Chapter 12: That Didn't Go As Planned
I was actually rather excited about going to the haunted house. I usually didn’t get scared, but I would just have to see what happened. ‘At least Hiro and I will get Hei out and doing something with us. He hardly ever goes out, and I want him to let go and have fun.’ I thought as I reapplied my make up. I headed to the one building at the edge of campus. I had heard rumors that it was supposed to be a dorm, but I had just been left untouched. I could see it was slightly decorated, but a building like this, didn’t need much to make it look scary. I saw a couple people coming towards me. I squinted in the dark and saw Hiro, dressed up in cosplay, and Hei following behind, looking down as usual. “Well if it isn’t Inuyasha himself.” I laughed a little. Hiro grinned.
“Thank you, thank you, I try.” He said proudly.
“Are you hiding your ears and tail Hei? Or did the potion wear off?” I asked.
“It w-wore off.” He answered.
“I tried to get him to cosplay with me, but he refused.” Hiro said nudging Hei. I frowned.
“That’s a shame…” I said.
“I-I don’t like Halloween.” Hei looked up and sighed a little. I smiled at him. I hoped he would get into the spirit of things when we got into the house.
“Well, at least, you’re with friends.” I said.
“Yeah.” Hei agreed quietly. ‘Not the reaction I was hoping for.’
“Let’s go in. It looks like we will be the first ones in there, other people are probably going to come later.” I headed to the door and waited for the guys. Hiro pushed Hei ahead of him.
“I’m going…” Hei looked at Hiro grumpily.
“Aw, you scared already Hiro?” I teased.
“N-No. I’m a half demon after all.” Hiro said unconvincingly.
“He’s scared.” Hei smirked a little. I rolled my eyes and walked in. It was pretty dark, only a few dirty lights were on, and they all flickered every few seconds. Cobwebs were in every corner, and there were some fake signs, written in red paint, simulated to be blood saying anything from ‘Welcome to Hell’ to ‘Help Me’. There wasn’t too much decorating from what I could see.
“It’s not real…it’s not real…” Hiro repeated to himself quietly as we turned and went down a long, narrow hall.
“I-It’s just a bunch of props.” Hei told Hiro.
“Hei, was this supposed to be a dorm?” I asked him. He turned and looked at me, turning his attention away from Hiro, who jumped when he saw himself in an old, dirty mirror.
“Y-Yeah. Not enough kids though. D-Doc said next year this will p-probably be the boys dorm.” Hei explained.
“Hey Hiro, you’re looking at your future home here.” I smiled at Hiro as he cautiously walked a little further down the hall.
“Great.” He said rather unenthusiastically. I heard something above us. A scratching or scurrying sound.
“What was that?” I asked as Hiro froze.
“Bats.” Hei pointed up and I saw some black masses coming towards me. Hiro fell onto the floor and covered his head, and I yelled and knelt down and covered my face. I heard Hei moving back and forth casually. ‘Is he not scared of anything?’ I wondered. Once Hei stopped moving, I stood up again and cleared my throat.
“Let’s, go over here…” I looked around a corner and went down that way. A few doors were open, and I went into one of the nearest rooms. A closet was on the left and an old bed frame sat on the far right, looking lonely by the window. The boys came in and looked around. Hiro saw some painted handprints on the wall, and footprints in the dust covering the floor.
“C-Can we just turn around?” Hiro stuttered. I went over to the closet and peeked in. I smiled.
“Hey Hiro…” I whipped the door open and inside was a fake skeleton, strung up with a noose. Hiro screamed like a girl and his hands fumbled around his costume until he grabbed his wooden sword and pulled it out in front of him. Hei was laughing, and my heart skipped a beat. I was grinning, half amused at Hiro’s terror, and half excited that Hei had smiled and laughed genuinely. I turned to walk out of the room, and felt an awful, stringyness on my face. I yelled and tried to pluck the spider web off myself without success.
“Are you a-afraid of spiders?” Hei asked as he pulled the web out of my hair and out of my face. I didn’t want him to think I was a wuss.
“…N-No.” I stuttered. ‘Very convincing…’ Hei sighed and grabbed my hand. I was surprised, but didn’t say anything.
“Come on s-scardy cat…” He pulled on the back of Hiro’s shirt and pulled him along. I just held his hand, and allowed him to guide me around the hanging webs here and there. “T-This is why I watch movies.” He muttered low. I lowered my head. I felt like I was failing in making this a fun time for Hei, and Hiro was just plain terrified. “You can l-leave if you want Hiro.” Hei said, and Hiro took off and ran out. I let go of Hei’s hand, and made one last-ditch effort to scare Hei.
“Lets go upstairs for a few minutes, then we can leave.” I ran up the creaky stairs before Hei could stop me. I got to the top of the stairs, and ran to the right. In one of the rooms, I saw a big wardrobe against one of the walls. I opened the door quietly, and got in. The door shut with a light click, and I waited for Hei to come along. I was going to scare him for sure this way.
“Katara.” I heard Hei calling for me. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I screamed loud and turned around to try and see who had touched me, but I couldn’t see anything. I turned back around to open the door and run, when it flew open for me. “Katara?!” Hei had opened the door and I ran out and hid behind him. My arm hurt a little, and I figured I had just scraped it or something. It was a little red, so I thought I got a splinter or something.
“S-Someone touched me…” I told Hei.
“Who?” He asked.
“I-I don’t know…” I carefully opened the door wider, and saw Doc pop his head out of the wardrobe.
“Hello.” He smiled.
“Why did you scare her?” Hei sighed.
“I didn’t mean it…we just kind of, bumped into each other. I volunteered to help with the festivities!” I glared at Doc, he should have known better. I’m sure he saw me get in from where he was hiding.
“Of course you did.” Hei took my hand again and pulled me towards the door.
“Happy Halloween!” Doc laughed a little and I stopped and looked at Doc. ‘Something’s not quite right…’ I thought.
“You scared her Doc.” Hei glared, pulling me away again.
“Didn’t think you would get so close to someone Hei.” Doc said suddenly. I froze.
“We’re friends Doc.” I said simply.
“We’ll see.” My heart sank when Doc said that. It scared me.
“Ignore him.” Hei said, and then pulled me until we got outside and to the dorms again. “You ok?” He asked once we stopped.
“I’m, sorry you didn’t have a good time.” I apologized.
“It’s ok…I-I just don’t like crowds.” He said. I looked down.
“But…I just thought that, well…I don’t know…” I trailed off, not wanting to sound stupid. I looked up a little, and Hei kissed my forehead lightly. I blushed a little.
“It’s ok, r-really.” He said. I decided not to push it. “Y-You can come up to our room if you like.” He added.
“Ok, and we can watch a movie or something…I was listening earlier.” I smiled. He nodded, and we went up to his room. Hiro was already there, watching the Lion King, eating popcorn. I went right over to Hei’s dresser and pulled out a sweatshirt and some sweat pants. I wanted to get out of my dress, and didn’t feel like running back to my room to do it. I changed in the closet and came out and jumped up onto Hei’s bed, since he was already in his desk chair.
