Pretty Little Haunts

"Hey, scream queens and kings. Welcome back to Pretty Little Haunts. We're live. You know the drill."

Sydney flipped the camera from herself to the other girls gathered beneath the flickering lights outside the haunt entrance. Kennedy lifted one hand in a lazy wave from the curb while Kira blew a kiss toward the phone. Serena dug through her purse, already irritated about something. Saige immediately leaned into frame.

"Everybody say hi to my ex-boyfriend if he's watching."

"Nobody cares about your ex-boyfriend," Serena muttered.

Sydney laughed and turned the camera back toward herself. "If you missed our last live, we're here under the Twelfth Street Bridge. First house is done. Werewolf Forest was unique, but not quite it."

Comments rolled upward fast enough that Sydney only caught pieces.

Love you from Kentucky.

Kira is so pretty tonight.

Jake Anderson in the chat again.

"Hey, Jake Anderson, we see you," Sydney said.

$4.99 from TimothyHaynes637.

Saige snatched the phone immediately. "Love you, Lucas. Shoutout BionicGiraffe, Brendon, T.C. Tim. TimothyHaynes637, first donation of the live, we love you."

"You sound like a televangelist," Kennedy said.

Saige gasped. "That's literally the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

Sydney checked the numbers. Twenty-two thousand already.

"Alright," Sydney said, turning so the huge dark building behind them filled the screen, "up next, the granddaddy of haunted houses. Apparently this is the one one."

"People online are way too dramatic about haunted houses," Serena said.

"Okay, let's get the gifts moving because Saige spent forty dollars."

"I was hungry."

"You bought fudge."

"I said I was hungry."

GingerBeardGage89 sent $50.

Fifty says Sydney and Kira kiss.

Saige screamed immediately. "Oh my God."

"There it is," Kennedy muttered.

Sydney laughed, shaking her head. "You people are actually insane."

Kira leaned into Sydney's shoulder, grinning at the camera. Sydney kissed her quickly on the cheek.

Saige yelled loud enough to clip the mic while comments flew upward faster than Sydney could read.

Worth it.

Kira wins again.

Do it again.

"Oh my God, relax," Sydney said. "You guys act like you've never seen pretty girls before."

Serena is pissed.

Serena looked directly at the camera. "I literally don't care."

"That means she cares," Kennedy said.

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

Sydney kept walking backward through the parking lot reading comments. "Shoutout Hannah in Ohio. Tyler, no abandoned hospitals. Brandon, stop asking if Kira's single." She laughed suddenly. "Okay, somebody said this place made their boyfriend cry."

"Perfect," Saige said. "Exactly the kind of review I'm looking for."

By the middle of the haunt they'd settled into the rhythm that always pushed the numbers higher. They screamed, laughed into the camera, insulted each other, mocked scare actors, read requests out loud, followed through on just enough of them to keep people watching. Serena argued with commenters. Kira kept reading the meanest things out loud because angry people tipped more.

The livestream climbed past forty thousand.

"That's the highest we've hit all month," Sydney said, grinning.

"See?" Saige said. "Bullying works."

The staircase at the end of the haunt climbed up through the middle of the room in tight metal switchbacks.

"Oh my God," Kennedy said. "This is so trashy."

Sydney swung the camera upward toward the giant slide disappearing down into the dark. "No, this is incredible."

Serena's over it tonight.

That thing would kill me.

Halfway up, Kira stopped beside the glass enclosure built into the wall. "Wait. That snake's real."

The anaconda shifted slowly beneath the heat lamp.

Saige pulled back immediately. "Absolutely the fuck not."

Push somebody down the slide.

"Serena," Saige said immediately.

"Don't touch me."

At the top the employee pointed toward the opening without saying a word.

Sydney took the phone back from Saige. "Alright, rate this place honestly. Do your worst."

Then Serena screamed because Saige shoved her anyway.

The livestream ended somewhere out in the parking lot while Sydney still thanked people for gifts over Saige yelling in the background.

