Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Just a matter of luck, I can't help thinking as I absently watch a zombie nurse offer complimentary drinks in blood bags. Some people are lucky to live in a city like this, where famiglia with a conscience are in charge. And then there are those who aren't so lucky, like my Papa who...
Non andare lì, Ysabel!
Tonight is all about restarting my life, but I can't do that if I keep going back to the past.
Excited shrieks and cries from other guests give me something new to focus on, and I realize the front act for tonight's concert (also for free, natch) is about to start.
"It's really them! It's them!"
The stage setup is at the back of the fountain, and while I'm also a huge fan of the girl group from Korea that's just started singing and dancing in front of the crowd—-
I think I need to be alone for now, instead of being lost in a screaming sea of people.
I think I need to go to a place that's a lot more quiet and just think.
I think I need...that.
What seems like a massive garage shed has been repurposed and turned into an indoor horror maze...with a twist.
Answer right, and you get out alive.
Answer wrong, and you won't be breathing for long!
Apprehension skitters down my spine as I read the words that have been spelled out with incandescent light bulbs on a signboard right above its doorway. Since this is a famiglia-organized event that's held in a famiglia-owned property——should I be worried and take that warning literally?
But on the other hand, I did say I want to think, so...
Forza, Ysabel!
I march up determinedly to the entrance, and the clown manning the doors looks at me threateningly.
"You sure you're ready for this, little girl?"
"Bring it on, Pennywise with Black Lips."
He almost drops his act by grinning, but Mr. Fake Pennywise quickly recovers and rings the web-covered bells behind him. Its funereal chime seems to serve as a cue since all sorts of noise follow right after it.
Thunder rumbles, chains rattle, and ghosts moan as the shed doors slowly creak open all on their own, and my heart still races even though I know all of this is make-believe.
"See you on the other side, little girl."
The clown's whisper is the last thing I hear as I enter, and my heart jumps to my throat when the doors abruptly slam shut behind me.
Uh-oh.
I suddenly find myself wondering what I've gotten myself into. There's an exit sign just a few steps away from me, but since it's also labeled COWARD'S WAY OUT—-
Pride keeps me from being a wimp, and I force myself to move forward to the first room, which is completely dark and empty except for the light bulb glowing inside a fortune-telling machine, and a bald man stares at me with eerily realistic eyes from behind the glass walls of its prison.
"Hello, stranger." Its voice is low and heavy, and more demonic than robotic. "I will ask you a question, and if you answer right, I shall let you pass unharmed. But if you answer wrong, a monster shall come and devour you. Do you agree?"
The cover on the machine's control panel slides open to reveal a wireless keyboard underneath, and it even comes with customized Yes and No buttons that glow red in the dark.
I click 'Yes', and Creepy Mr. Bald peels his mouth open with a smile that highlights the viciously sharp edges of his blood-stained teeth.
"Do you know of a 1972 movie that revolves around a Victorian gentleman's obsession with understanding the supernatural phenomenon that only seems to appear in photos of people on death's door? Please type your answer in twenty seconds."
I know this!
"You typed 'The Asphyx.' That is correct. You may go...for now."
There's just a blackout curtain instead of a door that separates the next room from this, and I've only managed to slide it open a couple of inches when I see...something that immediately has my hands flying up to cover my face.
Oh.
Shit.
A part of me has always been incurably drawn to trouble, and it's that part that prevents me from simply squeezing my eyes shut...even when the spaces between my fingers just so happen to land on areas that allow me to see what I'm absolutely not supposed to see.
Is that Massimo Marchetti, fucking some girl against the wall?
Two
Ysabel
PANIC ATTEMPTS TO TAKE over my senses, but lust swiftly spirals up to battle it for control.
The logical side of me wants to get the hell out of here fast, but the crazier side of me is insisting I stay and watch for as long as I can get away with it.
How can this be happening?
All I wanted was some wholesome gruesome fun while answering quiz questions like the horror nerd that I am. All I wanted was to go back to my old troublemaking self—-