"Hello? Is there anybody out there?"
Jessica found herself sitting on a concrete floor in pitch black. She blindly felt around and found a chain cuffed to her right ankle. "What the—"
From the far end of the hall, a bright floodlight came on.
The sudden spark blinded Jessica. She placed a hand to her brow as the dots slowly faded from her sight. She looked back up with a squint, her sandy hair styled in a tight authoritative bun. She wore a white tank-top underneath her jacket and skinny black jeans with combat boots. A golden police badge clipped to her belt.
Three red doors lined the slender hallway. To Jessica's right sat a lawyer from town, Ressie. The blonde, with locks upon her shoulders, dressed in a black business suit with matching heels. Next to her, another known face, a young football player named Johnny. He wore a white jersey, blue number ten, and acid-washed jeans.
"What happened?" Ressie asked.
"I think I had too much wine." Johnny scratched through his blonde quiff haircut.
"That sonuvabitch invited us to his mansion..." Jessica scowled. "...and drugged our wine."
The three of them looked to one another and then simultaneously said, "Price!"
Squeaky wheels sounded from down the hall. The bright floodlight shone from behind a dark silhouette riding a tricycle. It rolled closer and closer before coming to a slow stop in front of them.
"Chucky?" Ressie asked, unimpressed. "Try harder, Price. I'm not afraid of dolls."
The psychopathic doll sat atop the tricycle in his suspenders and striped long sleeve shirt. His red hair combed down, cheeks rosy, and bright blue eyes were wide open. His head rotated to them, and a voice came from within, "Hello and welcome to my horror maze."
"What the hell, man?" Johnny asked. "What are you planning?"
"Well, let me pose a question to you." Chucky stared at the jock with a vacant look. "Why did you come to my party?"
"For the money," Ressie uttered.
Jessica shrugged, nodded.
"Yeah. I'm with them." Johnny gestured to the women. "Where's the money you promised us?"
"You will all be cut a participation check of hundred-thousand dollars for your troubles," Price said through the Chucky doll. "But! If you make it through my maze, you get my inheritance."
"Why not just tell us that?" Ressie snapped. "Why drug us and chain us in this, uh, basement?"
"It's atmospheric. I assure you, you're in no danger here."
"It's second degree assault..." Jessica's brows slanted inward with anger. "...and I will be arresting you."
"Let's just see how the night goes, shall we?" Price cleared his throat. "As you know, I'm an old oil tycoon with no family to speak of, no children milking from my teet. Had no time for it. I—"
"Don't lie." Jessica scoffed. "You ran brothels and peddled porn to get your fortune. The whole town knows."
"...in my younger years..." Price said just above an agitated whisper. "...until I went legitimate into the oil—look, listen, I built this town with that money, built schools, donated to any charity this town asked, but for some reason I'm remembered for being a filthy sin-peddling sex-addict instead of a entrepreneur, instead of a great hero here."
"Is that why you never come to town?" Ressie asked.
"I don't come to town because I've been shunned," Price growled. "They say I've sold my soul. They say sins of the flesh have ruined me. But! I say they're hypocrites."
The contestants exchanged glances.
"Anyways..." Price composed himself and spoke clearly through the Chucky doll. "I don't have much longer, and although the town—the town I love—rejected their father, I want my money staying here with one of my 'children."
"How much is this inheritance?" Ressie asked.
"You'll get this fine mansion estate, equipped with this underground maze." Price paused briefly before saying with pride, "And, of course, a quarter of a billion dollars."
"Oo!" Johnny lost his breath.
Jessica's stone face softened.
Ressie placed a hand to her throbbing heart. "And, the maze, what is in it?"
Chucky's wide, unblinking gaze rotated to each contestant. "You will enter my maze. In each room, you'll be asked horror movie trivia. Answer right, you move forward. Answer wrong, you perform a sex act until you answer one of the questions right. You continue until you tap out or complete the maze."
"Horror movie sex maze?" The scowl reappeared on Jessica's face. "And you wonder why people in town look at you like pervert?"
Chucky's sky-blue eyes stared through the policewoman. "In a movie, what's better than blood and breasticles?"
"Men are disgust—Everything, every other genre of movie is better," Ressie said.
"You're going to do terrible at this," Price chuckled softly. "And let's not act like Magic Mike wasn't a thing. You went because it was funny, right? Not because there were big sweaty hogs swinging in th—"
"I'm afraid we're out." Jessica motioned to Ressie for reassurance. "So, release me now and—"
"Ummm..." Ressie bit her nail.
Jessica whipped her head to the acquaintance. "Ressie, what was you just saying? It's disgusting. Plus, you're married."
