Good morning everyone! I hope you all slept well.. My night was going just fine until my baby woke me up at 3:04 and STAYED AWAKE until 5:20... Before she fell asleep, I was laying next to her for a few and rubbed her tummy. It doesn't ALWAYS work but by then I was more than ready to try anything! So I'm laying there doing that and I close my eyes for a few seconds. When I open my eyes back up, I see two dark spots staring right at me. The only light is a tiny night light in the corner so at the moment, it just looked and seemed SUPER creepy that my baby wasn't really moving or making noise.. Just staring right at me. I stared at her without moving for a minute and she FINALLY closed her eyes in a slow blink that eventually led to her sleepy eyes staying closed... It was one of those creepy moments like when my middle daughter was sleep walking and seemed possessed... Anyway, I believe that THAT moment that jolted my nerves a little bit was what induced my crazy ass creepy dream. The weird thing, she wasn't even IN it! But I'm kind of glad about that... So get ready... I'm going to really try to walk you through the dark pictures of my dreamland mind... And no, it's not a "Once upon a time" situation... Here we go....
After a long crazy week with my whole family running around with work like stuff to do, we were pretty excited and intrigued to get a blood red velvet envelope in the mail addressed to us (everyone but the baby) inviting us to an exclusive opening to a new interactive movie theater type place. At least that's what I made out of it. Of course the first thing that crossed the minds of both me and my husband was that it's some crazy scam where we drive all the way there and end up trying to avoid getting talked into buying a time share or something equally worthless. The card inside the envelope was black with red writing on one side and blood red with black writing on the other. The red side said: "You are all invited to the grand opening! This is an experience like no other! Interactions are highly encouraged! Very theatrical! Opening the envelope was the hardest part! Come join the spooky fun we know you love! You won't regret it!!!" And on the black side: If you dare... It had a date and a signature (that you couldn't really make out) that was handwritten in. It seemed like it was for some kind of Halloween related thing meant just for ME! But then I remembered, if something seems to good to be true, most of the time it usually isn't true. After a few back and forth struggles in my mind whether or not to actually consider the possibility of going and a few minutes of trying to figure exactly what kind of scam it could be, the invite was tossed along with the overly decorative envelope onto the counter with a small pile of other junk mail. A few days went by with the usual everyday stuff.. Work, chores, errands, school... The never ending loop of the normal routine. I was going around the house grabbing trash from all of the cans in the rooms when I came to the junk mail counter. Without really looking, I scooped up all the random pieces and tossed them in the trash. As I went to tie up the trash bag, I noticed the corner of the blood red envelope.. Without thinking twice, I reached in and grabbed it out along with the card... I read both sides again and then looked at all of our names handwritten on the envelope. The date was only a few days away... My phone rang, it was some kind of reminder either for an appointment or something about to be due. That phone call was trying to pull me back into the loop I had momentarily stepped out of and it was at that moment I decided that we were definitely GOING to this new fun, spooky mystery spot and it was going to be amazing!
The day had finally come and we had dropped the baby off with a close friend while we headed to the fun interactive theater. It took a couple hours but we had arrived. It was a pretty big building and looked brand new. I have to admit that I was very grateful that it didn't look like the envelope (yes I was expecting it!) but instead just looked like a shiny silver office type building. There was no sign on it but we could've missed it on the other side. The address matched and there were already other cars here with a few more pulling in down the lot. It was long and we could already see four separate sets of entrance doors that were spaced out a bit from each other. I looked at my husband and as if he already knew what I was going to say, he says "We'll try that one." pointing at the door in front of where we had parked. The girls were so excited, they unbuckled, got out and started to run for the door. "Girls.." My husband said cautiously and without any delay they came back to walk with us. "Now remember, we don't KNOW what kind of place it is yet. We could just be watching a movie or a play. Either way, no running off or acting all crazy just because you get excited.. That means you too.." He said that and shot me, ME, a wide eyed obnoxious look because he had a feeling that if this was some kind of spooky thing, I would be in my own kind of twisted little heaven. "Yeah, yeah... we'll see what happens.." I told him with my typical eye roll. With that being said, we all started for the building holding each others hands all anxious to see what awaited us on the inside of the mystery building...
