Whispers In The Dark

Riley

Riley

"It's Halloween!"

I covered my ears as Victoria screeched and ran up to the five of us. Her usual black bag had been switched out for a black tote bag decorated with pumpkins and candy corn, and her outfit consisted of a green dinosaur onesie, complete with a hood and tail, and yellow, rounded spikes leading from the end of the tail to the top of the hood. She had even managed to pull her combat boots on over the oversized onesie-feet.

Victoria skidded to a stop in front of us, her face morphing into shock.

"Where are your costumes?" she exclaimed, dropping her bag to place her hands on her hips.

"Wearing costumes is against school rules," Jessiah noted.

"And, isn't it a bit childish?" I asked.

Victoria stared at me as if I had just told her that there was an alien standing behind her.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" she yelled. "Halloween costumes are not childish!" She shook her head and tsked. "That's it. After school, we are going out to get all of you Halloween costumes and tonight, we are going trick or treating!"

As soon as school was over, the six of us piled into my car and drove off. Thankfully, most of us had some money with us, and so we only had to stop at Reximus and Anna's houses. Then, I reluctantly drove to Party City.

Buying a Halloween costume the day of Halloween? Big mistake.

In the end, Robin bought a tube of fake blood and a torn black tee-shirt in a weak attempt to be a zombie. Victoria, however, managed to convince him to let her do his makeup before we went trick or treating.

Reximus originally wanted to be something scary or gory, but ended up listening to Victoria (as we all did), and bought kitten ears and mittens that looked like kitten paws.

Victoria somehow convinced me to buy one of the "sexy" costumes. In her words, "We all have boring costumes that cover as much as possible. One of us has to be reckless and hot, right?" She ended up throwing a "sexy pirate" costume to me and insisting that I bought it. Seeing no other way to appease her, I did.

The most persuading that Victoria had probably ever done in her life was when it came to Jessiah and Anna's costumes.

"But you guys have to wear a couple costume," she whined.

"Fine!" Jessiah exclaimed. "But not that one!"

"It's classic!" she argued, holding the cheerleader and the football player costumes.

It would have made sense, the cheerleader and the football player costumes, if it hadn't been for the fact that Victoria wanted Jessiah to wear the cheerleader costume and Anna to wear the football player costume.

"There are tons of guy cheerleaders!" she said.

"They don't wear skirts!" Jessiah fumed.

I stifled a laugh. I could see Reximus, Robin, and Anna do the same. Victoria and Jessiah paid no mind to us.

"C'mon, Jessiah," she begged. "We're all gonna be seniors next year. Have fun and embarrass yourself before you have to stay home and worry about college applications on Halloween!"

Thirty minutes of grumbling later, Jessiah bought the damn costume.

We all went to my house to get ready. After a long pause of hesitation and thought, I sent Jessiah, Reximus, and Robin to Skylar's room to get ready. Anna, Victoria, and I stayed in my own room.

Victoria didn't have to do anything, as she had already been dressed in her dinosaur onesie that she had yet to take a break from. Grinning, she went to where the boys were with a bag of my makeup and a determined, mischievous glint in her eyes.

When the door closed behind her, I began peeling off my blue skinny jeans and black sweater, throwing my Chuck Taylors to the corner of my room. I looked to Anna and laughed.

"This isn't going to end well," I said.

"Definitely not," she agreed.

I pulled the "pirate" dress over my head, but it was really just a brown dress with a built-in corset and tears at the hems. It clung tightly to my chest and torso, but was loose past my waist and fell to mid-thigh. I wore my Chuck Taylors for comfort and reassurance, and teased my hair a bit to make it look more authentic. The entire time, Anna stood awkwardly, not moving to put on her costume.

I looked at her oddly. "Aren't you going to get dressed?"

She played with the plastic Party City bag in her hands and blushed. "Yeah, um..."

I smiled gently. "Don't worry, I'll turn around."

I turned back to the mirror and finished applying a thin line of eyeliner. She was dressed in seconds, literally.

I turned back around once she said that she was done, and grinned. The football jersey that Anna was wearing was about three sizes too big, and she was just holding the tube of black face makeup puzzledly.

I walked over to her and took the tube from her, squeezing a small amount onto my thumb. Then, I smeared it into straight lines under her eyes. I handed her a hair elastic.

"Pull your hair back into a ponytail," I instructed.

She did as I said, looking to me for approval. I nodded. "Perfect."

We stood in front of my body-length mirror before I smirked and opened the door. "Let's go check on the boys."