Boy howdy, seven chapters in less than four days? I'm on a roll here.
Please let me know what you like about this so far, and happy reading!
Chapter 7: Hoodies
Trigger had seen The Ring once on a dare, and the first thing he thought the human girl looked like was the ghost's little sister in an orange T-shirt and slacks. He could barely see any of her face behind her waist-length black hair – in fact, the only things he could completely see were a pair of large orange eyes, staring at him with a look that suggested a mix of surprise and curiosity. Her arms were paper-white and looked misshapen, like a cheap doll's, with long fingers on large hands that got narrower at the elbow, and even thinner at the shoulder, so that it shouldn't have made sense for her body to be able to support them. He stared at them in confusion – seriously, how did those things stay on? – but then the girl spoke.
"I didn't know there were any other kids here." She had scooted to the side, and patted the ground next to her. Trigger ducked under the hill and sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I'm Autumn."
"I'm Trigger." He glanced around. "Who were you talking to?" She pointed up, and he saw a large spider making its web. He looked at her again. "The spider?" She smiled behind her hair and nodded. "But spiders can't talk."
"Oh right," she responded, "most people can't hear them, can they? I think I might just have really good ears or something, but I can hear them talk." She smiled. "Can you hear anything most people can't?" She looked up at his hoodie. "…Snakes, maybe?"
Trigger half-smiled back, and gave a small nod. "Yeah," he gestured to the snake-scale pattern, "I can talk to snakes. I'm teaching myself to be a sorcerer. Then I'll be able to turn into one." Her eyes widened.
"Turn into a snake? Cool." She grinned, and he could see tiny, glinting fangs where her canines should have been, "Maybe I can teach myself how to be a spider somehow!" She was sitting up straighter now, and he could see a bit of her face – ghostly skin, just like her hands.
"How'd you get here, Autumn?" Trigger mentally thwacked himself for not wondering about it earlier. "Last I checked, the door here is really well-hidden. Most people shouldn't be able to see it."
"Neither did I," Autumn responded. "I was walking towards the town and I started running when I thought I heard a crow."
"You're scared of crows?"
"They're creepy! Anyway, I just ran and ran, and then I looked behind me while I was running, and I guess I should have paid more attention because I ran right into a wide-open hole in a tree and fell."
"You fell?"
"Yeah, for a long time. When I stopped falling, I got up, and kept walking until I got here. I guess I fell through the door by mistake." She shrugged. "There are monsters instead of people, but I don't think it's too different from Graywood."Trigger furrowed his brow.
"How in the world can a human town and Halloween not be "too different" from each other?!"
"All of the grown-ups are afraid of me."
