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Joey's calm today, she can tell
And it is a good thing, compared to other moods he sometimes haves, it is a good thing, but
He's too calm
Like, when you smoke weed calm
But his eyes were completely normal, he was completely normal, just calm
Too calm
He had a warm smile as he told her he wanted to take her to a date, she nodded immediately, he was the kindest boyfriend she'd ever had, the nicest guy she'd ever met
He genuinely loved her, or so she thought
And she loved him back, so she got into his car
It was four something in the afternoon of a very hot Iowa summer, she looked out of the window, and as a warm soft wind ruffled her hair, the sun flooded the Midwest city with orange and yellow shades
That's when she realized something
There was no music
She looked at Joey, the profile of his face looked a little dark due to the sun hitting the opposite side, his eyes seemed to take on a warmer, stranger hue. He didn't seem upset, he didn't seem irritated, just... calm
He didn't looked at her back, tough he always seemed to know when she did so, but she tried to hide her frown anyway, looking at the road in front of her
They always used to scream the lyrics of the song coming out of the car stereo whenever they went anywhere, or at least there was something to lighten the mood, always
Why not today?
She didn't want to say anything or did anything out of embarrassment, but- there was something off about Joey
And then, the second thing
They were moving away from the city
The buildings diminished significantly, giving way to a yellowish lawn, and at a detour- a dirt road
That alarmed her
Usually their dates were in restaurants, parks, or the like, never like this, so she shifted uncomfortably in her seat
"Joey... Where are we going?" She dared to say after a deep breath
He finally looked at her, a smile on his lips at the realization "Haha, don't be nervous. We're heading to the cornfield, fancy right? There's something I want to show you over there"
Even only with his gaze, she immediately calmed down, even more when he grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly, tension leaving her body like it was never there
He was a nice boyfriend
A nice boy
He'd never do something bad to her. Never
𖦹𖦹𖦹
She reacted only when the car stopped, took her seat belt off, and frowned when she looked at the window
Joey got out first, and she did the same seconds later, confused
They were on a narrow road, the car could barely fit
She looked to the left
Corn
She looked to the right
Corn
Tall, leafy, noticably deep
She was about to say something, when Joey got in front of her, offering her his hand
"Come on"
She sighed, swallowing her words
And took his hand
Firm and warm
He lead her to the cornfield on the left, there was not a path, nor there or everywhere else as long as she could see
But they entered, pushing the tall corn plants with their hands
Silent
The third thing
Joey was always the talkative one, but now he was quiet
Too quiet, while driving he was like that too
Where they were going?
What were they going to do there?
When he said they were heading to the cornfields in the car, she thought he might have prepared a picnic
But he had absolutely nothing
And the sun, slow but sure, kept going down as they kept walking
And walking
And walking...
Until the shadows increased, she squeezed his hand harder unconsciously, and she could have sworn that he squeezed back
But it was harder to see now, the dry, brownish leaves roughly bushing her face, legs and arms, the crisp sound of her stepping and pulling them aside was the only one she was listening
She gathered courage, stopping
"Hey Joey- it's getting really dark... What if this is someone's land? We could get shoot or-"
She turned to look at him
He wasn't there
She frowned, stepping back.
"Joey?" She said, loud enough
She turned forward, backwards, in all directions
"J-Joey!"
How? She felt his hand, they were holding hands-
"Alright, I get it, this is one of your jokes, very funny, Nathan"
She said with hope, but also with the intention that he would stop fucking around- she was getting scared
"Joey please- where?-"
She couldn't finish the sentence, looking everywhere, the only movement was when a now cold wind shook the leaves, her breathing going faster than usual
But then the wind stopped
And she realized something
There was no other noise
No crickets, no cicadas, no insects, no life
Just, silence
A very creepy silence
"Okay, okay okay..."
She said, running her hands over her face, she had to find the way out of that place, go back the way she came—but
Where had she come from?
Maybe this way—or maybe that way—or maybe somewhere else—
Shit
She was lost
She felt the need to cry. Where was her boyfriend? Why couldn't she see him? Why couldn't she hear him?
She took two steps back, stepping on something hard
She frowned; it didn't felt like a root or stem, and looked down
It was a dirty piece of wood
She kneeled down a bit, grabbing it and squinting, what?-
There was a simbol in it
An S
In a rather strange handwriting, like something her boyfriend would do
Fuck, could this really be a practical joke after all?
She closed her eyes and opened them to leave the piece of wood on the ground, when-
She narrowed her eyes, looking between two stems, there was something-
She dropped it, and approached to the other thing
Another piece of wood
Another simbol
A goat
"The fuck...?"
She dropped it too, but nearby, there was another one
And another one
And another one
It seemed that they were pointing her to where she should go, the path
It gave her really awful vibes, the whole place did
But it wasn't like she knew where else to go
And it was just getting more and more dark anyways...
"Please let this be a Joey joke, please..."
She whispered, breaking the silence
⚠ ⚠ ⚠
It was already completely dark when she saw a bit of light between the leaves
The end, she thought, so she started walking, faster and more desperate
When she stepped out of the cornfield, she finally felt like she could breath
It felt like choking inside there
She narrowed her eyes, looking around in concentration
Relatively tall, dry, overgrown grass beneath her feet, and—
A dark silhouette was a few meters ahead
A farmhouse
She had never felt as sick as she did now
The closer she walked, more details she noticed
As long as she could see because of the dark, she could tell it was old, really old and neglected; the wood of the porch ceiling was slightly peeling, rotten from the moisture, and nature wanted to take over slowly, roots crawling up the walls on either side
It looked as if it would fall at any moment-
But she had no other choice
Deep inside, she knew that no one was living there, not even a homeless person, but-
Maybe Joey...
