Til Death Do Us Part

(TW: Blood and death, Toxic relationships, Violence, and Suicide)

“Are you sure this is legal?” Tessa sighed, pulling her jacket up to her chin.

“Of course, it's legal, Tess! Have I ever lied to you?” Tyler laughed as he cut the wire fence, creating an opening big enough for the four teens to squeeze through.

“Yes, many times,” Tessa answered flatly, following him into the abandoned carnival. Stumbling over a rock, she groaned. “Who’s idea was it to go to old Barns? This place has been abandoned for years!”

“Oh, come on, Tessa, it'll be fun!” Vivian says as Noah wraps his arm around her shoulders, smiling his big cocky grin.

“You scared, Tessa?” He chuckles as Tessa scoffs, glaring back at him.

“You wish, Mr. ‘I can’t watch Halloween because my mommy won't let me.’’ She snickers as Noah turns bright pink.

“Look, guys, the house of mirrors is still here! Let's go there first.” Tyler said, changing the subject. Noah let go of Vivian’s hand, joining Him.

“Your sister's crazy, Ty,” Noah laughed as they ran ahead of the girls.

The Group walks over, looking around. What used to be a carnival full of lights, people, and delicious smells had transformed into a dump, strung with spiderwebs adorning every Corner. It gives off an Eerie vibe; they would send chills down anyone's spine. It’s the perfect hangout for bored teenagers.

“I remember when this place was still in action,” Vivain laughed as she held the little tent flap up for the others. “It's so icky now!” Noah smiled, kissing her cheek as he walked in.

“It's ok, now we own this place, so we can do whatever we want...” A creepy grin spread across his face.

She laughed and pushed his face. “Ew! Don't look at me like that, you weirdo!”. Noah smiled and grabbed her hand, kissing it loudly, causing Tessa to roll her eyes.

Tyler nudges Tessa, gesturing towards the maze. Without any words, the two take off running, leaving the cupole in the dust. Vivian laughs, coughing on the dirt.

“Whelp, that's the Garcia twins for you,” Noah sighed, with a smile. “Always turning things into a competition. I-” Before he could finish, Vivan took off down a different path, laughing.

"Let's go, slowpoke!!!!" She yells from down the eerie pathway.

“WOOOOOOOOOH!!” Vivian laughs, the wind whipping against her face as she skids around the corner. ducking under a beam, she glances behind her before she runs right into a dusty mirror. Smashing her face against the dirty glass, she falls back, looking at the print her face left behind,

“Aw-” She rubbed her face and laughed, dusting herself off. Placing her hands on her hips, she checked out the area. An ear-piercing scream fills the maze, making Vivian stumble back in shock. Her heart pounds as she realizes how dark the maze is.

“Noah?...” Vivian whispers, starting to walk back towards where she left him. she just turned the corner when Noah screamed again, his voice full of pain. Vivian's eyes widened with fear.

“NOAH!!” Vivian sprinted back down the maze, bumping into the mirrors in her panicked haze. “NOAH?? WHERE ARE YOU!!?” Vivain screamed, panting. She turned the corner, running right into Tessa and Tyler.

“Vee! What's wrong?” Tyler panted, startled. "Where's Noah??"

Vivan stutters, hysterical and unable to express herself. Tessa grabs her shoulders, searching Vivian's eyes, and she looks back at Tyler in confusion.

“Vee, are you-?” Tyler's voice trails off, and his face turns pale white. “Oh….”

Tessa's eyes follow where Tyler is looking, and she screams, stumbling back. Vivian tries to look over, but Tessa holds her face in place, shaking her head frantically. Ripping out of Tess's grip, Vivian turns around and sobs

“NOAH!” Vivan screams, running to his side. Noah lays on the ground, his flesh ripped open, all bloody and massacred. Shards of glass remain in his wounds, the cuts too straight and rapid to have been by accident. Tyler stumbles back, supporting himself on a mirror, as Tessa runs to Vivan’s sobbing side, trying to pull her away from Noah's body.

“W- we should get out of here,” Tyler said with urgency as he grabbed Tessa's hand, trying to pull her away. He swallows, his lips quivering as tessa doesn't budge.

"Please, Tess," He begs, looking at her with wide, sick eyes, his voice shaking. “we need to go n-now.”

Tessa yanks her hand away from Tyler, wrapping her arms around Vivan. keeping her quivering breaths calm, she pushes him back, her eyes slightly narrowing.

