The Halloween Party

Derek was feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement for the party. It was his first time ever being surrounded by so many people, and it was a little overwhelming. He was thankful to have his best friend by his side.

Jake was always considered to be the life of the party and invited him to join him and his friends.

Jake was always the kind of guy who never judged a person, he always saw the best in everyone and wanted them to be included.

Derek will never forget the time when this nerdy girl named Cassie had first moved here into their town.

She was being bullied by some assholes in school, but everyone instantly freaked out when Jake asked her to come to a school dance with him.

He just wanted her to have fun, and Derek remembered the big smile on Cassie’s face the entire time. Derek believed that he gave her a night she would never forget.

Now, that girl has her own friends in school and has become pretty confident with herself. Jake happened to fall for this girl as time passed. She was so cute, and he honestly thought she looked sexy in braces.

He was so hesitant about asking her out during the party. She was dressed as an angel, and he thought she looked quite beautiful. Her glasses really made her stand out, in a sort of ‘hot librarian way.’

Derek was dancing with a few of his buddies from football. He was dressed like a vampire, along with the fake blood and the old-school black cape. Jake came to the party dressed like Michael Myers.

Myers was his favorite slasher.

The quiet ones are always the most terrifying.

Jake eventually caught up to Derek, accidentally bumping into several girls who named him. Jake threw his arm around Derek.

“Hey, bro! How’s it going? You having fun?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I stopped dancing with you guys. I uh…I’m feeling a little nervous.”

Jake studied his friend for a second, before a smile formed on his lips.

“Bro…are you considering asking Cassie out? You totally should! I guarantee you that she will say yes!”

Jake shook his head.

“I don’t know, man…”

Jake leaned over to whisper loudly in his ear over the music blasting from the speakers.

“What if I told you that she rejected me? Remember that time when I asked her out to the school dance? She admitted to me that she is into nerds…she admitted that she liked you.”

“She seriously rejected you? The guy who has a six-pack and great biceps?”

Jake shrugged.

“Everyone has a type, bro.”

Jake flexed his biceps.

“And thanks for the compliment. What do you say we get out of here and go to an abandoned parking lot where no one will see us getting it on -’’

Derek laughed and removed Jake’s arm from around his shoulder.

“Dude, you’re so full of yourself. And you really want to take a risk like that on Halloween? We would totally be spotted.”

Jake pretended to throw back his invisible long hair.

“The risk is what will make our steamy session a night to remember.”

Jake and Derek both broke down in tears by that point.

“I love you, man,” Derek said while wiping away his tears.

“Is that a confession?,” Jake asked with mock surprise.

Derek hid his grin as he headed toward Cassie’s direction. He tried not to laugh as Jake started making a sexy whistle behind him.

Jake struggled to get through the crowd, being careful not to stab anyone with his plastic knife prop. There were a lot of people tonight. High school parties are pretty crazy, especially when it comes to the drinking part.

He could already see several friends having trouble dealing with their drunk friends. Getting wasted was something that Derek did not desire.

What was the point of drinking a substance that doesn’t even taste that good? And if you drink too much, you could accidentally kill someone.

Derek flinched when he accidentally felt his knife prop poke someone. He was about to address the person, but he froze when he spotted the figure next to him. It was probably the best costume he had seen the entire night.

The guy’s face was a skeleton mask. It looked way too real, and if Derek were to reach up to touch his face, he would probably believe he was about to touch a dead body.

He was obviously dressed up like the Grim Reaper. There was a black hood over his body, and he was carrying a scythe.

“Oh shit. You look freaking awesome, man! And uh, sorry about stabbing you with my knife prop. That was my bad!” Derek yelled over the music.

The grim reaper didn’t respond and continued on his way past Derek.

Whoever was underneath that costume, was doing an excellent job pretending to be the Grim Reaper. They were always portrayed as wise figures in the horror media that Derek loved to watch.

Derek jumped when he felt Jake throw his arm around him once again.

“Hey, man! I’ll be back! Me and my friends are going out to buy some snacks later to binge horror movies at my house! You should totally join us! And bring Cassie!”

With that said, Jake left with his jock buddies. Derek took a deep breath. Now he had to do it, or he would deeply regret never asking her out. He eventually made his way to Cassie.

She was deep in conservation with one of her friends in a cat costume. The girl in the cat costume smiled at Cassie, using her eyes to signal her to Derek. Cassie turned around. She looked even more gorgeous up close.

Derek cleared his throat loudly, trying not to show his nervousness. Cassie noticed this, and a beautiful smile lit up her face. Derek tried not to show his excitement, realizing that Jake was right. She was into him.

Before he could ask her out, a sudden scream pierced through the music. Derek assumed it was coming from the speakers, but the screams continued.

Several of the partygoers were expressing confusion when a girl yelled something that Derek couldn’t make out. The crowd started to leave the party through the front door. Derek followed after them.

More screams followed. Derek quickly got through the crowd, and that was when he saw it. There had been a car accident in front of the house.

Two cars had slammed into each other head-on.

One of the vehicles belonged to Jake and his friends.

He could faintly see blood all over the broken windshield. He recognized the vampire cape sticking out from the passenger seat. Derek gasped and turned away from the sight.

He met face-to-face with Cassie. Her eyes were wide, and one of her hands was covering her mouth. Derek could feel tears forming in his eyes as Cassie put her arms around him.

Cassie murmured things in his ear to calm Derek down as several kids were panicking, some screaming to call 911.

When the cops arrived, they had swarmed the property, yelling at kids to step away from the scene, or to stop recording the incident.

Derek would learn later that Jake and his friends had been hit by a drunk driver. While they were barely pulling out of the parking lot to take off, the driver slammed into them head-on, killing Jake and one of his friends instantly.

The driver miraculously survived, but no form of justice would ever bring back his friend.

While he was being interviewed by one of the police officers with Cassie by his side the entire time, he saw him.

The skeleton was standing there looking at the wreckage as the bodies were being carted out of the vehicle in body bags or the survivors were getting taken into the ambulance for immediate operation.

He was mingling within the crowd, watching everything unfold.

Then he left the scene, walking down the street. No one else paid any mind to this figure, it was the perfect disguise for Halloween night.

Derek thought of the horror media he was obsessed with, as tears spilled down his cheeks. It’s just like they say in the horror movies and TV shows he fell for in horror:

Once death knocks at your door, there is no escape.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn