shouldn't have said that. Apologies."

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? Why are you looking at me like that?" He stepped toward me, presenting his face as if he wanted me to look closer. "Is there something wrong with my face?"

"No—"

"Let me see…" He brought his fingers to his right eye and, without hesitation, grabbed his eyeball and pulled it out.

My head jerked into my shoulders as I jumped back a foot, squealing.

Jason squeezed his right eyelid shut as he looked at the flat prosthetic in his hand. "Looks good to me." He grinned devilishly as his gaze shifted to me. "Did you just flinch?"

"You won. That was… unexpected," I replied. "And impressive. Well played."

Jason couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. "Sorry. It's the best trick I have." He turned around to put the prosthetic back in his eye socket. "Halloween is one of the few times I enjoy wearing my prosthesis. It feels more like a costume than an eye patch. I hope it didn't gross you out too much."

He had no idea. "Is it weird that I loved it?"

"Yes. But I shouldn't say anything since I was the one who used it to scare you. And just a heads up, I might do it again today. I know it's morbid, but this is the only day I feel comfortable showing myself like this."

"So… I get to watch you do it more often today?"

"Oh, you can bet your sweet ass on it," he said, turning toward the gas station.

The day couldn't have started any better.

Saturday morning wasn't as quiet as the rest of the week. I had barely made Jason's coffee when Jack showed up with six dozen donuts—twice as many as we usually get. He was so pressed for time that he even refused his usual cappuccino because he didn't want to wait a minute.

Seeing him rush out to gas up his truck, I took it upon myself to whip up a cappuccino and bring it to him.

His face was both grateful and annoyed. "You're just like Jason," he said as I handed it to him after he put the nozzle back into the pump.

"That's why he's my Ghoulfriend tonight."

"I knew you two were perfect for each other," he said and hopped into his car. "See you at the bonfire."

Not knowing what he was talking about, I watched him drive away. I went back inside, but it was almost as if fate didn't want me to ask Jason about it. First, he got a phone call that lasted almost twenty minutes. By the time he was done, there was a line behind the register that went all the way outside. While I was ringing them up, Jason was making coffee and handing out donut orders, only to be whisked away by another twenty-minute phone call.

An hour later, I finally had figured out why the day was so busy, thanks to a guy in his fifties with a tow truck that had a giant pumpkin on the back. He told me that the only time people flooded Seastone was on Halloween. The town threw an enormous bonfire in the woods to attract tourists. It had been a tradition for generations, but it had died down until five years ago when a group of Seastonians brought it back.

It was now clear that Jason would take me there for our Halloween date.

The next hours were filled with almost everyone in town getting coffee and snacks, more hectic phone calls coming in for Jason, and kids in costumes with their slightly distraught parents, mostly stopping to use our restrooms.

It was stressful, but Jason and I were so coordinated that everything went smoothly. We switched positions after lunch, and, damn, was that a good decision because watching Jason interact with the kids and teenagers became my highlight of the day. We had a bowl of free candy for every kid (and kid at heart) who washed their hands after using the restroom. Every time someone picked up a piece of candy, he made all sorts of funny faces that the kids loved to imitate, much to the dismay of their parents. The main attraction was his eye. He would often do the trick of rotating his left eye while the prosthetic in his right eye remained still. Some of the teenagers weren't impressed with that, so he performed the same trick as he had done with me earlier—which scared them all.

It was amazing to watch him do it over and over again, and I could barely contain my laughter. I couldn't believe I was going on a date with this man, who was just as much of a freak as I was.

When the clock struck three—the announced end of my shift—the gas station was so busy that I couldn't in good conscience leave Jason alone. Even though he protested at first, I stayed and worked with him until things slowed down at half past six.

We took a short breather, and when Stan finally came in to take over, Jason told me to use the fifteen minutes until seven to freshen up while he finished our shift.

When I stepped out the back door, it looked exactly the same as it did before our shift—the trees standing like guards behind the gas station, watching over our cars in the dark. I held the door open for Jason and closed it behind him after he had stepped through, waving a last goodbye to Stan.

For a moment, we stood under the floodlight above the door, our shadows stretching all the way to our cars.

"You ready?" he asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

"How do we do this?" I asked. "I assume you're going to take me to the bonfire. Do you want to drive ahead, and I will follow you? Or can I invite you to be your driver for the night as a thank you for taking me?"

"Who said I'd take you to the bonfire?"

"Aren't you?"

Jason paused for a moment before his stern frown gave way to a grin. "I am. Not this second, though. I promised to make this night special, and I will keep my word. That's why we're going somewhere else first." He fixed his eyes on me. "Before I take you there, you must promise to keep it a secret."

