Halloween At Croft Manor

by

James. M

October 31st, it was that time of year. Deep within the English countryside, inside the walls of a lovely, large mansion, the well-known, famous and gorgeous action-adventure British archeologist Lara Croft had finished dressing up in a black cat outfit, complete with fake whiskers.

Her American boyfriend Kurtis was there, dressed up as a magician. Even though they didn't plan on going out trick or treating, both he and Lara still intended on dressing up for Halloween and having a Halloween hang out. Hopefully, there were no crazy big surprises.

Lara exited the changing room, fully dressed in her cat outfit. Kurtis soon emerged as well, adjusting his magician's hat. "Looking lovely and spot on, love." The archeologist's fellow adventurer said with a smile, he winked and put on a monocle.

"Thank you, good sir." The adventurous archeologist replied, she and her boyfriend shared a kiss just as Winston the Butler came in, dressed as a hunchback due to being short. "Good evening, you two." Winston said, "Hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all, Winston." Lara replied, "My boyfriend and I were just complimenting each other on our costumes and sharing a bit o' love, am I right, Kurtis."

"That's right, luv." Kurtis nodded.

"Are the Halloween decorations set up, Winston?"

Winston nodded, "Yes they are, Lara, I carved the pumpkins."

Lara, Kurtis and Winston left the room, out into the decorated hallways of the mansion with fake spider webs lining the walls and a few signs that read 'Happy Halloween' were set up everywhere. A stuffed spider and a fake skeleton occupied the living room, everything was looking lively.

Winston prepared some tea for the two adventurers and they sat down at the table before taking a sip of their Halloween tea, which tasted amazing compared to the other times they had tea. It was six in the afternoon; the sun was going down and darkness was looming.

Hopefully, no goons would break in and try to achieve something bad like they always tried to do. Lara hadn't beefed up her mansion's security system yet, but she'd thought about it. Plus, she was always ready with her pistols at her side.

Kurtis was armed as well; he had a P.K Walter with him at all times. Just in case they came under attack tonight and had to fight, Lara had made sure her costume had pockets to store her guns in the outfit just in case she was in an intense situation.

As Lara drank through her tea, she almost felt tense, despite having a relaxing massage earlier. Her eyes often darted around, glancing at the windows. It was as if she expected attackers to come crashing in, attempting to rob the house or bump her off any time.

So far, that hadn't happened again... yet. Winston walked around the house, muttering quietly to himself about getting locked in the freezer. The poor man seemed to have bad luck ending up in there most of the time, however, that had not happened in a long time.

The big clock ticked, counting down the minutes and the hour of the evening. After tea, Lara sat with Kurtis in the sitting room, spending some alone time. Kurtis, trying to be a magician, played with some cards and tried to pull a rabbit out of his hat in an attempt to entertain his girlfriend.

'Silly Kurtis,' Lara thought when the only thing the man pulled out of the hat was a black tabby. As a matter of fact, the tabby cat was Lara's cat. She'd adopted it last week and named it Jolie after one of her friends, the archeologist had her ways with animals.

After Kurtis was done attempting to do some magic, especially since he was not a real magician, he had Lara mimic a cat. She got down on all fours, trying to meow and scratch herself which got Jolie curious. "Mew?" Jolie asked in her cat language.

"Meow mrow!" Lara meowed back and, before they knew it, she and the cat were having a cat chat which got Winston and Kurtis laughing. Who could've thought that Lara would make quite a cat girl, especially on the day of all Hallow's Eve?

Just then, a spooky cackle echoed through the walls, followed by chilling piano music. Lights started dimming, then they turned off and on. Lara and Kurtis looked at each other, startled and confused. Was the house suddenly being invaded by ghosts?

SMASH! Masked and cloaked men with guns and swords broke through the windows, armed and ready, just as Lara had feared and expected. One goon dressed as a ghost made a "Bwoo hoo ho hoo" ghost noise while making creepy gestures, taunting the house's occupants.

The archeologist and her boyfriend drew their guns, Kurtis grabbing a sword too while Winston and Jolie went into hiding. The thugs attacked with the adventurers fighting back, evading the sword swipes and gunshots, fighting hard against the house invaders.

Winston tried his best to find a place to hide as he evaded goons coming in, he found a hiding room and closed the door behind him, realizing too late that he'd ended up in the freezer... again. Thankfully, he wouldn't suffer a bad fate.

Lara and Kurtis fought off the Halloween Goons, disarming the last one, who fled in terror as he shrieked like a banshee. With the fight done, the duo began clean up and started looking for Winston and Jolie. Kurtis found the cat hiding under a desk, but Winston was tough to find.

Just as Lara was passing by the freezer, he heard moaning inside and opened the door, paving the way for a freezing cold Winston to come out, looking terrified. "Why do I always end up in the freezer?" The butler moaned as he shivered, "Why, oh, why?"

Kurtis came in, surprised to see what had happened with Winston. Yet, as Jolie rubbed against their legs, the two adventurers laughed and shared a kiss. Halloween for Lara Croft was one of surprises, chills and strange stuff, even when she wasn't on a dangerous adventure...

The End