Lie Again! Chapter 37

<Chapter 37. Halloween Festival (1)> 

 

The Halloween party on Saturday took place at Dylan’s house, which was “where his parents were away on a trip.”

 

It wasn’t just Jin and the kids who thought Dylan’s house was the best choice for the party; the ordinary two-story house was bursting with Crawford kids—many of them were faces Jin hadn’t seen before.

 

On the last day of October, America was so full of haunted houses that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it one.

 

The houses lining the street were decked out in all sorts of creepy decorations, ranging from cute jack-o’-lanterns and bat ornaments to truly terrifying skeletons, zombies popping out of the ground, and mannequins hanging by their necks, sending chills down anyone’s spine.

 

Jin, along with Riley and Ivy, decorated both the inside and outside of their house with pumpkins they carved themselves and handmade paper bats, but their efforts paled in comparison to the enthusiasm of the neighbors.

 

Today’s party host, Dylan, had also decorated his yard like a cemetery. Half-destroyed gravestones, emaciated arm bones dangling with flesh still attached, and eerie fog—just looking at it made the temperature seem to drop by several degrees. 

 

However, inside the house, the atmosphere was completely different from the eerie exterior; it was heated with the youthful energy radiating from the teenagers.

 

“I’ve done something at school that I shouldn’t have.”

 

At Megan’s question, three fingers were simultaneously folded. Whistles and teasing jeers poured in toward those who had folded their fingers.

 

The kids, sitting in a circle in the small room, were playing a truth game with their palms facing forward. They looked around at each other, sharing sly smiles at the varying number of fingers that had been folded.

 

And Jin was the only one among those participating in the high-stakes Never I have ever game who hadn’t folded a single finger.

 

Jin subtly lowered her hand, feeling a bit like the most boring person in the room.

 

“I kissed a friend recently.”

 

When Connor asked, some of them looked at him and slyly folded their fingers. And among them, there was one who…

 

“What the heck? Crazy, who is it? What on earth is going on!” 

 

When Ruth, staring back and forth between Joey and Dustin who had quietly folded their fingers, shouted in shock, Joey gave an awkward shrug.

 

“Well… it just kind of happened…! I didn’t do it properly!”

 

“Properly?”

 

Amanda grimaced at Joey’s choice of words and made a gagging sound.

 

“How could you even think about doing it ‘properly’ with that?”

 

Dustin raised his middle finger at her as Amanda asked with a serious face.

 

“It just happened somehow? But I knew it—you two said you were just friends!”

 

“That’s why. Tell me quickly!”

 

Whether Dustin and Amanda were throwing every insult they could with their fingers at each other, the other kids around them urged Joey on. With a reluctant expression, Joey opened her mouth at their urging.

 

“Just… when I went to the library for community service, I only barely kissed him on the lips! It was before anything even happened because of the duck!”

 

“What duck?”

 

As a word completely unrelated to the romantic expectations popped out, someone muttered, “Does ‘duck’ have some other meaning I’m unaware of?”

 

As the room grew more suspicious, Dustin, who had been silent, spoke up.

 

“Do you know what I saw there?”

 

When he spoke seriously in a low voice, everyone’s eyes turned to him.

 

“…What did you see?”

 

“Dozens of ducks. They were staring at me.”

 

“…Of course. That library has ducks in its garden.”

 

Ruth looked at Dustin with a bewildered face.

 

“They were all staring at me! Do you know how creepy that is?”

 

Ducks are always watching, everywhere. Even now.

 

It seemed that Dustin’s duck phobia, which he had picked up from his eccentric roommate, was hindering his unrequited love.

 

Whoo. As Dustin exaggeratedly acted like he was telling a terrifying story, nachos and popcorn flew at him, accompanied by a heavy dose of mockery.

 

The game ended abruptly when the duck was added to the atmosphere that had been heated up by Joey and Dustin’s story. Everyone was licking their lips and feeling regretful, but Jin only put down her unbroken hand, wiping her chest.

 

“Since we happen to have a wardrobe, how about we do that for the first time in a while?”

