Halloween is my time of the year.
If you would ask me to watch the scariest movie ever created or read the most terrifying tale, I'd be all for it.
But something about haunted houses just made me shiver inside. A week or two ago, I took the assignment of writing an article about the Canfield Scaregrounds, a decision I would soon come to regret.
It's simply impossible to write a story about something if you don't experience it firsthand. So, I went home and informed my mother that I had to go to the Canfield Scaregrounds in order to write a successful article.
The words that she said next were the ones that still haunt me now.
She said, "You know this means you're going to have to go in the haunted house this year. You can't write an article on the Scaregrounds if you just go on the hayride."
When I heard this, I flipped. I've been avoiding the haunted house for as long I can remember. My biggest issue with the haunted house is the fact that the monsters are allowed to touch you. I don't know about you, but the thought of a stranger feeling up my face in an enclosed room does not sound like entertainment to me. I spent the next week preparing for the worst.
Every time someone would mention the Scaregrounds, I'd think to myself "I swear if they touch meI'm going to smack them."
And I had absolutely no doubt that I actually would get
violent.
The time came for me to face my fears. As my car pulled up to the parking lot, I could feel my body become unstable. My eyes were wide and my spine was tingling. I looked over to my dad and sister. Unlike me, they were completely calm. How could someone be so calm at a place like this? My mother warned me to go in the haunted house first instead of the hayride to avoid the line getting too long. I didn't listen. I chickened out when I saw the house and went the complete opposite direction towards the hayride.
The hayride wasn't intimidating at all. I breezed through it but in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to face the house.
There was no way of getting out of it.
I walked off the hayride and slowly crept towards the house. In line, I really started to question myself. Why did I ever agree to this? And really, who could possibly enjoy this kind of stuff?
This is pure torture! Not fun!
When I made it to the front of the line, I realized it was time to face my doom.
As I walked into the house, I couldn't even see my hand in front of me. I was surrounded by darkness, and all I could do was feel my way out.
Unfortunately, I was too stiff to even think about moving. So I stood in the darkness for a while to calm myself down before I began to walk forward. I found my way to another room where I was greeted by the spine chilling screams of the monsters. They were so close to me that I could feel their breath on my ear.
That's when I lost it.
I began to shake and shiver as I walked further and further into the maze. Soon enough, I was literally jumping off the ground at every scream that I heard. I swear I was seriously three feet off the ground!
I began to run instead of walk. I couldn't help it. I was really just not having a good time. People are supposed to be scared in these things but still laugh about it on the way. I was definitely not laughing. I was so straight out furious by the time I got halfway through that I couldn't take it anymore.
The next person to scream in my ear was going to get punched! Suddenly I came into this room. It was pitch black as usual but in a split second upon entering, I felt someone's hand rub some kind of wet substance all over my face.
And that was it. He touched me!
The worst possible scenario has happened. And I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed out of anger and bolted out of the room. I fell out the nearest emergency exit, gasping for air, and got out of that place as quickly as possible. Any other teenager would look back on their experiences at the Scaregrounds and laugh. But not me. I'm just full of regret. But all in all, it was an experience I'll never forget, even if it was an awful one.