Fear And Anxiety In Arkber

"I wonder when this was built?" asked Sean as he and a girl walked up to a haunted house attraction.

"Don't know," said Mary "but with all the hype there's been, it's gotta be good!" Sean and Mary walked up to the ticket booth, which inside had a creepy looking man.

"Two please!" said Sean as he placed the money down. The man handed them the tickets, and they walked towards the door.

"Hey!" said the man from the booth. Mary and Sean looked back. "See ya at the end...if you make it!" The man began laughing hysterically.

"Strange man." said Mary as they placed their tickets in a slot and the doors opened. As they entered, the doors slammed behind them.

***

"This hasn't been very scary!" said Mary as they were nearing the end.

"Yeah, Seriously!" said Sean "I'm demanding my money back, this fucking sucks!" As Sean and Mary walked on, the found themselves in a large room, it was completely black.

"Ooh! Scary!" said Sean sarcastically.

"What's the point of this?" asked Mary

"Probably ran out of ideas on what other cheap shit they could use to scare us!" The silence of the room was broken by a strange frequency sound.

"Aaah!" said Sean holding his hands over his ears "What the fuck is that?" As Sean looked into the distance, he could see what looked like millions of spiders. As Sean opened his mouth to scream, he found no sound was coming out. He could do nothing, as the spiders crawled onto him,

covering his whole body. Sean finally managed the loudest, highest scream he could, before dying of fright.

"What the.." said Mary as she looked at Sean, laying on the ground with a shocked look on his face. As Mary turned around, she found herself on the edge of a building. Mary began to scream, as she tried to prevent herself from falling off. In the end, her prevention was useless as she ended up falling and being killed. A figure came from the shadows of the dark room. He walked up to Sean and Marys lifeless corpses. A hearty laugh came from the figure, as he saw the frightened looks on their faces, and the white hair from the shock.

***

"Fear Of The Dark" by Iron Maiden came pumping from the Hummers speakers, as the group entered Arkber. As the group drove through the city, they noticed the population didn't seem as large.

"Wonder why the population is so scarce?" asked Jabo

"I got a better question," said James "When the hell are we going to the bar?"

"We gotta find a place to stay first James." said Laura

"Then booze?" asked James

"Then booze!" said Laura.

After some driving, the group managed to find a hotel. As they got their room, Jabo could feel that something was not right, but couldn't sense it.

***

Jabo could smell smoke as he was running towards the light in the distance.

"No!" said Jabo "NO!" As Jabo continued running, he saw that fire had spread everywhere, engulfing everything in its path. As he looked in the distance, he could see a figure coming from the flames. "NOOO!!!" yelled Jabo.

"Jabo!" came the voice of Laura "Jabo, wake up!" Jabo opened his eyes to see Laura standing over him, a worried look on her face. As Jabo looked around, he could see he was laying in his hotel room. Jabos sight went back towards Laura.

"Hey Laura" said Jabo "what are you doing here?"

"Well," said Laura "I was coming in here to see if you were ready to go out drinking, when I heard you yelling out in your sleep."

"Oh," said Jabo "what was I saying?"

"You were just saying no!" said Laura "What was happening in your dream?"

"Not too sure." said Jabo "All I could see was fire, it all seemed so familiar!"

"Well," said Laura "you coming out to the bar with us?"

"Yeah sure!" said Jabo "Just give me a few minutes."

"Okay!" said Laura as she gave Jabo a kiss, and walked towards the door. "See you at the front doors." As Laura walked out of the room, Jabo got off the bed and walked over to a mirror.

"Why was that so fucking familiar?" Jabo said to his reflection in the mirror. He was silent, as he looked in the mirror for a minute or two. "Well you're no fucking help!" said Jabo to his reflection.

***

As the time was nearing two in the morning, figures were walking the streets.

"Guess she was drunker then she thought!" Gordon said to Jabo, as they each had one of Lauras arms over their shoulders, helping her walk through the streets.

