What’s More Scary Than Scary?

Robo-Bieber. Inside, he’s all android. What’s more scary than that?
Original photo: Creative Commons / Daniel Ogren

By Jeffrey Bishop

Tell Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Scare Rating: 4/5 Ghosts

“What’s more scary than scary?” Janelle asked her friends, who sat in a tight circle in the darkened basement. The only light was the reddish glow of the flashlight, held at a creepy angle under the girl’s chin.

“We don’t know! What’s more scary than scary?” replied the friends in unison, the perfunctory rote reply fully necessary to hear the answer.

“What’s more scary than scary is this: seeing a rotted, worm-eaten face right in front of you … ” Janelle said in a spooky voice. ” … then, realizing you are looking in a mirror!”

“Eww!” said the girls in reaction. “Nasty!” More than one girl shuddered, and it seemed as though the dark circle got tighter.

A look of satisfaction spread across Janelle’s face as she passed the flashlight to Amber, who sat beside her.

“Ok, ready? What’s more scary than scary?” Amber asked. In sing-song unison, the girls reflected the question.

“What’s more scary than scary?” they asked.

“What’s more scary than scary is this: Meeting Justin Bieber, and hearing him confide in you his deepest secrets: that he is an evil android bent on world domination!”

The girls burst out in laughter at Amber’s joke, which lightened their spirits a little against the dread of the dark game.

Next up was Mary Beth, who had been the one who had suggested the game to her friends. She took the flashlight from Amber and waited quietly for everyone else to calm down again.

With rapt attention, she asked her friends the question: “What’s more scary than scary?” she spoke in a low voice — so low that it was almost imperceptible.

“What’s more scary than scary?” replied the girls, also in a low voice, as they followed Mary Beth’s lead in returning the game to its intended dark mood.

“What’s more scary than scary is this,” said Mary Beth. “What’s more scary than scary is being lured into a dark basement by a dear friend. What’s even more scary is being trapped in that basement and unable to escape.”

Suddenly, the door to the basement slammed shut by itself, followed by the loud click of a sturdy boltlock sliding home. In the dim light, the other girls looked at each other nervously.

“What’s all the more scary is feeling the adrenaline flood your body, but knowing that fright, not flight, is your only option,” said Mary Beth, who at this point seemed to be entranced.

“Ok, that’s enough. Who’s next?” asked Amber nervously. But Mary Beth continued speaking.

“What’s scariest of all,” she said, standing up and looming tall over the girls, “is knowing that adrenaline and fear is only sweetening the flavors of the blood coursing through your tender veins!”

As the girls looked on in terror, Mary Beth bared long yellow fangs at the corners of her ruby-red lips, then let out a carnal shriek. The sound froze the girls motionless; they were unable to resist becoming a feast for the young vampiress who had been their friend only moments before.

As Mary Beth sank her fangs into Janelle’s neck, she gurgled the last words they’d ever hear:

“What’s more scary than that?”

THE END