Witness Protection ✔

Haunted House

Nathalia tried her best to eat her cotton candy without getting her hands sticky, but it just seemed impossible. Every now and then, the wind would blow her hair in all directions, including the one where the cotton candy was. Besides, she was still carrying the huge plushie around. All this made eating it extremely slow, but she couldn't care less. It wasn't often she could get real cotton candy.

Supermarket cotton candy just didn't feel the same to her.

Beside her walked Darius, who was working on a box of popcorn. At first, she was surprised. She'd never seen him intentionally eat anything unhealthy. But it seemed like he just didn't care about his health at this moment.

He checked his watch before turning to her, "we've got time for one more thing. Is there anything you want to do before we leave?"

Looking around, she scanned the area for things they could do before leaving. Her eyes landed on a dark and dimly lit attraction that read 'Haunted House'. Usually, she was too scared for these kinds of things, but what could go wrong with a literal bodyguard by your side?

When she pointed toward the haunted house his eyebrows rose, but he didn't say anything. As they approached she felt more and more nervous. But she wasn't going to wuss out. But it did make her think, why did she choose this one of all attractions?

It was the kind of haunted house where you'd walk around on your own, while a scary story played out.

As soon as the door closed behind them she regretted her decision. But it was too late now. Ominous music played and a voice over the speaker urged them to walk, but Nathalia couldn't move her feet.

"Can uh-- Can you go first?" She asked Darius, who stood behind her. This earned her a laugh as he walked past her, completely unfazed by the spooky setting.

As she walked behind him she suddenly realized her back was unprotected, which also made her scared. But he could hardly walk in front of her and behind her at the same time. So she chose to keep as close to him as she could without clinging to him like a child. She held her Pikachu plushie in front of her, ready to throw it at whatever she needed to throw it at.

They hadn't been walking for a minute before the first jump scare appeared, earning a loud scream from Nathalia but no reaction from Darius. He just looked at her while she tried to regain her composure. When she'd caught her breath again she saw that he was smirking.

Well at least one of us is enjoying this.

They were lucky the haunted house wasn't popular towards the end of the evening, and they appeared to have it all by themselves. She couldn't hear any screams from other people so she assumed they were the only ones.

When she suddenly heard a loud bang from her left, she couldn't take it anymore. Deciding she just didn't care anymore, she grabbed Darius's jacket and clung to it for her dear life. Despite the fact it didn't provide her any additional protection it made her feel safer.

"You good?" he asked more amusedly than concerned.

"Yes, I'm just holding on so... so I won't get lost. I can't see that well in the dark, you know? It's easier this way." The last thing Nathalia wanted to do right now was to admit to him that she was scared.

She was so close to him now she could smell his cologne. She couldn't quite pinpoint the smell but it was manly and by now she associated it with him. The first time she'd been made aware of it was when he'd given her his jacket just before the power outage a few weeks ago. She had even dreamt of the smell once or twice.

She was so preoccupied with his smell she hadn't noticed they were in a completely different room now until the door closed behind them. The room was dimly lit and foggy. It was decorated like a graveyard while a voice over the speaker talked about some ghost hauntings in the late 1800s.