One Night

Chapter 137

Audrey

I swallowed hard as we approached the haunted house, the screams and laughter from inside already making my skin crawl. But it wasn’t just the prospect of a good scare that had me on edge that night.

No, it was something else. Something darker even than the s** decorations and ghostly specters flitting through the windows.

Fiona’s words kept echoing in my mind, drowning out even the loudest shrieks from inside.

Fated mate… Manipulator..

Meanwhile, my friends were blissfully ignorant to my turmoil. Most of them, at least.

“This is going to be awesome!” Betty squealed, bouncing on her toes.

Gavin grinned and adjusted his pirate hat. “I bet I won’t even flinch.”

“Yeah, right,” Avis teased. Her fairy wings wobbled as she nudged him with her elbow.

I forced a smile, trying to appear just as excited as the others. But Tina’s stern gaze burned into the side of my head. She hadn’t said a word since we had left the bar, and the tension was palpable.

As we reached the front of the line, a ghoulishly dressed attendant greeted us. “Welcome, victims,” he cackled. “You’ll need to split into groups of two or three. No more than three can enter at a time.”

My friends looked at each other, trying to decide which of the five of us would pair up. But before anyone else could speak, Tina’s hand clamped around my arm. “You guys go,” she said, her voice tight. “Audrey and I will go together.”

The others exchanged glances but didn’t argue. As they disappeared into the darkness, their screams and laughter echoing back to us, I felt my stomach churn. I should have been excited, but I wasn’t.

A few minutes later, it was our turn. We stepped into the dimly lit entrance, fog swirling around our ankles. The first room was set up like a decrepit living room, cobwebs covering every surface.

Suddenly, a figure leapt out from behind a curtain, brandishing a knife. I yelped slightly, stumbling backward into Tina’s frame.

“Scared already?” Tina muttered, not even flinching.

We moved on to the next room, which was a twisted version of a child’s nursery, Creepy dolls with glowing red eyes turned their heads to follow us. A rocking chair in the corner moved on its own. A baby cried eerily but there was no baby around, and a music box played on repeat.

But I could hardly focus on any of it. Fiona’s words kept replaying in my mind.

Fated mate…

Was Fiona really Edwin’s fated mate? Why wouldn’t he tell me? Was that why he hasn’t officially broken things off with her yer?

Suddenly, a zombie child popped out of a toy chest, growling and reaching for us. Tina slirieked, but I barely reacted.

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09:29 Thu, Sep 19 G

Chapter 137

“Jesus, Audrey,” Tina hissed as we strode out of the room. “You could at least pretend to be scared.”

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We entered a narrow hallway lined with mirrors next. Distorted reflections of ourselves stared back, some seeming to move independently. But all I could see was Edwin’s face, his words echoing.

Just h**ng up…

Was it true that Edwin had a history of sleeping with younger human girls? Was I just an idiot for falling for it?

A clown with a twisted grin suddenly appeared in one of the mirrors. Tina jumped, but I hardly blinked.

“Okay, that’s it,” Tina snapped, grabbing my shoulders and spinning me to face her. Even in the dim, flickering light, I could see the anger in her eyes. A flash of fake lightning suddenly illuminated her face, revealing every line of annoyance and frustration.

“You’re seeing him again, aren’t you?!”

I opened and closed my mouth like a puppet, searching for the right words, for some kind of excuse. But lying felt impossible now.

“… yes,” I admitted, my voice barely audible over the haunted house sounds. “Edwin and I have been sleeping together every week?

Tina’s eyes widened, a mix of hurt and fury crossing her face. She shoved me back, stumbling back herself as she did. “Are you kidding me, Audrey? After everything that happened?”

“I know, I know,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “But it’s more than that. I think… I think I might be in love with him.”

“Love?” Tina scoffed. “Audrey, he’s engaged! You’re being s***d by doing this.”

hair.

I flinched at her words, but they hit too close to home. “Maybe you’re right,” I whispered, running a hand through my “Fiona, she… She told me some things tonight. She said Edwin has a history of h***ing up with younger human girls. And when I tried talk to Edwin about our relationship last week, he said we were just **g up. Maybe I am just a s**id girl being played by a p**oy.”

Tina’s expression softened slightly, but before she could respond, a man in a b**dy doctor’s costume approached us. “Ladies, you need to keep moving,” he said, no longer disguising his voice like the rest of the actors. “You’re holding up

line.”

the

We mumbled apologies and continued through the haunted house, but neither of us was paying any attention to the scares

anymore.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tina asked as we made our way through. “We’re supposed to be best friends, Audrey. You promised that there would be no more secrets.”

Guilt washed over me, thick and suffocating. “I know. I’m sorry. wanted to tell you, but…”

“But what?” Tina pressed, stopping and turning to look at me. “I trusted you with the fact that I’m g***efore I could respond, a man wielding a chainsaw jumped out at us. “Move it or lose it, ladies!” he shouted over the roar of the saw.

We screamed, more out of surprise than fear, and ran through the rest of the haunted house. Strobe lights flashed, zombies reached for us, and the sounds of shricks echoed in our ears. But it all felt like background noise to my roiling thoughts.

09:29 Thu, Sep 19 G

Chapter 137

Finally, we burst out of the exit, gasping for air. But it was mere moments before Tina rounded on me again.

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“I can’t believe you, Audrey,” she said, her voice quivering. “After everything we’ve been through, after all the times I’ve been there for you, you couldn’t even tell me this?”

“Tina, I’m sorry.” I pleaded, taking a step toward her. “I was scared and confused. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“That’s b**it!” Tina shouted, taking a step back to put more space between us as tears welled in her eyes. “We tell each other everything. I trusted you with my biggest secret. Do you know how terrifying it was to tell you I’m **? And you couldn’t even tell me you were sleeping with a professor?”

I flinched at her words, suddenly aware of how loud she was being. Tina-Tina, stop!”

Tina halted mid-rant, her eyes wide. She turned slowly, following my gaze to where our friends stood nearby, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

The silence that followed was deafening. Betty’s hand was clasped over her mouth. Gavin’s pirate hat had slipped off, forgotten on the ground. Avis’s wings drooped, her eyes flicking desperately between the two of us.

But it wasn’t just Tina who our friends were shocked at. It was me, too.

Because they had heard everything; not only that Tina was g**y, but also that I was sleeping with our professor. Gavin was the only one who knew-this was the first Betty and Avis had heard of it, and their faces were pale with shock.

“Audrey, are you….”

“Tina, you’re…?”

My hands tightened around the handle of my little wicker basket Tightened to an extraordinary degree, until-until-

It snapped clean in two.

My friends flinched, and so did L. I stared, wide-eyed, at the broken handle in my fists. I wasn’t even sure how I had done it. where I had found the strength when the rest of my body had gone so weak and watery.

As if the snap of that basket was her own breaking point, Tina’s face finally crumpled, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks

“This is all your fault,” she choked out, glaring at me one last time, eyes red-rimmed with tears. Then she turned and ran, disappearing into the crowd.

“Tina, wait!” Avis called after her.

Gavin took a step forward. “Should we go after her?”

I shook my head, my heart heavy with guilt. This was my mess to fix.

“No,” I said. “I’ll go.”

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