Celeste and Nava: The Halloween Party
"So what are you wearing to the Halloween party?" Celeste asked, piping orange frosting on a chocolate cupcake.
"Probably a vampire," Nava responded, "Gene wants to wear a costume that compliments mine, and he told me that he really wants to be a vampire hunter for some reason."
"Then why aren't you both hunters?"
"Do you think I like him?"
"Sorry. Stupid question."
Celeste added sprinkles onto the last cupcake. She places it in a large container with an array of cupcakes featuring different flavors.
"I'm done decorating the cupcakes for you," Celeste said.
"Thank you so much!" Nava responded, "You know, even though it's a college party, you can still come with me."
"I can't. I need to finish my cosplay and buy candy."
"Suit yourself."
Nava enters her room and rummages through her closet. She finds a Victorian-esque dress and a long cloak and places them on her bed. She finds some socks that match the clothing and puts them along with the rest of the clothes. She exits her room and enters Celeste's room.
"Celeste," Nava yelled, "can I borrow your makeup?"
"Just don't touch the lipstick!" Celeste answered back.
Nava went to work adding foundation and eyeshadow to make her look like a vampire. She looks at herself in the mirror when she thinks she's done.
Hmm, she thought, what else is missing? Oh yeah!
Nava leaves Celeste's room and heads back inside her room. She pulls out a plastic bag under her bed and sticks her hand in it. She pulls out a small container with a pair of false fangs inside. She heads to the mirror as she carefully places the false fangs on the correct teeth. She pulls out red lipstick in her desk drawer and looks at the mirror as she adds it on her lips.
Perfect, she thought.
Nava leaves the bedroom with her phone in her skirt pocket and enters the kitchen. She picks up the closed container full of cupcakes and heads to the front door.
"I'm leaving, Celeste!" Nava yelled, "I'll knock on the door once I'm back!"
"Okay," Celeste responded, "Have fun!"
Nava leaves the apartment complex and pulls her phone out of her pocket. She taps on her Doscirt app and private messages Gene.
Happyyellowgambler: im omw to the subway. will I see u there?
After a few seconds, a message pops up.
Squashmysquish: ya. i have a seat for u
Nava walks into the subway station and waits for the train to pull up. It appears after five minutes and the doors open. Nava looks around to find Gene. She sees the tan Asian man sitting on one of the seats wearing a long brown leather jacket over his semi-formal clothes, a plastic prop gun slung on one of his shoulders, and other plastic prop weapons attached to his belt.
"Gene," she said, walking up to him, "where's my seat?"
Gene stands up and gestures to the seat he was on.
"There you go m'lady," he said sarcastically.
Nava sat down and placed the container of cupcakes on her lap.
"Didn't you bring anything?" she asked Gene.
"My friend is hosting the party, remember?" he responded, "I left it at his place yesterday."
The subway doors close and the train starts moving. After a few stops, the two exit and leave the station. They walk down a street full of small houses cramped next to each other. They stop at one with poorly carved pumpkins next to its door, faded purple walls, and loud music and flying colored lights emanating through the windows. Gene walks up to the door and knocks it with Nava behind him. A masculine figure wearing a masked killer costume opens the door.
"Gene and Nava!" the person greeted, "You're finally here! Come in, let's have some fun!"
Gene and Nava enter the house into a mostly dark house with colored lights installed around the place illuminating it. There are a bunch of silver streamers on the floor and poorly installed on the walls. The silly spooky decorations are installed on the walls better, but some are lying on the floor. The person in the masked killer costume leads the two to a table full of food, snacks, and nonalcoholic beverages.
"Put your cupcakes over there," the person said, gesturing to an empty space on the table.
"Niel," Gene told the person, "where's the alcohol?"
"Over at the bar," Niel pointed at a bar decorated to look like a spider's web, "If you drink too much, I only have two guest rooms to stay in. Unless you want to sleep on the couch."