Once we made it up the few stone steps of the entryway, my husband grabbed the shiny metal door handle and opened it as the girls and I stepped inside. There were a few other families standing in the hallway looking around at the walls that had been decorated in some Party City looking decorations here and there. I looked at my husband with an "Awe man!" look thinking we drove all this way for a crappy wannabe pre Halloween, Halloween party or something. Just then I heard a "Baaaahhhhh!!!" and then a scream. A guy in a full oversized cartoon bear costume had jumped out of the closet and scared one of the nearby families. Realizing what had happened, everyone stopped what they were doing and let out little laughs. The bear man, still in full costume, proceeded to tell us that there was a kids room called the Fun Station down the hall, a horrific movie theater where you chose what happened to the actors as the story went down the opposite hall, a complimentary snack bar around the corner and also a Scary Fun Times photo booth room where you can have your makeup done to look scary with authentic looking props before you get a free photo. It sounded completely corny and fun all at the same time. When the kids heard "fun station" they begged us to check that out first. The bear man told us that our kids would be checked in and given bracelets that matched our own when we signed in. I wasn't in a rush to leave them in room by themselves in this new place but we walked to the window where you could see a little bit of what was in the station. There was a huge jungle gym shaped like a spooky dead tree that stretched over almost the entire visible room, big cushy bean bag chairs with different books and hand held gaming systems on the tables, every board game ever made seemed to be stacked on shelves along the walls, trampoline floors and Velcro walls, inflatable slides and jump houses, a full snack buffet of dozens of treats and drinks and even more things that we couldn't see. It DID look fun, but it was a kids only place and that meant us leaving them here without us.. Which is always a concept that freaks me out. "Do you see that tree!!! Please Mom! Please Dad! We'll stay together! Please please please!!!" I looked at my husband and reading the worry on my face he said "It will be ok, we'll be right down the hall and they'll have the bracelets to match ours. Plus adults can't go in and the kids can't come out until we pick them up. We won't do it if you don't want to but that means we would have to go home since they can't come into the theater. What do you want to?" With both girls pulling at my arms to let them stay and play, we decided that we would give it thirty minutes as a trial run and if we were having fun, we would stay longer. So we checked the girls in, they were given neon orange bracelets as were we, then they took off for all of the childlike wonders that waited beyond the little no adult gate. We watched them for five minutes go from games to jumping, sliding and laughing when Mr. bear man told us that one of the shows were starting soon and we didn't want to miss it. We waved to the girls, they waved and told us to have fun, and we started down the hall to the mysterious theater...
The double doors that led into the theater seemed very heavy and thick and they were lined on the inside with a very familiar material. Velvet.. Dark, blood red velvet.. They were being held open by two people in other animal full body suits. One looked like some kind of rat and the other looked like it could pass for a gopher or something. They weren't anything you'd find in a horror aisle of a costume shop and yet somehow they were very eerie... Unsettling I guess in a weird way. We make our way to the middle row and sit down in the plush seats. We were both given a weird kind of remote that would let us "control" what happened in the show. I guess it was the majority thing would happen. Anyway.. The movie started and we played around with the remotes when it hit me.. I had to go to the bathroom. I get up and go to the big doors.. I can't open them. Seeing me struggle a little bit, one of the animal guys comes to the door and opens it part way with no problem at all. The oversized head looks at me and says "You're coming right back right?" I smiled and nodded and tried not to be freaked out. The door closed behind me as soon as I made it to the hallway. Something was wrong. For one, the only lights were very small dim panel lights that were spaced out along the bottom of the wall. The other thing, there was no sound. NONE. It was that same hallway where you could hear the kids laughing and playing from the fun station and you could hear the parents murmur things at the snack bar.. Now.. Silence. I walked quickly to the window of the play room expecting to see kids doing SOMETHING but when I made it there.. Nothing. I couldn't hear or see ANY kids. The room that was so bright and fun looking now had a faint orange glow around the dead tree jungle gym. It was like a scene from a creepy movie. I went around the corner to go through the gate only there was no gate. It was now a window wall.. A thick piece of door-less glass between me and the place my kids were playing in just twenty minutes before.. Where were they? A little panicked, I went around the corner to the snack bar where I also found nobody. Even the buffet of snacks were gone. What the hell was going on? I tried to listen to the smallest part of me saying it could be a big practical joke and for all I knew, my husband could've been in on it since I'm all into that kind of thing.. I didn't feel right with that explanation. I made my way to what they called the photo booth room. As soon as I touched the handle, a scream. It was coming from the other side of the door. It was a scream then a loud "CLICK" sound.. Like an obnoxiously loud camera... I pulled the door open enough to be able to peek through the crack and see what exactly was happening in the photo booth room. I saw photo grade lighting.. different diffusers and umbrellas bouncing light every which way.. There WAS a camera, a big one, and it was going off every forty seconds or so.. When I scanned the seemingly legitimate room some more though, I saw a table. The table was as full as the snack bar table had been only instead of goodies and sweet treats... There were