She sat in front of her window watching the rain race down the window of her apartment. She turned away from the window and continued to curl her dark brunette hair with an irked face on. Just then she heard a knock at her door, and ran over to quickly open the door. There in the doorway stood a woman and a man, they looked like typical college students. The woman was a medium height and build with long brown locks and pale skin and carried a large bag, while the man was of an Asian decent and stood a menacing height of 6'5. They both smiled when the door was opened, and the women pulled each other into an embrace. "Hey Mal, hey Anthony!" Greeted the petite brunette, who owned the apartment.
The brunette known as Mal laughed as she walked into the apartment. "You still are not ready Shannon?"
"You know me. I have the inability to be on time to anything, and look who's talking neither of you are ready either!" She laughed as she closed the door and made her way back into the bathroom to finish her hair.
"Hey, I don't want to hear it. I can get ready in like two minutes." Yelled Anthony, who made his way over to the couch; while Mal laid a kiss on his cheek and made her way to the bathroom to assist her friend.
"It's because you're a man and you don't have to try as hard." Mal responded to him. She then turned back to Shannon, and helped her curl the back of her hair. "I brought the rest of your stuff for the party tonight. It starts at 9 so we should probably hurry, since it's about 8:30 now."
Shannon rolled her eyes. "We will get there when we get there. My hair is done and so is yours, so I'll we need is to put on the dresses."
The girls made their way out of the bathroom, and towards a small bedroom across the hall. Mal opened her bag and revealed a maroon colored gown with beautiful embroidery; while Shannon pulled out an emerald gown from her closet. "This is why I love Halloween, you get to dress up like something you are not for a night and have fun with it. It is like everyone is transformed, and there is magic in the air." Mallory said while she twirled the dress around.
"Ah yes, the great of Hollow's Eve magic." Shannon laughed as she started unchanging and getting into the dress. Shannon wanted to believe in magic and the supernatural. Maybe because she had supposedly descended from a long line of believed witches. However, whether or not they be true, she was still fascinated by all the stories that had been passed down her family tree. She even kept some books, which held some "spells". As much as she laughed and attempted to dismiss it, there as a part of her soul that begged for it to be true. "I am just excited for this party. I'm glad that Owen to choose a Game of Thrones theme, because now I do not have to see so many slutty cats tonight." The pair of girls laughed, as they continued to change.
"Anthony, are you getting ready? We will be done soon, and I want to leave." Mal called out to him in the living room, where he stirred from his sleep.
He rose from the couch and yawned. "Yes, I am getting ready. I am just waiting on you two slowpokes."
Within the next fifteen minutes the three of them were dressed and ready looking like a fine lord and ladies of Westeros. Mal and Anthony did not watch the show, but Shannon did. Mal just loved the costumes so she went along with it, and Anthony just gave into his girlfriend's request to dress up. Mallory's gown was maroon with gold embroidery and embellishments on it. The sleeves were three quarters, and it had a sweetheart neckline. Anthony's suit matched her, which Shannon had to laugh at because maroon was not his color. Shannon's dress was emerald, with lace details throughout the dress. The sleeves were long and fully lace, and the dress came off her shoulders but the neckline was high that it covered her breasts fully. The emerald gown matched her forest green eyes and complimented her olive skin and petite frame.
They arrived at a large house a half hour later; it was not a mansion but definitely bigger than an average middle-classed house. There were several cars in the driveway and several more on the street. The three of them made their way up to the giant oak doors, and pushed them open. Inside there was a very large crowd. All of them, except a few people, were dressed as if they were in the Game of Thrones. The trio laughed to themselves, because they all looked the part yet they were listening to house music which is something that would not have been done. They searched for their friend, and found him in another room full of people sitting on a couch conversing with some women. Once, he caught sight of his friend he stood up and dismissed himself from the girls. He wore a large fur cape or coat, whichever you would think to call it, and pulled the three of them into a giant bear hug similar to the one he wore. "Hey! I am glad you all could make it! It would not be a party without the gang here! Help yourselves to anything, here I'll go show you where it is." The burly man bellowed, while leading his friend into the next room which was slightly quieter.
"Thanks again for the invite O, I see you went for the Northern look tonight." Shannon laughed while grabbing a drink.
Owen laughed and looked off into the distance trying to look like a noble man from the Game of Thrones. "I see you are also looking like Northern woman tonight as well; hold on I think I have another one of these fake furs that you can have to complete your look." He said as he quickly dashed into the other room, which wasn't very fast at all since he was a larger man.
Shannon glanced around the room and noticed that Mal and Anthony had slipped away, probably to go dance. Owen returned quickly returned with a dark grey fur shawl. Shannon beamed as Owen handed her the shawl and she placed it over herself. They looked like a noble Northern couple. Shannon smiled at Owen as she thanked him. He was like an older brother to her, always watching out for her. She knew that at one point he had feelings for her, but those feelings faded over time. He leaned over to her with a worried look in his eyes. "Be careful tonight, my frat brothers are lurking around here and since you are newly single they will be having eyes for you tonight."
Shannon nodded and smiled back him sweetly. "Don't fret dear. I can handle myself against these fools. Now stop worrying about me and go enjoy your guests." She took his shoulders and turned him around to an attractive girl that was across the room staring at him.
