I apologize for no update last week but I was busy typing a total of five Halloween themed chapters, including this one.

Happy Halloween!


Photo #32: Morning Scare

Eadlyn remembers reading in her history textbooks about how Halloween was once a scary time of the year. For her mother's sake, her father decided to revive the Halloween traditions across the country of Illéa, 80 years after Gregory Illéa had banned them, because he orignially thought of them as a frivolous and wasteful pastime. The second time around, Halloween became a time to wear pouffier ball gowns, extravagant wigs, makeup that didn't match, and go heavy on the sparkle without judgement from others.

The next photo shows the only person who opposed the glamorous second-coming of Halloween: Osten (even if he wasn't in the photo since he was the photographer this time). He basically saw Halloween the same as every other day of the year without the signature scare element it once had, so he got to work. In the picture is the hallway of the castle where all the royal bedrooms are. Eadlyn, Ahren, Kaden, and their parents stand just outside their bedrooms covered in the same shame, anger, and embarrassment that only came with being victims of Osten's prank.

Eadlyn remembers that day and boy, did she really hate it.

Long story short, she woke up that morning with a skeleton hugging her.

-o-

During the early hours of the morning of October 31, Osten creeps around the hallway of the royal bedroom wing of the castle, still dressed in his clothes from the previous day since he did not have a wink of sleep last night. (They were no longer in perfect condition due to his busy night). He tiptoes as careful as possible not to make the floor creak or drop his father's camera hanging around his neck. He stands at the very end of the hallway, at a point where he can see all the closed doors. Osten gets the camera and points it at the empty hallway, waiting for just the right moment.

One shrieking scream fills the palace, but Osten warned the guards in advance not to respond (he filled Aspen in on the plan earlier this week and it went into action last night. Aspen didn't bother to tell Osten different since it wouldn't change the child's mind whatsoever and only make him want to do it even more).

Eadlyn's bedroom door bursts open and she steps out. She's fuming mad and strangles the skeleton she woke up next to with a tight grip around its bony neck. Another shriek comes next followed by Ahren opening his bedroom door and tripping over the spider-covered-cobwebs that were covering every corner of his room. He lands on the floor and doesn't have a reaction when he sees Eadlyn and her skeleton.

"Is that foreshadowing your future marriage?" Ahren jokes, nudging at the skeleton.

Eadlyn narrows her eyes and throws the skeleton on the ground. "No, I woke up with this thing cuddling me. Its friends are all partying in my room. I think one of them was wearing my dresses. What happened to you?"

"I woke up in a spiderweb with a giant spider hanging right above me," Ahren explains.

The third scream happens. Kaden's door opens next and a thick layer of fog pours out. Eadlyn and Ahren's eyes and jaws drop open at the phenomenon. Kaden steps out and closes his door shut even though fog still pours out from the crack underneath.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Kaden screams for, running towards their room. "I woke up in a cemetery! There were tombstones everywhere and the Grim Reaper was hanging from the ceiling!"

Osten giggles to himself at the distress and fear from his siblings. This was the way Halloween was supposed to be: frightening. So far, this was so worth staying up all night and sneaking in everyone's room to redecorate. Even if he were to get grounded (which he definitely would), it wouldn't phase him since he would be stuck in his room and take that chance to catch up on his sleep.

Last, but not least, America and Maxon burst out of their room, screaming and detangling themselves from "blood"-covered bedsheets. They kick the sheets on the floor and quickly compose themselves from their small horror. The two of them look at their three oldest kids and their equally stunned expressions, but their eyes quickly look at their youngest at the end of the hallways with the camera pointed at them since they know him as the master behind this evil.

"Osten!" His parents and siblings all yell, covering the sound of a camera click.

"Happy Halloween!" Osten screams back at all of them before breaking down in laughter.


I know there is usually a Halloween ball in Illéa, but I didn't feel like writing a ball since that's what the next chapter is all about. Maybe I'll write a Halloween ball next year if this story is still around (which it probably will).

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