"Dude. Let's go... to the haunted exhibit!"
"It's not haunted, dumbass." Amir always had the stupidest ideas. I'm getting tired of checking his ass. "Plus the teachers will notice. I don't wanna get in trouble."
"C'mon, Rin." Seka looked around as if he was in a spy movie. The moron will probably repeat his favorite mantra 'live a little.' "Live a little!" He also tended to follow Amir like a fly followed stained pants.
"And going to an unused part of the museum constitutes as 'living' to you, Seka?"
"Stop using big words, smartass." Amir pretended he could fence words, pretended being the apt word. "Why ban access if there isn't some crazy shit up there?"
"The five samurai skulls weren't enough for you?" I asked with a grin. "Look. I'm no pussy. I'll go with you guys. Just wanna state for the record this is a bad idea."
The three of us made the classic 'we gotta go pee' before expertly sneaking around several corners until we reached the 'prohibited access' stairway.
It was long, and narrow, with huge arched windows bringing in little daylight from the moon outside. When we weren't under a window's gaze, the stairs were so dark we couldn't see each other's backs. But we heard our footsteps. No one spoke. Everyone, I assumed, was too unnerved by the out of place architecture. Yet no security guards, no nothing. Just shadows and dust. If it was this easy getting up here, how impressive could this section be?
A lot. Holy - this place is awesome!
"Look at all these bodies, dude..." Seka's mouth was open.
"They're not bodies, dude. Their wax figures." I said.
"Wrong, smartass." Amir got that annoying look on his face. "Look here, Rin."
The 'bodies' were all armed and arranged, some looked like traditional samurai, some... were different. Almost otherworldly in their designs. Someone had arranged them in a circle, all facing each other. The exhibit was obviously neglected, based on the amount of dust and spiderwebs lying around.
"They're mummified?" For once, Amir found something useful. "What the fuck?" And upon further inspection, they really didn't have any features. Just rags. Huh. Why were they placed inside armor? So strange... "But, how?"
Amir shrugged. "Weird. Japanese never mummified their dead."
"So... cool..." Seka was rubbing his elbows. "And c-c-cold."
"Yeah, this place is a bit chilly..." It was also harder to see, since the only source of light were candles. "Someone was here recently though, to place these."
"Not recent enough, they've almost melted." Amir squinted in the darkness. "Is that another door?"
It was. In the back was another sign with an arrow. Unlike the other white pointers however, this one was a deep, sinister red. "There's more?" I asked.
"Let's check." Amir said.
"These g-guys look d-deadly." Seka's teeth started chattering. "You t-think t-they w-were w-warriors?"
They felt ancient. Serious, haggard, dangerous. Faceless yet imposing. They would've probably cut us down with one swing back when -
"Hey! This door's open!"
"Motherfucker you scared the shit out of me..." I exhaled.
"C'mon, pussies!" And he was gone.
Seka followed, as per usual. I took one last glance at the sightless warriors before following. They really felt... different, somehow. Not sure if it was the eerie onyx color of their armor or the crimson color of their blades. A chill crept up my spine, I chased Seka through the door.
Into an even darker room. "Guys?" No answer, I entered the room proper. "Guys?"
"Over here." Hissed Amir. "This place is spooky."
There were no candles inside the room. I left the door open so it let in at least a little. What I could see were hundreds of display cases containing...
"What are those?" Sekad whispered.
"They look... like body parts..." I ventured.
"No way." Amir kept hissing. "What sick mind would think - ..."
"Right? You see it? This one over here - isn't that a foot?"
"That really looks like a foot..." Amir's tone was so low I barely heard him. While I'm happy his bravado is gone, I could've used some levity.
"G-guys, I don't feel so good..." Seka was trying to avert his eyes from the... from the... from...
Something had misshapen the exhibitions in the most fascinating of ways. Not sure what exactly drew them to me, but I couldn't look away. "Some have patterns... if you pay close attention..."
"Yeah," whispered Amir. "I can see them. Like, lines."
Yes... lines...
The limbs were sliced, some chopped, with expert precision. Deformed fingers, spliced together rib cages, shoulders sowed together like a twisted... a twisted...
The sound of Seka puking broke me out of my revelry. "I... I don't feel so good."
"Go then, before you get us caught," Amir said.
"Yeah." I agreed.
More puking. But the limbs were important. They weren't enough. We needed to go deeper. Perfectly preserved, as all things should be. No blood, no stains.
It was getting harder to discern details. The light was nearly gone. The only thing I heard was the tap, tap, slide, shove of our footsteps. And some filthy sound from behind. Far behind.
"Guys... I can't... I can't stop -"
We strained to make out the details in the darkness. We stayed. Peering at the body parts until our eyes adjusted to the blackness. Soon, they did. These had no display cases.
I reached out, touching the soft, gooey surface. A severed hand holding a severed ankle. Exquisite.
Some noise far behind, but unwanted. It seemed the hand was reaching for mine. What an honor.
As it grabbed my hand I could feel its skin upon mine. Caressing me to linger. I did. Enveloping my skin with its own, so I can't move. I didn't. It spread across my arm, passed my elbow, up and up. Getting closer. Swallowing my shoulder.
As the precisely lined skin spread across other parts of my body. I could feel the cold seeping into my bones. Into my soul. The cold soon turned hot, scorching hot.
Burning... burning...
Until a crack brought only darkness.
Second horror story in two days. 😱
Think I did better with this one @cryptoniusrex - thanks to your advice. Still tho, I don't think I reached the peak I wanted. 😁 It also kinda went out in a whimper? 😅
I need a lot of practice with horror, that's for sure.
Peace ya'll.
Obligatory shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙
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