Owen gulped and pushed his ash blonde hair back, and sauntered over to the red head. Shannon grabbed her drink and made her way out the room with all the dancing to find Mal and Anthony. She eventually found them, and joined them as the third wheel but they did not mind. The hour passed and they were all becoming increasingly more intoxicated. They were all having a good time, it was then when Shannon went to get another drink that the night took a turn for the worse. A tall lanky brunette man was in the room heavily making out with a blonde girl, and groping her at the same time. Shannon tried not to let it bother her, but it did and she was not known to keep her mouth shut especially when she was drunk. "You have to be fucking kidding me." She scoffed in a low and daring tone. "Glad to see you found a whore to occupy your time with Jon."
The man pulled away from the girl and stared at her. He got a devilish smirk, trying to get under her skin. "Hey babe, no need for name calling."
He got closer to Shannon, and she kept backing away until she hit a wall. He put his hand on the wall next to her head, and had her pinned with his other arm. She stared directly into eyes seething with anger. "We have been broken up for one day, but you already found a whore to warm your bed. You are a pig and she is a filthy fucking whore!" Shannon screamed into his face, slurring a bit. She could see he was getting anger, because his face was red and his nose was flaring. "Just get the fuck out of my face! Or what are you going to do hit me?!" She pushed him in the chest and attempted to get away.
It was at that moment; she knew she made a mistake but wouldn't have done anything different. The first slap hurt, but not as bad as the second one because she wasn't expecting. Tears began to well up. He was screaming something, but she couldn't hear him because her mind went blank. She did notice however that he was going to hit her again, but he was tackled and restrained by a couple guys one of them being Owen. Anthony and Mal came running over and grabbed Shannon. Everything was spinning, it was a mixture of adrenaline and alcohol. The two didn't mix well. Anthony and Mal led Shannon to the car, where she began profusely vomiting the whole way home. Anthony carried Shannon upstairs to her apartment, and Mal made sure she was safe in bed until they left her.
Shannon woke up a half hour later, still feeling kind of drunk and her face hurt. She sat on her bed and looked around the room. Her clock read 11:45 p.m. "Only fifteen more minutes and all Hollow's Eve magic goes away for another year." She sighed a little bit.
She then looked toward her bookcase and saw the books that had been untouched since she was younger. The book seemed to be calling to her, so she got out of bed and held the book in her hands. She paged through it looking at all the "made up spells" and nonsense. She had been thinking about how much she missed her parents. How she missed having a family. Mal and Anthony were family to her. She had a good life for the most part, she did well at college. She had a shitty love life, but that was it. She wanted more though, something was missing. Life had always felt a bit empty, nothing seemed to excite her anymore. She stopped at a page that caught her interest. It was the only page that did not have the "spell" titled. They always did say curiosity killed the cat.
She laughed to herself as she started to get 'special' candles from her closet that had been given to her by her mother. She put them in the four corners of the room, chanting softly as she lit them. She also sprinkled a mixture of natural herbs and flowers on the floor in an 'X' formation. She had a fifth candle and held it in her hand and lit the wick, while sitting cross legged on the bed. The words she chanted came natural to her as if something came over her. The light of the candles flickered across the emerald dress she still wore. She picked up a knife from her dresser and made a tiny slit in her finger. She placed the blade in between her breasts, and dripped the blood onto the flame putting it out. As the flame went out she yelled out the last part of the chant…...but nothing happened.
She was about to get off the bed when I noise startled her and she fell backwards off the bed. The wooden floor never came though. What did come though, was something that she was not expecting. It was cold. It was hard like the floor, but it tickled her arm through her lace sleeves. She opened her eyes. Staring at the sky. Holy shit I am outside. How did I get outside? This is really weird. Wait there is not grass near my house. I live in the city. She thought to herself.
She pushed herself to her feet and saw that her candle stained with her blood was lying next to her. She picked it up, and held it close as if it was going to help. It was then that a cold breeze hit her again, she was glad at this moment that Owen gave her that grey fur shawl. Rolling green hills and grey skies were what Shannon saw before her. There was no houses or skyscrapers in sight. "Well shit, what did I do get transported to Ireland? Now I need to find a house to take me to the airport." She sighed to herself, as she gathered up her dress and started walking.
The wind was brutally cold against her olive skin. Her eyes wandered over the rolling hills, looking for some sign of life. She bent down and started to remove her heels. These things are too painful to walk in. She thought to herself as she continued onward barefoot. Her head was killing her from all that she drank, and her face was still red and sore from the hits. Her mind was somewhere else, so she didn't hear the approaching hooves. It was only when she felt the ground tremble that she was brought back to reality. Panicked she swirled around her to find the source of the movement. Her eyes widened in panic as she saw horses approaching quickly with men on top of them. They held some sort of flag…no it was a banner. Damn eyesight falling me now. She thought as she squinted, now standing still.
"Lord help me, and let this be a dream." She said with her voice filled of fear and panic. The banners of the flayed man were now visible. She was tempted to turn and run but that would be suspicious, and senseless. This isn't real. This is just a dream. This can't be real. I watch this on the television. What is going on? I've lost my mind. Maybe I died. Her thoughts were as rapid as the horses approaching her.
The men now circled her still mounted on their horses. They then stopped and parted, and Shannon swung around. She gasped and died a little on the inside as a man with shaggy dark brown hair approached her on his horse. He looked down at her and smirked at the frightened girl. I like seeing them frightened. She is a pretty one. Not what I usually go for, but she is different looking. Something exotic. This should be a fun one to play with. The man thought to himself as his grin grew, as the girl shook a bit.
Ramsey Snow. This is it, this is hell. Shannon thought to herself, as she shook from the cold and fear.