[LCHorrorFan]

1

Alex strolled around the jam packed mall, weaving in and out of teens getting ready for the Halloween weekend. A few stores away she could see the blinking strobe light that drew in shoppers to a fancy costume shop. A man dressed as a vampire haunted the opening as if it were his cave, drawing in the junior high kids and leaving youngsters hesitant to enter.
“Welcome to my haunted lair,” the vampire ranted as Alex made her way through the propped open double doors. She smiled and made her way inside, squinting as the strobe light blinded her.
The walls were bordered with masks of all kinds, costumes hung from a countless number of racks and accessories filled the spaces in between.
“Anything I can help you with?” a man asked as Alex made her way around the store.
She shrugged, “Just looking. Thanks.”
“Well if you need anything, just ask. I’ll be around.” He flashed her a toothy grin.
“Thanks, “ she said again, passing by a few outfits that caught her eye. There was a hippy, a pirate and a few others that she thought could pull of a somewhat sexy look. Deep in thought, Alex was about to remove a costume from the rack when a hand landed forcefully on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around to face a short boy in a blazing devil mask. He chuckled at her reaction from behind a row of razor teeth and made his way to another part of the store.
Alex shook her head and continued browsing. Above her hung a bright yellow Bart Simpson mask. She smirked thinking of her favorite cartoon before turning her attention to the mask right beside it - the one in which Michael Myers made notorious. Blank features on the pale white face emerged from a mop of frizzy black hair, making her uneasy . The empty eye holes seemed to stare her down, almost stalking her as she moved away from the nightmarish image.
“Michael Myers,” came a voice from behind her. The dorky salesman from earlier stared up at the legendary face that masked perhaps the most well known serial killer to walk the plant. He stood almost admiring it for a several seconds before turning his attention back Alex.
“Creeps me out,” she responded, “I hate looking at it.”
The salesman shrugged, “We usually sell a good number of these. Sick people, huh?”
She nodded, “I guess. I mean it’s just for fun but I don’t think I could handle staring at that face all night.”
“As long as it’s not really him,” he laughed to himself, “I’m Bill.”
Alex shook his hand and introduced herself. She could tell he wanted to hit on her but his obvious insecurities prevented this from happening. He fidgeted a little, simply nodding and attempting not to seem awkward.
“Well, I’m going to keep looking around. Happy Halloween.”
“Happy Halloween.” He hesitantly waved as Alex made her way to an accessory rack. She removed a set of horns and conveniently located a cute red outfit on another rack a few feet away. The little boy wearing the devil mask approached her again, “Will you be my wife?” He asked in a deep voice.
Alex laughed, “Maybe in a few years.”
The devil dropped his head in defeat, sulking for a few seconds before jetting to another part of the store.
He has more balls that the older guy, she thought laughing to herself. From the corner of her eye she could see the salesman carrying an armload of Halloween props before getting bumped from behind. Half of the toys fell to the floor. A middle aged woman helped him pick them up before making her son apologize for his carelessness.
Alex’s buzzing cell phone interrupted her thoughts, as the theme song from Friends blasted in her purse. It was her best friend.
“Hey Sam,” she said brushing her side bangs out of her face. She listened for a moment before responding, “I’m leaving in a few minutes so I’ll probably be over in a half hour or so.” Alex hung up and made her way to the register.


The blue explorer lurched to a halt as Alex killed the ignition in front of Sam’s place. It was a big, white two story house that stood protected by two large oak trees. The weed choked landscape was blanketed by a quilt of fallen leaves. Halloween decorations were draped sporadically around the yard.
“Alex!” a voice screeched cheerfully from inside the house. Moments later, Sam emerged from the pale blue door and made her way onto the porch.
“Hey BFF,” Alex hugged her friend.
“I would have ran out to the yard but I didn’t feel like putting shoes on.” They both glanced down at her pink toed white socks that completed a simple outfit consisting of jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt. Alex shook her head and the girls went inside.
“So let’s see the costume,” Sam said, pulling back her light brown hair into a ponytail.
Alex removed the outfit from the tiny plastic bag to show it off, “Too skimpy?”
“Perfectly skimpy,” Sam encouraged, “I like it. What’s Zeke being?”
She shrugged, “Who knows. He’s lame when it comes to this stuff.”
Zeke was Alex’s on-again off-again boyfriend. The pair graduated high school together and began at the same college before he dropped out after one semester after failing three classes. Alex didn’t always understand the rationale behind his decisions, especially in this case considering he received a partial scholarship to play baseball.
“ So he won’t mind picking up some booze?” Sam asked.
Alex shook her head, “He’ll get it. He thinks it’s cool being the first one of us to turn 21.” They both laughed.
“I wonder if a lot of people will come to the party,” Sam wondered out loud.
Alex nodded, “A bunch of people said they’d be here. Where’d your parents go again?”
“My brother’s football game in Ohio,” she explained, “I guess it’s one of the biggest games of the year for his division. I wanted to go but it didn’t work out.”
Alex nodded, thinking of her friend’s family. They had the perfect “All American” image; a model family if you will. Her parents were a well off, down to earth couple who were always involved with athletics and other school events. Sam was a petite fair skinned, light haired girl, similar to one you might see on the cover of Cosmo. She was captain of the gymnastics team and was in the top 5% of the class academically back in high school. Her older brother, Ryan, was a stand out football player who’s name was still often brought up in the area. He has continued to shine at the collegiate level, nearly finished with yet another four years of greatness.
“Helloooo,” Sam said, snapping her fingers.
“What?”
“I just asked if your brother was coming to the party.”
“I don’t know if I want him there. He’s only 17.”
Sam rolled her eyes, “Like we didn’t party at that age.”
Alex agreed, “Yeah, I know. We’ll see, he probably has other plans already.”
The two chitchatted for awhile before beginning to clean up and decorate the house.