Another (epic) story - "Fright Night"

McCrusties, popular student union nightclub somewhere on the South Coast of England.

Adam could not believe that he had been set-up like this. It was Halloween, and he'd just discovered his best "mates" Lucy and Ginny - AKA the "fag-hags from hell" had nominated him to play "Fright Night" on stage. He had no idea what this was about, but it suddenly clicked in his mind that this had been planned a while. He should have travelled back to his parents house in London tonight, as he had a modelling assignment the following day that he needed to look his best for, but the girls had persuaded him to stick around for the evening and travel home first thing in the morning. Now he understood why.

Naturally good-looking, but not realising it himself (at least at first), it had been Lucy and Ginny that had persuaded him to go into modelling in the first place. Adam stood 6ft tall, with piercing blue eyes that always seemed full of excitement. At the request of his modelling agency, he'd grown his hair a little longer than he was used to, but he really liked his new style - dark, messy and scruffy with lots of texture on top and at the back, with the sexy "just out of bed" look. It was styled lovingly several times a day with the wax-stick he always kept in his pocket, along with a pocket mirror! He was cute enough to attract lots of work, and this meant he could support his university studies with more cash than most students can only dream of. Adam could now afford to dress well, which was great since he was a big fan of clothes and fashion (and was studying fashion at university). Tonight he was wearing a dark blue Hugo Boss shirt, unbuttoned half-way down to show off his chest, a pair of denim Armani jeans, and his best pair of white Nike trainers.

Recently, the girls thought that Adam was getting a bit vain and big-headed. He was becoming more aware of his hot looks, and the girls wished he had short hair like when they first met him, as at least then he wouldn't be checking his mirror every five minutes to make sure it still looked ok! He would also laugh at the clothes they wore, making comments about how they looked like they were from a council estate. And his constant bitching about how rough other blokes looked was getting beyond a joke.

It was Lucy that saw the poster in the student union bar some weeks back. "TAKE YOUR MATE DOWN A PEG OR TWO - NOMINATE THEM TO PLAY FRIGHT NIGHT THIS HALLOWEEN! ENQUIRE AT BAR FOR FURTHER DETAILS". The barman at the time didn't really know what it was about, but said that at that stage no-one else had been nominated, so Lucy thought she may as well put Adam forward. 3 weeks later, as she and Ginny pushed Adam onto the stage, she still didn't know what Adam could expect.

Adam was the third and final person onto the stage. First had been Ben, a guy that Adam quite fancied, but was disappointed to learn that he was straight. Ben studied Law on the same campus as Adam. He was also pretty good-looking, with shorter, spikier hair than Adam, but similar piercingly blue eyes. He always seemed very popular with the girls, and was relishing the cheers he got as he stepped up on stage.

Second on stage was a girl called Caroline. Adam had never seen her before, as far as he knew. She looked incredibly nervous.

The host on stage was a young woman dressed as a witch, since it was Halloween. Her name was not given. She explained that the 3 contestants had each been nominated by their friends for being vain. She also explained what lay in-store for them, as three large bouncers from the nightclub came up onto the stage (one for each) and handcuffed the players behind their backs.

They were to be two rounds. At the end of the first round, the winner would be set free with a nice prize. The two losers would then have to battle it out to decide who else would be set free, this time without a prize. The overall loser would would face the ultimate humiliation... but more about that later!

A curtain raised behind them on stage, and behind was a long bench. The contestants were then led over to the bench and made to sit down by the bouncers. Adam sat in the middle, with Ben to his right and Caroline to the left. Adam had no idea what was hapenning, all he could think about was how annoyed he was with the girls. And how hot Ben looked this evening, and what he'd love to do to him if his hands weren't also cuffed in the same way.

A large wooden object was wheeled onto the stage. It was a set of three medieval stocks, for the feet to go into. The bouncers took off the shoes and socks of the players, and placed them into the stocks. Now Adam really was trapped. But then surprisingly, the bouncers removed the handcuffs, before walking off stage. The 3 players still couldn't go anywhere, of course, as their feet were locked firmly in place, but at least it was a bit more comfortable.

Next the witch explained the rules to round 1. The winner would be the person that survived the "fright" the longest. The players were asked to turn their palms upwards in-front of them. The bouncers returned to a gasp from the crowd. They were each carrying a small glass tank with a tarantula in it... it didn't take a genius to work out this game. Adam wasn't a huge fan of spiders, but to his right Ben was almost crying. The witch counted down as the bouncers took the spiders out of the tanks.

