A Loss For Words

It’s the second day of festivities.

The school festival is still very lively. The attractions are mostly the same as the day before, but you wouldn’t think people have gotten tired of them as the amount of festival-goers seem to only have grown.

The food stalls never seem to stop cooking as various aromas constantly wafted in each corner that it seemed like it might become permanent.

Long lines were still forming in game stalls.

Performances were still getting full houses.

The educational exhibitions were… Well, I’m not sure. I haven’t gotten around to visiting them. I don’t even know where they were being held either.

Then, there’s Ken and Marie who are being competitive against each other as usual.

Okay, that last bit isn’t related to how the festival is thriving, but that is the current situation in front of me as I somehow found myself between the two again.

I hadn’t planned it when I went to school today. But, as I had already gone around the campus yesterday, I didn’t really feel like doing anything. So, I found myself simply hanging in some empty classroom with Naomi. We were passing the time as we waited for the closing event later in the day, which would also feature a concert by a popular musician, when the two invited me to go around and visit the stalls and the attractions with them.

I had a feeling they would involve me in something again, but they offered to treat me to lunch and who could say no to a free meal?

Besides, I had Naomi with me this time as backup. But, luckily, I wouldn’t be needing it as I didn’t have to be an active participant.

Their contest this time was a simple one; they made the word “love” forbidden.

Well, not really completely simple since there is a bit more to the rules. Any similar word is forbidden, too, like “like”, “adore” or any word or phrase with the same meaning and intent.

Basically, anything that sounds like affection, adoration or favor for something is banned. Saying it via text or writing is banned as well.

My role this time is to judge if someone broke that rule so I really only needed to be within earshot of them. I thought that was an easy enough task especially when we also get to play around with them.

Initially, I didn’t know how they were going to play their game. I couldn’t imagine Ken and Marie just waiting for someone to slip up while enjoying the festival, but I had no idea how they were going to make each other say the forbidden word.

Regardless, we first stopped by a ring toss stand. The four of us paid to play for a dozen rings each. I thought Ken and Marie would be making a bet out of this with Naomi asking to join in, but that conversation didn’t happen.

Instead, we simply played the game taking turns tossing a ring towards the bottles that were placed in the middle of the stall. Marie, Naomi and I finished quickly as the three of us sped up our throws when our frustration grew from not being close to our targets.

Meanwhile, Ken took his time. I noticed his throwing ritual involved placing a ring on his palm as he lightly bounces it, probably getting a feel for its weight. His first few attempts, he seemed to have avoided tossing the same way twice as he threw each ring in with varying strength via differing angles. Each time, he was getting closer to the neck of the bottle.

By the time he had half a dozen rings left, his aura changed. I wasn’t sure if he was hearing our words of encouragement as he had his eyes entirely on his target.

He tossed one ring.

All three of us girls cheered when the ring rattled around the neck of the bottle and safely landed on the shoulder.

Ken tossed again.

Marie’s audible cheer quickly turned into a groan when the ring landed straight onto the shoulder of the bottle but bounced back due to the momentum.

Ken’s next toss ended up the same way despite him adjusting his strength. None of us girls reacted.

Three rings left for Ken.

The first of it, he threw as carefully as the last, but he must have aimed differently this time as the inner ring caught the bottom of the bottle’s lip. It then spun around the neck as it safely landed onto the shoulder.

Marie, Naomi and I cheered again when it happened.

The next one, he took a short pause before tossing it. Sweat dripped from his chin, but he didn’t seem to notice. His full concentration on placing the ring on the bottle.

He was already guaranteed a reward for scoring two rings, but, with that amount, he was only poised to receive a small bag of candies. The next ring could get him a slightly better prize.

But, he completely missed the bottle this time. Much to the dismay of Marie, who seems to be into it more than Ken. He has worn an expression of neither joy nor frustration on his face during the entire affair.

One ring left.

Ken wiped his face of sweat with a handkerchief he produced from his pocket.

The rest of us tensely anticipated that final toss.

After a brief moment, Ken finally threw that last ring. Each of us followed its trajectory with our eyes.

The inside of the ring hit just below the bottle’s lip. None of us celebrated upon impact as the ring circled around the neck looking like Ken had given it a little too much spin. Its momentum alone was enough for it to spin once then throw itself up away from the bottle.

All four of us simultaneously exhaled deeply to release the tension we built up from the anticipation as we thought it was over. But, the ring hung a bit in the air. Our eyes lit up as we watched it descend.

To everyone's delight, the ring went through the neck, but our emotions quickly switched to dread when it bounced upon landing on the bottle. Luckily, it didn’t bounce too far up as it only went just above the lip. A part of the ring touched the edge of the lip, looking like it might change its course, but it went straight down.

