Haunting-Adeline

For as long as I can remember, Halloween fascinated me. The creatures
and creepy faces. The jump scares and impending dread that something
horrific is going to happen. I’ve had an unhealthy obsession with it all.
Mom sent me to therapy specifically for my fascina on with gory horror
movies. She thought I was a psychopath. And really, I just get off on being
scared.
I think it’s a step up from being a psycho, but the therapist disagreed.
Too o en, I’d hear my mother telling my father that I was a freak. That
something was wrong with me. No one in their right mind likes being
scared.
But I do.
I love it.
Which is why having a stalker is the worst thing for someone like me. I’m
suscep ble to enjoying the fear a bit too much. My love for horror is going
to get me killed one day. It’s like I was meant to be hunted.
Li le mouse.
That name is going to haunt me.
I’m not prey. I’m not.
“Satan’s Affair is coming to town again, and they have new haunted
houses,” Daya reminds, bringing me back to the present.
Satan’s Affair is a traveling fair that comes to town every year, staying for
two nights before moving on to the next town. They set up loads of
haunted houses and thrill rides. Daya and I go every year religiously.
A er the first few years, the haunted houses became predictable. Since
then, they change them every year, and now the traveling fair has some of
the best haunted houses in the country.
“You already know I’ll be the first one in line.”
“Yeah, we know, freak,” she teases. Despite the fact that it used to be my
mother’s favorite slur, I don’t let it bother me anymore.
Plenty of men have called me the same, followed up by desperate
begging to fuck me again. Being a freak took on a whole new meaning a
long me ago. I tend to enjoy the name now.
Daya leaves once we confirm plans for the fair night. It’s not for another
few weeks, but the event has garnered a loyal fanbase and sells out every
year. It got to the point where so many people would come, they had to
limit the number allowed in.