"I can keep a secret," I replied, pulling my shoulders back.

"Swear on your eyeball." Jason tapped his prosthetic.

I couldn't help but smile at how weird this would have been for anyone but me. Without hesitation, I crossed my fingers, placed them over my right eye, and locked my left eye with him. "I swear on my eyeball that I will tell no one what you're about to show me."

He nodded in agreement and motioned to our cars. "I'll drive ahead. Just follow me."

Without taking our eyes off each other, we walked to our cars. As I started the engine, he nodded at me through the window again and drove out of the parking lot. Instead of turning left onto the main road, he turned right—onto the street with a big yellow sign next to it screaming at everyone that this was a dead end.

The road wound through the forest, taking us further and further away from civilization. After four minutes, there was still no dead end in sight, just as there were no intersections or… anything . The whole scenery reminded me of at least three horror movies that started with a happy family driving to a hotel or cottage—the perfect place where no one could hear you scream. With the addition that in the movies, it was still bright as day, while in my case, it was pitch dark. Only our headlights and the red taillights of Jason's car allowed me to see anything.

The further we drove, the worse the road got, and the higher the trees seemed to rise above the street as if to shield us from the sky.

A shiver ran down my spine and made me smile. Nothing terrible like in those movies would happen, but I loved how the anticipation Jason had built up felt unique—almost as if he was doing it just because he knew I was into it.

After another three minutes, I could make out a building at the end of the road. The closer we got, the more the trees opened up to the sky again, revealing an extensive structure that actually looked like a hotel. We drove through a metal gate with a sign next to it stating "Private Property. No Trespassing."

The road ended in a cul-de-sac with a red roof over it, leading to the entrance of the building. The hotel's windows appeared dark, and the parking lot to the left, hidden among the trees, seemed deserted.

Jason drove right under the covered part of the cul-de-sac, triggering a white light underneath. He parked his car, and I stopped right behind him.

The bang as he slammed the door of his car shut made me flinch. He strolled over to me, a confident grin on his face as I opened my door and got out of my car.

"Are you scared yet?" he asked.

"Should I be?"

I took in everything around me. The front entrance had a large glass door with more windows to the left and right. The empty flower pots next to the sidewalk were evidence that this building had once been full of life, but that was only a memory of the past.

"What is this place?"

"This," Jason said, opening his arms wide and pointing to the entrance, "is where I live. Welcome to the Grand View Hotel, the abandoned disgrace of Seastone."

"You are shitting me," it gushed out of me.

"Would you like to be shown around?"

"If this were a horror movie, all my instincts would tell me to make up an excuse and leave. Tell me that this isn't a horror movie, please."

"It is Halloween, and I can't promise you won't be startled by cracking floorboards or creepy old paintings. But I promise you can leave at any time."

My heart beat faster. I knew this guy was kind and couldn't hurt a soul. I'd seen enough evidence throughout the week, and my gut feeling was never wrong. But to take me to a creepy place like this? Exciting.

"Your last sentence is, uh, comforting," I chuckled.

Jason pressed his lips together. "We can also go to the bonfire and be around people."

"In any horror movie, people would now say: No, let's go inside. I trust you. "

"Are you going to make the same mistake?" he laughed.

"Isn't it obvious?"

My mouth watered a little at the prospect of either being on the most exciting date ever or becoming the inspiration for a soon-to-be-filmed horror movie based on the real-life events that were about to take place.

"I promise, the scariest thing in there is my bachelor pad," Jason added, making a face.

"Okay, I'm out of here," I laughed.

We made our way to the double doors. The white light under the roof shone through them, revealing a red carpet in the foyer. The sound of some water dripping down a pipe made me search for its source, but I couldn't find it.

Jason pulled the keys out of his coat. "Shall we?"

"We shall," I replied, watching as he pushed the doors open as if we were trapped in a holiday movie and he was the concierge.

He stepped inside and flipped a switch to his right. A majestic chandelier in the center of the main hall flickered, trying its best to paint the room in vivid colors. Only half of its lights still worked. The other half had become home to several spiders and their webs. Two wooden staircases on either side of the room enclosed a wooden window frame and a fireplace in between. Dark chestnut paneling held paintings of the mountains, lakes, trees, and wildlife.

The door slammed shut behind us, the unexpected bang making me jump.

"Sorry," Jason said, coming up to me, his eyes on the chandelier. "The cobwebs make it feel cozy, do they?" He laughed and walked over to the reception desk on the right, which still housed a gold bell and a book where people signed their names when they checked in. Behind the desk was a wooden board with thirty hooks, each holding a key with a different number on its back. "So, what do you want to see? I mostly use the part downstairs." He pointed to the right. "That's where the dining hall used to be, but it's now my living room, bedroom, yoga studio … all in one."

