The petite redhead looked forward with a vapid, glazed look in her deep green eyes. Her smile made her look wasted, as did the heavy sway in her stance as she struggled to keep balanced on her feet. She looked to be in her twenties, but it was hard to tell with her hair pulled into girlish pigtails, to go with the way too small cheerleader costume that hugged her slim body. She stood -- barely -- in front of a wall painted with a purple and orange spiral pattern.
"Hiii," the redhead slurred, waving lazily before breaking into a fit of giggles. "I'm, like, Melissa, and I've been tricked! So now, I'm, like, a treat!"
With her line finished, she clumsily gripped the bottom of her cheerleader top, and pulled it up to reveal her perky, bra-less breasts. Pink, half-dollar nipples pointed straight forward, and were soon being pinched and tugged by the girl's fingers.
"I like, tried to beat The Hypnotic Haunt, but Master Mesmer totally took over my mind! Like, what's left of it, anyway!"
"That's right," a deep, male voice spoke. A tall man, dressed in a black suit and cloak, a black and white domino mask on his face, stepped forward and draped his arm over Melissa's shoulders. The horny cheerleader looked over to him with adoring devotion. "Melissa here is another brave challenger to The Hypnotic Haunt. Sadly...or not-so-sadly...she couldn't make it through to the end, and has become another mesmerized victim of the most unique haunted house in the country!
"But fear not, all you ladies out there. While Melissa has joined the ranks of our bewitched beauties, you still have a chance to win the $10,000 cash prize waiting at the end! Entry is free for any woman who comes in costume, but be warned: should you fail, you'll be paying with your very mind!"
"I did!" Melissa interjected, looking ecstatic at her own humiliation -- and seemingly unaware of the string of drool dripping from her smiling mouth. Mesmer casually groped her chest for the camera before continuing.
"So come, one and all, to the Hypnotic Haunt: where even the tricks are treats!"
* * *
Avery looked down at her phone as the video ended, and tried not to roll her eyes
too
hard. She still did, though. The whole farce was so stupid it was practically insulting.
"Rose, are you for real?" she asked her best friend, seated on the couch beside her.
"Of course!" the blonde replied, an amused grin on her face to counter Avery's dismissive scowl. "Doesn't it seem like a blast?"
"It seems like a bad joke, because it
is
one," the brunette countered. "You've been watching way too many Tiktoks if you think any of that was real."
"Oh it's not like I buy into any of that mumbo jumbo. I just think it's a cool hook for a haunted house."
"What's a cool hook?" a voice called from the apartment's front door. In walked the pair's roommate, the tall and athletic Leanne. She dropped her gym bag by the door and joined the pair in the living room, still in her workout clothes.
"It's this stupid gimmick haunt that Rose found online."
"Hey! It's stupid in a
fun
way, thank you very much. Lee, look!"
Leanne took the blonde's phone and started watching the saucy advertisement video. Her nostrils flared when the ditzy little bimbo exposed her tits.
"Ooooh, looks spicy. You lookin for a chance to show off your tits, Rose?"
"As if! Mama's looking to get herself a cool 10k."
"How can you even believe that prize is real?" Avery objected. "It's obviously just a bit of false advertising. How could they afford to give every girl who goes through their ten grand?"
"Obviously they're just that good at hypnotizing their hapless victims," Leanne insisted with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Maybe you go in there and it's just a wall of screens with big, swirling spirals. They spin and spin and every woman just blanks out and becomes a brainwashed slut who'll strip for the camera."
"Oh please, you know that's bullshit."
"Maybe it is, but I bet there's a lot who end up going along with it anyway," said Rose, grinning at how easy it was to get a rise out of her stubborn friend. "Think about it. You're out for a night of Halloween fun, maybe you've been drinking, and then suddenly you're in the dark, with a mysterious hypnotist waving his pocket watch in front of you. The power of suggestion could totally get the better of you."
"Ooooh, or maybe a tall, handsome vampire who vants to sahk your blahd," Leanne giggled, bringing her arm up to her face to mime holding a Dracula cape. "Just look into his eyes, my pretty."
"Yeah, no. I'm not about to let some creepy guy in a cheesy costume "suggest" me into stripping on camera."
"Then there's no reason not to go, right?" Rose smirked. "Worst come, you don't get the money."
Avery sighed and rolled her eyes, recognizing that her friends had already made their decision.
"Fine. But if this sucks, I get to pick which party we go to on Halloween."
"Deal!"
* * *
"Alright, you're all set, ladies," said the pimply teenager sitting at the "Welcome Center". Said center was a pop up canopy perched over a foldout table, where a handful of equally young and gangly employees were helping a growing line of costumed women sign stacks of consent forms and NDAs. "As you can see, we've got a lot of visitors, so there will be a bit of a wait. Please head into the waiting room. When your number's called, you'll enter one at a time through your designated door. Have a wonderful time!"
He gave that last comment with poorly camouflaged snide, and Avery could sense his eyes on their backsides as the trio walked away.
