Hello! This is the beginning of an idea I had and hopefully will be able to continue. Hope you like it, and comment if you would like to!
Quick Note: All the dialog that is italicized is said in Japanese. I don't know the language and I wanted anyone else who doesn't know it to be able to read it as well, and so I figured this was a good compromise. :)
Halloween.
Everywhere you looked in the sweltering open-air mall there were people scrambling to get costumes or candy, sometimes both, and because my best friend had insisted on going to a party that night and dragging me along to be her designated driver, I had to be one of them.
"Ev, we need to hurry or they'll close!"
"It's Halloween. What store in their right mind will close before 22:00? We'll get there and still have plenty of time to find a costume for you."
"22:00? And don't forget, you're getting one, too."
"22:00 is 10pm." I chose not to say anything about the costume part. When Abbey made her mind up about something nothing could stop her, and besides, I liked dressing up for Halloween.
"Why couldn't you just say 10 instead of that 22 madness?"
"Because the entire world minus the United Sta—"
"There it is! C'mon, or we're going to be late!" Abbey grabbed my hand and practically flew to the main doors with me in tow.
"Late for what, exactly? They're still open."
I got my answer when we stepped inside. The place was packed and I don't mean like stores-on-Christmas-eve packed; I mean Black Friday packed. It was a wonder so many people could fit in this place, and I silently wondered if the store had already gone over its maximum capacity because there was no way that this many people couldn't be a fire hazard.
Abbey had already disappeared into the fray but knowing her she would resurface soon with at least two costumes, asking which would look best and answering before I could. In the meantime I could probably start looking around and search for something to wear tonight, which actually proved harder than I thought. Weaving through the amount of people was difficult enough, but finding a costume that looked comfortable to wear and had my size was a whole other matter. Seriously, did any of these costumes come in a size other than 0 or extra-small?!
After about 20 minutes and two Abbey costume-checks later, I found something that might have potential. It was a long, hooded cloak that stopped just above my ankles. The only color left was black but I didn't really mind; it would just allow me to blend into the background at the party, which was always a bonus. The parties Abbey took me to were loud and the people were the type to ask why I wasn't drinking and shove a glass of alcohol into my hand in the same breath. They were nice, just forceful, and that wasn't something I wanted to deal with tonight. I looked at the cloak again. It'll work, so now for something to wear under it…
By the time we had both left the store and made it to the party in question, everything was in full swing – music blared, people crowded, and some were already beyond drunk as they attempted to dance in the foyer. In record time Abbey was cutting through the crowd to the kitchen and drinks, successfully leaving me behind again. But unlike at the store, things here weren't nearly as crowded, so following her wasn't that difficult. Still I decided to make my way to the backyard and wait for my best friend there. We always met up in the back of wherever we were, so I knew she'd eventually find her way over, meaning I could just sit there, wait for her, and watch the other party-goers walk by. I had barely made it to an open spot and sat down, though, when I felt someone sit down next to me.
"Wow, Abbey. That was fast."
"Sorry to disappoint, but um, I'm not Abbey. I can do some good impressions of people if you did want to talk to her," a light tenor spoke up.
I turned to find a lanky, brown-eyed boy with patches of fur glued to his face and arms leaning back on his hands, one of which he promptly held out to me when he realized I had started to stare. "The name's Mike."
"Evelyn," I laughed and extended my own hand, which he quickly turned over to kiss. In slight shock, I stammered out my next sentence, "S-sorry, I thought you were my friend."
He seemed pleased. "I thought as much, milady. Either that or you were looking for a sister nun, and if that were the case, you would be in the wrong place at a most inconvenient time."
"What's with the milady?"
"Your name sounds like medieval noblewoman, so I thought it fit, though your costume makes you seem more like a traveling magician than an old-fashioned noble."
I looked down and nodded. With my black cloak, crystal necklace and plain pants and shirt, I did look more like a medieval wizard on the road. "We ended up shopping last minute and this is the best I could find."
"Where'd you find the necklace?"
"That's actually a family heirloom of sorts – one I got for my birthday. I figured I could put it to some use since it probably hasn't seen the light of day in years."
"You mean the light of the moon," Mike pointing at the full moon above. "The only way that pretty thing is going to see the light of day again is if you stay up all night, and I think the party's supposed to end before that." He paused before continuing, "It is pretty, though. I can see why your family kept it all these years."