"Yeah!" said James taking a puff from his joint "She should have had an even mix of alcohol and weed like I did, doesn't have ya so fucked up." As the group got closer to the hotel, James began drunkenly quoting lyrics from the Iconz song "Get Fucked Up."

"Are we home yet?" asked Laura drunkenly, her head drooped down.

"Nearly there!" said Jabo "Nearly there!"

After everyone was in their hotel rooms, Jabo went back to his. As he looked out the window, he finished off the bottle of whiskey he got at the bar. Jabo walked over to the bed, and fell face first into it. As he drifted to sleep, the whiskey bottle fell from his hand, and crashed onto the floor.

"Jabo!" came a voice from the darkness "Jabo!"

Jabo opened his eyes to see a beautiful Asian woman standing over him.

"Oh Himiko!" said Jabo as he sat up on the bed "Back from the market already?"

"Yes," said Himiko "I'm just about to start dinner, it should be ready in an hour or so!"

"Okay" said Jabo as he stood up and kissed Himiko on the cheek "I'll go for a walk in the hills!" As Jabo headed out the door, he grabbed the Samurai sword, and placed it on himself. As Jabo stepped outside, he could see the many sites in the Japanese village he was living in with

Himiko. Jabo never thought that when he came to Japan to find himself, that he would end up staying. After being beaten and left for dead, when he first came to Japan. Jabo never expected he'd find anyone to care for him like Himiko did. As Jabo headed for the hills, he could feel the shape of the sword on his back. Jabo could still remember when he married Himiko, and her father gave him the sword as a personal gift to him. Jabo was sure that his father-in-law might not have approved of the sword being used for revenge, on the men who almost beat him to death. After about half an hour of walking, Jabo sat down to relax.

"Don't think you're sitting down here!" came a voice from behind Jabo. As he turned around he saw the face of Masahiro Yamane, leader of the gang to which the other guys belonged. From behind Masahiro came three other guys, each had a weapon in their hand.

"Never much for a fair fight were ya, Masahiro!" said Jabo, as his right hand slowly went onto the handle of the Samurai sword. As one of the members walked right in front of Jabo, he quickly pulled out the Samurai sword, and thrust it into the guys chest. The man fell to his knees, then fell forward after Jabo pulled out the sword. "Who's next?" asked Jabo. Another guy came running at Jabo, he had a sword in his hand. After a brief battle of swords clanging

together, Jabo stabbed his Samurai sword into that guys chest. As the final guy ran at him, Jabo held out the Samurai sword, the guy ran right into the blade impaling himself with it.

"Fucking morons!" said Masahiro

"Alright Masahiro," said Jabo "this ends now!"

"You're right!" said Masahiro as he pointed in the distance "take a look!"

Jabo looked off into the distance, to see smoke coming from the direction of the village. With Jabo distracted, Masahiro smashed him across the head knocking him to the ground. As Jabo looked up at Masahiro, he saw the barrel of a gun pointed at his face.

"Never one to use the old weapons are you?" said Jabo.

"Shut the fuck up!" said Masahiro "It's over for you!"

As Masahiro pulled back the trigger on the gun, Jabo used his feet to trip Masahiro. Jabo quickly got to his feet, and stabbed the Samurai sword through Masahiros chest.

"That's some nice work!" said Masahiro "But you'll never get back in time to save anyone. When my boys set fires, they go all out!"

As Jabo began running towards the village, all he could hear was the laughter of Masahiro. Jabo got to the village, and saw fire everywhere.

"No!" said Jabo. As he looked around, he could see the flames had engulfed the whole village. He ran towards his home, to see it burning strongly. "NO!" yelled Jabo. From the flames, he could see a figure step out. The figure was Himiko, her body engulfed in flames. As she came closer, she fell forward, dead at Jabos feet.

"Himiko!" said Jabo "HIMIKO!!"

Jabo woke up in a cold sweat. As he looked around, he saw the darkened interior of his hotel room.

