When I got in their car I never knew I would regret this night. Before October 14 ,2016, I had never walked through a haunted house in the back of a group’s line. Getting into their car that night for Raegan Wright’s birthday, I thought, “Hey, I got this. I’m not scared.” I was wrong.

As my mom and I pulled our car beside Mrs.Susan’s, Raegan’s mom, she handed me the gift we got Raegan for her birthday and gave me the look of concern.

“You ready?” she asked. “I’ll be right behind you guys if you need me.”

I gave her a simple nod and got out of the car. Walking up to the car Samuel, Raegan’s little brother, was in the front seat ,and he was waving at me so hard I thought his arm might fall off. He looked so excited and full of joy. The sad part was he didn’t know he would regret this night either.

Getting into the car I was surrounded by Mrs. Susan, Samuel, Raegan, Annika ,and Kaitlyn ,but we were still waiting on Anna, Meg, and Haylee. While I was trying to not be disrespectful, I sat down and pulled out my phone to play games. As soon as I started, Meg showed up with Anna and Haylee trailing her. We were finally ready to go ,and when they got in the car we all discussed our feelings about going to Derailed, the haunted house. Some of us were scared, and some of us of us were excited. Not too long after, Raegan’s dad showed up to relieve us by taking Samuel. Then we set off.

As we were getting on the exit ramp, we gave Raegan her gifts we got her. While she was opening them, we just sat in awe. We were all tense and wondering if we had gotten her something of her interest. After she opened mine, she approved it by saying, “You did good.” This sign of approval made me a little more relaxed, and soon we were in Corinth.

Before we made it to Cracker Barrel, we seemed to have had a concert in the car. We all sang Christmas songs to try to cheer us up and to brighten our minds, not minding it was October. When we made it to Cracker Barrel and parked, Annika and Kaitlyn jumped out of the car and started dancing. We all started laughing and  made sure to get them on video. After they realized we were recording them they stopped. Not to soon after, our seats were ready so we all went to sit down. 

Before we all sat down, the girls went to the bathroom to wash our hands. I didn’t realize it, but before I walked in the bathroom Annika was hiding behind the wall that led to the bathroom. When she popped out and scared me, I fell against the wall and onto the floor. As I was trying to get up, I realised that a man saw Annika scaring me. He witnessed me falling, and he was now staring at us. So we both ran in the bathroom laughing.
Later when we were all refreshed and out of the bathroom, we finally sat down. While we were waiting to take our order, chinese checkers were sitting on the table so we played. Annika and I kept on going back and forth to see who got the high score. When the waiter came, we came to a stopping place. This left Annika and I being tied. We were soon over it though because Annika kept on laughing at the waiter. Soon, I realized she was laughing at her accent, and I wasn’t able to take the lady seriously anymore. Even though when I looked at her and started laughing, I had to get over it because I was hungry and ready to eat my chicken and dumplings.
As we were waiting on the food to come out, someone at the table beside us was also there for their birthday and got “Happy Birthday” sung to them. This made Reagan a little jealous, so we had to sing “Happy Birthday” to her even louder, and as soon as we got done the food came out. Without any hesitation, we all prayed and gobbled down our meals.

Before we left the restaurant, Mrs. Susan got a head count and we all got in the car. Thanks to Kaitlyn talking about how scared she was, everyone’s nervous energy came back and the drive to the haunted house became more and more regretful. While we were listening to the GPS for directions, we were also counting down how many more miles it was until we got there. With each and every count down, I became more and more impatient.
Soon we were there ,and when we got out we were greeted with hugs from Makayla, Raegan’s sister, Colton, and Riley. In hope that none of us would get scared more than possible, they were trying to give us tips. As they were finishing up the tips they were giving us my mom called for us to come get our tickets. The closer we got to the haunted house the more Kaitlyn and Annika didn’t want to go in. As we walked up the steps I could feel my heart start to pound. Suddenly, when we walked down the entrance hallway I was calm. I wasn’t scared anymore. I was starting to realize how everything was fake.