She opened the front door, it was already ajar
The wood creaked over her steps, she was unsure, on alert, walking a long hallway
"Hello?"
No answer
She decided to not to insist
It was too dark, she could barely see, but God
Yeah, she was an anxious person, but- she felt horribly
Like there were eyes everywhere, on the walls, on the ceiling, but specifically-
In the dark
That hallway led her to another one. To her right, a small living room; to her left, doors
She immediately tried to open one
It wouldn't budge
There seemed to be another path past the living room, but-
Too dark, too many eyes, something bad would happen to her if she went in that way, she could almost see the darkness moving-
She continued to the left, another door
It didn't budge either, but one remained, at the end
Darker
She had to use a little force, but- with a loud creaking sound, it opened.
Oh no
Stairs down
A basement
She looked behind, the darkness seems to increase
The eyes too
So she let out a shaky breath, and took a step down
With each step she took, she could see less and less, until she was sure she wouldn't be able to see her hand if she held it in front of her face
But something made her stifle a scream-
A slip
Something slimy beneath her shoes
She gripped the railing tightly, though she felt like if she tried hard enough, it would split beneath her hand
She slipped a couple more times, but managed to keep her balance
Was that oil or something?
Wait
How deep was this basement?
She began to regret her decision, but something made her continue;
A light
Dim, too dim to see clearly, but enough to see
She went down with a little more enthusiasm, and sighed in relief when she finally reached the ground
A bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling, old, dirty, and only illuminated a certain area of the floor, not the walls and so on
It looked like a very large basement...
She walked forward, until she was right under the lightbulb, frowned, forcing her eyes to see something in front of her-
What was it?
A small puddle.
She thought the floor was dirty with dust or something, but-
It was more colorful
More reddish
And that particular spot-
It was a puddle of blood
She didn't know what to do
Her legs moved on their own, toward that liquid—viscous-
The liquid on the stairs
She stepped in it, she-
There was something else
Further from the light, a... pile of something.
Something big, junk?
They seemed too soft for that, too irregular, what?-
Her conscience already knew what they were, but her mind didn't want to admit it
A larger pool surrounded them
Corpses
No, limbs
Her eyes slid to the wall across the room—one word
"Slipknot"
Written in blood
Air didn't pass her nose or mouth
Her eyes, as if acting on their own, slid to the pile of limbs-
An eye above a jaw seemed to stare back at her
She creamed, loudly, shakily, shocked
She put her hands to her mouth, that barely helped silenced it
Tears in her face, she couldn't breath, couldn't stop screaming
But her eyes won't leave them
A leg, a hand, a head, a torso
All of them from different people
Instinctively, she stepped back, only a few steps, until-
She felt something in her back
As fast as she could, she turned back
A man
A masked man
Tall, much taller than her
Long dark hair, icy eyes that seemed to past through her soul
Looking down at her like she was the most insignificant thing in the world
She screamed again, falling backward, trying to crawl, but feeling a dismembered hand almost grabbing her shoulder
The man in the silver-like mask didn't approach, didn't move, just followed her movements with his eyes, almost in disgust
She saw movement on her left, another mask, a gas one this time
Close, too close
Another pair of blue eyes collided with hers, though the pupils seemed much more dilated, more erratic
She tried to move away, but the man grabbed her arm with a strength he didn't seem to possess, digging his fingers into her skin, his nails against her bone-
As if he wanted to tear her arm off
She let out a pained noise, trying to crawl to the right
Only to be met with a sliding mouth, an extremely long nose, and skin made of grayish industrial latex
He grabbed her other arm just as roughly, standing up
The man on her left did the same, forcing her to stand
no matter how much she squirmed- she wouldn't budge, she barely moved, and her legs were too wobbly, too weak to stand
Her mind had barely processed two figures that emerged from the shadows on either side of the tall man
One that even seemed taller than him, and the other-
A hand, roughly, grabbed her hair, almost from the scalp
And pulled back strongly, painfully
She could feel dirty- dreads? Against her face, and saw the glimpse of a smile, surrounded by black and holes were the eyes were supposed to be, she didn't wanted to get to see them, as she kept struggling
In vain
She tried to look in front of her again
How many were them?
A jester, taller than the first man
A clown, the shadows collapsing into the cracks of his smile and eyes like endless voids
A pig, who tilted his head when she noticed him
One with spikes on his head, long, sharp, and a glass that reflected the light from the bulb and hid his face
And-
Him
She could tell it was him
Even though she couldn't see his face
Joey...
He had a completely white mask, with completely different clothes- she then realized that they all had a red... Jumpsuit?
But it was him
She knew it was him
Those bracelets-
That hair-
Those eyes...
Then, she felt an indescribable feeling of security
He was here
And she was always fine when he was near
He stepped closer
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the glint of a butcher knife in his hand
But she didn't look away from him
She relaxed her muscles under the hands of the other men, they must be his friends...
He was inches from her face
She looked into his eyes, they seemed determined, but still held that kindness that made her fall in love with them
His other hand rose, slowly passed over her cheek, up to her eyelids, closing them with his fingers
She didn't resist
The man behind her pulled her hair further back
And she felt something cold on her throat