Gene and Nava look at the couch where they see a couple intensely making out on it and a person spilling a full cup of juice on it.
"Eh," Niel responded to the sight, "I'll be buying a new one when I move out. Have fun!"
Niel walks away from the two. Nava removes the lid from the container. Gene pulls one that's chocolate flavored with white frosting and decorated to look like a ghost.
"Heh," Gene smiled at the cupcake, "This is cute. Did you bake all of these?"
"Celeste helped me," Nava picks up a paper plate with a jack-o-lantern printed on it, "I did decorate that one."
Nava looks around at the table for something to eat. She puts a few squares of ravioli, a small serving of shrimp scampi, and a bit of chicken on her plate.
"Haven't had dinner?" Gene asks, adding a small serving of macaroni and cheese on his plate.
"Was too busy making the cupcakes," Nava responded.
"There's a dining room with a bunch of seats. Wanna eat there?"
"Sure."
After the two fill their plates with their dinner, they enter the dining room where there is a large table with plush seats. Most of the spaces are empty. The two place their plates on one of the corners.
"I'll get us some snacks and other stuff we can share," Gene said, leaving the room.
"Get me some Prite!" Nava yelled at him.
She picks up some of the skin of the chicken and eats it. A girl wearing a fairy costume approaches her.
"I love you and your boyfriend's costumes!" she told Nava, "It's super stylish!"
"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," Nava responded, "We're more like friends."
"Oh, sorry! They just matched so well that I thought you two were a couple!"
Gene came back with two plates full of snacks, sweets, and two drinks on them.
"I'll be in the living room if you want to hang out!" the girl said leaving the two alone.
"You're able to eat with those fangs on?" Gene asked, placing the plates on the table.
"They’re surprisingly strong," Nava responded.
The two finish all of the food they got before heading to the slightly packed bar.
“Hey Mark,” Gene told the man behind the bar dressed as the main character from Last Fate VII, “do you still have the bottle I brought yesterday?”
“Yeah,” Mark responded, pulling out a slim bottle with a red liquid from behind the bar, “Vampire’s Dream.”
“Why do so many of these drinks have vampire-related labels?” Nava asked.
“When I saw the label of the drink Gene brought, I thought it would be cool to create a set of shots full of vampire-related drinks. Y’know, since this is a Halloween party.”
“Cool. Should we try it, Gene?”
“Sure, why not.”
Mark pulls out two trays with several shot glasses on it and begins to pour Vampire’s Dream in one of the glasses.
“Wanna dance with me after this?” Gene asked.
“If I don’t pass out on the floor,” Nava responded.
Mark serves the two the trays of shot glasses that are filled with different colored liquids. Gene picks up the glass with red liquid.
“To our friendship!” Gene declares.
“Yeah. Sure. Cheers,” Nava replies, picking up her glass.
The two clink their glasses together and drink the red liquid. It tasted bitter, but it didn’t burn Nava’s throat. They pick up the second glass which has a dark brown liquid inside. The bitter taste was stronger than the previous one when Nava drank it, but it was the strongest in the set. The glass with a caramel-colored liquid had a sweeter taste. The glass with a clear liquid had a more sour taste. The glass that had liquid the same color as pee was sweet, but pretty bland. The last glass with liquid that was purple for some reason was a mix of sweet and sour. Gene holds out his hand towards Nava.
“You haven’t passed out yet,” he said.
“Fine,” Nava responded, taking his hand, “Just one.”
Gene leads Nava out of the bar and into the living room where most of the guests are dancing. The room was crowded and poorly-lit, so Nava had a hard time seeing what kind of dance Gene was pulling her around in. He did look kind of pretty in the dim purple lighting, but the constant pulling to create some form of a dance move has worn out both of their bodies into tiredness.
“Can we sit down?” Nava asked, “This is making me tired.”
“Sure,” Gene responded, pulling her to an empty spot on a couch.
