Title: Halloween Horror
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Summary: The Children's Hospital Halloween Haunted House Event.
Fandom: Forever Knight
Disclaimer: None of the Forever Knight characters or settings belong to me. All of them are the property of their original creators.
Archiving: FKFanfic, FKFanfic2, The FTP Site
Nick was in a bit of a fix. The sun had risen over an hour before, and tonight was October thirty-first, Halloween. Tonight was also supposed to be his night off. Except for the sun being up, none of this was a problem. At least it hadn't been until the phone call he had just receved. It was the night-shift captain, who had also been put in charge of organizing the Annual Toronto Children's Hospital Halloween Haunted House Event, or 'Halloween Horror' as it was generally known around the police stations. Each year, one of the precincts was drawn at random to do the event. This year it was their turn, and, knowing better than to get too involved from previous experience, Nick had managed to stay on the fringes of the madness by agreeing to be a substitute in case something happened to one of the organizing participants. He hadn't figured that anything would happen. Until the phone call, which was to tell him that one of the Halloween Horror volunteers would be unable to make it that night.
Somehow, Natalie had alread become involved with the event, earlier in the month. Nick had to admit that it was fun listening to her as she figured out what costume she would wear, but now he was in the same situation, except that he only had the day to get it sorted, and he couldn't get to any of the shops, because of the sun. Somehow it wasn't as amusing now, when it was his turn.
And, the costumes had to be themed to the event, making things even worse. The Halloween Horror was really a funhouse set up to a Halloween theme for the children at the hospital. Depending on who had set it up and what they had been able to arrange, the attractions, if they could be called that, he thought with a smile and a slight shudder, varied in elaborateness. Some years it was little more than the usual parade of deceiving things to touch in the dark: grapes as 'eyeballs', or jello as 'congealed blood', in combination with 'spooky' games and lots of candy and decorations.
This year though, from what Nick had heard, the 'Horror' was supposed to be fairly elaborate, as the event was set to coincide with a major donation by a large charitable foundation. Natalie had looked at him rather oddly when that news came out, but for once, it wasn't his doing. Eventually the vampire had been able to persuade her that he really hadn't had any connection to the donation. But, knowing about the timing of the donation was one of the reasons that he hadn't wanted to become more involved with the event this year.
From what he'd heard over the last few weeks, the emphasis was less on the haunted house this year, though the organizers weren't stinting it at all, and more on the games, with the addition of contests in pumpkin carving, costumes, and art. He'd been overhearing discussions about the merits of renting black lights, fog machines and other such arcana. Despite these changes, the costumes still had to be themed to the time of year. Suggestions bandied about the precinct, ending up on a list by the water cooler, included: classic horror monsters, vampires, witches, ghosts and other spooky subjects.
Nick knew that Natalie was going as a corpse, which both he and the coroner in question had had a good laugh about, thinking of the reactions of their friends when they saw it. Nick had, in fact, been helping her to figure out the make-up and effects for the costume she had decided on, having had experience in theatrical make up in his past. Both from various 'lives' and from making sure what I am was not detected. The effects they had decided on looked pretty realistic. I'm actually not sure if it will be too realistic for the kids, he thought. Some of them are pretty young. Natalie was going to come over later that afternoon so the two of them could put the finishing touches on her costume.
None of this is helping me figure out what to do for my costume. Nick shook himself out of his thoughts and went back to trying to figure out what he should do. The vampire couldn't think of anything in the storage areas of his loft, despite looking frantically.
Ten a.m. came and went. Now that the shops had opened, Nick was going through the costume shops/rentals to see if they had anything he could rent on short notice. One after the other, he was getting variations of "I'm sorry, we don't have anything like that left in your size. Perhaps you'd be interested in the following costume..." Considering that their suggestions ranged from Star-Trek uniforms to clown suits, and therefore weren't suitable by the theme requirements, Nick was getting more and more desperate.
Finally,more than an hour later, having gone through the entire costume section of the Yellow-Pages, and found nothing, he decided to go with the generic ragged black hooded cloak if he couldn't think of anything better. He could easily replace a set of his sheets if he had to, and besides, those weren't particularly to his liking.
In the mean time, he badly needed some sleep before Natalie arrived.
Four 'o' clock came and went, and unusually, Natalie was running late. It was closer to four thirty when she finally arrived with the bags containing her costume, and evidently some of his problems were still evident on Nick's face. Either way, and it didn't really matter, as Nick was going to tell her anyway, Natalie asked him why he was so frazzled, as she put it. So, he poured out his tale of woe.
Much to the vampire's surprise, and it was the last thing he'd expected his friend to do, Natalie burst out laughing at Nick's problem. Evidently his confusion also showed, as Natalie took pity and explained what she found so funny.
"Nick, the solution is obvious," she said, with the odd chuckle still escaping. "What's the first item on the list of costumes?"
"Vampire," the police detective replied, "but surely that would be impossible."
"Why? It would be the easiest costume for you." For some reason, Nick's reasoning seemed to escape the coroner, even though it was obvious to himeslf.
"Because I don't want to give my co-workers any ideas, and besides I don't have the costume or accessories," he explained.
Natalie shook her head in disagreement before speaking. "You mean the inevitable vampire jokes. Anyone on the night-shift gets those. As for the costume and accessories, desperate times call for desperate measures. You've got the accessories," she trailed off, evidently trying to figure out how to say it.
"You mean these?" He let his eyes change to a gold-red and fangs drop. Natalie nodded. "I can't," he said, going back to his normal appearance. It is a good idea though, he thought.
"Nobody other than you and I will know," Natalie replied, "It's quite easy to explain them. Costume contacts are easily available, and so are fake fangs. How else do they get the look for all the Dracula movies?"