The last ring made it three points for Ken and we celebrated it as if it was a buzzer-beating shot.

The prize was, well, a small trinket, a keychain of Ken’s choosing. It seemed small despite our celebrations, but none of us cared.

For the prize, Ken picked some cliched design with a bleeding heart which is stabbed by a knife. I was thinking Ken wasn’t too different from other boys with what they think is a cool design, but then he handed it to Marie.

“For you”, he said.

I didn’t think it was appropriate to give it to a girlfriend, especially with the connotations it might bring, but somehow Marie looked delighted with it. Maybe she was the one into that sort of design?

“Thanks”, she said. “I lo-”

She abruptly stopped herself from completely saying what she was about to say.

Ken stared at me for a moment. But, it took me more than a few seconds to realize what he wanted from me.

When it hit me, I crossed my hands in front of me then extended them sideways to give the safe signal. I didn’t think Marie broke the rule since she didn’t complete the word.

It was also then that I realized how they were playing their game. They were probably going to do stuff that would prompt the other into saying the forbidden words.

Anyway, we then moved on to a shooting gallery.

It wasn’t a typical shooting gallery where the players aim for stationary targets. It was digital, too, so the targets were on a wide monitor and they were moving, which gives it an extra challenge. But, arguably, the draw of the attraction is that the targets are the university’s entire faculty from the assistant lecturers to the deans. You could even choose whose faces to use as the targets.

“It’s officially approved by the university”, says the person manning the attraction as he pointed to a laminated document signed by the head dean taped onto the top of the counter for everyone to see.

Regardless of the legality of it, all four of us were eager to play. However, only three can play at one time since that was the total amount of machines they’ve set up. Only two slots were open as well as there was someone already playing when we got there. Ken and Marie volunteered to go after Naomi and me so the two of us took our places in the gallery and chose the faces we wanted to shoot.

Naomi selected two specific professors I didn't realize she had a grudge against. As for me, there is an option which will use random faces and I chose that because I was afraid one of my professors would coincidentally appear behind me.

One game was one minute long, but we had unlimited ammo. The aim is to hit as many targets as we could within that amount of time and the reward is based on the score at the end. A score of twenty-five would give a big bag of potato chips. Fifty would give a stuffed toy. A hundred, which would give the grand prize, is a five-foot tall teddy bear.

Initially, I thought it would be easy to get at least the bag of chips since the targets were moving slowly across the screen and relatively easy to hit so I didn't miss too many shots. But, at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel ripped off since, at the pace the targets were moving, it seemed impossible to get one hundred points within the time limit.

But, after my fifth point, the game started moving faster. The targets were moving quicker and were getting harder to hit.

Once I got to ten points, the targets that were showing up on screen doubled. It’s gotten a bit more challenging since the second target can be a bit distracting as they would either come from the other side of the screen or from the same side as the first with random timings.

I managed to score just three more hits.

But, when thirty seconds had elapsed, not only did the targets multiply and get faster again, they started making more movements. Before, they were simply going across the screen with consistent pace. Now, they were making random stops or changing directions and speed at random points, which made them even harder to hit.

In fact, I was unable to hit anything afterwards. The game ended with me not adding to my thirteen points.

Naomi fared slightly better than me with eighteen points, but neither of us scored enough to win a prize.

“We’ll avenge you two”, Marie says as she and Ken took our places in front of the gallery.

Both of them didn't make a selection. I wasn't sure if they had the patience of a saint, well-liked by all the teachers or had similar reasons to mine.

Whichever the case, the two started the game. They were playing well as they made all their shots count. When the targets started speeding up, they were still able to shoot with such accuracy that they were able to rack up at least a dozen points before the target doubled. When the targets multiplied, neither became intimidated nor distracted and they took that opportunity to quickly add to their tally.

Eventually, both of them managed to reach twenty-five points with more than thirty seconds to spare. The game also sped up once they reached that milestone, which has caused them to start missing their shots more often.

On the thirty second mark, the game sped up again and even faster than when I played, probably because Ken and Marie had reached the first milestone. The targets multiplied as well, but it didn’t make it any easier to even hit by a fluke.

Or, at least, that was in Ken’s case.

Marie seems to be doing well despite the increased difficulty. She still wasn’t completely accurate with her shots, but she settled on aiming at one corner and waiting for a target to approach the edge of the screen before pulling the trigger. She had adjusted her tactic unlike Ken who still tried following the targets with the toy gun before shooting.

When the game ended, Ken fell short of fifty points as he got forty-seven hits. Marie scored sixty-one hits, which earned her a stuffed toy.

She chose a rabbit plushie, which she handed to Ken.

“Give this to your sister”, she said.