The girls sat in the blue glow of their phones while the highway rolled beneath them. Every few minutes Saige laughed at something on her screen and refused to explain it. Serena already watched clips of herself on TikTok.

"So," Kira said from the backseat, "that one actually lived up to the hype."

"Yeah," Sydney admitted.

Serena glanced up. "Somebody already posted me falling down the slide."

"How many views?"

"Forty thousand."

Saige grinned. "See? Humiliation always wins."

"So what's next?" Kennedy asked.

Sydney looked up from her phone. "CreeperWorld."

Saige groaned. "That name is so stupid."

"No, listen. People are insane about this place. Like actually insane."

"It's also, what, fifteen hours away?" Serena asked.

"Fourteen and a half."

"That's still enough to make me homicidal."

"Okay. Tomorrow I'm posting a poll so people can guess where we're going next, but don't say the name anywhere yet."

"Obviously," Serena said.

"And everybody needs content stacked before we leave."

Kennedy looked up from her phone. "I hate that phrase."

"Too bad. We're not disappearing for three days and tanking engagement again."

Saige pointed at herself. "I already have drafts."

"Good. Do GRWMs or something. Pack on camera."

"I'm serious. The underwear thing got clipped everywhere."

"It was an accident," Serena said.

"Yeah, and our views doubled."

"Wednesday we'll do a podcast episode and finally say where we're going."

"Read the bad reviews too," Saige said. "Those are always funnier."

Sydney's poll dragged in comments for two straight days. The girls spent the week filming enough content to stay active while they traveled. Serena recorded makeup videos while Saige filmed herself packing. Kira posted a ranking video that annoyed enough people to spike engagement.

By Wednesday night Sydney's apartment was a mess of open luggage and clothes dragged half out of drawers, the bathroom smelling faintly burnt from a forgotten curling iron.

"Whose bikini is this?" Kennedy asked from the couch.

"Probably Serena's," Saige said.

"It's literally yours."

Sydney sat at the kitchen island checking the route. Fourteen hours and thirty-six minutes, but the smaller highways would slow them down.

Rain ticked softly against the windows.

The farther south they drove the denser everything became. Trees crowded close to the highway in long stretches broken up by gas stations, bait shops, and churches. Sydney streamed parts of the drive while the others drifted in and out of sleep and stopped too many times for caffeine.

It was almost dark when the van jerked hard enough to shove everybody sideways.

"Oh, shit," Kennedy said.

Sydney gripped the wheel and eased onto the shoulder. Cars rushed past hard enough to shake the whole vehicle.

Then Serena went, "Please tell me that's not the tire."

Sydney looked out her window at the shredded rubber hanging off the rear wheel.

"It's the tire."

Saige was already reaching for her phone. "No way this is happening right now."

"Okay," Sydney said, leaning against the van while trucks screamed past, "tiny update. We blew a tire in the middle of nowhere."

Saige pointed the camera toward the wheel. "That thing exploded."

"You don't have to sound excited about it," Kennedy said.

"I'm excited about it. This is content."

Kira sat on the guardrail scrolling through tow companies while Serena smoked beside the ditch with her arms crossed.

It took almost forty minutes before a county sheriff pulled in behind them. The deputy who stepped out looked exhausted. He shined a flashlight across the van, then across the girls.

"You ladies headed somewhere?"

"Texas," Sydney said.

He nodded once like that explained enough.

The tow truck came another half hour later. By the time the van got hauled away, every motel nearby was full or looked bad enough that even Saige stopped joking.

"We're getting a house," Sydney said from the rental counter while Kennedy filmed the tiny pale blue SUV.

"It looks like a toy car," Serena said.

"It looks like something a kindergarten teacher drives," Saige added.

Kira sat scrolling through Vrbo listings. "Okay. I found one."

Sydney looked over. "How bad?"

Kira studied the pictures. "Honestly? Weirdly nice."

The house sat at the end of a long gravel driveway that disappeared into trees. By the time Sydney parked, the road behind them had gone completely dark.

"Oh," Kira said quietly as they climbed out. "Okay, this is actually nice."

