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)
“Oh my god,” Edgar murmured.
To experience Edgar seeing their work live, even though they didn’t want to frighten him, was unexpectedly gratifying.
“That’s the chandelier you came with me to get,” Jamie said, pointing at the cobweb-swathed twist of metal above the dining table.
“You made this?” Edgar asked.
“Well, not just me. But yeah.”
“You built a whole dining room. A whole house?”
“Yeah, we did this room in sections that we could move in when we came to this location. Then the staging all happens here. We figured out how to get the effects to work in the warehouse, but you can’t know exactly how an effect will play out or how much detail is required to make it work properly until you do it in situ. There’s a lot to consider: direction of traffic flow, how close people are likely to get to each element, the time they spend in the space, what mindset they’re bringing in from the previous zone, and how much time or attention the new element will require before they can shift gears. So—”
Edgar turned Jamie’s face to his and kissed them softly on the mouth. “You’re brilliant.”
“Aw, well. It wasn’t just me. I work with great haunters,” Jamie insisted. But they glowed at Edgar’s praise.
On the monitor, their group rounded the table. Veronica reached out a hand toward a rotting turkey carcass. Jamie grinned when she jerked back in disgust.
“What is it made of?”
“It’s a latex cast made from a real turkey—we have to have a lot of the things people can touch in case they get messed up. Then we covered the latex in a mix of Vaseline, wax, and baking soda that feels like congealed fat and grit.”
On the monitor, Poe, Greta, and Veronica startled.
“That’s the clock striking midnight.”
Carys ran a palm up the flocked wallpaper that led to the stairs, and Jamie leaned in to see if she would—
“Yes!” Jamie exclaimed, as Carys’ hand slid from the flat of drywall into sudden squish and give. Her hand sank into the wall, and she stumbled forward, then snatched her hand away.
“That was my idea,” Jamie let themself brag.
“You’re terrifying and hot,” Edgar murmured, but he kept watching, chin on Jamie’s shoulder, hugging them. “What’s happening in that part?”
There was no camera monitoring this hallway because it was packed with heavy forms that blocked any view of people moving through.
“It’s pitch-black, and there are these sandbags chained to the floor and ceiling. You have to push your way through them. It’s perfectly safe, but it kinda feels like you’re being crushed to death.”
Edgar shuddered. “Jesus. And people like this.”
“Hell yeah, they love it.” Jamie grinned.
When everyone in the group made it through and appeared on the next monitor, Jamie warned Edgar of an upcoming jump scare, and he buried his face in Jamie’s shoulder.
A figure wrapped in rotting gauze and doused with seeping blood jumped out at Carys and Greta from behind a metal gurney. They both jumped and cringed, but Carys stepped in front of Greta, ready to defend her.
“It’s over,” Jamie murmured.
Poe stalked warily at the back of the group now, looking from side to side.
“Okay, so Poe is what we call an anticipator. He’s constantly looking around to try and minimize the scares by feeling like he’s in control of the space. Those people are harder to surprise because they’re paying really close attention. But they’re also the most satisfying to scare.”
“Hmm, what about the others?”
“Carys and Veronica are explorers. They’re looking in crevices and around corners to see how things work or to admire the detail. Explorers are satisfying because they’re more likely to see all the hard work we put in. But they can also be a problem, because they sometimes try to go off the path or, in extreme cases, ask questions of the performers.”
On the next monitor, the group wound through narrow tunnels made to look like caves.
“I love this one,” Jamie murmured just before one of the haunters pressed the button and wet Spanish moss dropped from the ceiling to dangle in their faces. Helen dropped to her knees, while Poe and Greta clawed at the air around their heads, but the vegetation was pulled up again before they could grab it. Veronica, looking up to anticipate more vegetation, was the first to notice that the ceiling was sloping down. The group had to crawl on hands and knees through the dark to escape the room.
“I think Helen and Greta fall in the tagalong category. This isn’t necessarily their vibe, but their friend or date or kid invited them, and they came along for the ride.”
“What’s the fourth category?” Edgar asked.
“The thrill seeker. Those are the people who go to dozens of haunts a year, watch horror movies, and are generally here to test the scare factor. They want to be terrified, but since they go to so many, they rarely are. They’re the ones who come out at the end and are comparing the haunt to the twenty-eight others they’ve already been to and discussing which haunt did which elements better.”