"My god!" Jabo said to himself "I had forgotten about Himiko. But why did that memory suddenly resurface?" Feeling disoriented, Jabo left his hotel room and found his way to Lauras. Laura woke up to see Jabos shadow standing over her bed.

"Jabo," said Laura "what are you doing here?"

"I..I'm not sure!" said Jabo "Can I climb in?"

"Sure!" said Laura "You're always welcome!"

Jabo climbed into bed, and brought himself up close to Laura. Laura showed a small smile as she shut off the light.

***

The next morning Laura woke up, and brought her arm up o wrap around Jabo. When her arm made it to the other side, she found Jabo was no longer there. As she got dressed, and came out of her hotel room she saw Gordon in the hall.

"Good morning Gordon!" said Laura

"Morning Laura!" said Gordon as he walked over to her.

"Say, G" said Laura "have you seen Jabo?"

"Yeah!" said Gordon "I saw him and James go outside with a bag of James weed!"

"Why a whole bag?" asked Laura

"Well," said Gordon "Jabo said he had a really fucked up dream last night. Said it was so fucked up, that he figured maybe some of James weed would calm him down, seeing that it works so well for James."

Laura and Gordon went outside to find James and Jabo each with a joint in their hands.

"Oh hey Laura, G!" said Jabo sounding stoned. "James was just showing me this flyer for some haunted house, think we should check it out!"

Laura walked over and pulled the joint out of Jabos mouth, she then threw it to the ground and stepped on it.

"Hey Laura!" said James "That shit ain't cheap!"

"Sorry James!" said Laura, then looking back at Jabo "What the fuck's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing!" said Jabo

"Well try me," said Laura.

After some hesitation, Jabo told Laura about his dream and how in actuality it was something that happened in his past.

"Oh my God!" said Laura "That must have been awful to have seen that!"

"It was!" said Jabo "God, how it was!"

"Well," said Laura "what you need is some fun to get that out of your mind. I suggest we go to that haunted house you were talking about, it could be fun!"

"Yeah!" said Jabo as a smile slowly came across his face "Maybe it will be!"

***

That evening found the group heading towards the haunted house. As they came up to the front, the creepy man was once again in the ticket booth. The man looked strangely at the group as they bought their tickets.

"Hope the fear doesn't....KILL YOU!" said the man as the group walked into the haunted house, and the doors slammed behind them. As the group began walking through the haunted house, they found nothing was happening. All of a sudden, a plastic skeleton popped out. A shot was heard, and the group looked at James.

"What?" said James holding a handgun with a smoking barrel "I hate when shit pops out at me!" The rest of the group shook their heads, and they continued walking through the haunted house.

***

"Wow!" said Gordon "This haunted house sucks!"

"No kidding!" said James "It sucks sweaty donkey balls!"

"Colourful choice of describing this place James." said Laura

"Oh, thank you!" said James.

The group continued walking, until they found themselves in a black room.

"What the hell's this?" asked Jabo

"Think they ran out of scary ideas!" said Gordon

"So how are we supposed to get out of here?" asked James. As the group was thinking about how to get out, they suddenly heard a loud frequency noise.

"Ahhh!" said James "What the fuck's this shit?" James then began to hear the sound of hissing. As he slowly turned around, he saw hundreds of snakes slithering towards him. "SNAKES!" yelled James.

"What the fuck's he talking about?" asked Gordon "There are no snakes nearby!" Jabo and Laura shrugged their shoulders.

Laura closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them she found herself in a sleazy hotel room. As she looked at herself, she found herself dressed as a prostitute.

"God, not this again!" said Laura the sound of fright in her voice. She looked at the bed, to see a john stand up and walk towards her. With the back of his hand, he slapped her across the face.

"You fucking bitch!" said the john "I ain't fucking paying for that! I'm getting my sex for free, GOT IT?!" As Laura tried to get up, the john wrapped his hand around her neck, and held her to the ground. With a free hand, he pulled out a switchblade and began slowly moving it towards

Laura.

