Castle Halloween Bash 2015 Entry - Happy Halloween!

Rick smiled with pride as he observed his make-up in the cramped toilet cubicle. His pale skin was completely covered, a mix of forest greens, concrete greys and muddy browns combining together to create a look of death. There were also sections of fake skin dangling off from his cheeks – which took an absurd amount of glue and would probably be impossible to remove later – that gave the costume an extra sense of reality. He was dressed in baggy, worn-out clothes with dull tones that matched his face. He reached a hand up to ruffle his hair one last time.

Yes, he did look like the perfect zombie.

With a satisfied nod, he left the small room and wandered down the corridor into the large hall. What was usually used for events such as birthday parties and weddings had been transformed into a giant dressing room for those working at tonight's annual Fright Night.

Hairspray attacked his senses as he opened the door, but he instead focused on the excited chatter of all the workers as he sat down on a plastic folded chair that was on the side of the room. His eyes glanced around as he took everything in.

About a dozen women hurriedly worked on the costume make-up of others and transforming them into their roles for the night: vampires, skeletons, zombies, witches, clowns, dolls, possessed humans and more. Other women – admittedly, the girls were better at the hair/make-up/costume side of things – were assisting more employees by getting them into their costumes; capes wafting through the air, the sounds of prisoners' shackles rattling, corsets being laced up (usually with the wearer groaning), wigs being thrown around to the correct person. A Halloween playlist sounded from someone's phone, an orchestra approaching their crescendo blasting through the air.

One of the managers scuttled in, armed with a megaphone in order to be heard over all the commotion.

"Alright!" He shouted, "Doors are opening in twenty minutes! If you're ready, get to your attractions!"

Obediently, Rick jumped to his feet and shuffled out of the door with a crowd of people, the amount of bodies in the dressing room halving. As he walked around the theme park, he took in his surroundings: the fog machines blasting around his feet, the sound effects of cackling, screaming and shouting coming from the overhead speakers, lights flickering from all directions.

Finally he made it to where he was stationed for the night: The Hunted – Zombie Maze. One every other night of the year, the hedge garden maze was a calm place, with green leaves and blue skies. But now, it was almost completely pitch black, a combination of the darkness of the night and the artificial fog. He entered the maze and continued walking to his designated point, which was located about midway through. He squinted his eyes as he took in the details, small amounts of water trickling around his boots, cobwebs draped over the hedges, the pre-recorded sounds of bat screeches and rat squeaks surrounding him.

"Look out!"

He startled at the female voice that erupted from his left, hoping that the speakers had diminished his small scream.

"What?" He replied to the woman, though all he could see in this lighting was a vague silhouette.

"Tunnel." She said with a slight teasing tone in her voice. Yep, definitely heard the scream.

He cast his eyes forward to see that there was an opening which just about reached his hip level.

"Oh. Thanks!"

Rick saw the figure nod and took this as her reply, then crawled through the tunnel. As soon as he made it to the corner where he was based, the eerie clock chimes sounded seven times.

Seven o'clock. Theme park doors were now open. He grinned happily in a very non zombie like fashion. He waited on his own for a while, shifting from foot to foot as he waited for visitors to arrive as the maze was quite far over in the park.

Then, finally, he heard screams approaching – real ones, not pre-recorded.

Let the fun begin, he thought as the smile on his face transformed into a grimace.

Rick assumed that about an hour had passed when the thirteenth group passed him, now in a fit of laughter after shrieking incredibly loudly (the boys included). He loved the different reactions he'd acquired throughout the night: swear words jokingly directed at him, flailing arms trying to push him away, four group selfies taken, and he'd even made one poor girl so frightened her legs had shaken so much that she fell on the wet grass with a thump.

As he reminisced, he heard a group approaching, but instead of any of the responses he'd met earlier in the night, he overheard a gruff man's voice saying 'This isn't even fucking scary'.

He smirked to himself. Well, that sounded like a challenge.

Parting one of the hedges with his hands, he climbed in-between the branches as best as he could, trying to ignore the pokes and prods of the leaves in his face. He curled up to be as small as he could be when he heard the patter of feet approaching and held his breath. Though he couldn't see through the brambles, he could easily establish by their voices when they were getting close to him. When two of the men were directly in front of the hedge, he darted out, emitting the most zombie-like groan he could.

Suddenly, he felt himself being flung upwards then falling to the ground with force.

Then nothing.

"Come on."

Shaking. The ground was shaking? No, he was shaking. Someone was shaking him.