The house rose out of the trees with warm yellow porch lights glowing against dark cedar siding and huge windows reflecting the woods. Stone walkways and low flower beds curved around the porch. The whole place looked expensive in a quiet way.

"Who rents out houses like this to strangers?" Kennedy asked.

"Rich people," Serena said.

Sydney was already filming before anyone got the luggage out.

Inside the house looked even better, with tall ceilings, wide plank floors, and a massive kitchen with marble counters and pendant lights over the island. The back wall of the living room was almost entirely glass, opening toward a deck that disappeared into the trees beyond it.

Saige turned slowly in a circle. "Okay, wait. I'd actually live here."

"You say that about every place with a candle," Serena said.

"It's a personality trait."

Sydney walked room to room recording while the others followed.

"Show the bathtub again."

"No, get the fireplace."

"Oh my God, this bedroom's huge."

By the time they finished, all five girls had settled around the living room editing clips while the television played quietly.

Sydney uploaded the house tour first.

Or tried to.

The loading circle spun without moving.

"Did yours post?" she asked.

Saige checked her phone. "Mine still says uploading."

Kennedy lifted her phone toward the ceiling. "I've got, like, one bar."

Kira crouched beside the Wi-Fi router. "The router's working. It just sucks."

Nothing.

Outside the windows the woods had turned completely black.

Serena looked up from her phone. "We're too far out."

Sydney tried once more, then dropped her phone onto the couch. "Whatever. It'll upload eventually."

Within an hour they'd changed into pajamas and spread across the couches with blankets and popcorn while some old horror movie played. Every few minutes somebody checked their phone, watched the upload stall, and got annoyed.

Then Saige suddenly sat upright.

"Wait."

Everybody looked over.

"My comments loaded."

Sydney grabbed her phone. "Did it post?"

Saige refreshed while notifications rolled in.

"Oh my God. Yeah. It posted."

Sydney watched the numbers jump upward almost faster than she could read them.

"Jesus Christ," Serena said quietly.

The house tour already had hundreds of thousands of views. Comments stacked beneath it faster than the app could refresh. Gifts and subscriptions came in waves.

Kennedy laughed from the couch. "You people really will watch anything."

"No," Sydney said. "They're bored. That's different."

Kira opened one of the kitchen cabinets and blinked. "Uh, guys? There's alcohol in here."

Within twenty minutes Saige was making drinks while Serena dug through the fridge. Somebody found frozen pizzas. Kennedy turned the movie louder.

The service never fully came back, but enough of it worked to keep the numbers moving.

The movie kept playing after everyone stopped watching it.

Saige ended up half asleep against the couch while Kennedy disappeared upstairs still carrying her blanket. Serena left empty cups in the sink and grabbed a bottled water from the fridge. Sydney checked her phone one last time while Kira leaned over her shoulder reading comments still coming in.

"It finally posted everywhere," Kira said.

"Good."

Sydney looked exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off. Her mascara had started smudging beneath her eyes.

"I'm going to bed before I start hating everybody," Serena announced from the hallway.

"You started hours ago," Saige mumbled.

One by one the bedroom doors upstairs shut.

He found the house before they even checked in.

Sydney swung the livestream too wide and caught the highway sign behind her shoulder. The sheriff's cruiser sat flashing blue long enough for the county name to show on the door. Kennedy filmed inside the rental place, and the company logo was visible on the wall behind her.

When he searched Vrbo listings in that county for five guests with same-night availability, only a handful of houses appeared. One thumbnail showed a cedar-sided house at the end of a long gravel driveway cutting through trees.

He drove past once with the headlights off.

The upstairs windows stayed lit until almost two in the morning. The pale blue rental SUV sat near the porch and Serena's jacket still hung over the railing from the walkthrough video.

The lights inside shut off one by one.

The lock on the back door turned easily.

Inside, an empty liquor bottle stood beside plastic cups near the sink. The frozen pizza box sat open on the counter. Blue light from the muted television moved slowly across the floor.

Somewhere upstairs somebody coughed in their sleep.

He stood still in the dark kitchen because Sydney had already shown him exactly where everything was.