"Yoga studio?"

"A guy's got to work on his flexibility somehow." He rang the bell on the desk as he headed down the hall past the reception and turned left into the second door. Behind it was a commercial kitchen, half hidden behind plastic sheets to keep it from getting dusty.

Spices and kitchen utensils, such as paper towels, cups, and a cutting board, surrounded the stove in the opposite corner of the room. A dried red streak ran down the side of a pot that still stood on the stove as if waiting to be reheated.

"This is my kitchen, which is way too big for me," Jason said, walking past the stove and the plastic cover to a swinging door on the other side of the room. He turned to me and pushed it open with his back as if he were a waiter carrying someone's dinner. "And here's what used to be the dining room."

As I strolled past him, he flipped another switch, turning on twelve gold sconces with black satin shades. The room was as high as the entrance hall. The entire left wall consisted of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the moonlit mountains. A wooden table with eight chairs in front of it almost cried out for a dinner party to be held so that everyone could admire the magnificent view. On the opposite side of the room, a fireplace the size of my minivan was the focal point, although it now only served as a backdrop for a giant TV. A leather couch that easily accommodated five people, a golden coffee table with a glass top, and two old-fashioned armchairs completed the set. To the right was an unmade king-size bed with two nightstands and a dark wooden dresser that matched the hotel's overall style. All of this furniture had probably been taken from other rooms. What made it a real bachelor pad, though, were the clothes lying around.

"How?" I asked, trying to understand how he ended up living alone in a place like this. "Why? And… what ?"

Jason laughed, making a face as if my guffawing made him uncomfortable.

"Seems like you get that reaction every time you bring people here," I teased him.

"No. I rarely do. I think most people would freak out. This place gets pretty spooky at night. When the wind blows, it makes a lot of noise that might make you think you are not alone."

"That's good, isn't it? Then you can tell the guys you invite over that you'll defend them, so they'll run right into your arms at the first frightening sound?"

"Sure. A lot of people tend to run into the arms of the scary guy with the eye patch when their brain tells them they're about to get murdered."

" I would."

"Why does that answer not surprise me at all?" He walked to the left nightstand, opened the top drawer, and pulled out a flashlight. As quickly as it had appeared, it also disappeared into the inside pocket of his coat. "Want to see upstairs?"

"Is that where you kill people so you don't get blood on your sheets?"

"Well, there is only one way to find out." He went to the door right next to the swinging door we had just come through. "Or… we could leave if you're too scared."

"A reminder that I can always leave. Classic trap before you try to overthrow me."

"You watch too many horror movies."

"There is no such thing as too many horror movies." I flexed my right biceps. "Besides, I'm taller and stronger than you. Try coming at me," I laughed.

Jason joined in. "Yeah. No way. I wouldn't stand a chance. With you, it would probably be easiest to wait until you fall asleep and?—"

"You would have to invite me over to stay with you first, though. And you'd have to make me so tired that I fall asleep."

"I could think of things that would tire you out, but…" Jason shrugged with a mischievous grin on his face. "Well, we'll see what the night brings."

My chest fluttered. But before we could engage in any more teasing, he put his hand flat on the door and pushed it open, revealing a very unappealing white, drab room that must have been a break room for the staff. I followed him inside.

It had a bench on the right and some lockers that looked like they were now used as a walk-in closet. A door on the left led to a bathroom with three showers and two sinks. Three eyeballs—well, more like half of them—lay beside the sink. They were shaped like shells, with only the iris visible. I winced for a second until I realized they must all be Jason's prosthetics. I glanced at him to see if he had noticed my reaction, but he was already looking at me.

"Scary, huh?"

"Not scary, just… new ."

"These are all custom-made." He walked in front of them and waved me over. "You can take a closer look if you want."

I stepped beside him cautiously, as if the prosthetics could come to life at any moment and pounce on me. "They look pretty damn real."

"That's the idea behind it. Go ahead. You can touch them."

I looked at him to see if he wasn't pulling my leg and then back at the eyeballs. "I always thought eye prosthetics would be more like… a whole eyeball."

Jason frowned as if he didn't know what to make of my sentence. "I guess I've had them for too long to ever imagine them looking any different."

They were lined up from the smallest to the largest.

"Why are there different sizes?" I asked.

"This is the first one I got when I was ten." He pointed to the one on the left. "They grew with me. That's why."

I carefully poked at the smallest one as if I might destroy it if I was too rough. To my surprise, it wasn't particularly soft or hard.

"You don't have to be afraid. Just take it in your hand. As long as you don't try to break it by force, it's okay."