“Tyler! We can’t just leave him…” Tessa tries to comfort a hysterical Vivan, her eyes never leaving Tyler. He shakes his head, grabs both of the girls, and dragging them away with adrenaline strength.

“NO! N-Noah is dead! We need to go! N-now! before whatever happened to him happens to us,” Tyler shouted as he pulled the girls out of the maze, his hands shaky but strong.

“Wait, shouldn't we call the police?” Tessa asks as she regains her balance. Shaking his head, Tyler leans over and takes deep breaths of fresh air.

“No,” Tyler said firmly. “We can't, not now-”. Vivian falls to the ground, holding her face as she sobs. Tyler stops talking and puts his hands in his pockets, looking sick and panicked. Tessa glares back at Tyler, then straightens her back.

“Fine… Vee, come here.” Tessa crouches down to Vivian, helping her up and holding her close. Tessa eyes Tyler, her gaze cold. “Get us out, Ty.”

“W-we’ll just go out the way we came,” Tyler says with false confidence as he quickly walks off, leaving the girls alone. Tessa narrows her eyes and rubs Vivian's shoulders as she helps her walk. clearing her throat, Tessa leans down, lowering her voice so Tyler couldn’t overhear them.

“Listen, Vee…don’t you notice how Tyler is acting? He’s usually not like this. I lost him in the maze and ran into him a few moments before you found us…I think it was him…We need to get away while we can.” Tessa looks down at her devastated friend. Vivian sniffs, looking up at her. Tessa talks slowly.

“It's not like I want to blame him; he’s family. But just... keep an eye out, ok? And stay close to me.” Tessa stares at Vivian until she shows some sign that she understands.

“Girls!! The gate has been closed! We need to go around, come on!” Tyler's voice rings out from somewhere ahead of them. Tessa pauses, glancing down at Vivian. When their eyes meet, the message is understood. This isn't normal

“Let's go, vee vee..." Tessa says softly as they watch Tyler disappear into the dark ticket tunnel. They stop by the entrance, Tess's fist curling.

“I’ll go first to make sure it's safe. I don't like this setup; it's too dark and enclosed”. Tessa kisses Vivian's forehead and gives her a soft smile.

“Just wait here, ok?” Tessa says softly. Vivian blinks at the unexpected kiss, watching as Tessa disappears into the dark tunnel after Tyler. She sinks to the floor, looking at the tunnel as tears run down her face. She shakes, her mind still stuck on the image of her boyfriend massacred in the maze.

A loud crash comes from the gloomy ticket tunnel, causing Vivian to jump. Her heart pounds as she looks at the entrance, which is hardly visible because of the darkening sky. A slight shuffle from inside makes her heart squeeze. Getting up, she walks into the tunnel, fully prepared to fight someone.

“G-Guys?” she whispers, holding herself as the dark envelopes her. She ambles down the tunnel, her eyes scanning for anyone, her heart pounding at the eerie silence. Her foot catches on something, causing her to spiral to the floor. Vivian takes a sharp breath in as she makes an impact with the ground, but once nothing happens, she exhales. A dented ticket scanner lays on the floor where she fell.

“Oh…it's just a Ticket taker,” Vivian reassures herself, kicking it aside. Standing up and brushing herself off, she perked as she heard a little shuffle. tensing, she turns her head towards the sound, eyes adjusting to the dark just enough to see Tyler's figure leaning against a wall a little ways away. Inhaling, she proceeds with caution.

“ Tyler?... are you alright-” She stops as Tyler gives a wet cough, vomiting a large amount of blood. gasping, he breathes hard, giving a strangled whisper.

"P-please..." He croaks. Vivan’s eyes widen as he collapses to the floor.

“Tyler!?” She rushes to his side, panicked. When he doesn’t answer, she gently turns him around and screams, scrambling back into the wall. Tyler's face is bashed in, the force of the impact sending one of his eyes somewhere that Vivan didn’t want to find. The missing part of the ticket taker is lodged into his stomach, oozing red liquid. Blood pours out of the empty socket, and Vivian doesn’t need to check him again to know he is dead. She covers her mouth,

“Oh, Tyler...” she whimpers, starting to hyperventilate as bile rises in her throat. Panting, she presses into the wall as a horrible feeling spreads through her chest. Her hands scramble to find her phone, only to crumple into useless balls when her hand meets her empty pocket.