 

However, just as they had begun to relax, someone searching for the lost excitement pointed toward the large wardrobe in the corner of the room, their eyes gleaming with anticipation.

 

Except for Jin, who didn’t quite understand what “that” was, the kids enthusiastically welcomed the new idea with loud chatter.

 

Jin asked Ruth quietly, bewildered by the sudden change in atmosphere.

 

“What is ‘that’?”

 

But instead of answering Jin’s question, Ruth smiled ominously and suddenly shouted.

 

“Jin has never done this before!”

 

As soon as Ruth finished speaking, everyone turned to Jin and mischievous cheers erupted.

 

“W, why?”

 

Jin stuttered and asked the children at the sudden attention, but no one answered.

 

Instead, the kids swarmed over to Jin, pulled her to her feet, and pushed her toward the wardrobe.

 

They were so coordinated that before she even realized what was happening, she was suddenly standing in front of the wardrobe.

 

“What is this? What is it?”

 

Just before being pushed into the wardrobe by the others, Jin hurriedly asked a question—but the last thing she got in return was a cryptic question she couldn’t quite understand.

 

“Jin, you don’t have a date, right?”

 

“What? Wait a minute…!”

 

Before Jin could even finish her sentence, the wardrobe door shut with a soft thud—leaving behind only the bright, sparkling-eyed smile of Joey as her last glimpse.

 

Jin let out a deep sigh as she crouched down with her knees tucked to her chest in the pitch-dark wardrobe. It was musty with the scent of old clothes and dust, and though it was roomier than she had expected, that was about the only comfort it offered.

 

It was just wide enough to fit two people, and there wasn’t enough room to stretch her legs, so she had to keep her knees pulled up. To make matters worse, every time she moved, the hanging clothes brushed against her head, tangling her hair even more.

 

Jin listened anxiously to the sounds coming from outside the narrow, dark closet, her face filled with unease.

 

She had no idea what was going to happen next. All Jin had was a vague belief that Ruth and the others wouldn’t do anything that might harm her.

 

The thick wooden door, with its annoyingly precise seams, was of no help to Jin. The sound was muffled behind it, and all she could make out were indistinct murmurs and the occasional burst of loud laughter from outside.

 

Staring at the faint sliver of light streaming through the crack in the door, Jin soon gave up trying to figure out the situation and let out a heavy sigh. Even then, several voices were talking outside.

 

‘I should have just stayed quiet and not asked.’

 

No, this was all Evan Ruth’s fault. It was at that moment when Jin imagined grabbing Ruth by the collar and shaking him violently, the focus of attention suddenly turned on her.

 

The noisy voices got closer, and soon the light was blocked by someone coming near the closet.

 

Someone was trying to open the tightly closed closet door. Jin watched the door with slight tension.

 

The door slowly opened with a clank.

 

The faint light slipping through the gap grew larger and larger, then thud! With the sound of something crashing forcefully against the door, it disappeared again.

 

At the same time, the previously noisy scene outside fell eerily silent, as if a mouse had died. Jin, who had no idea what was going on, was rolling her eyes here and there.

 

“Wooooww!”

 

A loud cheer erupted that could be clearly heard even inside the closet, and then the door opened wide.

 

The pouring light sharply pricked her retinas, which had already grown accustomed to the darkness. Jin squinted, feeling the sting in her eyes.

 

In the meantime, someone entered the wardrobe and firmly closed the door. In the returning darkness, Jin, unable to properly identify the unfamiliar person, pulled her knees a little closer with a wary expression.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

Outside, the kids’ joyful voices continued to murmur, while in the narrow closet, only the sound of Jin and the unknown boy’s breathing could be heard quietly.

 

As one more person entered, the closet became narrower in an instant, and their arms touched.

 

It was when Jin tried to shift her body as much as possible to press against the wall, feeling the unfamiliar warmth rising from the firm arm.

 

The unknown boy quietly opened his mouth.

 

“Hello, Jin.”

 

It was a familiar voice.