13 Days of Halloween 2015

Costume Party

"Well, I can definitely say this costume party is a success." I hear someone say as I knock on the door, my red devil mask in one hand, and a pitchfork in the other. "Hold on, someone else is here." As he opened the door, he yelled in fake surprise, "Hey everybody, the devil is here! We're all going to hell!" I could hear loud laughter behind him at the stupid joke as he welcomes me in. The cool night air is replaced by the warm sweaty air of the inside. I take in a deep breath to deepen myself into the attitude, the party air making me smile wide underneath my devil mask's small grin.

I head to my right to explore a bit more, weaving my way through the crowd of people, when I see a lone person sitting by themselves. The person has a white sheet over them with cliché black patches over their eyes and mouth, with only white stockings and plain shoes being shown. I groan at the utter lack of creativity of the costume, and I ask someone dressed as a pink fairy walking by with a red cup in their hand and a girl dressed as a green fairy under their shoulder who that person was.

"I have no idea," she says. She turns to the person under their arm for an answer, but she just nods her head. She turns back and shrugs, saying "Sorry man." The girl looks at me wearily and whispers something in the other's ear. She also looks at me wearily and they walk off. I try to put the, cousins? Friends? Sisters? Whatever, I try to put them out of my mind as I look to the person again.

I quickly approach them, again weaving my way through the various costumed people. When I am standing right next to them, I say "Hey, who are you?" The person turns their hollow eyes towards me, the black fabric hiding their expression.

"Why do you need to know?" I hear, the voice carrying a bit of an echo. I know I can hear it, but it feels like no sound actually reached my ears.

As a nervous feeling starts to enter my mind, I try to say "I want to know because I want to know why your costume sucks," confidently, but it comes out a little weak.

"My costume 'sucks'," says the voice again, "because I wanted to go low-key for today. I'm always scary, so I thought I'd take a break for today." I think I can hear a feminine tone within it, but it's too distant to tell for sure.

My confidence slowly returning, I say "What do you mean always scary?"

"I could show you if you want, but I'd advise against it."

"How come?"

"The last time I showed somebody, they ran off. Took me an hour to find them." The ghost turned from me, facing once more at the crowd of people as it continued, "Besides, I'd rather watch these people interact, talking with those gorgeous faces." I can feel a smile forming in the back of my head, but it quickly turns to a frown. I see the ghost shake its head. "Sorry, lost focus."

Ignoring the strange choice of words, I say, "Well, you can't scare me, I'm the devil!" I pause as I await for a laugh, but no such laughter appears, the person just staring blankly at me. I clear my throat as I continue, "But seriously, you can't scare me."

I can feel an anger forming within my mind, though I don't why. "Can you please just go away? You're starting to aggravate me, and I don't want to take that face of yours away."

"Heh, what are you going to do, punch me or something? I am the wrestling captain at my college, you can't hurt me," I say as I poke the ghost, taunting it.

I can feel something snap when the ghost stood up suddenly and a thing came out to grab my arm, still covered by its thin sheet. I can feel no fingers as the voice angrily and loudly says, "Fine, you want to see the scary me? I'll show you scary." All sound around us instantly stopped. The smell remained, but when I pushed the hand off of me, I could see nobody in the room with us. I turn my head left and right to try to find one person, yelling out my friends' names, but all I get back is an echo.

"What the hell is going on here?", I think, my mind quickly filling with fear. I can feel a devious smile forming in my mind as I hear a whooshing sound come from behind me. I turn around, my breath causing my face to get hot under the mask as I see the sheet falling to the ground in a crumpled mess, the black patches hidden in the white fabric. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow swiftly move into the kitchen. I move to the kitchen, my feet lightly hitting the hard floor tiles as I have the pitchfork at the ready. I peer into it, but I see nothing out of the ordinary, just the assorted snacks and drinks on the counter.

"You wanted to be scared right?" the voice asks in a mocking tone. I hear something move behind me, and I turn, only to meet the empty room with the couch.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I yell, pitchfork still pointing out, the plastic getting warm in my hands.

"I enjoy playing with people. The last one was tiring though, always hiding. Thanks for making this easy, you jerk."

I yell out, "Oh, I'm the jerk now? What are you doing right now?" I hear something behind me, and I turn again, only to be pushed down onto the ground, the pitchfork rolling out of my hand onto the ground. I grunt as I hit the ground, and my eyes widen in fear at the creature in front of me.

The peach skin covers the faceless head, shallow holes where the eyes and mouth should be. I struggle against the thing as it lies on my chest with its legs, but I make no progress. I lift my head up and I immediately regret it when I see other people's deformed faces on the thing's body, the multiple eyes all at once meeting my own, their mouths closed in a blank expression. Their skin melded into one another, light skin fading into darker skin as I see no clear border.

One of the creature's arms lies its fingerless scooped hand onto my forehead, pushing it down back on the floor. Behind the plastic mask, I can feel the pressure it's putting on me, while my eyes see the thing face towards it's other hand, as if inspecting it, my mouth silent with fear. "You know, I really wanted a break today. But you made me realize I really love doing this. So thanks," the voice says as it slides its pointed hand under my mask, the point slipping into my skin. I can feel no blood rushing down my neck, but I can feel my skin separating from itself, a pain as if I cut myself reaches my mind. I try to close my eyes in agony, but something keeps them wide open, leaving me to stare at the creature's 'face'. "Can't have you missing this, now can we," the voice in my mind mockingly says. Its hand slides underneath my mouth, and I try to say something, but it no longer moves, but I can feel the skin of my lips pushing against the devil mask. I squirm again, but to no avail. I can feel the smile growing ever wider in my mind, and I try to shake my head to remove it, but I can't. I am powerless as my nose follows suit, all smell detaching from my mind. Sweat rolls down my skin as my eyes plead with the creature, but it continues to slide it's hand, and I feel it slipping under my eyes, my vision slowly losing focus on the creature.

Just like that, I am in complete darkness. Sound once again enters my ears, the various people making chatter and the loud pumping music somewhat lost inside my mind, still trying to find that smell. The weight of the creature is nonexistent on my chest, so I try to sit up, my hands shaky and unresponsive for a few moments. I reach up to feel the mask on my head, as I hope it just moved to cover my vision. I lift it up, and though I can feel a cool air on my skin, I still see nothing. Screams fill the air as I clamor my hands over my head, trying to find a mouth, a nose, anything. All that meets me is a flat surface of my skin, as if the bone underneath was smooth as well. I hear the screams get louder and softer as I assume everybody has seen me, and is now rushing through the exit, and running by me. I try to scream for help, but my scream catches in my throat, with no escape eminent. "Good luck," the voice says again, and I try to scream at it, but it lies again in my throat. I try to move, but I trip over, hitting my head on some sort of hard cold surface. I can feel the thuds of people's feet on my skin, the wetness of the ground inside the house.

Soon, the house is silent, and I try to move my body, but it is too wracked in pain to do anything. Sirens soon fill the air, and I am soon picked up by heavy hands, and a blanket is put over me. They push me outside, and sit me down on a bench, a loud door slamming meeting my ears. Before the truck? Car? can move, I can feel my sight returning slightly, a white sheet covering my vision. I try to move my mouth, but it still can't respond. I can feel other skin melding into my own, and I shake my body to get rid of it, and I kick the door in order to get out. The vehicle moves sharply though, and I am thrown back, again lost in my mind. I can do nothing except wallow in my mind, the evil smirk still present as I try to remove it.