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Bea grabbed Ina’s hand, her face lit up with excitement as she pulled the older woman forward. “Oh my god look, they even have a haunted house? This place is the best!”
Ina begrudgingly allowed herself to be dragged over to the giant building with a large ugly clown face built over the entrance, her expression betraying none of the apprehension she was feeling inside. “Isn’t this a little juvenile? Even for you?”
When she had brought Bea to the New York State fair this wasn’t what she had in mind. Bea slowly grinned at her, “Aw c’mon don’t tell me you’re chicken!”. Ina pointedly rolled her eyes at that, “Oh please, I just don’t see the appeal nor point of wandering around in a dimly lit warehouse with teenagers in mediocre costumes paid minimum wage to try and frighten me. Besides I’m more of a roller coaster and fried foods type of fair goer.”
Bea huffed in frustration, “But we’ve already been on half the roller coasters here and you just made me go see a butter sculpture and watch a performance in the Indian village before the tour through the horticultural center, hasn’t that met your daily quota for boring already?”
Ina pouted indignantly “For your information I took you to those attractions thinking you would enjoy them having grown up on a farm! Also the story of creation is NOT boring! It’s both fascinating and imperative that we listen and learn about other cultures, especially those of indigenous people!”
“Yes, yes, of course it is, but please no lectures today, okay Professor? This is the fair! We’ve already had deep fried oreos and culture and roller coasters,” Bea now slipped into her best impression of Ina, “Now it’s time for us to go into a dimly lit warehouse and have teenagers in mediocre costumes try and frighten us.”
Ina shot her best glare at Bea, “I do not sound like that.” Bea just smiled sweetly at her as she put on her best puppy dog face, “Come on, please? For me?”
Ina really did her best to keep her face a mask of stone, but those eyes...the way she was quivering her lip...”Come on Professor, you don’t want me to go in there all by myself do you?” Ina remained strong, until- “I’ll make it worth your while later when we get back to the hotel...” Bea added in a taunting sing-song before she dropped her voice whispering “Trust me you wanna see what I’ve got on under these clothes babe.”
Ina’s resolve snapped as she raked her eyes over Bea curiously, suddenly feeling very hot. “....Fine. But for the record I think this is absurd and puerile.” Bea just laughed as she tugged once more on her hand and led them to the entrance looming before them, “Uh huh drop the fancy talk and lets go already.”
They went in through the clown’s mouth entrance and were suddenly thrown into total darkness. Ina stepped closer to Bea unconsciously, warily looking around them. Bea giggled as she leaned close to whisper “Scared?”
Ina quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at Bea, not that Bea could see it, “I am not afraid of the dar-” but was cut off as a man in a hockey mask suddenly jumped out in front of them wielding a chainsaw laughing maniacally at them, “HAAAAHAAAAHAAAAA!!!” Ina gasped sharply as her grip became a vice in Bea’s hand. Bea laughed again, pulling on Ina to walk them past the man to continue on further. “You were saying?” she teased.
Ina scowled, again not that Bea could see it. Inside Ina’s pride was fighting with her....it wasn’t fear. No, grown women with PhD’s did NOT get frightened of such childish antics. She knew perfectly well this was all a charade to entertain people, and that there was nothing here to truly find threatening. So she willed her heart to stop racing and relaxed her grip on Bea’s hand. Besides, Bea would be insufferable about this if she lost her cool. That wouldn’t do.
Ina cleared her throat pointedly as they continued walking, they passed some metal bars with people inside them reaching out and moaning, some screaming with eerie music playing in the background. “I was saying I’m not afraid of the dark and as a scientist I am certainly not going to be frightened by fake chains an-” again she was cut off as a skeleton popped out of the ceiling and swooped down reaching for them both. Ina yelped and dropped to the ground, taking Bea with her. Bea couldn’t help another giggle as she teased “Oh yes you’re the picture of courage sweetie.”