I picked it up. It felt like plastic, although it was probably some special material that no one could pronounce. I brought it up to my face, and the work on it was magnificent. It looked like a real iris. "Do you mind if I compare?"

"Not at all." He widened his eyes and brought his face closer to mine.

I stepped in front of him, moving closer so that I was now only six inches away. I alternated between his left and right eye and the prosthetic in my hand. All irises were a deep brown with light flashes of gold. "Your eyes are beautiful. All five of them."

Jason's head dropped forward for a second, almost colliding with mine, before he burst out laughing. "Never heard that one before."

"You're welcome," I smiled at him, unable to shake off the feeling that my sentence might have been rude. "I meant what I said, though. They are beautiful."

"Thank you."

I looked down at the prosthetic in my hand again, wondering if he would ever tell me how he lost his right eye. He probably wasn't born without it since he just told me he didn't get his first prosthetic until he was ten. But I wasn't going to ask him. He didn't like questions about it, and I didn't want the whole evening to revolve around it. Whenever he was ready, he would probably tell me.

I put the prosthetic back with the others. "Thank you for letting me touch it and compare it. I'm grateful you shared it with me."

"Sure. The idea of going on a date is to get to know each other, isn't it? And this is part of me." He turned and motioned toward the showers. "So, yeah. This is my bathroom. The three showers are especially useful for orgies. Of which I have plenty, Seastone being such a Mecca for gay men."

The showers were side by side with no walls between them, the tiles a matte cream color. "Sounds about right. Four showers would be better, though."

"Five, if you want to call it a party."

We grinned at each other for a moment before Jason turned around.

He led me back through the break room to the foyer, up the right staircase. The banister wasn't as dusty as I'd expected.

"So, how come you live here?" I asked.

"I inherited it from my grandparents. It was their life's work, but when they retired, they closed it down because no one wanted to take over. My parents didn't want it either. So, since I had already taken over the gas station, I said I'd at least take care of the building and save money on rent until we found a buyer. But it's been, oh my God , six years already."

"Must be hard for them to see their life's work no longer full of life."

Jason looked at the floor, his left hand searching for the handrail. "They're both gone. They don't care anymore."

" Oh. I'm sorry?—"

"It's okay. It feels like they're with me when I'm here." His gaze wandered around the vast foyer. "My parents can't wait to get rid of it, but somehow…" He shook his head. "I don't know. I love this place. I had the idea of maybe reopening it myself—to honor my grandparents and give it some new life—but I have enough trouble with the gas station. It's super hard to find employees. Besides, Seastone has nothing to offer but the mountains. Why would anyone want to stay here?"

He looked at me as if I were the perfect person to ask since I had just recently taken a job in a town that everyone had decided was as good as dead.

"A lot of people like to spend time in nature. Maybe you could turn it into one of those offline places." I raised my hand as if painting a banner in the air in front of me. "Nothing but mountains and silence." I looked back at him. "Throw in a day spa, guided hikes, and good food. People would probably pay for it."

"So we turn the bad cell phone reception into a selling point? I love it."

"Or, or , you could use the rustic look and sell it as a horror movie hotel . Turn one room into a movie theater and show one horror movie after the other. You could do horror-themed escape rooms and?—"

"You're quite the businessman," he grinned at me.

"Oh, no. I have ideas, but I'm not a businessman. I couldn't do what you do."

"It's not that hard. At least not with the gas station."

"The taxes alone!"

"I have a company taking care of that. It's more about the business risk, but people always need gas, and I don't have any competitors nearby."

"Then why not the hotel?"

"Like I said, it's the business risk. A lot of investment without knowing if it will pay off?" He shook his head from side to side as if he was weighing it. "But I like your ideas. I might steal them."

"Go ahead. I'll give them to you for free."

"Are you just doing that so I won't kill you?" he laughed.

"Exactly."

We walked around the upper floor for twenty minutes. The rooms were decent. They all had excellent views, but most of them would need an overhaul if one ever thought of reopening. The furniture was old, and the complete emptiness of the place made it feel eerie—perfect for Halloween, but probably not during the other seasons.

He offered to show me the exterior another day when it wasn't so dark. I told him I didn't mind the darkness, but he insisted, and I couldn't help but think this was his way of letting me know he'd be happy to have me back.

We returned to my car because there was still a bonfire to attend.

"Thank you for showing me this place," I said as I unlocked my minivan.

"I knew you'd like it. That's why I wanted to come here first."

"I bet you bring all the boys here."

"Yes. All one of them."

With my hands on the door handle, I stared at his head, barely poking out over the roof of my minivan.

"One?"

"Yes. You ."