blades, saws, hammers and other various old rusty looking fake tool props. Were they fake? Were they props..? Then I saw two big oversized animal costumes.. One checked the camera and other one was admiring all the tools. Until he held his hand over one of the crude sharp looking hammers... He hovered over it for a few seconds and then with a slight head tilt in his giant headpiece, he picked it up and walked back over to where the camera was pointing. I couldn't see exactly what it was pointing at without sticking my whole head in there and I wasn't about to do that. All of a sudden, the manimal by the camera gave two thumbs up and nodded his giant head to the other one. Without hesitation, the hammer holder raised his arm and brought it crashing down. I don't know what happened first... The spurts of blood, the blood curdling scream, or the loud click of the camera... I back up suddenly with my hands over my mouth to prevent (or at least try to prevent) a noise from coming out. I kept backing up until I hit a smaller door. I hoped like hell it was a coat closet with nothing inside as I squeezed my eyes shut in an instant reflex. I turned toward the door slowly while still glancing back at the now closed doors of the photo booth room. There was something sticking out of the bottom of the small door. I kneeled down quickly even more cautious then I had been and picked it up. It looked like a bracelet. It was. Just like the one that both girls had been wearing... I put my hand on the doorknob still trying to be extra quiet. I turned it slowly and when I opened it.. Coats. Only they weren't hanging up, they were in a giant pile that filled almost the entire floor area. I was just getting ready to back out of the closet when I heard another door opening. It was the photo booth room! I stepped into the closet fully and quickly yet quietly closed the door. It was right when the door shut that I felt something move by my leg... I stood frozen still gripping the doorknob with my clenched fist. Then I heard something that made my heart go crazy... "Mom..?" Oh my God! My kids were safe! They were both (along with three other kids) in this little coat closet hiding in coats! Wait.. that's exactly what they were doing.. Hiding! The smallest part of my mind that was hoping this was some sick and twisted prank was gone and replaced with the realization that we had been lured into some psychotic crazy torture chamber or something! Oh my God... my husband! I looked at the door and noticed a latch hook that was set a little taller than my oldest daughter on the door. I crouched down so I could whisper as quietly as possible to them. "I'm going to go get daddy. Stay in here. When I go out, I want you to reach up and slide this lock over. Do NOT open this door again until I say your name on the other side. I love you." I hugged them and told the other kids I would try to find their parents too. Then, as much as I didn't want to, I opened the door enough to slip out and turned to close the door quietly. When I did I heard a faint click of the lock being slid into place on the inside. I smiled briefly as I turned around. When I turned around I wasn't alone... I was now face to face with the man bear... His dead character eyes and permanent smile glued right on me... My heart was racing. I turned to run toward the theater door but I couldn't. Another one of THEM was in my way. He tilted his head to the side while he brought his hidden hand from around his back... In that hand was an old, rusty, jagged blade... He spoke and though it was muffled, I could make it out perfectly... "It's your turn for the photo booth. Go get your husband and use this. You have three minutes to get him and be in there otherwise... It will be a family photo. And this is one time you probably DON'T want that..." He wanted me to take this instrument of torture and use it on my husband! I took it and started for the theater...
By the time I made it inside of the theater I found my husband sitting in the aisle instead of the seat he was in. I rushed to him and pulled his face to look at me. I told him what was going on, what they wanted me to do to him and where the kids were. I showed him the blade before hiding it under the seat. We made our way to the hallway that was now a little brighter than it had been when I was alone. There was nobody out there and it was quiet again. We were coming up to the photo room when we noticed the doors had just closed. Thinking quickly as always (at least in chaotic situations) my husband took the blade that I had stashed away and jammed it through the handles of the photo booth room doors. I knocked on the closet door and said my daughters name so they would open it. They did and we (us and the five kids) started down the new side of the hallway that had at least two of the four sets of doors we saw from outside. We made it to the last one and was able to open it. The parking lot was dark and much bigger than it was when we arrived. Just as we were about to make a mad dash outside, we heard a long loud scream.. I knew exactly where it was coming from. The scream was followed by banging.. They were trying to get out! I grabbed the girls by the hands and yelled at my husband to come on. He started to take the hands of the three boys but they were deadlocked where they stood staring down the dark hallway in the direction of the horrific noises.. "Come on!" my husband told them but before he could snatch them up in his arms, all three boys took off running back to monster filled room! My husband looked at me then back towards the hall when all of a sudden..... I WOKE UP!
It may sound like a mild "nightmare" to you but in MY head that night... MAN! It was one of those dreams where you wake up and lay still long enough to be sure you're ACTUALLY awake.. It leaves with that uneasy feeling for a while.. Like when you're on your side and you roll over just KNOWING that there's a shadowy figure lurking in the opposite corner or your room watching you... Thankfully every time I've ever had that feeling I've been wrong ... But you know what I mean... I hope you were able to see the picture I tried to recreate for you.. Sweet dreams tonight everyone! -Super Mom
Good God! What a lovely little dream! Okay, Maddie, stop freaking out your Mommy!
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