Trick or Treat

“You’ll be fine, relax.”

Gerard looked back and forth between the small, wooden shack in front of him and the man standing at his side. A smiling face stared down at him, and appeared to be trying to seem comforting.

He was currently a date with one Nick Schaub, a gentleman he had met just the other night at a homecoming party from the World Contamination Tour. While everyone else in the band had wives to celebrate with, a recently divorced Gerard had found his only welcome in this man’s drunken embrace.

But they had had such tremendous fun just talking and hanging out, Gerard had wanted a round two immediately.

Nick was a handsome fellow, tall and rather cut. Almost a little too cut. He reminded Gerard somewhat of Jared Leto. He likewise had long, brown locks but they only went down to his shoulders. Nick also sported a charming, pearly white smile. Everything about his date was charming -- just not so much current date location.

As it so happened, it was Halloween night. And after a nice dinner, and some spontaneous (and also drunken) trick or treating, Nick insisted that they go to one of his favorite Halloween spots --- a haunted house.

Gerard never liked haunted houses.

He was never keen on the idea of things jumping out at you unexpectedly. He could dig gory movies, and creepy tales, but physically being in an atmosphere specifically built to make you jump out of your pants just didn’t appeal to Gerard.

He’s disappointed Frank on a lot of invitations to go to Knotts Scary Farm.

But yet, Nick seemed eager, and Gerard wasn’t really willing to be the literal killjoy of the evening. Not on a first, formal date.

They had both dressed for the occasion, after all. Nick was in a Dracula-esque attire -- his face covered in pure white powder, a fine looking suit, and the back of him draped over by a large, velvety red cape. To match his date, Gerard had donned bat wings and simple black shirt and shorts, with his legs encased in white and black striped stockings. He felt the black and white color scheme looked lovely with his blood red hair. For added affect, he had even applied fake fangs.

So it would be a shame, Gerard thought, to not do as many Halloween things they could partake in, when they had both put so much effort into their costumes.

“Fine,” Gerard sighed, “But if I knock you over because something jumped at me, don’t blame me for it.”

Nick laughed, “Don’t worry about that. Just stay close, I’ll keep you safe.”

Gerard nearly rolled his eyes at such a cheesy line, but returned Nick’s smile.

He had a good feeling about this one.

Nick extended his arm, and Gerard took it, gripping the rock hard arm inside the sleeve. Gerard wondered what Nick might look like shirtless, and pondered if he would find out later that evening. They began to approach the shack together, and Gerard took a moment to observe his surroundings.

The shack was on top of a grassy hill, so it was an upwards climb. This made things kind of difficult, as Gerard was still hauling around a bag full of candy that they had earned through their trick or treating escapade. Within a few minutes he was already tired, but he tried not to pant too heavily. He didn’t want Nick to know how tired he already was.

He tried to distract himself with other thoughts.

Gerard was surprised to realize there were not a whole lot of people around. Considering that they had driven out to sort of a rural area, it wasn’t terribly strange though. Nick had said that this haunted house had always been underrated.

They reached the shack. It was even shabbier upclose, and only about the size of some dressing rooms Gerard had been in. He could not see too well in the dimness of the night, but it appeared to be mostly wooden and riddled with splinters. There was only one window, and it was completely covered by a gray sheet.

They certainly had done a good job of making it spooky.

Nick put his hand on the rusted knob and turned it. He gave Gerard another encouraging smile and they both entered inside it, the darkness of its interior swallowing them whole.

Gerard felt his heart rate skyrocket at the realization he could not see anything ahead of him. He turned his neck and saw the door close behind them, the moonlight from outside gone in a blink.

“Nick...?” Gerard used his left hand to grope around for his date, unnerved by how quiet it was.

But there was no audible response, and Gerard’s hand could not seem to find the person who was just next to him. His supposed protector. He was getting rapidly more nervous by the second, predominately due to the fact that he could not see a single damn thing.

Just blackness everywhere.

It was then he felt an arm suddenly grip his right shoulder, and just as he was about to scream out in alarm, his other senses went out like a strong wind to a lit candle.

TBC.

Notes