Olivia
After the sudden meeting with Blake’s sister-Cindy, we continued exploring the school.
I was still wondering about our previous encounter with Cindy. Blake never mentioned and tell me anything about his family. It was like he kept it a secret from me. Well, I never asked him too but some part of me was hoping that he would just tell me even without me had to ask first.
We both were talking together without saying anything. I couldn’t stand the silence. It was like walking next to the wall. I had to come up with something to break this unbearable silence among us. “Your sister is beautiful. What’s she working on?”
“Nutritionist,” he said plainly.
“Wow, that’s amazing. I guess that’s the result of how perfect her body figure is, huh?”
“I guess.” Okay, that was sucks. Blake clearly didn’t want to talk about his sister. Maybe something happened to them, something bad. I better stopped this conversation and…
“I’m sorry.” He stopped his steps and turned to me.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“I guess because you don’t want to talk about her. I’m just curious about her and since you never told me about your family.”
Your curiosity could kill you one day. John’s words stroke my mind. He wasn’t mad at me for asking about his past but I could see that he was annoyed. He didn’t like it when someone speaks of his past. And how about Blake? Was he going to get mad at me?
“It’s not like I don’t want to talk about them, I just don’t know what to say about them,” he replied. There was no tone of annoyance or whatsoever from him. That relieved me a bit. Until…
“My parents adopted me and Cindy is my step-sister.” I was completely stunned. I was shocked. I couldn’t say a word.
Blake was adopted. He and I were the same. Both of us were adopted.
“Oh. Do you have any knowledge about your parents?”
“I do. But, please. Don’t ask me about them now. I love my current family and they are important to me. So different from my real family. I love Cindy as well but she made a mistake and it was hard for me to face her now.” Although he sounded plain and expressionless, his eyes spoke volumes.
He was sad. Disappointed. And angry.
I didn’t know what Cindy did but what I could conclude…adults were complicated. They held too many secrets. Just like John. But maybe there was a reason why they didn’t want to talk about it. The hint of sadness from Blake proved it all. Maybe his real family passed away or worse…abandoning him.
“Thank you, Blake. I understand if you don’t want to talk about it with me,” I said and walked past him. “Say, do you want to join me in the Panic Haunted Room? They said it’s one of the best attractions the school has now.”
Blake smiled lightly. “Sure. And Olivia?”
“Hm?”
Blake came to me and leaned forward so he would come close to my ear. “Thank you for not pushing me.”
We went together to the attraction. This attraction was quite popular and the committee invited them from the outside. Some of the students volunteered to help them jazz up the attraction. The headmaster approved this one rather than Maroon 5.
We were lucky because the lines were not too long. Usually, people had to wait for at least forty-five minutes. After three groups of people, we went in. The objectives of this attraction that we had to figure out the exit while we were attacked by a lot of ghosts and honestly…
This kind of attraction was the one that I would always avoid if I was in the amusement park.
I was totally scared of this stuff but I wanted to help Blake felt more relaxed and maybe a little adrenaline would get him not to overthink his family.
Blake went ahead and I followed him from behind. He stopped as I almost bumped to his back. “There’s something there.” Great, what the hell?
I peeked from behind and a woman with a long black hair façade to her waist just passing by. “Holy moly!” I freaked out and immediately grabbing his elbow tightly. I had to calm myself. That woman was a real human being and she was just doing her job scaring people off. That was her objective but not mine.
“You know, if you are that scared, you shouldn’t invite me here,” Blake commented.
“B-But, I just…I just want you to feel more relax after what I asked before,” I replied as he sighed. He grabbed my hand and started to walk again. In an instant, I felt calm and my heart was beating fast.
“Just don’t let go,” he said. I didn’t know if he realized it, but his words and his strong and warm hold was calming me. So strong yet protective.
We continued again until we reached a room with a single chair and a television in front of it. There was also a bookshelf here. I knew exactly this kind of situation. It was just from that same horror movie.
“Hm? A paper?” Blake grabbed it from the chair and read it loud enough for me to hear. “Basically, we have to find the right key to get out of here.” It sounded easy but I knew it was not going to be that easy. The room only had a single lamp and it was poorly dim. How are we going to search for the key with this lamp?
“We should search then. And it’s okay if I let you go here, right?” Blake asked amusingly and I pulled my hand away from him. Blake began his searching and I helped him as well.
“Oh, I found it,” I informed and reached the key under the chair. I went to the other door and pushed the key inside the keyhole but it didn’t budge. “Oh, it’s not it.” And by the time the television suddenly turned on by itself. I immediately turned around at it. What’s going on now?
It showed the scene from the ring’s movie. A young girl just came out from the sewer. It gave me goosebumps. I hated this scene. And there was something from the screen. It said if the girl approached the television and we hadn’t found the key, we were out and she would attack us. The timer started in an exact five minutes.
This really sucked.
I watched the movie before and it made me unable to see a TV for a whole week. I was afraid that a girl would come out of the television and killed me in the worst way possible. I sucked at horror movies. They gave me this unexplainable paranoid.
“Olivia, calm down,” Blake stated. I looked at him and he remained calm as always. “This is just a game and she won’t do anything to you and nothing will happen to us. But I refuse to lose and we’re going to beat this stupid game. Just stay there and I will find the key,” he assured me and started his searching again.
Although he said that it was just a game and nothing would happen to us, every time I glanced at the TV and it was already three minutes left and the girl was slowly approaching us, I couldn’t contain my fear.
I knew it was just a scene from the movie but I was still scared. One piece of advice from me and to me as well, if next time Karen invited me to watch another horror movie again, I would immediately say NO.
“There’s a key here,” Blake said and reached the key inside the bookshelf. He walked to the door and tried it. When he opened the door, I immediately went to him and pushed him out of the room, and closed the door.