Serena woke up thirsty enough that her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth.

She stayed still beneath the blankets before reaching for the water bottle beside the bed.

It was empty.

"Fantastic," she muttered.

The hallway felt colder than the room had. She moved toward the stairs without turning on any lights because Saige would complain about it tomorrow and Kennedy would act traumatized for attention.

Halfway down the staircase she stopped.

The television downstairs was off.

She knew somebody had left it running muted because she remembered the blue flicker sliding beneath the living room doorway before she went upstairs. Now the whole first floor sat black.

Serena stayed where she was listening.

She almost laughed at herself.

"Get a grip," she whispered.

Then she took another step down.

The figure moved out of the dark so fast her brain barely caught up to what she was seeing. Something slammed into her hard enough to drive her backward against the railing. Pain burst hot through her throat before she even understood she'd been stabbed.

Serena made a short choking sound.

The second strike hit lower and wet.

Blood splashed across the wall in a dark fan. One hand flew instinctively to her neck while the other clawed blindly for the railing. For one confused second she seemed more shocked than afraid, staring at him with huge unfocused eyes like she still expected this to make sense somehow.

Then her heel slipped on the stair beneath her.

Her body hit hard twice on the way down before crumpling at the bottom landing.

Upstairs somebody stirred faintly.

Sydney slept facedown across the bed with one arm hanging off the mattress and her phone still charging beside her.

She never woke up fully.

The first stab drove into her upper back hard enough to force the air out of her lungs in a blunt shocked grunt. By the time she tried to turn over, blood had already spread hot across the sheets. She got one hand up toward him blindly before the knife came down again.

The bedroom went quiet.

Across the hallway Kennedy opened her bedroom door at almost the exact moment Saige stepped out of hers.

Both of them froze.

"What the fuck was that?" Kennedy whispered.

Then they saw the blood on the staircase wall.

Saige made a sound that barely qualified as a breath.

Kennedy grabbed her wrist hard enough to hurt. "Run."

They stumbled down the stairs together half falling in their panic.

They hit the bottom landing.

Kennedy saw Serena first.

The scream barely made it out of her before he came out of the darkness and drove the knife into her chest hard enough to throw her backward into the wall.

Saige ran.

The front door stood only a few feet away. She reached it, got it halfway open before something caught the back of her sweatshirt and yanked her violently backward.

She hit the floor hard enough to crack her head against the hardwood.

The last thing she saw clearly was the open door and rain blowing through the gap from outside.

Kira woke to the sound of the front door slamming against the wall.

For a second she stayed frozen in the downstairs bedroom staring toward the crack beneath the door while footsteps pounded through the house above her. Somebody screamed.

She opened the bedroom door just enough to look out.

Saige lay near the front entrance. The front door stood partly open with rain blowing through the gap.

A man bent over her.

Kira slammed the bedroom door shut and twisted the lock with shaking hands.

Then she heard him moving again.

The bedroom had another door beside the bathroom that opened onto the side deck. Kira shoved it open hard enough for cold rain to hit her across the face.

She ran barefoot into the woods.

Branches slapped against her arms and wet leaves slid beneath her feet. The house lights disappeared behind her almost immediately.

Kira ducked behind a fallen tree slick with moss and clamped both hands over her mouth trying to force herself quiet.

Rain moved steadily through the leaves overhead.

Then somewhere off to her left a branch cracked.

Kira stopped breathing.

Slow footsteps moved through wet leaves, closer this time.

She stayed crouched behind the log shaking hard enough that her teeth clicked together once before she bit down against it.

The footsteps stopped.

Kira waited.

Then a flashlight snapped on directly in front of her face.

She screamed.

The knife hit her low first and folded her sideways into the mud beside the fallen tree. Rainwater mixed pink beneath her hands while the flashlight rolled through the leaves.

The rain kept falling after everything was finished.

Inside, on Kira's phone, still plugged into the wall beside the downstairs bed, notifications kept arriving. Comments stacked under the house tour. Someone asked when the next livestream was.

The numbers kept climbing long after there was no one left to watch them.