He groaned and attempted to open his eyes. He was met with the sight of… a zombie? Shit. Was he in hell or something?

"Oh God, are you with me?"

Hmm, at least she had the voice of an angel. That's better. Wait, a familiar voice?

"Hey, I need you to stay awake, okay?"

He could tell that his body disagreed to that idea. He groaned to show his disapproval.

A huff of breath hit his cheek, "You're not a real zombie. Use your words, please."

Shit. Okay. He could do this.

"Fine. M'fine." He slurred out. Well, that didn't sound convincing.

"Do you know what day it is?"

Right. This should be an easy one. He should know this. His eyebrows furrowed. Oh. Fuck.

"Okay, I'm getting you out of here before the next batch of people." She said with determination.

He felt his body being jostled once more. Arms coming around his waist. Whoa.

"Come on. Up and at 'em."

He willed his legs to work, kicking them against the ground as he attempted to return to an upright position. Once he was standing, the girl beside him moved to his right and hooked one arm around his shoulder.

"Okay, can you walk?" She asked, her voice close to his ear.

He grunted, nodding his head once.

"Or zombie shuffle?" She added in a playful tone.

Hmm. He likes her.

Wait. Zombie.

"Halloween!" Rick said triumphantly, temporarily halting their very slow walk, "its Halloween!"

He looked over at his companion to see her eyes narrowed towards him.

Okay, maybe she's not as proud as he is.

He opened his mouth to ask why, but before he could, he felt his body succumb to the darkness once more.

The next time he woke, it was bright. He wasn't in the maze anymore. Wasn't at the theme park anymore. He still definitely felt like he was a part of the undead though.

"Rick?"

He turned his heavy head to the sound of the voice and opened his eyes. His gaze fell upon a zombie perched on a white chair by his side.

"Hi."

He saw her eyebrows rise behind the wall of her makeup. "Wow, a real word. You must be recovering already, zombie."

He chuckled, then paused.

"Wait. You know my name?"

She scoffed, "Everyone at this job knows your name. You're like the popular kid in school."

The edge of his lips downturned, "But I don't know your name."

Her eyes rolled, "Do you need to?"

"Hey, you saved me twice. Once from the tunnel and once from certain death. The least I can do is send you a nice thank you note."

"Just a note? No bouquet?" She asked with wide, innocent eyes, "I don't think it's worth me telling you my name just for a flimsy piece of paper."

"What if I got you one of those food bouquets? With the chocolate dipped fruit?"

She scoffed and bowed her head. Rick was preparing another offer in his head when she cut through his thoughts.

"Kate." She stated, "I'm Kate. And my favourite chocolate is dark."

"Noted."

For the first time, he saw a grin blossom on her face, her tongue poking out from behind her pearly white teeth. Wow, even with the zombie makeup, she was beautiful.

He stopped his train of thought right there. Looks like this medication he was on was a bit too strong.

Wait.

Medication. Bright light.

Hospital.

"How'd you know to bring me here?" He questioned.

"Well, when a group was passing my spot, I heard a guy say that – and I quote – 'Dude, that dead zombie looked fucking awesome'."

He chuckled at the deep voice that she'd put on for the statement, causing her neck to change to a tinted pink colour. He wondered if her cheeks were blushing underneath all her makeup.

"At first," She continued seamlessly, "I thought you'd just taken scopolamine and reacted badly." Right. The 'zombie drug'. "But then I realised that bleeding cut on your forehead was real and brought you here."

He nodded slowly, taking in the new information. After a few moments of silence his voice sounded once more.

"So, Kate, why haven't I met you before tonight?"

She scoffed, "Back to that, are we?"

"Come on, I'm stuck in a hospital bed on what's arguably the most fun night of the year." He whined, turning his body onto his side so he could face her, "At least entertain me."

Her head shook slightly, but she relented, "My friend wanted to do something fun for Halloween but didn't have much money," Rick nodded, he definitely knew about having a sparse college budget, "So she found this online and decided that if we could dress up, scare people and get paid, it would be a win all around." Kate chuckled to herself. "Except she got allocated to the haunted dollhouse, so she looks like a gorgeous porcelain doll, and I look like, well…" Her hands gestured down her body, making him focused on her ragged clothing, stitching falling apart and holes ripped in multiple places, "this."

He ran his eyes over her form once more, then shrugged, "You're still the prettiest zombie I've ever seen."

The hazel green eyes that shone in contrast to her brown make-up rolled, "Yeah, I bet you say that to all the undead girls."