Ina huffed and stood, brushing off her clothes, letting go of Bea’s hand in the process. She crossed her arms angrily as they continued walking and just as she was about to open her mouth to retort an evil looking demon appeared! It had blended in perfectly with the gray rocky background behind Bea until they got close and then it surged forward at them menacingly, and both women yelled in surprise as Bea shot forward clutching at Ina. “WHAT THE HELL!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!” Bea shouted as the demon chuckled and returned to it’s post.
This time it was Ina’s turn to laugh, satisfied to see that Bea was not completely unaffected by this place, “What was that about courage again?” Ina taunted as Bea lightly shoved at her but she made a point to grab hold of Ina’s hand again, “Hey I never claimed I was immune to being scared, you’re the one putting up pretenses about all this, Miss. This-is-all-fake” Bea replied chuckling.
Their conversation was cut short as a sinister clown suddenly popped up out of the floor in front of them and giggled madly running right for them. Ina did something Bea never expected, she screamed and shoved Bea up in front of her, clutching her from behind. The clown kept giggling and sped off to go scare other unsuspecting patrons. “Ina what the hell?” Bea said, still processing what just happened. “I’m sorry I used you as a shield.” Ina said sheepishly.
Bea couldn’t help but laugh, it was just...well, adorable. “Oh my god Ina, how could you, a scientist, be afraid of a fake clown?!” Ina tightened her grip in Bea’s hand and said seriously, “Any clown fake or real is an issue Bea. Haven’t you read ‘IT’?”.
Bea couldn’t stop laughing. This was just too funny and frankly Ina just had no idea how cute she was being right now. Their moment was ruined however as they turned another corner and a tall monster on what had to be stilts roared at them and charged forward towering over them. Ina nearly crushed Bea’s hand with her tightened grip and yanked her away screaming “WHYS HE GOTTA BE SO TALL?!” Bea would have laughed but she was too busy herself yelling “Oh FUCK YOU!” at the retreating giant.
They walked next into a room with....bodies? There were tons of bodies all hanging from nooses it seemed. The bodies were just dummies on closer inspection and it became clear their path went through them. “Ugh. Props. Got it.” Ina said in distaste. She slowed her pace a little to be walking behind Bea, until the younger woman turned over her shoulder to look back at Ina and said “Oh no! Oh no no no don’t be behind me. You are NOT walking behind me!” as she pulled on Ina’s hand to get her caught up in step next to her.
Suddenly one of the bodies hanging from a noose reached out and grabbed at them, Ina cried out “AHHHH FUCK!” as Bea bolted, accidentally letting go of Ina’s hand in a panic yelling “Fuck this, I’M OUT!” as Ina ran after her hollering “DON’T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME!!!”
As they finally got close to the exit, Bea stopped catching her breath and held out her hand waiting for Ina to catch up. Ina would have been annoyed but she did use Bea as a human shield, so she couldn’t be too upset with her, after all she did wait for her....eventually. She went to take Bea’s hand again, taking comfort in the feeling of their fingers linked together.
As they went out the exit door into the bright light of day again, they both breathed a visible sigh of relief, when suddenly one last masked werewolf leapt at them from behind the door howling and snarling at them, Ina screamed again and fell backwards taking Bea with her as they tumbled to the ground in a heap.
“WHY? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO END IT LIKE THAT? WHAT THE HELL?!!” Ina hollered at the retreating werewolf who was very clearly laughing at the two of them. Bea couldn’t help but laugh too, “I thought you weren’t afraid there lady.” Ina arched an eyebrow at her as Bea helped her up, adopting the same tone she used in her lectures she replied, “Well it is a primal survival instinct to have a response to the unknown. It’s how our ancestors-” Bea shut Ina up with a sudden kiss, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her close, “What did I say about the lectures today, Professor?”.
Ina hummed thoughtfully ghosting her lips over Bea’s making her shudder, “Hm perhaps you’re right, and if memory serves I do believe you promised to make this worth my while...” Bea let out a breathy laugh and gave Ina one last lingering kiss before pulling back to say “I’m a woman of my word, lead the way.”