The audience joined in the countdown when it reached "three"... Adam looked over at Lucy and Ginny. They didn't look as happy as they did earlier. They almost looked guilty. As the countdown hit "one" he closed his eyes and felt the spider being placed on his hands. Almost immediately he heard Ben whimper, so he opened his eyes to see Ben drop the spider on the floor. The audience roared wth laughter. He was out, and definitely going into round 2. Ben's bouncer picked up the spider, put it in the tank, and handcuffed Ben behind his back once more. Ben looked half-relieved to have dropped the spider, but also half-nervous as he knew he was one step closer to the "ultimate humiliation". Adam tried to control his fear, breathing slowly. He looked at Caroline. She was smiling! He didn't believe it... she liked spiders! What chance did he stand against this? He was heading the same way as Ben and he knew it. The spider on his hand started to crawl up his arm, so he instinctively brushed it off. Failure. The spider was removed, and the cuffs returned. The audience clapped him for trying, but gave a bigger cheer for Caroline as she was set free.

The witch gave her the prize - a shiny new iPod. No loss there thought Adam, as he already had one. The witch also asked Caroline to help out with the punishment for the round 1 losers, and of course she agreed. Adam hadn't expected this... he thought only the round 2 loser would be getting punished. The crowd whooped with delight as the 2 remaining bouncers returned onto the stage once more, each carrying a large custard pie. Each pie was made of a flan base, custard and foam on top. The pie destined for Ben was handed to the witch, and Adam's went to Caroline. The witch allowed Caroline to go first. The audience sarted to countdown from "five". Adam gulped, and turned to look at Caroline, who was poised ready to hit him with the pie. He hoped that it wouldn't ruin his hair, or his new shirt. The bouncer grabbed his ear and span his head around to face the crowd. Again, as the crowd chanted "one" Adam closed his eyes. Caroline gently massaged the pie into his face, and the audience gave a small cheer. Caroline had been kind... she saw that it was an expensive shirt, so tried her hardest to avoid getting it messy (although a bit of custard was now dripping down his chest). Adam's face was well covered, but his hair and clothes stayed clean.

The witch thought it was a pathetic effort, but admitted that Adam had done well so shouldn't suffer too much. But you could tell she was really going to punish Ben. Ben looked petrified, possibly more than when he had the spider on his hand. As the audience counted down, Ben closed his eyes immediately. At the end of it, the witch slammed the pie into his face, before sliding it over his hair, flattening Ben's well crafted spikes. Ben looked downwards and shook his head, bits of flan case dropping to his lap. The crowd were ecstatic, this was hilarious. Ben continued to hang his head, with yellow custard dangling on the end of his nose and eyelashes. Adam felt so sorry for him. What had he done to deserve that? It was just a stupid game in a nightclub that neither of them had wanted to play anyway. Adam was grateful his hair hadn't been ruined in the same way as Ben's, which was now a tangled, slicked-back mess of bits of flan case, custard and foam. It looked ridiculous. As did Ben's clothes - totally covered in custard and foam. Surely that must be it, the big humiliation? There couldn't be anything worse...

The witch asked the bouncers to send the players backstage to prepare for the finale, where the loser would end up even messier than now. As his feet were released and he was led away, he glanced at Ben, who looked back and seemed to be thinking the same as Adam: I don't want to lose!

Ben and Adam had been taken to a dressing room, told to clean up and put on a pair of overalls that appeared to be covered in strips of velcro. They said very little. Adam wiped the pie from his face... Ben commented on how much cleaner Adam appeared to be as he tried to wash the pie from his hair in the small dressing room sink. Ben looked better, Adam thought, but still not as hot as normal. Ben's hair remained greasy, if not quite as yellow. Adam couldn't help but stare as Ben changed into his red overall. Adam was already wearing his blue overall. The music from the club thumped heavily in the background. Adam checked himself in the mirror again. He looked surprisingly good still, he thought. His hair was still perfect (he'd thank Caroline later) and he's got all the pie off his face. And the overall meant his clothes were now safe from pies.

The bouncers, who had been stood outside the door keeping guard came in and grabbed the players. Adam and Ben were led to the stage to more cheering from the crowd, who all seemed to be holding smalling plastic insects! The witch explained that final person set free would be the one that can end up with the most toy insects stuck to their velcro suits... and it would be the audience throwing them. The bouncers cuffed the lads to a pole each, centre-stage. They each stood in a paddling pool full of what Adam could only describe as red slime, presumably meant to be blood. It oozed between his toes and felt horrible. Adam had hoped he wouldn't he wouldn't be getting any messier tonight.