The two chuckled until they were interrupted by the hospital room door swooping open, a man in blue scrubs walking in, pushing his thick black rimmed glasses up his nose.

"Hello, Mr Rodgers, I'm Dr Russell Chambers." He meandered up to the bed, "I introduced myself earlier, but I doubt you were present enough to remember."

Rick smiled sheepishly, realising that the confusion in his head must have presented itself on his face.

Dr Chambers continued to speak in a professional tone, "You have a mild concussion following a minor head injury that you suffered from about two hours ago."

Two hours? Had he – they – really been here that long? He glanced over to Kate, who confirmed the statement with a nod.

"Can I ask you to answer a few questions for me if you're feeling up to it?" The doctor asked calmly.

Rick nodded eagerly. The sooner he left here, the better.

"Okay. Where are we?"

"Hospital. Presbyterian I presume?"

Russell hummed in approval, "What were you doing before the concussion?"

He thoroughly explained his evening, seeing the doctor's mouth curve up in a small smile when he reminisced on jumping out from the bush on the guests. He looked over to Kate to see her eyes narrowed in his direction. Okay, so maybe he was embellishing the tale a little bit, but his version was a lot more interesting than saying he just got thrown over someone's shoulder.

"Good. Okay." Dr Chambers replied, slipping back into his work mode, "Last question: can you repeat the months of the year in reverse order for me?"

Rick gulped, he wasn't sure he could do this confidently even without a head injury. Slightly slower than he would've liked, he made his way to January, and the doctor nodded once more.

"All good. Now," he pointed his index finger out, "can you touch the tip of my finger with yours, then touch your nose, then back to my finger again, and repeat that as quickly as possible?"

He did so, even though he felt a bit stupid (and he was sure he could hear Kate stifling laughter next to him) but by the grin the doctor bared, it seemed he'd passed the test with flying colours.

"Okay, you don't have any serious symptoms and don't seem to be at high risk, so you'll be able to be discharged now." Dr Chambers explained, Rick perking up in his bed, "But I highly recommend that someone monitor you over the next forty-eight hours. Do you live with someone?"

"Yeah, I have a roommate." Rick said briefly.

"That's good. You need to get plenty of rest and only return to school or work when you feel you've completely recovered. Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs, but feel free to take some painkillers if you're in any pain. Also, if possible, don't drive or ride a bike until you feel at one hundred percent again. If you get any more severe symptoms – lack of consciousness, confusion, vomiting, loss of balance, disturbance of vision, like seeing stars – get your roommate to bring you straight to the ER ASAP."

Rick scrunched up his forehead as he took all this information in, then realised that Kate was typing frantically on her phone. Lifting his head slightly, he saw her writing a brief version of what the doctor had relayed. He really did like her.

After exchanging pleasantries, the doctor exited the room, leaving Rick and Kate alone. Both of them remained silent as they were unsure what to say, the pattering of feet and beeping of machines filling the air.

"So, you get changed back into your clothes," Kate began, prompting himself to look down and see that he was in a hospital gown, how did he not notice that earlier? "And I'll flag us a cab to college, okay?"

"What if I need help changing?" The leer left Rick's mouth before he could think better of it.

Kate seemed unfazed, "You could get Dr Chambers back in then. Those glasses and haircut? He definitely bats for your team."

And with a sly grin and a wink, she was off.

The cab ride had passed in relative silence, mostly due to the fact that the slow movement of the car had made Rick sleepier, his head resting against the window peacefully until their driver would take a sharp turn.

Soon enough, the cabbie announced that they'd arrived, and Kate had shoved a wad of bills into his large hands before Rick could even make sense of the situation.

With a little bit of aid from his companion, Rick managed to step out of the vehicle on wobbly feet and they made their way to the boys' dorms.

He definitely didn't mind leaning into her during the trek.

And apparently neither did she, since she bypassed the elevator and instead headed for the stairs.

Multiple minutes later - damn his keys hiding underneath all his makeup cases and candies - the two waddled into the slightly cramped living room area.

"Damien?" Rick called out loudly into the surroundings, "You in?" The unquestionable silence was an adequate enough answer. He sighed, "He must still be out."

"He work at the Fright Night?"

"No no, he went out to a normal party. Well, as normal as college Halloween parties are."

Kate pursed her lips in understanding, "Think you know when he'll be back?"

Knowing Damien, not until morning.

"Soon." He lied, squinting to see the hands on the clock on the wall of the kitchen area. Damn, was it already past 11pm?

