Sympathy for the Devil - CAOS

1: october country

In the town of Greendale, where it always feels like Halloween, there lived twin girls who are half-witch, half-mortal, who, on their 16th birthday, would have to choose between two worlds; the witch world of their family, and the human world of their friends. My name is Persephone Spellman, my sister's is Sabrina, and those girls are us.

Persephone loved horror movies. That's why she was so bummed she had to miss the zombie flick with Sabrina and their friends. Sephy had cheer practice that night and a big game was coming up, so it was crucial that she attended. Luckily enough, it ended a few minutes before the movie did, which meant she could meet her friends after practice at the theater and hang out with them for a while.

"Fast-moving zombies is actually a relatively new concept in horror," Sephy's sister, Sabrina, was saying as she, Roz, Harvey, and Susie were walking down the steps in the theater. "Earlier incarnations assumed that reincarnated corpses were afflicted by rigor mortis, and, as such, moved slowly."

As Sabrina was speaking, Sephy was standing with a group of boys from the football team. She wouldn't go as far as to say they were her friends, but their presence was tolerable when her twin wasn't around.

"Sabrina!" Sephy announced when she spotted her. She walked away from the boys and over to her sister. "So, how was the movie? Were the zombies fast or slow?"

"Slow," Sabrina stated.

"Ah," Sephy nodded. "My favorite. I firmly believe rigor mortis would have set by the time the zombies exited the grave, there's simply no way a dead body could avoid it."

"Why do they know these things?" Harvey asked Roz in a joking manner. The two whispered back and forth for a bit before Sabrina bumped into, "Ms. Wardwell!"

"Hi!" Sephy said to the teacher. "We didn't know you were a fan of horror movies."

"The Spellman's are nuts for 'em, the gorier the better," Harv said.

"Well, um," Ms. Wardwell said as she put her glasses back on. "Who doesn't enjoy a good scare every now and again? Especially this time of year."

Sabrina decided it was a good idea to invite their teacher to Dr. Cerberus' with them, a plan Sephy firmly disagreed with.

"'Brina," Roz started. "Why would you do that?"

"Invite Ms. Wardwell?" S asked. "I feel bad for her, living in that house... all alone." With that, the group of teens walked off to head to Dr. C's to dissect the film. Sephy was practically frothing at the mouth to hear what had happened, she loved her friend's interpretations of film.

-------

"The whole thing functions as a metaphor!" Susie announced.

"It's a monster movie, Susie," Harvey countered.

"Devil's advocate," Sabrina started. "Can't it be both?"

"Okay, first of all," Sephy began with a laugh. "Don't say devil's advocate. It triggers my fight or flight response from memories of teenage white boys being misogynists in history class." The group all giggled at that. "But, yes it can absolutely be both, that's what horror movies are all about!"

"Exactly!" Susie and Rosalind said at the same time.

"Exactly, it is both," Susie continued. "On one level, yes, it's about zombies, but it's also about the Cold War."

"Civil rights," Roz interjected from her place between Sephy and Susie.

"The collapse of the nuclear family," Susie said as she banged her hands on the table.