"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Cindy's voice was several notches higher, her face flushed with excitement. "It's gotta be even wilder inside!"

  Kyle stared dumbfounded at Cindy, muttering to himself, "Never judge a book by its cover. Looks like this quiet, pretty girl is actually a total psycho."

  He, a grown man, was starting to get the creeps. This chick wasn't scared, but was getting more and more hyped. What was that if not crazy?

  Right then, both Kyle and Chad were seriously thinking about backing out.

  Chad might have years of experience, but that was all with props. This was the first time he'd run into a real-deal haunted house, and he was feeling totally lost.

  All his experience had just flown out the window.

  Kyle looked hesitant.

  There were plenty of ways to court death in extreme sports, but never like this, waltzing with the dead.

  But then they looked at Cindy, who was clearly having a blast. They sucked it up and decided to stick with it.

  No way they could let a little girl outdo them, right?

  Besides, it's just some bones and corpses. How bad could it be?

  The three of them pressed on.

  This time, Cindy took the lead.

  Chad and Kyle lagged a step behind.

  Both of them held their breath, eyes darting around, moving closer and closer.

  Before long, the three of them were standing in front of the Death Shack.

  "The boss said that if you hang out in this room, you'll see the Grim Reaper," Cindy murmured, clenching a fist, "I wonder what the Reaper looks like? Tall? Fat? Hot?"

  Filled with anticipation, Cindy threw open the door to the Death Shack.

  "Creeeeak!"

  The ancient wooden door let out a teeth-grinding screech as it swung open.

  Chad and Kyle's nerves were already shot, and they jumped, grabbing onto each other in mid-air.

  "What was that?!"

  "Get away from me!"

  Cindy twisted around, giving them a weird look. "You guys... scared much?"

  Chad and Kyle's faces flushed crimson in an instant.

  Chad shoved Kyle away, blaming him preemptively. "What the hell are you grabbing me for? You scared the crap out of me! Disgusting!"

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Kyle blinked, then shot back, "Who grabbed you? I saw you were freaked out, so I was offering you the warmth of my manly chest to comfort your wounded soul."

  "Uhhh...wow!" Cindy covered her eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude on this special moment!"

  After their little drama, the three of them edged into the Death Shack.

  As soon as they got inside, just like most people, they turned the Death Shack upside down, searching every nook and cranny.

  Once they were sure there were no human remains, bodies, or other creepy stuff inside, Chad and Kyle's courage returned.

  They plopped down in some chairs, tossing words back and forth, trying to recoup the face they'd lost earlier.

  "This Death Shack is nothing. Nothing scary here at all."

  "Yeah, I could sit here for a year without a problem!"

  Cindy slumped into another chair, looking dejected.

  Not seeing the Grim Reaper that Jake had talked about left her feeling disappointed. Even her high spirits started to fade.

  Just then,

  A cold gust of wind swept through the room, ruffling the hair on Cindy's shoulders.

  "Huh?" Cindy turned her head, feeling like something was off.

  Chad and Kyle's voices died in their throats, eyes bulging.

  "The windows and doors are closed, where did the wind come from?"

  "Did you just fart?"

  "WTF?"

  The next second, a sinister chuckle echoed right next to their heads.

  Amid the unsettling atmosphere, Cindy's body reacted on instinct. A chill shot up her spine, her scalp prickled, and the color drained from her face.

  Even so, Cindy steadied her trembling body, abruptly standing up and scanning the room.

  "Grim Reaper, is that you? Let me see where you are!"

  Chad and Kyle were shivering, instinctively huddling together again.

  Kyle started yelling, "You perv, don't touch me!"

  "Are you kidding me? Who's hugging who here?" Chad looked helplessly at Kyle, who was clinging to him like an octopus.

  "I don't care, you're hugging me!" Kyle was so scared he was almost crying.

  Cindy ignored the bickering and started searching the shack, muttering under her breath.

  "Grim Reaper!"

  "Where are you?"

  "Come out!"

  Suddenly, Cindy stopped, frowning slightly as she looked at Chad and Kyle.

  She had just realized that the Death Shack was unusually quiet. She hadn't heard Chad and Kyle's arguing for a while.

  She saw that the two had separated at some point, standing hunched over like zombies, the expression in their eyes constantly shifting.

  At times blank.

  At times terrified.

  Their facial expressions changed wildly, grotesque and horrifying.

  "What's wrong with you guys?" Cindy asked as she walked over.

  As she approached, she heard a murmured rambling from the two.

  Kyle saw his close friends in extreme sports, the ones he had adventured with in the past, one after another encountered accidents, miserably leaving this world.

  Someone during the course of parkour, accidentally fell from a high building and became a pile of mincemeat, so stuck to the ground it couldn't be scraped off by shovel.

  Someone during the course of scaling a snowy mountain, accidently fell into a crevasse, hopelessly watched as their limbs went numb, eventually freezing to death in the shape of a human popsicle.

  Someone during the course of wilderness survival was targeted by a group of ferocious beasts, watched as their body got torn into pieces and shred like burlap sacks, dying in terror.

  Seeing each and every friend meet with their unfortunate and bloody end, Kyle felt a blow and an aching heart as he cried ceaselessly.

  On the other side, Chad had collapsed to his knees, continuously knocking his head to the ground, as if he was begging someone.

  "Doctor, please save my daughter, she's so young, she should have a bright future!"

  "Mom, you have to stay strong! We'll definitely be able to find a way to treat your cancer and find a good doctor!"

  "Wife, you are the only one I have left, are you going to leave me too?"

  "God, why are you doing this to me!"

  Chad, a grown man, was now a hysterical little girl, tearing at the seams and crying to the skies!

  "What's wrong with you two?" Cindy watched the two in front of her. Even though her body was shaking, the emotion dominating her heart was not fear but excitement.

  She was very curious to know what Chad and Kyle were experiencing.

  She wanted to give it a try too!