"Yeah?" Kate asked sceptically, her teeth burying into her lower lip, which she apparently forgot was still covered in costume makeup as her tongue darted out in disgust at the taste.

No. But she'd already done so much for him. And whilst he would like to keep his new friend for company tonight, it just didn't seem right. They were still practically strangers, after all.

He opened his mouth to reassure her, but a rumble from his stomach sounded first. He expected a chuckle from her, but instead he received a look of remorse.

"Shit, you haven't eaten yet," she cursed, running a hand through her hair, wincing as a chunk of dark brown paint attached itself between her fingers.

"It's okay, I have food." He shrugged, motioning to his bag.

"The never ending arsenal of sugar? Yeah, I don't think that's healthy recovering food." She said strictly, but there was a gleam of mischievousness in her eyes.

"But Kate," he whined dramatically, "I'm a poor injured soul, I need comfort food."

She seemed to ponder his request thoroughly, then replied, "Fine. Get into bed, and in ten minutes, I'll bring the best grilled cheese you've ever had in your goddamn life."

Well, how could he say no to that?

He readied himself for bed slowly, pulling off his worn out zombie clothes in favour of some pyjamas, a matching royal blue checked set that his Mother had gotten him for Christmas last year. So maybe it wasn't the most attractive sleepwear, but damn if it wasn't the comfiest.

As he moved into his bathroom, he noticed that his once covered face was now bare, the hint of pink on his skin and the slight black blurs by his eyes the only remnants of his makeup. When was it removed? And by who?

His stomach fluttered at the mere idea of Kate's gentle, slender fingers flitting over his face as he slept in the hospital bed, delicately wiping away his disguise. He spent a while running his own fingertips over his cheeks, imagining where the phantom touch of hers may have laid before.

Then he shook himself out of his reverie.

For all he knew, it could've been Dr Chambers who removed his makeup. Or an elderly on-call nurse.

He tried to convince himself of those possibilities in order to calm his errant heartbeat.

He had been sitting up in his bed for a while when she walked in, a wooden tray in her hands bearing a plate with a grilled cheese sandwich, a tall glass of water and some pills. She placed it gingerly on the side table by his headboard then shuffled from foot to foot next to him.

Her fingers played with the frazzled ends of her costume's sleeves, "Is it okay if I clean up using your bathroom?"

Rick nodded so fervently a brief pain radiated from his temples, "Yeah of course. No worries."

A small smile blossomed, and then she was gone once more.

An uncertain amount of time later - he'd admittedly been drifting in and out of sleep after gobbling up his food - he heard the bathroom door lock turning and blearily blinked his eyes open.

Wow.

She may have been one of the prettiest members of the undead he'd ever seen, but that held nothing to the flame that is a bare-faced Kate. Some layers of her costume had been shed too, which now left her in an army green tank top, black leggings and... bright purple socks? He hummed to himself in amusement. Even almost bare, she still held some mysteries.

Before he knew it, the mattress was dipping as she perched on the side, laying her legs out straight in front of her and crossing her ankles. Whilst he was distracted by the mile long length of her legs, she pulled out a book from her backpack - wait, when did she bring that in? - and leant back on the headboard, looking oddly at home.

"Sleep, Rick."

Yeah. Right. Like he could do that when there's a beautiful, interesting, mystifying, complex woman next to him. Well, a layer of bedding was separating them. But still.

He craned his neck slightly, lifting it up from the pillow, to see what she was reading so intently, what was making her eyebrows furrow.

He glanced at the page and his eyebrows pushed together too. Why wasn't it readable? How hard did he hit his head?

As if hearing his thoughts, Kate chuckled warmly, "It's Russian."

Rick huffed out an exhale, "Oh thank god. I thought I was a literature major who'd lost the ability to read."

"At least you'd be able to sue the theme park and get some money out of it." She replied without hesitance, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well," he replied, "now that option isn't available, read to me?" The almost horrified look she gave him laugh. "What?"

"I'm not good, I'm still learning. Planning on going to Kiev next semester and I want to know a little bit of the language beforehand."

Rick's eyebrows raised. Did she ever stop surprising?

"They say the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else."

Kate rolled her eyes, "Well, if the illusive 'they' said so..." She flicked back a couple of pages, "Here's a word for you - спать."

His eyes glazed over slightly as he watched the syllables leave her mouth, his own opening partially.

"W-What does that mean?"

"Sleep."

He does so, with the word floating around his head.