"Ugh. I guess it makes sense that all the guys working here are creeps too," she muttered.
"Don't let him hear that," Rose said, decidedly not muttering. "They might decide to give you to him once you've been brainwashed."
"Yeah, don't wanna get on your future master's bad side," added Leanne.
"Gag me. Besides, you two are the ones dressed to serve tonight."
"Can you blame us for getting into the spirit?" Rose asked with a sarcastic curtsy. Her french maid costume did indeed scream "submissive" with its low cut top, frilly apron, and ruffled skirt that just barely reached halfway down her calves, teasing the tops of her lacy, black stockings and garters. She'd ditched the attached feather duster, but kept the dainty white headband.
"Yeah, this'll make sure the guys inside bring their A-game. They'll be drooling to hear me say 'Your wish is my command, Master!' or whatever junk," Leanne declared with her best Barbara Eden impression. Though her costume was far more risque than would have ever been allowed on 60's TV. The sequined bra top of her Genie costume left her taught, muscular tummy on full display, and the semi-transparent harem pants were clinging to her wide hips for dear life, her modesty only kept intact by a pair of light blue bike shorts clinging to her delta. Her hair was teased into a high ponytail, and the whole look brought together by the translucent veil covering her face below her dazzling eyes.
"Well don't come complaining to me when all you get is felt up by a creepy dweeb in a rubber mask," Avery huffed. Her outfit was hardly chaste, but she at least wasn't solely dressed up to put herself on display. Sure, the ties of her black dress left a good bit of her generous cleavage and display, but it at least reached her knees, and the flowing sleeves gave it that classic "Witchy" look along with the black, wide-brimmed hat perched atop her head. Perhaps her knee-high boots were a little risque, but if anything they gave her a look of domineering beauty, rather than the submissive wet dreams her friends were channeling.
The trio continued their arguing and teasing as they entered the waiting room. It was a wide, plain room dominated by a wall of over a half-dozen doors. Above each entrance was a screen that would periodically display a number, summoning a woman from the crowd to enter. Avery couldn't help but watch as each of them left as the minutes ticked by. Some were nervous, while others looked like they were ready for war. More than a few stumbled forward drunkenly, egged on by the cheers of their friends. Finally, Leanne's number was called, and she swaggered up to her assigned door.
"Well then, see you on the other side, ladies!" She declared with a dramatic wave. "And let us all be a good bit richer."
* * *
The first thing to take Leanne by surprise was the sound of the door locking behind her. It made sense, but it still made her shiver to realize she couldn't go back the way she came. The second surprise was just how dark it was. Not so much as a sliver of light made it past the steel door, forcing her to stand still, waiting for her eyes to adjust before stepping forward.
The third surprise was the music. If you could call it music. It sounded more like a droning hum that occasionally pitched up or down in something resembling a rhythm. Whatever it was, it was eerie to hear in the pitch darkness.
Leanne reached out, and felt walls on either side of her, surmising she was in a narrow hallway. Gradually, she started to pick out forms in the darkness -- hanging fabric that might have been fake spider webs. Stickers shaped like eyes plastered on the walls. Most importantly, she noticed arrows painted on the floor, glowing faintly in the darkness, directing her forward.
"Well, nowhere else to go..." she muttered before, perhaps a little hesitantly, following the ghostly arrows forward. As long as she knew where to go, it honestly wasn't scary, and certainly not hypnotic. The only thing that really sent a chill down her spine was her own imagination, running an eensie bit wild as she imagined voices whispering to her from the dark.
After a long, slow minute of creeping down the hallway, the hum of the obscured speakers ringing in her ear, Leanne spotted another glowing symbol ahead of her. As he neared, she realized it was a large spiral, drawn onto the front of a door, just barely illuminating it to keep her from walking straight into it. She fumbled along its surface until she found a handle, and with another moment of hesitation, pulled it open.
The room behind it was dimly lit, but compared to her trip through the dark it was practically blinding. Dozens of fake candles circled the small room, their battery-powered flames simulating flickering in regular intervals. In the center of the room was a large, ornate, plastic chair clearly meant to be used in an outside Halloween display.
And on that chair, lounging like a bored teenager, was a girl.
He hair was dyed silver, but seemed darker compared to her powder-pale skin. She was dressed in a black, spaghetti-string tank top with her lacy black bra clearly visible underneath. Below it she had a scandalously short tartan skirt, like something pulled off the bottom of a sexy schoolgirl outfit, complemented with black and white striped knee socks that lead down to a pair of strappy platform heels. Her eyes were a deep red -- quite obviously contacts.
To Leanne, the chick looked like the ultimate mall goth, and that was before she broke into a wide, toothy grin that revealed her fake vampire fangs.
"Welcome to my lair, pretty girl," she said, her surprisingly deep and rich voice cutting through the drone of the speakers. "I'm so glad you've come to join me. I've been craving another vic- I mean, visitor."