The two sit on the couch in silence for a minute or two. The room is loud, but they manage to feel calm in the chaos.
“Having fun?” Gene spoke up.
“Yeah,” Nava responded, “Haven’t been to a college party in a while.”
“Same. General Education sucks.”
The two notice a strange figure covered in a blood red cloak that covers their face approaching them.
“Hi,” a masculine voice spoke from the cloaked figure, “I like your costumes.”
“Uh, thank you…” Gene hesitated, “Your costume is, uh, really interesting…”
“Thank you very much. My friends and I want to do a certain activity, but we don’t have enough people. Is it okay if you join us?”
“Does it involve leaving this house?” Gene asked.
“No.”
“Is it in one of the rooms?”
“Yes.”
“Do we have to do anything?”
“Not really.”
“Are we just watching you guys?”
“Yes.”
“Can we leave any time?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is it safe?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, I guess if we can leave whenever and it’s safe, we can join you for a minute.”
“Perfect.”
The cloaked figure leads the two up to the second floor of the house and into a dark room that seemed to be a large walk-in closet. The room was lit by several candles that were placed on the ground and in the hands of figures in the room wearing the same cloak. The candles placed on the floor are arranged in a weird fashion. Only five of them illuminate the floor, but there appears to be salt on the wooden ground. The salt forms lines on the ground, but any design or shape it’s supposed to communicate is unclear. One of the cloaked figures hands Nava a lit candle while another one lightly pulls Gene to the center of the room.
“Uh, what’s going on?” Nava worriedly asks.
“It’s a cleansing process,” one of the cloaked figures with a higher pitch explained, “We do it to make this planet a holier place.”
“Are you sure we’re just watching?” Gene asks.
“Yes,” the figure leading him to the center responds, “Just stay silent, do nothing, and watch us do the work.”
The figures form a circle behind the five candles on the ground. One of them puts the candle they are holding onto the ground and walks toward Gene. They place their hand on one of Gene’s shoulders.
“Oh Lord,” the figure declared, “We are here to cleanse this earth from the evil deeds these animals have done. Please look upon us and be graced at what we are about to do.”
The figure pulls out a sharp dagger from the inside of their cloak.
“Whoa what the f—k!?” Gene steps away at the sight of the dagger.
“Hey I thought we were just watching!” Nava yelled, “We didn’t agree to this!”
“This is for the goodness of the Lord,” the figure with the dagger explained.
“Screw that!” Nava drops the candle on the ground and reaches for Gene’s hand.
The figures pull Gene and Nava away from each other. Both of them struggle to escape the clutches of the cloaked figures. When they were dragged away to opposite sides of the room, the figure with the dagger approaches Gene.
“How dare you defy against the purity of us and our Lord?” the figure declared.
“Gene!” Nava yelled.
“Nava,” Gene yelped, “Nava!”
“You and your friend over there need to be rid of this planet,” the figure declared, “Rid of this planet to keep this sacred place clean.”
“Nava!”
“GENE!”
The figure plunges the dagger straight into Gene’s chest. Gene’s body falls limp in an instant.
“GENE!” Nava cried.
Nava pushes herself strong enough for the figures to lose their grasp on her. She bursts out of the room and hurries down the stairs. She dials Celeste on her phone as she runs around the crowded space, panting heavily.
“Are you okay?” Nava turns around to see the same fairy girl who talked to her during dinner.
“Some cult upstairs just killed my friend!” Nava exclaimed, “We need to get out of here!”
“What are you–AHH!” a cloaked figure uses a jagged knife to stab the girl in the neck.
“Why are you spreading your evil influence?” the figure asked Nava.
“Dude what the f—k did you just do!?” Niel asked, walking up to the figure.
“Cleaning this planet,” the figure answered.
Nava ran away to the bar as she heard Niel’s screams behind her.
C’mon, c’mon! Nava thought, Pick up, Celeste!
The call went straight into voicemail as Nava met Mark.