Hours later, a loud chiming sound coaxed him out of his sleep. The dark room then illuminated with the bright light of a phone screen.

"Shit."

He turned his head on the pillow to see Kate still sitting where she was when he nodded off, the Russian book still in her lap. The thought of her feeling so relaxed around him made his stomach flutter, until he saw the expression on her face as she brought her phone closer to her.

He craned his neck in an attempt to see the screen, though the brightness was so blinding he had to squint. Nonetheless, he understood the word 'Mom' where the contact name was.

Ah. Her wide eyes now made sense. He'd definitely been on the wrong side of some terrifying texts from his Mother when he'd been out late.

Soon enough, she placed her device back on the bedside table next to her and glanced at him, obviously not surprised that he'd woken up.

"How you feeling?" She asked quietly, one hand placed over his bicep.

"You stayed?"

She chuckled, "Not an answer to my question, but yes. The doctor said forty-eight hours, I'm on duty until your roommate gets here."

He secretly, desperately hoped that Damien had found someone who would keep him out all night long.

Rick snuggled back into his pillow, "And I'm feeling good, probably because there's a beautiful girl in my bed."

Even though his eyes were closed, he sensed hers roll.

"Rick?"

The word pierced through the sounds present in the kitchen and he promptly spun on his heels. Jeez, if she had used his full given name instead she would've sounded just like his Mother. Ooh no, bad thought.

Kate stormed up to him, crossing her arms angrily, but her toughness was completely lost when he realised that she was still rumpled from sleep, her brunette locks curling in every direction and her eyes still bleary.

"What?" He said innocently.

"You call getting up at 6am and making breakfast resting?"

He shrugged, "No, but I call it more fun than just lying in bed being bored."

"You could've woken me."

"And stop the adorable snuffling noises you were making? Never."

Kate's face fell slack, "I do not snore."

"I didn't say snore, I said snuffle." Her mouth opened to argue, but a ding sounded from the side. "Coffee's done. You want some?"

The word coffee seemed to initiate a truce as she slinked over to the machine, pouring into a mug that he'd already set out for her. She brought it to her lips and smelt the aroma before taking a miniscule sip, letting out an appreciative moan as the liquid hit her taste buds.

Without tearing her gaze from the liquid, she spoke, "Rick."

"Huh?" He stammered.

"Your pancake is burning."

Her resulting laughter at his panicking could even be heard over the smoke alarm.

After the burnt pancake fiasco was taken care of, the two sat on the couch watching the morning news, eating their breakfasts quietly, stealing glances of each-other and nonchalantly moving closer.

"Thank you."

Kate's eyebrows furrowed at his outburst, turning to him, "For what?"

"Everything. Taking me to the hospital, bringing me here, staying with me, teaching me that one Russian word… The list goes on."

She smiled, lowering her head, "It's no big deal."

But it was. Because she was a completely stranger not twelve hours ago, and now she's gone above and beyond what any of his friends would do. And made him feel comfortable, looked after, safe. And she needed to know that.

So, with no preamble whatsoever, he leant forward and pressed his lips to hers. The action didn't seem to surprise her in the slightest as she merely just melted into him, tilting her head as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. His hands meandered to her back, feeling her cool skin through the thin material of her tank top. She shivered at the warmth of his palms, then caressed her fingers over his neck, causing him to quiver too. He felt the line of her mouth morph into a smirk, and playfully stroked his tongue against it, prompting a similar moan to the one that coffee had drawn out of her earlier.

After kissing lazily for a few minutes, their lips attaching and parting and reattaching, she spoke, her voice now more gravelly, "Seeing any stars?"

Rick paused, unsure of how to respond. Heat running through his veins, heart beating wildly, palms sweating, yes, yes, yes. But stars?

She continued with a teasing lilt in her voice, "Because that could be a sign of your concussion worsening."

He followed seamlessly, "Well, the doctor did recommend supervision over forty-eight hours and rest, so what if I could kill two birds with one stone?" As he spoke, he lowered her tank top strap from her shoulder, kissing the spot there as soon as it was bare.

The tone of her voice remained unaffected as his mouth moved along to her neck, "Hmm, but that would only help you. What would be the benefit for me?"

"A dark chocolate fruit bouquet?"

She threw her head back in laughter, allowing him to press his lips underneath her chin, "How do you even remember that?"

"I'm smart. It's all the brains I eat."

Over the next hour, they both emitted very zombie like groans.

Thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed. If you celebrate Halloween, have a great night and stay safe!

Lou xo