One-Shot Collection (Karma Akabane x OC)

One-Man Hide-and-Seek: Part 1

Yeah, yeah. I know I've been gone forever, and no matter what kind of excuse I try to come up with, it always comes down to me being demotivated and lazy. So in the month of October, I've set myself a goal: publish a Halloween/horror themed one-shot before the end of the month. So, here you are! Enjoy!
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"Karma Akabane." Edna took a deep breath. "Are you seriously for real?"

Karma shrugged nonchalantly. "What? Not everyone wants to sit at home and trash horror movies like you do, y'know."

"Well, it's much better than playing freaking One-Man Hide-and-Seek!"

A hush fell over the table as the words left Edna's mouth. Karma had suggested playing the game on Halloween night, and knowing him, it was probably going to involve something incredibly risky. Not only that, there was something about the words 'One-Man Hide-and-Seek' that sent everybody's stomachs churning. Ash, Edna, Dylan, Gary and Valerie exchanged uneasy glances. Even Hayoung-- who was no stranger to Karma's risky ideas-- was staring incredulously at her boyfriend.

"Come on, guys! You can only go to so many Halloween parties and tacky haunted houses before you start getting bored!"

Valerie rolled her eyes. "So play a paranormal game. Glad to know you've got your priorities straight."

Hayoung sighed. "That's what I've been trying to tell him last night."

"If you don't mind, Val? Just what is One-Man Hide and Seek?" Gary asked.

Valerie folded her arms and shot Karma a dirty look. "One-Man Hide-and-Seek," she began. "Is a dangerous ritual in which you summon a spirit to possess the body of a doll, then play hide-and-seek with the thing."

Gary gulped, but this seemed to pique Dylan's interest. "Summoning spirits? Well, what does the doll do?"

"Well, it is mostly just a silly urban legend, and nothing happens at all. But I've heard some pretty unsettling stories from people who've played the game. Allegedly, the doll moves by itself!"

Karma snorted. "Yeah, and where did you even get those stories from? Some dumb internet forum that also thinks aliens are real? I didn't know you were a conspiracy theorist, Val."

"When you've been seeing things like this all your life, you learn to be cautious." Valerie said darkly, which served nothing in terms of lifting the atmosphere.

Ash, who'd been scarfing down their turkey sandwich up to this point, spoke up. "Well, I get the spirit possessing the doll and all that stuff, but the whole hide-and-seek thing? Just how does that work?"

Edna answered before Valerie could even open her mouth. "Well, basically after you do some complicated rituals in front of the doll, you go hide someplace with a cup of salt water. When you wanna end the game, just pour that shit all over the doll."

Hayoung looked unimpressed. "Well, that was an interesting choice of words... But it still doesn't settle the matter at hand: my boyfriend still wants to play this game."

Karma leaned back in his chair, as if they were merely talking about the weather instead of a paranormal game that had so many chances of going wrong.

"Well, as Edna so eloquently said, 'just pour that shit all over the doll'. So even if anything goes wrong, you just pour salt water over the thing, no?"

Silence.

"Yeah... Have fun dying, man." Ash finally said.

"Or getting cursed." Edna added.

Karma jolted back, the relaxed posture gone and replaced with a mildly annoyed look. "C'mon, you guys. Nobody knows if anything's gonna happen. For all we know, that doll's just gonna be sitting pretty when we come back and find it, and there's no spirit possession at all!"

Valerie narrowed her eyes at him. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Karma didn't understand what was going on in his head, but he snapped. "Well, Valerie. Just cause' you've been seeing ghosts all your life doesn't mean the rest of us have to put up with it!"

He immediately regretted it, but it was already too late. Everybody's eyes were wide in shock, and Gary was the angriest Karma had ever seen him. Valerie, on the other hand, looked like she'd been slapped. He could feel Hayoung's glare on him as well, but he figured he'd drop dead if he turned to look at her. Suffice to say what was supposed to be a nice, peaceful brunch between all their friends ended on a sour note. Worse still, Hayoung wouldn't even say a single word to him on their drive home. All this over a stupid game, really? Maybe Hayoung was right. There were way safer games to play on Halloween that didn't involve putting their lives on the line.
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"Hey, Val? Sorry I overreacted back at brunch. That was really insensitive of me." Karma apologised.

As soon as they'd gotten back home, Hayoung had immediately dialled Valerie's number on their house phone and handed it to him.

"It's alright. Y'know, I've been thinking a bit about the whole 'One-Man Hide-and-Seek thing."

"We don't have to play it if you don't want to."

"It's alright." Valerie sighed over the phone. "I guess I overreacted too."

"I mean, I understand if you don't want to play. Cause' y'know, spirits and stuff."

There was a brief pause over the phone.

"Val, you do know I can't see you roll your eyes over the phone, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. But back to the game. If you really insist on playing, you can play it with Edna and the others. Gary and I can just spend our Halloween some other way."

"You sure about that?"

"Well, if you're bored and want to play a game, that's your problem. Not mine."

"Heh, fair enough."

"Karma, whatever you want to do during the game, don't. I'll send you the instructions later, and you have to follow them to the end. Promise me you'll do that."

Karma had watched enough horror movies to know what happened when people didn't follow instructions properly. If One-Man Hide-and-Seek could get Valerie this on edge, then he'd better not mess around on Halloween night.
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Ooookay... I know we haven't gotten into the scary details yet, but that's precisely why this is in two parts! Man, Karma sure is an asshole in this one... Anyway, the fun will begin in part 2, so see ya then!

Also, side note for those who might be wondering who Gary and Valerie are: they're characters from another story I'm working on. Not on Wattpad, but an actual story that's gonna be published into an actual book one day (lol wut? Where?).