Makeup-clad teenagers spring out of the shadows
to startle the unsuspecting
who are in fact suspecting,
even anticipating but just playing along.

These paint-by-numbers haunted houses
that spring up in abandoned buildings
rely on the cheap startle of jump scares
even more than low-budget horror films.

So much so that a chainsaw-wielding kid
in a goalie mask will try to chase you down
as you walk out to the parking lot,
adrenaline fading but nerves still jangling.

We all know what's coming
in these seasonal pop-ups
even though it's supposed to be a shock.
But that’s why we go; that’s why we go.