20. Georgia

20

Georgia

Now

T he haunted house is just as I remember it. The arched entrance is made up of fake cobblestone with long, thin spiderweb-like tassels that you have to walk through to enter. Sinister music plays loudly through the speakers above the entryway, while fake screams of terror echo throughout the maze, bouncing on the walls in a horrifying fashion.

Well, it's terrifying to younger children and adult men who hate clowns.

"Are you sure you want to go in there, Auden? It's okay if you change your mind," I ask her as I watch her eyes widen in fear as she looks into the flashing entrance of the maze. Strobe lights and a fog machine accompany the eerie music, making it look even more ominous from the outside.

Auden sandwiched herself between Ian and I as soon as we walked up to the line, grabbing both of our hands tightly in her own.

"I really want to go in, but I'm sort of scared," Auden says.

"What if I carry you through the maze, and when you get too scared, you can cover your eyes?" Ian suggests.

"Can I wear your sunglasses to hide from the bad things?"

Ian chuckles and pulls his sunglasses off, handing them to her. "You absolutely can. Now up you go," he says as he bends down to one knee, holding his arms out for her to jump into. "You going to be okay back there all on your own, G? I know how much this maze scares you," he teases me with a smirk.

I roll my eyes at him and shove him toward the entrance playfully.

"Mommy is the bravest person I know," Auden says fiercely before we are called up for our turn. I follow close behind them, my hand clutched in Auden's as it hangs across Ian's shoulder.

The music is even louder from the inside. Thumping bass makes the floor and walls feel like they are pulsating with the music. Like they are their own living, breathing thing waiting to jump out at us and scare the wits out of anyone who dares enter.

There's just enough room on the path for me to walk next to Ian. I'm still able to hold Auden's hand, though my arm is basically wrapped around Ian's back entirely. I look over, and Auden already has her head buried in Ian's chest. I'm sure his sunglasses are now bent out of shape.

The first room is barely lit, the faux candles hanging sporadically over our heads as we finally make it past the strobe light. When my eyes finally adjust, I see that we are in a fake jail cell, and the prison warden is a giant animatronic skeleton. He must have some sort of motion sensor hiding in the floor because the moment Ian steps closer to the archway leading to the next room, the skeleton's head whips toward us, his mouth opening and letting out a hideous cackle.

Ian looks over at me and rolls his eyes before we head into the narrow hallway that connects the next room to this one. I have to follow behind him due to the lack of space. I vaguely remember this hallway from when we were teenagers. There's something about this room that I didn't like, but I can't quite remember what it was...

"AHHH!" I let out a startled scream as something brushes against my ankle. Now I remember this damn room. I jump again when something touches me on the other ankle. Ian jumps, too.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Auden's voice is surprisingly loud over the ugly cackling from the skeleton behind us.

"Yes, hunny. I'm okay. I just scared myself for a minute there." I laugh, trying to ease her own fears. What kind of mother lets her five-year-old go into a stupid haunted house like this anyway? I'm an idiot, and I know for certain Auden will be curled up in bed with me tonight.

Ian rushes ahead of me, trying to get Auden through the maze as quickly as he can. It's exactly what I would do if I was holding her, too. I follow as closely as I can. My hand hangs limply in Auden's in the space between us when, all of a sudden, Ian stops dead in his tracks, and I run right into him. "Ian!" I hiss under my breath.

The room we are in now is the size of a small bedroom with red light bulbs placed overhead. I let go of Auden's hand so I can squeeze around Ian, who is frozen in place. I glance around the room and can't help the laugh that escapes me.

There are three large, grotesque-looking clowns in the room. One is dressed in an all-white jumpsuit with fake blood splattered all over the front of it and guts draped around him. He's standing right in front of the archway that leads to the next room. The other two are in similar outfits, pacing back and forth on opposite walls.

"Are they not fake?" Ian asks, his voice filled with panic. "Like last time? The last ones didn't move, did they? I don't remember them moving." His eyes are wide and darting back and forth between the three clowns.