“Mark,” Nava cried frantically, dialing Celeste’s number again, “We have to get out of here! There’s a cult killing everyone!”
“Yeah,” Mark responded, picking up glass bottles of alcohol, “I’ve heard some weird screaming!”
A cloaked figure with a boxcutter approaches them, but Mark uses one of the glass bottles to hit the figure on the head. The glass shatters from the impact as Nava and Mark run towards the front.
“Hello?” Celeste’s voice projected from Nava’s phone.
“Celeste,” Nava brought her phone to her ear and Mark opened the front door, “a cult in the party has been killing everyone! I’m heading back!”
“...Are you going to be okay? I’m going on the subway!”
“Fine. Just promise me that you won’t leave the station until I’m with you!”
“Promise!”
Nava and Mark continued to run down the street until they reached the subway station. The place was completely empty and no train had pulled up.
“Oh no,” Mark said, “The next train won’t be here in another hour!”
“There has to be a way to hold them off until it arrives!” Nava responded.
Nobody from the cult has entered the station for the first half of the hour. But after that, Nava noticed a blood red cloth descending down the stairs.
“They’re here!” Nava yelled.
“Better stay alert!” Mark replied, raising his intact bottle and half-broken bottle.
Only three cloaked figures descended into the station, but they all looked physically bigger than Mark. The one closest to Mark is holding a dagger with a squiggly blade planning to attack him. They use their whole body to charge at him, but Mark swiftly dodges them and shoves the pointed edges of the broken bottle onto their back. Another figure uses their short dagger to cut Mark on the cheek. He responds by hitting the figure on the head with the intact bottle. The bottle shatters to make the end more lethal. But the figure wasn’t phased by the bottle and raised their dagger close to his face. The last figure has their machete in their hands and is staring at Mark.
Something hits the figure holding the machete in the head. When the figure holding the dagger and Mark looked at what hit them, it looked like the plastic lid of a trash can. A knife with a squiggly blade is then thrown at the figure’s head, causing them to fall onto the floor. Mark uses the distraction the figure with the dagger is under and shoves the jagged end of the bottle onto the figure's chest. They also fall onto the ground.
“Thanks, Nava,” Mark turned to her, “I thought I would die!”
“It was hard removing that lid,” she responded, “I’m surprised they only targeted you!”
“Nothing says ‘threatening’ like a broken glass bottle!”
“Should we even clean this mess?”
“Hell no.”
About fifteen minutes pass with nothing happening.
“Have you called the police?” Mark asked.
“Oh no,” Nava responded, “I was so busy calling Celeste I forgot to report it.”
“Don’t worry. I called when I heard you screaming.”
A few more minutes passed with nothing happening and the train not pulling up.
“Do,” Nava started, “you hear footsteps?”
The two look at the stairs to see another cloaked figure descending to them. Mark picks up the small dagger from one of fallen figures and points it at the one coming near them. Nava picks up the machete. The figure pulls out a gun from the inside of their cloak and points it at Nava. She realizes what they are doing and begins to run as soon as the gunshot rings in the station. She sees the figure aim at Mark and pull the trigger. He ducks onto the ground, but the figure shoots him again causing him to fall into the tracks.
“MARK!” Nava hollered, throwing the machete at the figure. It only cut the figure’s leg, but it did deter them. Nava looks at the tracks only to see the train pull up. She thought she heard something that resembled bones breaking.
“Mark?” Nava tries looking into the gap between the train and platform once it stopped.
“Nava?” Nava looks around to see Celeste in her maid cafe uniform peeking out.
“Celeste!” Nava happily enters the train.
“Why are there so many dead people?”
“They tried to kill me! And they actually killed Gene and his friends…”
“Oh dear… Is that another one!?”
Nava looks at the opened door. Another cloaked figure is charging at them.
“Yeah! Run!”
The two run down the line for a few minutes. Celeste stops Nava with a plan.
