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.
