Are You Scared? - Alima Autumn AU Scenario (Patreon)

There’s a distinctly horrible squelching sound that sounds from Alima’s heeled boot. Her face wrinkles into a grimace, the natural glimmer on her cheeks sparkling even in the dim light of the hallway.

“That’s disgusting,” she states.

I glance down at the spill of toxic green goo coating the bottom of my own shoe. “Yeah…it’s pretty gross.”

“I can’t believe you convinced me to go through with this,” she mumbles as we press on, Alima sweeping a curtain of spider web out from her path with a groan.

“Oh, come on. You needed to get out. Or at least do something fun,” I comment, stepping away from further goo and tiptoeing to her side to avoid anything else icky.

We pause as the abandoned house around us creaks. The walls seem to curve in around us, and I dip a little bit lower to counter the claustrophobic sensation. Alima does the same, her shoulder brushing up against mine and causing us to look at each other.

A flicker of…something sizzles between us, so we both look away with confused frowns.

Probably just my imagination.

“But a haunted house?” she asks, pushing on as the sensation settles. A plastic skeleton suddenly bursts out of an alcove, a tinny screech screaming out of a hidden speaker as it wobbles on its stake in front of her.

She lets out an unimpressed sigh and folds her arms. “And not even a very good one at that.”

I walk to her side and stare at the skeleton, which begins to fold back into its hiding place with janky movements. “It was this or go-karting.”

“I suppose at least this does fit with the season,” she replies. As she makes to move on, a bit of spider web catches around her knee-high faux-suede boots, the tassels attached to the zip twisting further into the stringy fabric which she kicks away.

I let out a slight gasp. “You almost sounded a little enthusiastic about Halloween then.”

She rolls her eyes but at least adds a half-smile to the gesture. “Halloween happens to be one of my favourite times of the year.”

I shake my head, pausing as she does in the hallway as the door at the end opens and closes of its own accord, pausing our progress. “You know, I wouldn’t have guessed that about you.”

“Why would you?” she asks, turning to me. The flickering wall sconces highlight the bright colours of her from her purple hair to her pink-tipped eyelashes. I’m not sure why, but it’s taken until this moment to realise just how stunning she really is—and most of that is due to the way I can’t seem to pull my gaze from hers.

She lets out a long breath as our eyes stay locked before she blinks, and it cuts through the odd moment.

“You don’t know much about me,” she continues with what she was saying.

“Not yet, anyway,” I announce.

She tilts her head, as though in challenge. “Are you planning to learn more?”

I shrug. “Would that be a problem?”

Her head tilts downwards, bottom lip slightly protruding in thought. “I suppose not.”

A sudden loud creak makes us both flinch. Our gazes flash about the corridor as the walls seem to move.

No, wait…they are actually moving!

We both slam our hands against the solid wood panes of the walls either side in a futile attempt to stop their advancing progress to crush us.

“They wouldn’t actually kill us, right?” she asks.

“No?” I reply in a squeak.

She glares at me.

“No,” I reply more firmly to which she once more rolls her eyes. “Everyone else seemed to make it out in solid form and not crushed into—”

“Gooey paste?” Her brows knot together. “Maybe that’s what all the stuff on the floor was!”

I grimace. “Then now I feel even worse about stepping in it.”

The walls continue until they press against our backs drawing us into each other. I have to put my hands either side of her body in hopes that this time I can stop the encroaching walls.

Thankfully, it seems to work.

A shuddered clunk echoes through the tiny space, and the walls halt in place.

I take a few calming breaths before letting out a shuddered laugh. “Well, that was interesting.”

“This place has more surprises than I was expecting,” she says in such a hushed tone that it draws my attention.

Squashed up together in the cramped space, my heart makes a hard thud against my ribs as I notice our position. Her hands fall onto my waist, mostly because there’s no room anywhere else to place them, but the touch sends a trail of shivers to travel up my sides and mess with any logical thought.

“Why do you want to know about me?” she asks suddenly.

I hold her gaze and try to think through the fog she seems to cast through my mind. “I…I think you’re more fascinating than you realise you are.”

I see her swallow hard in response, apparently struggling as much as me to form words. She’s so close I can smell the scent of the ocean from her skin and the freshness of the beach sky from her hair. Her gaze hasn’t shifted once from watching me.

She moves her hand from my waist to trail up my side, over my arm, before cupping my cheek. “You’re the first person to tell me that.”

“Maybe that’s because you haven’t given them the chance.”

She juts her chin out. “Are you saying I’m difficult?”

“I’m saying you’re also more imposing than I think you realise,” I say with a soft laugh.

She smiles, and it makes my breath stutter.

Silence falls between us, thick and tense, palpable with heat and a buzz that tickles all the way down my spine.

Her gaze deepens, and she tugs herself closer against me.

“Are you going to do something?” she murmurs, glancing purposefully between my lips and eyes, her leg rubbing against the outside of mine.

I accept her challenge and tip my head slightly closer. “Do you want me to?”

Everything about her expression screams yes, but I wait to hear it from those shimmering lips.

CLANK!

Before she can utter a word, the walls suddenly fall away from behind us, making us stumble as we try to find our balance in the sudden space.

The door at the end creaks open, revealing an exit, and now we finally glance at each other once again.

“I suppose we better go,” I say, my voice quieter than expected.

She nods. “I guess we should.”

Our heavy breaths are all that sound between us for a long while until she finally holds out an arm. “After you.”

I try to remember how to make my legs work and walk with heavy steps towards the door, shaking my head as it begins to clear. I don’t dare to glance behind at Alima, though I can feel her presence behind me like the edge of a lightning storm.