She moved on just as ruthlessly to his other objection. "As for a costume, surely you've got something in storage." She thought for a moment. "Perhaps something suited for the theatre?"
"I can't do this, Natalie," Nick was still having trouble with the idea. "It feels too close to revealing what I am, something I've been taught to do for the past eight centuries."
"Nick, it's Halloween. Everyone's going as something they're not, most of them as something that doesn't even exist. Nobody will believe the costume." She paused, "especially if you go with all of the stereotypes."
He surrendered to the inevitable. Her points even make sense. It's a better idea than I had with the black cloak, anyway. Sensing it, Natalie went back to her earlier point. "Now, your costume."
The vampire left the room for a few minutes, coming back with an outfit he rarely wore these days, being slightly too old fashioned. Slightly, he thought, it dates from the nineteen-twenties. That's about seventy years or so out of date.
Natalie looked the suit over for a minute or two, before declaring, "That's perfect." Nick had to admit, it did fit every vampire movie stereotype, right down to the opera-cloak that went with it.
"Problem solved," she said, before bursting out in a bout of snickering. "A vampire going dressed as a vampire, and nobody will get the joke."
Nick agreed. "Now it's your turn."
Natalie gathered the bags she had left at the door when she arrived and headed for the bathroom to change. At the same time, Nick started the preparations for the make-up that Natalie would be wearing, putting some of the elements such as the corn starch mixture together to cook.
About twenty minutes later, Natalie came out in her costume, and a few minutes later, Nick had the make-up ready to be applied, the mainstay of which was a reddish and lumpy appearing substance.
By the time the sun was down, it was time to leave, Natalie had been made up to look extremely convincing as a bloody and dead body, thanks to both the make-up job and her costume, and Nick ended up looking even paler than he usually did, with the application of even more make-up.
Natalie was making jokes about being pulled over by the cops for having a dead body in the car as they left.
Once they arrived at the Children's Hospital, Nick's attitude and manerisms changed slightly, becoming colder and more distant. I should try to fit my costume, at least for a while, he thought.
The other members of the night-shift at his precinct who had volunteered for this had already arrived and were busy setting up for the Halloween Horror. The thirteen volunteers, including himself and Natalie were dressed as a rather ghoulish mix from the suggestions on the list. Actually, Natalie's costume it turned out was the most original of the lot, though one of the others came close. The other eleven were costumed as three vampires, two skeletons, a couple of ghosts, two witches, complete with pointed black hats, one grim reaper and one adventursome person, had come as a mummy, complete with antiqued wrappings and death mask.
While Natalie was assigned to work the haunted house, it being felt that her costume might be a bit much for the very youngest of the children, in the mean time, she helped Nick with setting up the Halloween themed drawing and colouring contests and also the pumpkin carving stations.
Just before she had to go to her station in the haunted house part of the hall, Natalie made an observation to Nick in a whisper, knowing that with his enhanced hearing he would be able to hear her, even though the others in the room wouldn't and she didn't want to offend or upset any of them. Clearly they had, for the most part, put a great deal of effort into their costumes for the eventing. "Nick, you carry off the costume the best of all the vampire costumes here."
As a result, the vampire in question flashed her a brief fanged smile of amusement. She's right. None of them have quite managed it. He watched the others for a minute more before he figured it out. It's two things. One, none of them really know how to wear the cloak/cape which was a part of the standard costume, and two, they don't have the arrogance of knowing that they are stronger than nearly everyone else that they meet.
A short time later, and for once, everything was set up on time, the doors were opened and the children let in, some of whom themselves were in costume. As were, also the representatives of the charity which was making the donation. With the children in the room eager to begin the evening's fun, the presention was kept short, and the media representatives left shortly afterwards. With that, the haunted house opened for business, at least to those who were older than eight years old.
The youngest children got to watch a halloween video and then spent time at the colouring tables, under the watchful eyes of three of the group of volunteers; one of the witches, and the two ghosts. One of the other two volunteers not working the haunted house was permanently stationed at the pumpkin carving table, as was Nick himself. The others were roving around the room, making sure that all of the children got a fair chance at whatever caught their interests.
From the sounds Nick could hear coming from the haunted house, mostly gasps, stifled yelps and a fair ammount of giggling, he surmised that things were going well at that end of the room. It certainly sounded to him like the participants were having fun. He could also hear their comments about the voluteer's costumes. So far, the two most popular were the mummy costume and Natalie's dead body. Of the outside voluteers, it seemed that he made the best vampire, which brought the vampire a certain amount of amusement. In the mean time, he had to focus on the group under his watch carving pumpkins. The last thing they needed was for a knife or other sharp implement to slip and hurt somebody.
Throughout the evening, the groups rotated through the art tables, the pumpkin carving and the haunted house. Once everyone who wanted to had participated in each of the activities, the judging began for the art and carving contests. In addition to these, seeing how many of the kids had come in costume, the voluteers hastily arranged for a 'Best Costume' contest to be held.
By the time the prizes had been handed out, the crafts shown off to the parents and other visitors, and the kids herded out and back to their wards, it was after nine-thirty. Now, the volunteers had to take down the haunted house, though they had some help from a few of the parents this time who had stayed behind to comment on how the event had gone. It was nearly midnight when the last item had been packed and the last person had left. Nick and Natalie were those last people, as Nick made use of his strength to help with packing everything away in ways that wouldn't give his true state away.
Now the fun part was getting their make-up off. Natalie's had held up much better than Nick had expected and it was going to be a challenge to peel it off. Nick's was easier as his was comprised of powder and paint, not textured surfaces.
The general consenus was, and Nick had overheard the other tired but happy volunteers saying the same things, that the evening had gone off well, but they were glad that the job was probably going to be belonging to some other precinct the next year.