Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“I knew it would,” he said softly and kissed Jamie’s hair. “You smell like… What do you smell like?”
“Er.” Jamie sniffed at themself tentatively. “Maybe the smoke machine? But also maybe general haunted house ick? It’s a particular funk.”
“Come in. Tell me all about it,” Edgar encouraged, waving Jamie into the living room. “Want something to drink?”
All Edgar ever had to drink was water and ginger ale, and Jamie needed something a bit more potent.
“Do you mind?” Jamie held up a tin of edibles.
“Please,” Edgar said.
They settled on the couch, and Edgar got Jamie water anyway. Edgar dug strong thumbs into their left instep. Jamie groaned.
“God damn, that’s amazing.”
“Good,” Edgar murmured.
“Dude. It went so well! At first, everything was going wrong—of course. But it came together at the last minute, like always. It’s so wild how two hours before opening, we can be a total shambles, but then it all gets done.”
As Edgar rubbed their feet, they told him about the anticipation of the crowd, the satisfaction of hearing the screams and curses as people went through, trying to guess which frights had gotten which person. They told him about the videos already making the rounds on social media, declaring House of Screams the best haunt in Louisiana.
“We’re sold out for the next three nights, which is awesome because Marty gives us a bonus for every fifth night we sell out.”
They tried to paint a picture of the night for Edgar without sharing any details that would scare him. This meant Jamie found themself saying things like, “And then this enormous, hairy, er—kitty jumps out while they’re looking in the triptych mirror, and they can’t figure out which way to run to get away from it.”
Quickly though, it became clear that Edgar didn’t need the details. He was just proud every time Jamie said something went well. Jamie was pleasantly stoned at that point, able to relax for the first time in what felt like weeks.
“The only bummer… Never mind.” Jamie waved it off.
“What?”
“More texts from my parents and Emma. Wedding stuff. They probably didn’t even know it was opening night, but…”
But Jamie knew their mother drove to work directly past a billboard advertising the haunt. She’d probably seen it every day for the last month.
“Would you want to invite them?” Edgar asked.
Sweet, innocent Edgar.
“I have. The first year, I was working as one of the actors in the haunt, and I put tickets aside for them at will call for opening night. I texted them two weeks before to let them know.”
Jamie couldn’t believe they’d ever thought their parents or Emma would go through a haunted house. It was laughable now. But that first year, they’d still had hope that their family might be happy for them. After all, they were getting paid to do what they’d always wanted. But when Jamie had gone to the ticket booth at the end of the night, the envelope of tickets remained untouched.
Jamie bit their lip. “Ugh, let’s be done talking about this now. It went great, so. That’s good.”
Edgar opened his mouth like he wanted to add something but closed it. He redoubled his efforts at foot massage.
Jamie let their head droop over the armrest like a morning flower heavy with dew and let themself drift away on a sea of comfort, safe in Edgar’s hands.
***
Edgar had been acting strange all weekend. Jamie had asked if anything was on his mind, and he’d said no, but the tension set Jamie on edge as they drove out to the haunt on Monday afternoon. Maybe Edgar’s mood was just down to their screwy schedule, and things would go back to normal when the haunt wrapped. But a worm of doubt had been burrowing in all weekend.
Fortunately, a tricky problem distracted Jamie immediately upon arrival. One of the swinging sandbags between the dining room and the tight hallway passage that led to the stairs had sprung a leak and was trailing sand everywhere. It took Jamie and their coworker Dante until just before opening to fix it and clean up the mess.
When Jamie got outside for some fresh air and looked at their phone, they had fifteen missed texts and calls.
Their stomach clenched with worry until they read the first text from Edgar: Look about halfway back in the line, and you might see some familiar faces.
Jamie didn’t even look at the rest of the messages before heading for the line.
“What the…?” Jamie said softly when they saw.
Standing with Edgar were Carys, Greta, Veronica, Helen, and Poe.
When Edgar and Jamie locked eyes, a hopeful smile bloomed on Edgar’s lips.
“What are y’all doing here?” Jamie said, throat tightening with emotion as they approached the line.
“I’m here to have the shit scared out of me,” Poe said. “What else?”
“Same,” said Carys. The others agreed.
“Goddammit, don’t make me cry at work,” Jamie muttered, turning away from a chorus of awws.