“Look at those storage units. They’re opaque enough to hide in and not get caught!” she explained.
“What are we waiting for?” Nava responded.
The girls climb onto the seats and pull the units open. Celeste manages to get inside the unit first and helps Nava get inside. They close the units, keeping themselves hidden from the figure. Celeste holds out five fingers to Nava. Five stops until they reach their apartment. It felt like an eternity had passed when the train stopped four times. Nava was starting to fall asleep from the dark space. Celeste tapped Nava’s hand when the train stopped for the fifth time. Nava carefully lifted the unit to see the inside of the train.
“It’s clear,” she whispered.
The girls slip out of the units as the doors open. They sprint out of the subway station and run down the street.
“Almost there! Almost there!” Nava panted.
“We’ll run up the stairs,” Celeste said, “enter the apartment and lock everything that’s in there! Got it?”
“Got it!”
At the front of the apartment complex, a figure in a blood red cloak is waiting at the front door.
“Oh no,” Celeste stopped, “Get back to the subway! We’ll hide at the maid cafe!”
They turned around to run back to the station, but another figure was waiting for them.
“Uh,” Celeste said, “It’s late and there’s no cars! Let’s run across the street!”
The girls cross the street and run towards the station again.
“They’re catching up to us!” Nava exclaimed, “Can we make it?”
They begin crossing another street.
“I’m sure we can ma–”
Celeste is interrupted by a speeding car ramming her over. The car braked once they caused Celeste to lie on the ground with many of her bones unnaturally bent in grotesque positions. Nava approached Celeste to see her face bleeding from scraping on the asphalt. The crimson liquid began seeping out of her nose and down her cheek. None of her body was leaking blood, but all of the broken bones that clearly can’t be fixed created an image that made Nava want to throw up. The driver of the car that hit Celeste steps out. Nava turns to the perpetrator to see a cloaked figure with a gun in their hand.
In the blink of an eye, the figure aims at Nava’s chest and shoots a bullet into her. Nava falls onto her back next to Celeste.
“The earth has become a lot cleaner now,” the figure declared.
Nava…
She blinked her eyes, looking at the night sky.
Nava…
It sounded like Gene’s voice to her.
Nava…!
At least she’ll be meeting him once she passes…
“Nava!” Gene yelled in her ear, shaking her aggressively.
“Wha…” Nava snaps back into reality. She’s sitting on the living room couch with Gene next to her.
“Thank God. I thought you died!”
“You’re… You’re not dead?”
“No.”
“How about Celeste? And Mark? And Niel and the fairy girl?”
“They’re all alive.”
“Huh? But I saw you get stabbed by that cult. And Mark get ran over by a train. And Celeste get hit by a car. And I was shot in the chest!”
“You must be a lightweight drinker.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well after we saw that creepy cult kill that poor stray kitty, you ran out the room yelling about how they killed me! Marcie, the fairy girl, asked what’s wrong and was rightfully confused when I was standing. I told her that they killed a cat and she called the police after that. But then you were screaming and running to the bar proclaiming the weirdest s–t he has ever heard. I tried to stop you, but you were acting crazy at me and running around calling Celeste what you were ‘seeing.’ At some point, you grabbed a random girl dressing up as a maid and dragged her into the kitchen. You then hid yourself into a cabinet while the police arrived. I explained the weird cult stuff and mentioned you during my explanation. I led them to the cabinet you were hiding in where you jumped out and began frantically running around dragging that maid girl with you. They were about to arrest you, but a cult member was pointing a gun at me. I guess they knew the police arrived and I was the only conscious witness to explain the situation. You slipped and hurt yourself running around while the police detained and arrested the whole cult. When they interviewed me more, I was unsure to say if you were drunk or hallucinating from trauma.”
“Definitely drunk. That was the most I’ve drank in a while.”
“Well I’m glad you can think again. Wanna go home?”
“I still have a headache. Can you give me some water?”
“Sure. I’ll get you a snack too!”
