“I think that sounds like the most fun,” Austin argues.
I watch Cole relax into his seat and smile at Austin’s words. She isn’t afraid of anything.
“You have to sign a waiver for that, though,” Austin adds.
“I’m not signing shit,” Becky mumbles to herself.
“Silence was once an insane asylum that was shut down back in 1984 due to a patient being killed. She died by strangulation. She managed to get out of her straitjacket and hung herself by the straps.”
“God,” Becky whispers.
“Afterward, the place was bought by the Thompson family. Over the years, they have added new attractions to Silence, but the part that makes it stand out from all the other haunted houses in Texas is the fact that it is actually haunted.”
“I should have stayed home,” Becky whines.
Austin continues, “Silence sits on a hundred acres and has over 200,000 square feet of attractions. That does not include the original underground tunnels that the staff used to transfer dead bodies from one building to another …” She pauses for a second and then looks up at the back of Cole’s head. “I wonder if we get to walk in the tunnels.”
“You can’t be serious?” Becky asks.
“I mean, wouldn’t that be awesome?” Austin goes on. “If the tunnels were the blackout attraction?”
Cole and I both chuckle. “What?” Austin finally directs her attention to Becky. “Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. Bonfires and ghost stories. Some apple cider with a little rum. Scary movies and haunted houses.”
“The only part I want to participate in is the one where we get drunk off that apple cider and rum.” Becky smiles at her.
“We’re here,” Cole announces as I pull up to a wrought-iron gate.
We enter, and buses line the long driveway to an opening. Men in yellow vests holding flashlights navigate the long line of cars. One guides me to a parking spot in the middle of a field that is quickly becoming full. We exit and turn around to see what looks like an abandoned castle that’s been painted black and has boarded-up windows. The tallest part stands at five stories high in the center with an even taller clock tower. Red lights on each side of the building make it glow.
To the right is another gate and the ticket booth with a Ferris wheel and roller coaster in the distance. You can hear people screaming from here as it takes a loop.
“It has a carnival?” Becky observes.
“It has a scarenival,” Austin corrects her. “I read it on the website as well. It has a maze, a mirrored fun house, and …”
I tune her out and remove the tickets from my pocket before handing them to Cole. I had only purchased three, so Becky is going to have to buy her own once we get up there.
Austin has moved on in conversation and is now talking to Cole about what she wants to do on Halloween in two weeks when Becky groans at her cell going off.
“What?” Austin asks her.
“My sister is here.”
Great!
She quickly types away. “With her boyfriend,” she adds, not pleased with the situation.
“Do they wanna join us?” Austin asks her.
Cole throws me a look of sympathy. This was supposed to be the three of us. With my newfound idea to seek revenge, I don’t mind Becky tagging along, but now I’ve got her bitch of a sister to deal with.
Fucking fantastic!
“Yeah.” She sighs heavily. “She’s gonna meet us over by the wristbands.” At least she sounds about as thrilled as I am.
Cole takes Austin’s hand, and they lead us through the crowd to the ticket booth. We fall into line, and Austin shivers. “It’s freezing.” Her teeth chatter as she wraps her arms around her chest. “The news said it wasn’t gonna get below fifty-five tonight.”
“It’ll be warm inside,” he tells her.
“I hope.” She laughs, rubbing her hands up and down her long-sleeve shirt.
“Probably be cold as death,” Becky mumbles.
“Here.” Cole pushes Austin away so he can unzip his black hoodie.
“No. You’ll be cold,” she protests.
He wraps it around her shoulders and yanks the hood up over her head. She looks up at him with a smile on her lips.
He snorts at her statement. “I’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Then he pulls her back into his side, and she snuggles into him.
It’s sickening how cute they are together. But I can’t deny that I’ve seen my friend turn into a different person since she came along. A better version of himself. But I can tell he’s been a little off and in a funk lately, and Austin knows it too. She watches him closer and makes sure to give him more one-on-one time when I take Lilly out to a movie or shopping for some new toys. I think she’s afraid of losing him to the darkness that he was in when she entered his life. I’m not sure how far he is from that at the moment, but I know it won’t take much to push him over the edge.