"Not so fearless anymore, are you?" I tease him as I wrap my arm through his, tugging him forward as I step farther into the room. "Come on; they can't touch us. Let's just hurry through."

Ian's feet are frozen in place until I pull harder on him, jarring him out of whatever living nightmare he's conjured up in his head. I step in front of the clown that's blocking the door.

"Excuse me, can we please go through?" I ask sweetly while he just stares down at me, unmoving, unblinking.

Auden whimpers, and Ian's arm tenses underneath mine. I look over and see that the other two clowns are now standing right behind us, boxing us in and blocking us from both exits.

"Oh, come on!" I shout dramatically. "We have a kid, and clearly, you've scared this one enough for one day." I give a pointed nod toward Ian, and I swear, the clown in front of us smirks down at me. "Just let us go through. Please?"

The two clowns behind us laugh through their masks, and the one blocking the next room crosses his arms over his chest.

"You can go if you can get this one to give me a high five," the head clown in charge says. His voice full of mirth as he nods toward Ian.

The clown and I share a knowing smile. I should be focusing on getting Auden the hell out of here, but I don't mind torturing Ian a bit. I shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I am, but I am absolutely living for this after Ian gave me so much shit about being scared.

Ian looks over at me, his eyes wide with betrayal as he processes what the clown has just said. "Georgia, don't make me do this," he pleads, glancing back to the clown.

"Ian, you can't really be that scared? Can you?"

His audible gulp shuts me right up, and I take pity on the man.

"What if I just give you a double high five instead?" I ask the clown.

He shakes his head. "If he doesn't want to pay the toll, then you'll have to pay it."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "What payment do you require?" I can't believe I'm bartering with a damn clown to get out of a stupid haunted house maze.

"A kiss. Just one. Right here," he says and brings his gloved finger to his cheek and taps twice. The prior smile we shared turns sinister. I'm starting to see why Ian fears these things.

"Fine," I grunt out. I lean forward to kiss his cheek, and I catch movement in my peripheral.

"Ouch! Dang girl! You didn't have to punch my lights out!" the clown shouts and grabs his shoulder.

I look over and see Auden's small hand bundled into a tight fist.

"Stop being a bully, and let us pass!" she says fiercely.

The clown looks down at me while still nursing his shoulder and moves aside, letting us pass without another word. We all walk through the door, and as soon as we set foot into the next room, the door slams loudly behind us, making us all jump. This room is brightly lit and full of fun house mirrors.

Ahh, the mirror maze. These mirrors probably still have imprints of my forehead from slamming into them so many times while trying to find my way out the first time I came here.

"Hell of a punch, Auden. Hell of a punch." Ian's voice is full of pride and astonishment. "But, and I'm sure your mom will agree, we don't need to hit people to get what we want. Right, Mom?" Ian glances over at me, a smile playing on his lips as he tries to sound serious.

"Right. Auden, thank you for saving us. But no more hitting people. Deal?" I raise my eyebrows at her, and she gives me a thumbs-up before she snuggles closer to Ian. "I really didn't want to kiss that gross clown," I say with a mock shudder.

"I would have high-fived the thing before I let you get your lips anywhere near him," Ian says, very unconvincingly.

"I only want Mommy to kiss you," Auden whispers, rather loudly, into Ian's ear before she giggles. I catch his gaze in the mirror in front of us, and we both smile shyly at each other.

"Let's just get through this room, and then the exit should be on the other side," I tell them, moving ahead.

I keep one hand on the mirrors, letting it guide me through the maze, hopefully without slamming my face into any of the other mirrors.

It isn't long before I realize Auden and Ian aren't behind me anymore. I catch their reflection in one of the mirrors and turn toward them, promptly slamming my body into a mirror.

"Son of a bitch," I whisper, rubbing the knee that took the brunt of the collison.

"Mommy? Where'd you go?" I hear Auden's voice, but when I turn in a full circle, she's nowhere to be seen.

"Just get to the end, and I'll meet you guys there!" I shout.

This room isn't huge, but the way they set these mirrors up makes the maze look never-ending. I hear something that sounds like a plastic wrapper.

