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“I dunno Roy. A haunted house? Isn’t that a bit childish?”
“Riza, it’s a double date. Maes won free tickets. Are you really gonna say no? It’s our first Halloween together… It’ll be so much fun and if you get scared, I’ll be there to hold your hand!”
Riza frowned. She’d never really been to a haunted house. It wasn’t that she was afraid of things. It was just something her father had never seen the appeal of, and her mother was… Well, her mother was scary enough. But Roy had done so many things she had suggested. It was rare they went on a date of his choosing.
“Alright, we can go. But I want to pick where we go for dinner.”
“Yay! Maes’ll be psyched!” Roy practically skipped off. Riza smiled as she watched him leave. He was a goofball, but he made her happy.
***
Roy parked the Mustangmobile in the parking lot of the haunted house, and helped Riza from the car. Maes and Gracia quickly followed. The four of them headed to the entrance, Maes quickly distributing the tickets. Riza held hers tightly, and reached for Roy.
“Scared already? We haven’t even gone in yet,” he teased.
“I’m not scared. I’m worried you’ll get scared. Besides, I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Oh, we’ll see about that. This is supposed to be the scariest haunted house in all of East City.”
“Will you two quit it? We’re about to go in,” Maes responded, glancing over his shoulder at the two of them. “And I for one am not interested in hearing you two bicker all night. I get enough of that on a regular basis.”
“Yeah, Roy. Shut up. Let’s go.”
The four of them were let into the dark foyer of the building. Riza let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She wasn’t afraid of anything. All she wanted was to get through this so that she and Roy could go to a nice dinner. She was ready to get this over with.
They walked through the rooms, Riza laughing at the actors in their costumes. Roy jumped a number of times, and it made the other three of them laugh. Vampires, slasher villains, werewolves, asylum doctors, nothing phased Riza. Everyone was impressed by her fearlessness. Things were going well, until they reached the clown room.
Riza yelped as the first one stepped out. She moved closer to Roy, wrapping both her hands around his arm. She was quick to bury her face in his shoulder as more appeared.
“You okay, Riza?” Roy asked softly, leaning in closer.
“I-I don’t like clowns…”
“O-oh. Okay.” Roy pulled her closer. “C’mon, Riza. I’ll get you out of here.” Roy started to walk Riza through the rest of the house. They were quiet as they raced through the last several rooms. It didn’t take long for them to reach the exit. Riza leaned against Roy as they waited for their friends to get out of the haunted house.
“Wow, what happened with you guys? You were there, and then you were gone.”
“Riza got a little overwhelmed so we had to get out. Did you guys have fun?”
“Oh yeah, lots of fun. But… Riza looks pretty bad. You sure you’re both okay?”
“I just… don’t like clowns,” Riza murmured. “I… freaked out a bit.”
“It’s okay,” Roy murmured. “Now, Riza said we could go to to the haunted house as long as she got to pick where we went for dinner. So c’mon. Back into the Mustangmobile.” Roy started to pull everyone toward the car.
“Scared of clowns, huh, Hawkeye?” Maes asked.
“I just… don’t like them. They’re… weird.”
“And that’s perfectly normal,” Roy replied, stopping Maes before he could continue. Riza smiled, and sank into the seat. This was fine. This was normal. She didn’t need to worry. She was strong, and she had Roy to help her when she was fine. There was nothing for her to fear.