"I guess. My grandmother had it when she came here and passed it onto my mom before leaving. It was my mom that then passed it down to me when I was seven, saying that I should be careful when wearing it. I suppose that means I'm not allowed to drop it into my drink." I looked over at Mike and noticed his eyes glazing over. Great. There was an awkward moment before I decided to change the topic to something safer. "So what are you?"
It worked, and he snapped back to reality, laughing, "Can't you tell? I'm a werewolf. I'm supposed to be, anyway."
"Well, it works."
"Hey, Mike," we both turned to see a zombie hanging out one of the first floor windows, "come over here and check this out! They even decorated the indoor pool!"
"And that's my cue – guess I'll see you around. And good luck finding your friend." Without waiting for an answer Mike pulled himself up from the ground and started to lazily walk back towards the house.
As I watched him go, a dim, silver light caught my eye. Looking over I saw that the brick wall separating this yard from the next now had an ancient-looking door at the far corner. The frame was giving off the soft and silvery glow, but what was more shocking was my necklace's response. As the door's light grew brighter, the necklace grew heavier and began to shine the same shade of silver as the doorframe. I looked down to see it rise up from my collar, still glowing. It hovered for what seem like forever, then as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.
My necklace dimmed and returned to its position hanging around my neck and that's when I noticed I had somehow moved to stand in front of the strange door. How I got there I wasn't sure, but my hand was resting on the handle, which was surprisingly ice cold. Without any guidance at all, my hand twisted the door's handle and the door itself swung forward, revealing a black hole on the other side. I looked back at the house party; it seemed everyone had gone back inside for the back yard had become only a dump for unwanted cups and other trash. My necklace grew heavy again and surged forward, and I was pulled through the door.
The black hole lasted less than a second, and when the world became clear again I realized the moon was still high and full. But instead of being in the neighbor's yard, I was surrounded by tall trees with no path or person in sight. At least that was what I though until a branch cracked above me. Looking up, I saw five pairs of eyes staring back at me, and after only a moment of eye-contact one pair leapt down into the shadows on my right.
As it stepped into the moonlight my own eyes widened in shock. It was a salamander the size of a basketball player in their prime and walked on two legs like any human would. The most eerie part though, was how its eyes that faced forward and kept contact with mine, cementing my feet into the ground.
'Only predators have eyes facing forward,' a voice in my mind whispered, 'because they need to see their prey when they chase it.'
The weird lizard-man stopped when it was less than an arm's reach away and, without breaking eye-contact, spoke to those still in the tree. "She's small."
"She'll have to do though," hissed a voice from above. "We haven't had a human soul, let alone a human woman's soul, in days."
A smaller frog-man leapt from the tree this time and the lizard-man glanced over, allowing me to look from one speaker to the other in confusion. The frog-man spoke in his own cracked voice, "Then it's decided."
Suddenly the lizard-man grabbed my arm – his grip tight – as the frog-man walked back a few steps before turning to face me again. When he was ready, the frog-man opened his mouth wide and to my growing horror what looked like a giant soap bubble came out and started floating right towards me. It took only a moment of watching what I was sure was my own doom approaching before I reacted, but then I twisted my arm around the outside of the lizard-man's and push down until he had to let go. Then, with all my strength, I push him into oncoming bubble before spinning on my heel and running away as fast as I could.
I could hear the lizard-man shouting what must have been muffled curses back in the clearing, but it seems his companions were too busy chasing me to help him because I could hear them crashing through the brush behind me. It didn't take long for my legs to start burning and my lungs to start heaving. I was no Olympic runner and, unfortunately for me, the strange things now chasing after me were showing no signs of tiring. They were even gaining on me and their footfalls were becoming louder until I could have sworn they were right behind me. My side cramped and I whipped my head left and right and left again, searching for some small place to hide, but I could find nothing but the same ominous trees for miles and miles. Glancing back forward I saw the trees seemed to form a wall of sorts up ahead and immediately in front of me was a small gap between two of the trunks. I thanked my lucky stars and tried to run just a little faster. I was almost there when I heard the footsteps now directly behind me slow, and it wasn't until after I leapt through the crack that I saw why.
I had just jumped off a cliff.
The last thing I remember seeing was the water rushing up to meet me.