Before the lady who was working at the entrance let us in, we were all planning on who was going in which group and who would be beside who. I got in the group with My mom, Raegan, Annika, and Anna. At first I was not going to be at the back, but coincidentally, I was pushed to the back while we were walking through the different passageways.

When we first entered, we were greeted by a man who had asked us to touch a dead body. Before any of us answered him with a yes or no, he was already pushing us to move on. The next thing we had to face was a train cart full of fake bodies that felt very real. I didn’t notice, but when we began to turn the corner to enter another obstacle a little boy with a mask popped out behind me and started pushing and growling at me. My reflects led me to start screaming, which I did the entire time, but I also pushed the little boy down. This did relieve some of my shock, but I also felt bad because I pushed down a little boy. Soon I had to get over it because we had to move one. 

Second, we went through a clown room. To me this was the most interesting part of the haunted house. When we had walked through, I was in the back of our group’s line. To my surprise a clown had grabbed me from behind and whispered in my ear,  “Let them go. Stay behind with me.” At this point my adrenaline was going and in the heat of the moment I punched the clown in the face. When I started screaming and running to catch up with Anna, she started laughing at me. As I caught up with my group we were entering another room that was something like The Chainsaw Mascer. I started laughing at this part because when the man with the chainsaw popped out, he was putting it in my mom’s face. The funny part was that she started putting her hands in the man’s face and pushed him out of the way. Thanks to her, he went back in the corner.

The next room we went through had the grim reaper in it. As we were passing through this room Raegan started screaming at the characters, “You fake! You fake!” Apparently the grim reaper didn’t like this because they started to come closer and closer to Raegan. She couldn’t take it, so she thought apologizing would help.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it,” she had pleaded. This also made us laugh.

Our next and final room had a combination of all the other rooms in it. This was the only room I was able to walk through without screaming as much. The only thing that threw me off was another clown that started whispering in my ear and another one that grabbed my ankle and started pulling me back. Unlike the other characters, this clown was tugging on me harder than he was supposed to. When I looked back, he started laughing and pulling me harder so I kicked him as hard as I possibly could. I was shocked when the man had pulled his mask off and told me I couldn’t do that, but he wasn’t supposed to be pulling on me that hard. So, I wasn’t too worried about getting into trouble.
 

When we had finally made it to the end, everyone was relieved. The man who was holding the exit curtain gave us all high-fives and told us we completed our journey in about four minutes. This wasn’t a record, but we were just happy we got out.

After about ten minutes of waiting, our second group had made it out. We all took a break and talked about what happened to us while we were walking through the different rooms. This was the time when the first group had learned about what happened to Samuel. We didn’t know, but while they were walking through the clown room a clown had actually took him. This was the reason why he was crying and wishing he didn’t come.

When we were all done talking, the next challenge for us to complete was an escape room. Before we could go in, we had to decide if we wanted to wear 3D glasses or not. When we finally decided to do regular, we went in.
The whole time we were in the escape room I just watched everyone. When we got out, my group was mad at me because I didn’t help. To be honest, I didn’t feel like doing anything after we came out of the different rooms. I was spooked, tired, and ready to go to sleep. After our second group came out, we all went to the car. Walking to the car was interesting too because we were singing to the music they were playing. As everyone was singing, we were giving our cupcakes Raegan’s mom had gotten us, and before long I went and got in my moms car. 
When we both got in, she was asking me a lot of questions about my experience. I couldn’t help but tell her everything, and when I got done talking I got on Netflix. While I was trying to watch my shows she was telling me everything that was happening in the front of the line. She told me about how the different characters were in her face and pushing her. After she got done, I assured her she wasn’t the only one who had the characters all over her.

Before long we were home, and as soon as I got out of the car I went inside and told my dad everything. After I got done talking to him, I took a hot bath. There was something about the way the water soothed me that made me think about how much I had regretted this night. The more and more I thought about it the more my mind changed. All of a sudden I didn’t regret this night, I saw this night as a memory I made with my friends that I would never forget.