He looked around as the witch explained what awaited the loser. He really didn't want to lose - as it would mean being tied to "The Slime Rack" (apparently it was precisely what the two slimeballs deserved, but Adam and Ben didn't seem to agree). The rack was an upright frame with restraint points at each corner for hands and feet. Above sat a trough, presumably filled with something horrible, and all around lay buckets of different coloured gunge and pies. There were also 2 what appeared to be water cannons either side, for good measure.

Adam could not lose this. What if someone took photos of him covered in that mess and sent it to his agency? He'd be a laughing stock among all the other male models... they loved putting up embarassing photos in the reception area of the agency. And he worried for his hair - he'd seen what the mess did to Ben's, and now he was terrified of what could happen to his.

The game started, the crowd cheered and started throwing the plastic toys at Adam and Ben. Almost straight away Adam slipped to his knees, with dozens of insects that initially stuck to his legs now floating in the red goo. Ben had stayed upright, and was doing well. He was a sporty type, and knew what to do. Adam had a slight height advantage when he finally got to his feet, but time was up before he knew it.

The witch counted Adam's insects first - he had managed to get 23. As she went over to Ben, Adam started to count the ones he could see - it was going to be close. He looked over at the rack. The bouncer who had been with Caroline was filling up the trough with green, lumpy slime. He looked at his fag-hags. They looked even guiltier than before. The witch continued to count - Ben had a total of.... 26. He let out a sigh of relief, and was released from his cuffs by the bouncer. Just like Caroline was before, the witch invited him to stick around and dish out the punishment. The crowd had already started to chant "Gunge him! Gunge him!" as Adam hung his head, like Ben before him. This was it - ultimate humiliation... and the flashbulbs of cameras had also started already.

The bouncer removed the handcuffs but kept a firm grip around Adam's wrists. there was no escape. The bouncer who had been with Ben came over and helped to first secure Adam's wrists, and then ankles, to the frame. It was uncomfortable, and he could hardly move at all. There would be no way of wiping the gunge from his face or out of his hair (which still looked good, he noticed - there was a large mirrored wall behind the rack that he checked as he walked over). Adam glanced upwards to see the trough sitting just above him, about to deposit gallons of slime all over his head.

With the whole room filled with "Gunge him! Gunge him!" it was impossible to hear what the witch was saying, but he noticed Ben standing to his left, next to a lever. Ben was grinning manically, but seemed to mouth"sorry, mate" at Adam. The witch yelled "PULL IT!", and as she did, Ben pulled on the lever. The trough tipped, and Adam felt warm, lumpy gunge fall on top of him, and all he could see was green slime sliding past his eyes, and dropping on to his feet. The crowd went wild... this vain and arrogant guy had been humiliated. He was a total mess. His blue overall was now mostly green, and his sexy scruffy hairdo had been flattened by the slime, into a shaggy, gungey mess. He looked more monster than model now, as the flashbulbs were even more intense. He had been humiliated - a laughing stock. He was hit square in the face with a pie - and this time it also got rubbed into his hair, undoubtedly on purpose. It was Lucy. Then another. Ginny. He tried to spit out the foam and mess that had gone in his mouth. Before he had chance to say anything, the girls vanished. Next the witch threw a bucket of gunge over him. It was blue, and slightly thinner than the stuff from the trough. Then she tipped a bucket of black gunge over his head, and rubbed it in. This was really really thick gunge this time. Surely this was enough?!

When Adam thought it must be over, the girls reappeared over by the water cannons either side of the stage. Except, as they were turned on, Adam saw they didn't hold water. It was thick, white foam that shot from them, starting at his feet but soon the girls were aiming for his head. Adam was covered from head to toe in mess. His overall clung to him, and he instintively tried to escape, but to no avail. The witch must be coming back on-stage to end this? No - she explained to the crowd (once they had quitened down a bit) that Adam would remain on the rack for the rest of the night, and anyone could come up and buy a pie or a bucket of gunge to punish Adam with. The money would be going to charity. Underneath all the mess, Adam shed a tear. This was hell, the worst thing that had ever happenned to him. He looked a wreck, he felt a wreck. He'd never go out on Halloween again.

At the end of the night, as the club emptied, Adam was still attached to the rack. Amongst all the mess of slime on the floor, flan cases, and under the trough that was still dripping green muck into Adam's hair, Adam suddenly saw Ben. "I'm REALLY sorry, mate" said Ben, who kissed Adam on the cheek, and wandered off home, leaving Adam dripping with goo, and stuck to the rack.