I was sweating a lot. My heart was still beating fast like crazy.
“That wasn’t bad,” Blake commented. I was rather irritated with his words. Blake was not scared at all, let’s get that straight. But for me…
“That scared the shit out of me.”
“Watch your language, little girl. As long you are under my observation, I won’t let that pretty mouth letting out such inappropriate words.”
“Whatever.” Blake patted my head so softly.
“You’re doing a great job for not getting too panicky there,” he praised and he went ahead first.
We continued again where we were disturbed by multiple ghosts like and I was screaming nonstop at them. Blake never once shouted or got mad at me. I was thankful to him for that.
Finally, we reached our final challenge. The Mirror Maze. Oh, man. What now?
“Welcome to the Mirror Maze. In this attraction, you two have to enter two different room and find your way to the very end. You have to wait for your partner to win the game if one of you reached the exit first. But you can choose to go back and search for your partner but you might be losing the exit or you can abandon your partner,” the person said. That was such a crazy idea. But I reminded myself again.
It was just a game.
“I don’t like the idea,” Blake started and I looked up to him. A clear sight of annoyance but if we wanted to finish this game, we had to do it. “I guess I’ll see you at the end.”
“I guess so.” I sounded so nervous. I didn’t know if I was going to make it.
“Hey, if something happened there, just call out my name and I will come to you,” he promised as I smiled. “Ready?” I nodded my head and we entered the separate room together. Even by stepping in, it already gave the chill to my entire body. Get a grip, Olivia. You can do it.
I inhaled and exhaled a few times and then I went further inside. At first, I could walk easily and found my way to another. Not until a clown appeared and shocked me to no end. I ran away from the clown and he was chasing me. I ran as fast as I could until I ended up at the dead end. I looked behind and the clown was already gone.
“Jesus!” I walked back and there were two different paths. Where did I come from? Okay, this was not funny at all. I got panic again and the clown appeared again from the other side of the mirror. Scared me to hell as I fell to the cold floor. He looked almost like the Pennywise from IT with his sharp teeth.
The clown smiled widely and intimidating.
No, that was just a costume. There was a person underneath that. I closed my eyes, ignoring the clown in front of me. Thanked God I had a mirror between us. Until…
“Hey,” someone softly calling me. I looked to the side and saw a woman wearing a white gown smiling widely at me. Not the kind of smile that I would like. She raised her hand with a knife and suddenly charged at me while screaming. I screamed in horror and ran away again.
This was too freaking scary for me. I never signed up for any of this. I had to get out of here, fast. I looked around to find the right way but I couldn’t. The paths were confusing. I didn’t know where did I came from and where should I go.
“Blake!” I called and there was only silence. “Blake!” I called again but it was futile. Blake was probably already outside. When I was about to call out for him again, a person appeared from the mirror.
“You are such a sissy,” he mocked. He was wearing a mask and I could see his face. A scary-looking mask. “You are indeed your daddy’s girl. So spoiled and unable to finish this challenge by yourself. Calling out your daddy so you will be safe,” he added again. I knew he was doing this out of purpose. Just for the attraction, but…
Your father abandoned you!
My parents said your mom is always out with other guys.
The memories and those cruel words when I was bullied by my classmates haunting me once again. I didn’t want to remember any of it anymore.
You must be playing yourself with your daddy, didn’t you?
You are disgusting. No wonder your mother died because of you.
No! Stop!
And bam! Blackout. I opened my eyes and my surrounding was dark. The person in a mask just disappeared. Great, he leaves me here.
“H-Hello?” Okay, I was literally alone here. No one was around. My breath quickened. My throat was dry. Was somebody going to get me? Search for me? “Blake? Blake!” I was sure that he was already outside and no way the staff here would let him back here knowing there was just a blackout.
But he promised me. He said that I should call out for him and he would come to me.
Tears began to drop. I was scared. What if Blake didn’t come? What if he…abandoned me? Was this what he wanted? To left me here?
“No. Blake… Please, come and save me. Please…don’t abandon me,” I pleaded in tears. This was so humiliating. Crying for my father to come and rescue me.
This was the same situation as before. Back at my mother’s funeral. I was sitting on the corner, crying with my relatives and other visitors complaining about how they were going to take care of me. They decided to just send me straight to the orphanage. By the time I was desperate and on the verge of giving up, Blake appeared and helped me. He gave out his hand to me and he said he would take care of me.
“I’m here.” His voice surrounded me. I opened my eyes and I was wrapped by strong arms yet warm and protective. The woody scent of his Maison Francis perfume.
“B-Blake?”
“I’m here, baby girl. I told you that I will always find you, right?” It was really Blake. I was so thankful that he came for me and didn’t abandon me. He found me in the darkness. He saved me from it before and he just did it again. I leaned my head on his shoulder and wrapped my hands around his shoulders. Allowing the woody scent of his perfume to consume me. In an instant, he calmed me.
Blake slowly let me go and wiped my tears away with his thumb. He rested his hand on my cheeks as I looked straight into his sapphire eyes. “Next time you are in the amusement park or somewhere else that holds this kind of attraction, do not enter,” he reminded me as I laughed.
We stood up together as Blake helped to adjust my position. Blake led us to the exit while he was holding my hand. I knew and I believed in him. He knew what he was doing and we finally got out of the maze safely.
“Oh, my, congratulations on completing the maze room!” the student congratulated us. I realized that Blake was still holding my hand and I immediately pulled it from him. I couldn’t let anyone think of something weird about Blake. All students knew that I was adopted by Blake and I didn’t want to trouble him and made his life miserable.
And I better did not feel anything to him because our relationship…was going to be a forbidden one.
And no one would approve of us.