Chapter Four

Lexi

Above the creaking clacking of the coaster, I hear a shriek from ahead, my friend giving me a heads up of what is to come, and a laugh bubbles from me. Lights flash on and off illuminating the dark space, showing the violent scenes of fake gore and dummies made to jump out at unsuspecting victims with electronics.

As ghost rides go, it’s pretty good, it just isn’t extreme. Not to me, the effects are realistic, but gore isn’t what gets me. Nor are these cheesy jump scares. I’d like to know what it is to be truly afraid. Hopefully it will come on the other side. That guy was a creep, though he was more of an icky feeling than true fear.

A wisp of a featherlight caress skims across my cheek. Blackness shrouds me as the lights shut down. I didn’t even have time to look where the touch came from, the timing so perfect. A dark chuckle echoes and a sliver of fear and anticipation coils inside me at what comes next.

Without warning, the track veers sharply left, shifting me in my seat. No light returns, leaving me stranded with only my other four senses as I move forward in pitch blackness. Screams grow distant and the clickety clack of the track becomes my only constant.

The cart comes to an abrupt halt, my rounded stomach bangs into the safety bar; it doesn’t hurt, not really. My heart-rate ramps up, thrill at the unknown in this empty silence.

I wait.

Unease comes over me as the time ticks on and I chew on my lip with nervous energy. I must have been sitting here a few minutes at least by now. My eyes are getting used to the darkness, and I try to focus to see if I can make anything out, but there’s nothing. Has the ride broken down? Muffled screams continue in the distance of other customers. Could it be that something else has gone wrong?

“Hello?”

It’s foolish, but I can’t help my call. I roll my eyes at my own stupidity, feeling like the idiot in every horror movie. Next, I’ll run up some stairs, not that there are stairs inside this tent. I try to keep my cool when the sound of steady footsteps from ahead makes my panic amp up. The steps sound slow, deliberate, is it audio or a real person? I can’t see anything, no flicker in the shadows of what little I can see. This is surely a ploy to scare me.

And holy shit it is working.

A shriek tears from my lips as a warm breath of air comes from behind me. Where the fuck did they come from? Is it real? Or trickery? I look around me frantically, turning as far as I can, yet still unable to see a thing.

“Nothing in this place could scare me.”

My own words are thrown back at me from the darkness and it has me trembling. “How wrong could you be?”

Laughter surrounds me and it dawns on me that there is more than one of them here with me. One who is directly at my back, his laughter practically tickling my neck. My fight or flight attempts to kick in as I push frantically at the bar, the one ironically there to keep me safe. The one that currently holds me hostage. My damn curves. If I had been thinner, I probably could have slid out of this flimsy thing, but no, my hips and arse are firmly wedged in by this bar.

A hand moves around my neck, and an undignified squeak leaves my lips as the weight of a body hovers over my back. Calloused fingertips brush down from my neck across my chest, caressing my breasts, circling my peaked nipples and further below. I squirm as I feel soft lips press into my neck. This isn’t what I signed up for, or is it?

Why the fuck didn’t I read the consent form?

The click and hiss of the safety bar wasn’t what I was expecting. Are they letting me go? This must be part of the experience, my heart thuds and I am shocked to realise, I am almost a little disappointed this part is over. The man behind pulls away, but not before his lilting tone whispers in my ear.

“You can run, little mouse, but you won’t be able to hide forever.”

It’s not over yet.