Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Curtis’s explosive laugh would be the highlight of Genesis’s night. He loved to see his boyfriend happy more than anything in the world…he even loved it more than football.
“Okay, love. Hayride it is then.”
He and Curtis stood in the short line and waited for the next horse-drawn buggy.
Since it was dusk, there wasn’t much activity at the festival yet and they were able to get their own cart.
The ride was bumpy and the creepy individuals lurking in the forest were more entertaining than scary.
Genesis let Curtis lean back against his chest and wrapped him tight while they shook their heads and chuckled at the valiant attempts to frighten them. Instead of focusing on that, Genesis buried his nose in Curtis’s hair and enjoyed his sexy scent.
His boyfriend tilted his head up, silently asking for a kiss, and Genesis never said no to anything Curtis wanted.
He nipped and licked at Curtis’s soft, pink lips, neither of them breaking the connection when a woman dressed as some kind of psycho corpse bride jumped onto the side of their buggy.
She leapt down with an annoyed sigh when she realized they weren’t paying her any mind and got back in position for the next group to pass.
The ride came to a stop and the mummy-cloaked driver told them the ride was over and pointed toward a small one-story building.
“You can go through the poltergeist house or cut through the haunted graveyard to exit.”
Genesis stepped down, then reached back for Curtis’s hand.
The buggy pulled off and left them standing there, staring at the cracked concrete path that led to an iron door framed by two concrete pillars. An inhabitable structure in the middle of an old park that looked like the Crypt Keeper’s dwelling.
It wasn’t the asylum-style gray door that made them pause. It was the vast number of dead vines that cloaked it. The whole exterior was unkempt and desolate but perhaps too ancient and unique to tear down.
“Yeah, we’ll just go through the fake cemetery,” Curtis chuckled nervously.
“No. Let’s go in. They’ve got the outside all done up. I wanna know what the inside looks like.”
“I don’t think they decorated that, babe. It looks like the Blair witch naps in there. I’ll pass.” Curtis turned in the direction of the field covered in fake tombstones and artificial fog.
Genesis caught up to his boyfriend and grabbed him from behind, pressing his mouth behind his ear. “You scared, baby? It’s all right, I’ll protect you.”
Curtis scoffed. “No, I’m not scared. I just think it’s stupid, and I don’t wanna go in.”
“Oh, come on. We paid the fee for the park. Let’s do it. Besides, I haven’t been in a haunted house since my sophomore year.”
“This is so juvenile,” Curtis argued but didn’t resist as Genesis pulled him up the four concrete steps covered in crusty brown leaves.
He pushed open the heavy door, the rusted hinges protesting with a somber groan. Genesis glanced over his shoulder to see Curtis practically riding his back. He winked at him, then kissed him on his forehead before dragging him over the threshold.
Genesis didn’t see any more buggies approaching, so he released the door and let it close behind them.
It was dark inside, but the purple and red strobe lights helped them find the divide in the blood-red curtain that hung a few feet from the entrance. There was a machine in the corner playing howling wind and distant screaming banshee sounds.
There were no people inside and nothing jumped out at them as they surveyed the dreary interior. It was more a ghoulish display of eclectic art than a haunted house.
Dust swirled around the small foyer that was thick with the scent of mildew and years of neglect. The linoleum floor was covered in built-up grime and the floorboards creaked beneath their feet as if warning them to turn back.
A chandelier hung haphazardly above their heads, with crystals dangling like mournful tears. Genesis frowned at the faded portraits of stern-faced men and women with haunted eyes that seemed to follow them on their way into the next room.
“What in the wrong fuckin’ decision is going on here?” Curtis whispered.
Once they passed the dustcloth-covered furniture in the living room, a long twelve-chair dining room table dominated the rest of the house.
“Umm…” Genesis was close to agreeing with his boyfriend, but he had to admit the gruesome display was cool as hell.
The diners were skeletons that eerily looked as if they’d once been real people. The bony frames with dark hollowed eyes were propped up high in front of plates littered with depictions of guts, eyeballs, brains, and platters in the center donned severed heads and body parts.
Real candles dripped rivulets of wax that pooled at the base of the medieval-style holders. The dim lighting illuminated the exhibit in a way that cast shadows across the table to create a morbid ambiance.