“Thanks, I’m sure she’ll lo-wuu..”

Ken managed to stop himself from completely saying the word.

Marie, like Ken earlier, stared at me for my decision.

I signaled Ken was safe. He may have almost said “love”, but he managed to switch the “ve” with a weird sounding “wu” before could completely say the forbidden word.

Afterwards, I was kind of expecting the two to continue playing in other stalls for prizes in order to get each other to accidentally say the banned words. So, it was a surprise to me that they wanted to go to an attraction that doesn’t offer any sort of prize next.

We headed to the fourth floor of the Eastern Building. Our destination is located at one end of the building and occupies four whole classrooms, two rooms on one side of the hallway and the other two parallel to them, which is a pretty large area for one attraction to use. Generally, at least from what I’ve seen, one room is the most an attraction could use so it was surprising the organizers were able to get four. Then again, these rooms were normally unused and the attraction was probably the only one on the entire floor so getting permission may have been easier.

The attraction is a haunted house, though, so having this much space probably means it’s not unnecessarily taking up extra space. It also gives the impression that it has plenty of scares and surprises in store for its visitors.

“Make sure to stick together”, Marie said after handing her smartphone to the clerks.

Phones weren’t allowed inside so we had to surrender them.

Marie and Ken held hands as if to reinforce her statement, like an example of what to do once we’re inside the haunted house.

It just confused me since haunted houses generally tend to be linear. You just follow the route, see the spooky props, let the actors scare you, then get out. Besides, it’s not like there’s another boy with us I could hold hands with.

However, I realized why she gave that warning once we entered. The inside only had dim lights so you could barely see what’s in front of you. There’s some form of glow on the floor so we were able to watch our steps, but it was hard to make out the designs of the walls from even a few meters away.

Then, we hit a crossroad. The haunted house doubled as a maze.

“This is a collaboration between the Horror and Maze societies”, Marie explained. “So make sure you don’t get lost.”

She probably felt the need to warn us again as we had to pass through doors to advance, and they were hard to distinguish from the walls. The dim lighting also didn’t help in finding them and we’ve gone back once or twice to some dead ends to search for them. They closed quickly, too, so, if you weren’t paying attention or somehow got distracted, it would be easy to lose the person in front of you.

Unfortunately, despite Marie’s warnings, that just happened to me.

I was walking behind Ken and Marie with Naomi on my side. An actor wearing some tattered ghoulish costume and a green-skinned mask popped out on my side of the wall, which made me jump back and stare at it for a bit.

Somehow, the other three weren’t distracted by it and pressed on. We were walking towards a corner, which they went to without noticing that I had lagged behind.

When I turned that corner myself, they were nowhere to be found. There was only a dead end.

Of course, since I knew they went through here, I was sure there would be a door. I found one and entered it, but I didn’t find Ken, Marie or Naomi behind it. I figured they haven’t noticed that I wasn’t with them yet and have since turned a corner so I hurriedly followed the path I am on to try and catch up with the three.

However, all I found was a crossroad.

Obviously, I would have no idea which direction they took, but mulling over which way I should try going would be unproductive. But, before I made a step forward, I shouted for the names of the three I've been trying to catch up with, hoping they would respond so I could follow their voices.

Unfortunately, all I hear is a low humming sound which has been ever-present in the background since entering the attraction.

Deciding not to wait, I rushed towards my right. I walked quickly because I thought that, if I made the wrong turn, I could quickly go back to the crossroad and try the other direction.

However, there were even more crossroads ahead. I would repeat my process of calling out for Ken, Marie and Naomi at a crossroad, but eventually I would stop as it started feeling like I would do better if I walked even faster to find them. Even worse, in my hurry, I lost track of my steps. I forgot which direction I came from. But, since I was already lost anyway, I figured I could take a gamble on the next door I would find.

On the next dead end, I searched for a door. I found one then entered it.

Immediately, I was met with a corner. I turned it and noticed there was someone standing on the side with their back leaning on the wall. Wearing a tattered costume and a green-skinned mask, I recognized it was the actor that jumped at me earlier which caused me to get separated from my group.

Strangely, though, that person was just standing still, motionless. They didn’t seem to notice me either.

Regardless, since I spotted a familiar landmark, I knew I had gone the wrong way so I headed back to the corner I just came from.

I reentered the door that I just passed through and followed the path behind it. There were crossroads, but I just randomly selected which direction I would go without any thought. I figured I would end up at a dead end with a door anyway.

Unfortunately, that strategy led me to a dead end with no door so I had to go back. Since I was just haphazardly going through the maze, I failed again to keep track of where I was going. That led me to visit other doorless dead ends multiple times.

