What a Halloween
"Hey! Roxas! What are you going to be for Halloween?" a short, black haired, sixteen year old girl yelled to a short, spiky blond haired, also sixteen year old boy, running over.
"I don't know yet, Xion. I still haven't decided on what I am doing, for the twentieth time." Roxas said back. "I'll figure it out when I get to it."
"But Halloween is in a week! You have to have your costume ready before then." Xion persisted, yet again.
"She's right, you know." A tall, even spikier red head, eighteen year old said, walking into the room.
"Not you too, Axel," Roxas whined.
"Yes me too, Roxas. This is the best holiday there is. You get to scare the hell out of little kids. Pull a few pranks, scare them shitless." Axel replied with an amused look on his face.
"Axel, that's not the spirit of Halloween." Xion said, trying not to think of how funny that would actually be.
"Nightmare Before Christmas. That is my argument." Axel retorted, a smug look now plastered to his face.
Roxas looked at Xion. "This time, he does have a point," he admitted.
"Oh, fine. But we still need to trick or treat!" Xion gave in to the scaring part of the deal.
"Best be looking for a costume then Roxas," Axel joked. "We don't want you looking like a wimp, do we?"
"No! I'm no wimp!" Roxas shot back.
"You could be a zombie," Axel thought aloud, referring to the first few weeks after he met Roxas.
"Hey! Not cool dude," Roxas half-heartedly glared at Axel for the comment.
"Hey! He really could be a zombie!" Xion suddenly piped up.
"Huh?" both the males said at once.
"Leave it to me!" Xion said excitedly and ran off.
"Why don't I feel good about this?" Roxas asked hesitantly.
"I don't know," Axel said and started to walk off. "I'm gonna catch some shut eye now. See ya later."
"Hold still, Roxas," the black haired girl whined in annoyance.
"What are you doing, Xion? Why are you putting make-up on me?" Roxas replied, also annoyed.
"Just shut up and sit still already, before I use a sleep spell," Xion threatened.
Roxas growled, but complied.
"Thank you," Xion said, slightly relieved. She went right back to work on her masterpiece.
"Okay, done!" Xion announced triumphantly.
Roxas looked into the mirror and stared in shock. The skin around his eyes looked like there was blood under it, making it look blackish. There were stitches, about two inches of them, right above his left cheek bone, almost hugging his eye. On the right side of his face, there were stitches that went vertically down his inner cheek for about one and a half inches, skipped his mouth, and continued for about an inch below his lips. There was a bandage-like cloth that wrapped around his head like a headband would. The cloth was tangled within his hair, pressing the right side of his bangs close to his right eye. There was what looked like blood on the cloth above his eye and on the tips of his bangs that were pressed down. The last physical difference on his head that he noticed was that his canine teeth were now fangs.
The costume was a white, long sleeve shirt with blood stains on it and ripped up. The beige khakis were torn apart, up to his knee, on his left leg and little strips the cloth was dangling from it. The right pant leg was torn to smithereens, but still attached. There was blood-like stains all over the cloth. What looked like settled blood, bruises, and veins where about scattered about all of his visible skin.
"Whoa," Roxas breathed out. "Where did you learn to do this?"
"I just practiced. A lot," Xion replied, trying not to show too much pride.
There was a knock on the door. "Hey, ya done yet?" came Axel's voice.
"Yes, Axel, I finished Roxas' costume, but I am going to do your costume before you see Roxas'." Xion called back, wanting Roxas' costume to be a surprise.
Twenty minutes later, Xion finished Axel's costume.
Axel too looked into the mirror and was amazed by what he saw. He was wearing a top hat that had the outlines of flames all along the base of it. His canines were now fangs. The black suit he was wearing was open, showing his chest and stomach. On the left side of his chest, there was the design of a heart with two swords crossed over it, blood dripping down the swords, the hilts of the swords, and the heart itself. The suit also had little flame outlines along the bottom of his sleeves. His pants were plain black and there were plain black gloves upon his hands.
"Damn, you're good," Axel stated like his breath was taken away.
"Thanks Axel," Xion replied, blushing ever so slightly at the compliment. "You can see Roxas' costume now. I have to get into my own costume."
"'Kay, Xi." Axel got up and walked out to look at the other costume Xion had created thus far.
Another half an hour later, Xion walked out of her room. She was wearing a long, red, short sleeved dress that had a sweeping skirt. There was a white apron-like cloth that went along the front of her dress and stopped right below her chest. There was some white string that went around her waist, holding the cloth to her dress and body. She was wearing a white, long-sleeved under gown under the dress. The outfit had the same blood as the other costumes, but splattered all over and had some blood splatter on her face and hair. There was a red spade drawn on the back of her hand. She had red contacts in her eyes and she was holding a sword that was soaked in blood.
"How is it?" Xion asked.
Both of the boys looked up and stared in shock.
"Damn, I didn't know you could look that creepy, Xi," Axel commented.
Roxas just stared in shock.
"Thanks guys," Xion replied, pride showing on her face.
"The night is nigh and the moon is high in the sky," a certain red head said with a creepy tone.
A group of three ten year olds ran away, scared by the teenager's voice and costume.
"You're scaring the kids again, Axel," Roxas sighed.
"Maybe it's you Rox, you do look scary enough," Axel replied back.
"Hey! I'm not waiting for you guys!" Xion called out from across the street.
"Fine, fine, we're goin'," Axel called back and ran after her while Roxas followed after.
"Hey, look at that," Xion pointed at an old, multistory, wood mansion.
"That looks sorta haunted," Roxas pointed out.
"Are you guys scared?" Axel teased.