"LET HIM GO!" yelled Gordon as he was being held down by two guys. "Look I'll get you the money, just let my brother go!"

"You had your chance Gordon!" said a man with a gun in Gordons brothers mouth. "You didn't pay back the money when you were supposed to, now your brother dies!"

"NO!!" yelled Gordon as the man pulled the trigger, blood coming from the back of Gordons brothers head as he fell forwards into a puddle of his own blood.

As Jabo watched, he saw that slowly the group was dying from fright or complete broken mentality.

"Try and fight it guys!" yelled Jabo "It's not there, it's all in your mind!" Jabo soon found himself back in the burning village in Japan. He watched as once again Himiko's burning body came out of the flames, and collapsed at Jabos feet. "Himiko," said Jabo "I'm sorry!"

"You're sorry?!" said Himiko as her corpse stood up in front of Jabo.

"The fuck?" said Jabo

"It's your fault I'm dead!" said Himiko "You had to kill those guys with the sword, you had to leave me alone at home, while you went out!"

"No!" said Jabo "I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"Like hell you didn't!" said Himiko "You knew this was going to happen!"

"NO!" said Jabo

"YES!" said Himiko "Now you must die!"

"No!" said Jabo "because you're not Himiko. The real Himiko is buried in a cemetery in Japan, I made sure of it. You're just an image in my mind, and now you will DIE!" Jabo pulled out his Samurai sword, and stabbed it through Himikos corpse. After it went through her chest, Jabo found himself back in the black room. As Jabo watched the other members of the group, he hoped they would listen to his words.

As James laid on the floor, covered by snakes. Instead of feeling frightened, he felt a strange calmness. He found that he couldn't hear the hissing of the snakes, all he could hear was Jabos

words "its not there, it's all in your mind!" As James heard these words, he found the snakes disappearing. When all the snakes were gone, he stood up and walked over to where Jabo was standing.

Laura also hearing Jabos words, found a way to overpower the john.

"You like getting fucked?" said Laura holding the switchblade above her head. "I'll fuck you with this!" Laura began repeatedly stabbing the john in the chest. The man screamed and began spitting up blood, before dying. Laura soon found herself in the black room, stabbing at nothing. Jabo and James walked over to Laura, and helped her to her feet. As the group looked over at Gordon he was walking towards them.

"You're advice worked!" said Gordon "Once I realized that wasn't really my brother, because my brother was killed years ago. I found the anxiety wasn't stopping me from catching the cocksucker that killed him!"

"Now," said Jabo "where's the cocksucker responsible for this?"

The group heard footsteps coming towards them, from out of the shadows stepped a man.

"So," said the man "I see you survived my little invention!"

"Just what the fuck are you talking about?" demanded Jabo.

"Well," said the man "I will start with introductions, my name is Frank. You have just experienced an invention of mine. You see, I created a machine that, through the use of frequency signals, I can take peoples deepest fear, or anxiety and bring it to a solid form. The thing itself will not kill the person, rather the fear or anxiety from it!"

"But why?" asked Laura

"Very simply!" said Frank "I just enjoy watching that sort of thing!" After a moment of silence, Frank pulled out a gun. "Now," said Frank "you must die!"

"Don't fucking think so!" said Jabo as he quickly pulled out a handgun, and shot the gun out of Franks hand.

"But, no!" said Frank. The group walked up to Frank and encircled him.

"But, yes!" said Jabo as he placed the barrel of the gun on Franks head, and pulled the trigger.

As the group walked out the front doors, they walked past the ticket booth.

"So," said the man "survived did ya?"

"Yeah," said Gordon "but you're not!" Gordon pumped his shotgun, and fired in the ticket booth. The walls of the booth became stained with blood.

"So what was going on with you Laura?" asked Jabo

"What do you mean?" asked Laura

"I mean what were you fighting?" asked Jabo, as they got into the Hummer and began driving out of the city.

"I'll tell you!" said Laura

"When?" asked Jabo

"Another time!" said Laura "Another time!"

THE END