I managed to finally find a door after a dozen or so dead ends. Not twelve different dead ends, mind. It’s twelve times I’ve hit a dead end, at least. Although, I couldn’t tell how many times I’ve visited each one.

The door would lead me to a familiar face. It’s not Ken, Marie or Naomi, though. I met the green-faced ghoul again, still in the same position I left them earlier.

If the person under it was trying to give me the creeps, then they were succeeding. I was starting to find it eerie considering how this person is just standing there in the dark motionless.

Wordlessly, I made my way back to the door I just came through a few times now already. This time, I was carefully tracking my steps.

On the first crossroad, I distinctly remember going right, which led to multiple true dead ends. So, I tried my luck by going left.

After a few steps, there was another crossroad. I probably went through here during my first two attempts going through this section of the maze, but I had no way of knowing for certain. In any case, I chose to go left again.

On the end of this path, I reached a dead end. I looked for a door and, luckily, there was one.

I went through it and followed the path. I didn’t find the same short corner this time so I thought I was advancing in the maze. But then, further down the way, I found the same green-faced ghoul.

I returned to where I came from, just through a different way.

My heart was beating fast. My breaths were heavy. My blouse was drenched in sweat despite the room being cold. I was already in a mild panic.

Of course, I still had the sense that I was in a made-up attraction and not in a genuine supernatural setting so I was still able to hold onto my wits. But, with the dim lights, the low humming sound, and the cold temperature, it really gives the feeling I was really experiencing something out of a horror film. That feeling is especially heightened when you’re going through the maze alone by yourself.

With that said, I’ve pretty much given up finding the exit, let alone Ken, Marie or Naomi, by myself. Returning to the same place three times was both mentally and physically tiring so I’ve decided to ask the person in the green mask to lead me to an exit - any exit.

When I approached, the actor jumped at me to scare me the same way they did earlier. I was half expecting it so I wasn’t surprised or scared by it.

Once the actor noticed I wasn’t scared, they went back to their previous position of leaning onto the wall.

“Excuse me, I want to quit the maze”, I said to the actor. “Can you lead me to the exit?”

I received no response.

“If not, can you at least direct me back to the entrance?” I tried asking again.

But, still no answer.

“Excuse me”, I said once more as I tapped on the actor’s shoulder.

I thought they weren’t just hearing me for some reason.

However, my touch tipped them over. I was sure I didn’t apply too much force that could be considered a shove, but, somehow, this person dropped to the ground.

The green mask fell off due to the fall. To my horror, it revealed nothing under it.

It’s not that the actor got beheaded when they fell to the ground. The mask deflated when it separated and it laid flat on the floor so there surely isn’t a decapitated head in there. But, on top of their shoulders where the head is supposed to be, there was nothing.

Upon seeing that scene, I ran.

It didn’t matter which direction; I ran.

Frantically, hurriedly, panicking; I ran.

I’ve just seen it move. Then, suddenly, nobody was inside the costume.

Of course, since I was running so aimlessly, I encountered the now headless ghoul several times. Each time, I would hastily flee from the area.

I hadn’t even noticed I was crying until my vision suddenly blurred due to the tears clinging onto my eyelashes.

After the umpteenth time of running away from the headless ghoul, I felt exhausted. The sequence of events have completely drained me of energy that I needed to rest. I was still scared and wanted to leave immediately, but I could barely run anymore so I sat on the floor and leaned on the wall.

I tried shouting for help in hopes that either the three I came here with or a staff member was nearby, but to no avail. I could only hear my heavy breaths, my loud heartbeats and that low humming sound.

But then, I started hearing someone call my name. I didn’t notice it at first since it wasn’t that much louder than the humming sound. Though, when I did, I started hearing it clearly.

“Kat, over here”, it said.

I wasn’t able to recognize the owner of the voice, but I followed it nonetheless.

I keep hearing it and this person calling me seems to be always ahead of me, but I wasn’t seeing anyone from the direction I perceived the voice came from. Regardless, I still followed it.

It led me all throughout the maze and, eventually, it led me to a door with bright lights permeating through its cracks. It seemed like the exit so I rushed towards it and jumped out of the room.

Finally, I found myself out of the maze and in the hallway.

However, what I found outside had me stupefied.

As far as I remember, I was on the fourth floor of the Eastern Building. This certain floor has this semi-neglected appearance with all the boxes, the broken chairs and whatever junk that hasn’t been thrown away littered all over the hallway. But, the hallway I’m currently seeing is well-maintained and free of any obstacles that could make walking through it difficult.

Not only that, but, peeking through the doors, there were classes going on. Never mind that there are no classes during the founder’s day festival, these classrooms aren’t supposed to be holding lectures anymore.

The most confusing of all is that the haunted house attraction is nowhere to be found.