"It's a quarter of a billion dollars though..." Ressie put her hand in the cop's face, blocking Jessica out. "Don't wanna hear it."
"No one will know unless you tell them," Price said. "This has been going on for several years with several contestants and all the town has are rumors. Many have come close to finishing my maze but no—"
"Come to think of it..." Jessica's eyes drifted in thought as she recalled the last Halloween. Her face drooped. "Billy was here last year, wasn't he? That Sonuvbitch said he was on a business trip in Flori—Oo!" She growled with her teeth clenched. "How come it didn't hit me until now? How stupid..."
"So, I guess you're in, huh?" Ressie muffled her laughter. "After all, revenge is a dish best served steamy and hot."
Jessica folded her arms and turned away with a look of repulsion.
"When the chains release you, you will enter the doors directly in front." Chucky backpedaled down the hall from which he came. Although the plastic face didn't move, his smile now appeared sinister as it withdrew into the shadows. "Good luck..."
The competitors readied themselves: Jessica exhaled a shaky breath. Ressie wrung her wrists. And, Johnny popped his knuckles.
With the sound of an air horn, the three doors flung open, and the chains released their ankles.
***
Jessica stepped through the door and into a bathroom. The tiles on the wall and floor were grayish with black baseboards. The room looked straight out of a black/white movie, Jessica being the only thing which popped with color. Against the far wall, a shower ran behind a clear curtain. Steam arose over the top.
"Why don't we shower up?" a voice asked.
Jessica spun to a hideous leprechaun perched on the porcelain console sink. He had a wrinkled menacing face with a green hue. She inched closer to the doll while her eyes darted around for the camera. "Now, Price, are you recording this?"
Price went silent.
"If this gets out, I swear to god, Price, I'll—"
"Don't worry your sweet little bottom," Price said through the leprechaun. "If you win my inheritance, does it really matter what people think of you?"
"According to your little temper tantrum earlier 'The town hates me," Jessica mimicked Price's whiny voice.
"Can we continue..." Price asked with little humor in his tone.
"A quarter of a billion, a quarter of a billion, a quarter of a..." Jessica repeated under her breath. She huffed through her nostrils while slipping out of her jacket.
***
Ressie followed a narrow hall to another bathroom. It appeared clean, orderly, with a bathtub against the far wall, filled to the brim with water and foam.
"I'm guessing that's for me?" Ressie mumbled to herself.
"Pretty please," a voice said from the puppet on the edge of the tub. He had a gaunt pale face, empty black eyes, and long white hair. He wore a black trenchcoat and wide-brimmed hat.
"Blade? From Puppet Master? I told you I'm not afraid of dolls." Ressie's eyes fell to the soapy bathtub. "I showered up before I came. I don't really think—"
"It's part of the game," Price whined through the gothic doll's speaker. "Just do it."
"Fine..." With her eyes to the ceiling, Ressie tied her blonde locks in a ponytail. She kicked the black heels from her skinny feet. A hot-pink polish adorned her long toes. She shoved down her business skirt and hastily removed her top, bra, from her teardrop breasts with small pink nipples. She was thin; her shoulders, hips, and waist were evenly proportioned. She then made her way to the tub and dipped her toes inside to check the warmth. "Oo, nice."
***
Johnny strode down a hallway of doors. A flower pattern covered the white walls, a blue carpet over the floor. He took a left and then another left. The speed of his walk combined with the sharp turns was almost dizzying. Upon the third left, he finally came to a door cracked open. He peeked through the slit before walking inside. "Hello?"
The décor was retro: a yellow strip ran high up the wall, bottom-half green and the top was white. Sinks were on his right and toilets on his left. At the far end set a bathtub. Even though a curtain was strewn across, he could still make out the blurry figure of a woman.
Johnny eased forward. "Excuse me, ma'am?"
The woman whipped the curtain away. Her black shoulder-length hair was slicked back. Her hazel eyes pierced through the visitor. She didn't appear startled or ashamed of having her humble breasts and tiny dark nipples in the open.
Johnny showed a dopey smile, his brows jumped up above his ogling eyes. "Mila?"
Mila stood from the bathtub. Water trickled down her breasts, toned stomach, to her bald mount. She stepped out onto the rug. Her small feet decorated with a black pedicure.
"Mila..." Johnny sucked the drool back in his mouth and wagged the lustful thoughts away. "...I heard you quit the cheerleading squad and moved away?"
"I did... only a few hours." Mila embraced him and wadded the crotch of his jeans in her fist. "Husband is stationed in San Antonio but deployed to Guam."