“Aw…there there Vee…” Tessa's soft voice floats through the tunnel. Heavy steps follow, along with the scraping sound of metal on metal. Vivian whimpers, trying to find Tessa in the darkness.

“Sorry, you had to see them…it wasn’t my intention, but I had to get them out of the way….” Tessa shows herself, crouching in front of Vivian before she can run. vvian shakes her head, desperately trying to push into the wall.

“I love you. I know you know that… I have always loved you, and even if you don't say it out loud, I know you love me, too. Not Noah, me.” She smiles, the blood on her face more vibrant up close. She raises a dirty finger to her lips and giggles, the scent of metal strong.

“I know you don't understand...but he was taking you away from me. No, they were taking you away from me…nobody loves you like I do…and now we can be together, forever! You're my best friend! No one cares about you like I do!”

She smiles as she takes Vivian's hand, kissing it and leaving behind a red stain. In a surge of disgust and hatred, Vivian screams and shoves Tessa off her, standing on her feet. she grabs the dented scanner and steps closer.

“YOU SICK MONSTER! YOU MURDERED MY BOYFRIEND…AND YOUR BROTHER! I could NEVER love someone like you!!” she pants, her fist curling. “I loved THEM! They meant the world to me! I-I-I thought you did too! But - BUT NO! I HATE YOU!” Vivian pants, furious, charging the weapon.

Tess frowns and calmly stands up before she rushes and grabs Vivian’s face, slamming her into the wall. Vivian cries with pain and surprise; her eyes widen asher defense falls uselessly out of her hand. Tessa smiles and leans in towards her face.

“Aw…I know you don't mean that…” Tessa squeezes Vivian's jaw. “Say it; tell me you don't mean that. Tell me you love me. Tell me that I'm the only one you care about, and we’ll leave and be happy… forever.” She stares into Vivian's eyes, her gaze cold and unhinged. Vivian spits in her face

“I ... .Don't…Love…you”, Vivian says slowly, her voice shaking with fear and anger. “Burn in hell, Tessa.”

Tessa laughs, squeezing Vivian's face, before she quickly grabs a knife from her pocket, jamming it into Vivian's torso before she can say anything else. coughing from the impact, Vivan looks down at the blade, hands shaking with realization. Tessa glares.

"Liar..." Tessa growls, twisting the knife. Viivan screams, her head falling into Tessa's chest as she cries. Tessa violently shoves her head back into the wall, yanking the blade out and shoving it back multiple times. She steps back with a large smile, watching Vivian sink to the floor.

Vivian sobs, her hand trying to cover one of the many holes in her skin. She coughs, her pale body crumpling into the dirt. Smoothing her hair, Tessa crouched down, smoothing Vivian's hair.

Tessa touches her face and smiles, but Vivian doesn't return the smile. She arches her back, giving a small, painful squeak before her body goes limp, the life leaving her beautiful hazel eyes. Tessa pauses, looking at her for a moment before she starts laughing.

"Vee?" She nudges her, the hysterical laugher increasing. "

Vee??" her laughter grows into a hysterical fit of insanity. She falls back and pulls at her hair, her laughter turning into tears. Clutching her chest, she heaves and leans over. looking at her bloody hands, the faces of her brother and Noah racing through her mind. She coughs, choking on her saliva as she looks at Vivian's dead body.

“No….w-what have I done?...” she sobs. “WHAT HAVE I DONE!? ”. She pants, regret and fear coursing through her veins as she grabs at Vivian's clothes.

"No, no, no, no..." she mumbles, "I didn't mean it... I swear I didn't!" She desperately tries to stop the bleeding before her frantic eyes fall over the blade.

"I-I'll fix this!" She hysterically spits, taking the knife. With a scream, Tessa plunges it into the chambers of her stomach. Her agonized cry melts into a slow, choked sob. With a painful sob, she rips the knife out and throws it across the tunnel, Blood pouring over her clothes.

Coughing, she crawls over to Vivian's limp body. Touching Vivian's face, she cries. She softly takes Tessa's dead hand, kissing it. She shifts, causing a spike of pain to shoot through her, and she doubles over. Her breaths grow shaky and labored as she moves into Vivian's arms. She nuzzles her face into Vivian's chest and cries.

“Sorry… I'm… I'm so sorry, vee vee…” her words and sounds melt together, as she tries to seek forgiveness and comfort. But there is something about forgiveness; those who truly love you must be alive to give it. And that's the other thing. There's something about love.

Unlike Tessa, true love never dies.