"Is someone eating something?" I ask loudly. The music is thankfully low in this room, probably for this exact reason.

"Auden and I found the end!" Ian's voice sounds like it's coming from the opposite side of the room. "She got hungry, and I forgot that I brought some snacks from home. Banana bread okay for her to eat?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Auden shouts excitedly.

I chuckle as I continue to reach out in front of me. My hand meets both air and mirrors on every other turn. I reach another turn, and when I make it around the corner, my heart stops in my chest.

"Mom?" I whisper as I stare at the mirror ahead of me.

Her back is turned, her dark hair in damp ringlets down her back. I step closer, and my breath catches in my throat. She is staring at herself in the mirror. The blood drips slowly down her nose, past her lips, and onto her white dress. Her right arm lifts, and she points toward another set of mirrors. Her mouth opens and closes as she whispers something.

I step closer, straining to hear her.

All of a sudden, she turns, facing me dead-on, her face inches from mine.

"Don't trust . . . don't trust . . . protect . . ."

Her voice is a strangled whisper, just like the last time she repeated these same words to me. I break her soulless gaze and risk a look around us. Her reflection and mine echo throughout all the mirrors that surround us.

She's everywhere, and she's nowhere at the same time.

"Georgia? Are you okay?" Ian's voice sounds closer than it was moments ago.

I turn back toward my mother, and her mouth opens wide, wider than I've ever seen it. Her teeth are rotting from the inside out, her tongue black as coal.

This can't be real. This can't be real. This can't be real.

The scream that comes out of her twisted, horrifying mouth matches my own as she reaches out and grabs my wrist, squeezing it painfully.

"Don't trust . . . don't trust . . . protect . . ."

I yank out of her grasp and run toward the only space that doesn't reflect my mother's ghost back at me. I round the corner as quickly as I can, cradling my injured wrist, and slam right into Ian's outstretched arms. Another blood-curdling scream escapes my mouth before I realize that it's him and not my mother's cold, waiting embrace.

"Ian! She—she was—she was here!" I pant and stutter to get my words out.

He wraps me into his arms, holding me close. "Who's here? What happened?"

"Wait, where is Auden?" I throw myself off of him and look around in panic, only catching the one hundred reflections of Ian and myself.

"Where is she?" I scream, thrusting my hands into my hair as warm tears stream down my cheeks.

"It's okay, Georgia! Breathe! Auden is safe; she's okay. I promise," Ian shouts over my hysterics, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to face him. "Breathe, Georgia, breathe." He takes a deep breath in and releases a slow breath out. I copy him until my heart falls back into a normal rhythm.

I take another deep breath. "Where is Auden?" I ask him, calmly this time.

"She's with Mathayus, the security guard standing outside. When I heard you scream...I knew I couldn't leave her alone. But if you were hurt...I didn't want her to see that either, so I ran outside and asked him to stay with her so I could come get you out," he explains. "She's okay. Are you okay?"

I look around the mirror maze one last time, finding nothing amiss before I turn back toward him. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. I thought I saw something. Maybe you were right about this haunted house scaring the shit out of me." My voice sounds wary and entirely full of lies.

How do I tell him that my mother's ghost decided to follow me outside of Crane Manor for the first time ever? Just a half hour ago, he was asking me to stay with him, for the three of us to make this work.

I can't risk ruining this chance with all my imaginary ghosts.

"Let's just get out of here," I tell him.

Ian knows I'm lying. His eyes say it all when his mouth won't. But instead of calling me out, he reaches out for my hand hesitantly, choosing to let me stew in my lies alone for a little longer.

"That's two for two," I joke.

Ian raises a confused eyebrow at me.

"Two for two that you ended up getting me to hold your hand in this stupid haunted house. You should play the lotto or something with those kinds of odds."

I expect him to laugh or at least smile at my lame attempt at a joke. But he just squeezes my hand harder and gives me a hard stare before leading us both out of the maze. I see the remnants of the plastic wrapper and banana bread smashed into the ground. The site seems like a fitting metaphor for how my soul feels right now.

Smashed and scattered into a million little broken pieces.