"No!"
"Of course not!"
"Then I dare you to go in," Axel smirked, looking smug.
"Fine, I accept your dare, Axel. But, if we go in, you do too," Xion dared back.
"Fine."
The trio walked up to the house. Xion was dragging her feet slightly. Roxas was looking apprehensive. Axel was grinning the whole way.
Xion looked at the doors to the mansion. "It looks abandoned."
"Knock on the door then, or are you chicken?" Axel dared again.
Xion looked at him, "I have a bad feeling about this, you know."
"So?"
Xion hesitated, then knocked. "Well, it looks like no one's here, let's go."
She froze in her steps as the double doors creaked open. Roxas paled, "D-Do you see anyone?"
"It's probably just a Halloween trick, don't piss your pants," Axel played it off. "Come on, let's investigate." The red head grabbed the collars of their shirts and dragged them in.
Just as they cleared the doors, they slammed shut. Axel and Roxas jumped and spun around as Xion just froze to the spot.
"P-Please t-tell me the d-doors didn't just s-slam closed on their own," Xion stuttered out.
"The doors just slammed shut, by themselves," Axel said, shattering her slim hope that it was one of the others.
Roxas tried to open the doors. "They're locked."
Xion still didn't turn around, "Is s-someone trying to r-recreate some cliché horror f-film?"
"Let's take a look around and try to find a way out," Axel advised, not listening to Xion's question.
Roxas and Axel started to investigate the hotel, "We need to stick together," Roxas brought up.
"Ya, I know," Axel agreed.
"Yeah, we definitely need to." Xion agreed too.
The three investigated a few rooms until a foul stench started to fill their nostrils.
"What is that smell?" Roxas asked, covering his nose.
"It smells like spilt blood," Axel detailing the smells more.
"It smells like rotting flesh too," Xion added. "Where is it coming from?"
Axel looked around, smelling in every direction. "I can't pinpoint the smell."
Roxas looked around, getting very pale. "I don't think we should have come here."
Xion scanned the place, "I agree."
Axel looked at him. "Well, we can't leave now."
"What should we do?" Xion whimpered.
"I think we should continue with my original plan and try to find a place where we can leave from this place," Axel stated.
Roxas did a quick scan of the place. "I agree, let's go."
Xion nodded, looking quite scared.
Upon getting to the top of the stairs, the stairs promptly crumbled silently, looking as though they disintegrated.
Roxas was the first to notice, "Where d-did the stairs g-go?"
Axel looked and gaped. They were gone.
Xion got a confused look, "What do you mean? They ar-"
She was interrupted by Axel, "let's get going." And he started to walk away rather quickly. Roxas followed, and Xion copied.
A door slammed open as the three passed it. Axel, Roxas, and Xion jumped about ten feet into the air.
"I don't think we should go in there," Roxas said, after recovering slightly.
The other two nodded, agreeing with the comment.
When they attempted to walk away, there were multiple slams of doors and half of the hall disappeared into a solid wall.
"I think we have to go into the room," Axel said slowly, attempting to comprehend this himself.
Xion and Roxas nodded slightly, agreeing and hoping they would not do something they would regret even more.
The trio went into the room. The door slammed behind them. Xion screamed, Roxas yelped, and Axel jumped.
"Wh-What just happened?" the raven haired girl stammered and whimpered.
The room started to get a green tint to it while it started to distort. The room was stretching and constricting. Every time they blinked, a different, disturbing picture was plastered to their eyelids. A mutilated child, crumpled in a pool of blood. A woman, screaming and blood flowing out of her eyes like tears. A tall man in a suit with tentacle-like arms and no face. A little boy, writhing in blood with something pushing up on his skin in multiple places. A woman doubled over in pain, blood dripping out of her mouth. That tall man in a suit with tentacle-like arms and no face, but closer this time. A little girl, screaming as she was burning and shriveling. A woman, dead on the floor, blood still freely flowing out of here ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. A close up of a man gone insane and screaming.
Roxas was now crying in fear, curled up in a corner, and forcing himself to not close his eyes.
Axel was nauseous and leaning against a wall, straining to keep his eyes open as well.
The room started to form illusions of words. "You're next." "It's so much blood!" "I know you." "Help me, please!" "It is too late." "Found." "Please make it stop!" "It hurts." "Just kill me now!"
Roxas was crying hysterically now. "Make it go away!" he sobbed.
Axel was like a deer in the headlights, unable to move or make any sound.
Xion was confused. She didn't get what was going on to her friends. She reached out to touch Axel on the shoulder. The moment physical contact was made, he screamed in pure terror.
Roxas didn't seem to notice until Xion walked over to him and tried to put a hand on his shoulder. The moment the physical contact was made, he screamed too.
She didn't get it. What was happening to her friends?
"Back," came from all around her in multiple little whispers.
Xion looked around, "Wh-Where did that come from?"
Small, no more than a half a foot tall, white, humanoid creatures melted through the walls, ceiling, and floor.
"Back, she's back."
"She's back."
"She's here."
"She's back."
The whispered voices, like the wind, came from every one of these little creatures. They started to come closer to Xion. She tried to get away, but they held her down, their small arm-like appendages grabbing onto her feet, climbing up her legs.
Xion looked down at the creatures and screamed. She was sinking into the ground, melting through the house.
She opened her mouth to scream, but the creatures held her mouth closed.
The struggle was lost to the creatures: Xion was dragged into the bowels of the house.
Axel suddenly stopped screaming and started to slowly turn his head towards Roxas, "Where did Xion go?"
Roxas looked up at Axel, almost robotically, "She's been gone since we came into the house."