House of Horrors: A Dawn & Rosie Short Story

Chapter 4

Dawn stalked down the passage an hour and a half later and hammered on the bathroom door. "Rose? You'd better not still be in that bloody bath!"

Splash. "I'm not, Dawn."

Dawn pinched the bridge of her nose, trying for fortitude, and muttered, "Bloody déjà vu, this is..." She dropped her hand, fisted it on her hip, and put on her sternest voice. "Do I need to remind you what happened last time you were dicking around, and I went without you...?"

There was a flurry of activity behind the door, and then it cracked open to reveal Rosie's entreating face. "I remember – I remember. I'm out, aren't I?"

Dawn stepped back, exasperated, and made a grand gesture in the direction of the bedroom. "Well? Hurry up, then!"

Rosie looked her up and down and frowned. "You're still in your bloody dressing gown!"

Dawn folded her arms in warning, and Rosie clutched her towel tighter and scooted. But she dawdled magnificently through the process of dressing, and by the time she finally had her outfit on, Dawn had been ready for an age.

"God," came Rosie's muffled voice from inside the dressing room, "this is the last time I let you choose a Halloween costume for me! Why the hell did you have to get me something with bloody wings?"

She emerged, struggling with the gauzy pair half-hooked over her shoulders, and Dawn watched with amusement from her perch on the side of the bed. Rosie huffed, fighting with the elastics, and finally looked up with a dark expression. But she faltered to a halt with her arms still entangled, and Dawn raised one finely contoured eyebrow at her from beneath a silver-spangled witch's hat.

"Need some help, there?"

Rosie swallowed, disarmed by the sight of her exquisitely tasteful witch attire. Dawn swept to her feet, ruffled black gown billowing around her elegant form, and floated across the room. Taking Rosie gently by the shoulders, she turned her so that she could untangle the mess she'd made, and, delicately, rearranged the elastics. When the halcyon wings were in their proper position, she manoeuvred Rosie to face front again, and – mere inches away from her magnetic eyes – Rosie exhaled softly.

Fingers lingering on her waist, Dawn smiled. "I must say... the wings do suit you. You're a rather fetching Fairy Godmother." She leaned in, her bright gaze on Rosie's lips, and Rosie found herself unable to move.

But Dawn spun away at the last second, and Rosie took a bemused step forward at the abrupt lack of resistance. It took her a heartbeat to recover, but when she did, she squared her shoulders and forced frost into her tone. "Bloody witch. No wishes for you, after that."

Dawn laughed, straightening her pointed hat with an air of finality. "C'mon – if we don't crack on soon, we're definitely going to be late!"

At last, they were on their way. With the onset of nightfall, the rain had stopped, but in its wake, a thick wall of fog pressed in, and Rosie nosed the car carefully along the gloomy streets.

"I can't see a damned thing," she grumbled, leaning over the steering wheel.

"Should have let me drive."

"We're inside a cloud, Dawn. There is no way in hell I'm prepared to go through it at a hundred mile an hour."

Dawn watched the fog rolling over the bonnet and scoffed. "I wouldn't drive a hundred mile an hour through this, you pillock."

"I don't think we should be driving at all, actually," Rosie replied, slowing the car even further. She nosed onward a little more, but then shook her head and pulled over. "I can't even see the end of the bonnet, now."