"I was working in the lab, late one night
when my eyes befell and eerie sight
For my monster from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise
He did the Mash, he did the Monster Mash…"
As they stepped into the front hall of the twins' house, Tomi abandoned his dramatis persona long enough to clamp a mitten-clad hand on Hamish's shoulder.
"Awesome costume, by the way." he cheered, and it quickly became apparent it was a sentiment shared by a number of the other guests who were clustered around the base of the hall staircase. It was a pleasant boost to the freckled teenager's morale.
"Thanks, Tomi." the Ghostbuster returned, and the dreadlocked chicken creature sauntered off to attend to something else with his twin sister.
Hamish turned his eyes to the other guests who were gathered there, attired in a variety of costumes, some of which were well-made, while others weren't, and a good few were store-bought.
It also became apparent that there were a few different guys dressed as some form of skeleton spread amongst the rest of the guests.
"You did let your cousin know what my costume was going to be, right? I'm going to be spending most of the night talking to all these skeletons."
"I gave him a few clues, about as much as I've told you about his."
"Why all the secrecy, anyway?"
She let out a puff. "I wanted to make this as natural for you two as possible, I thought maybe it would make for a better first meeting if you two bumped into each other on your own, instead of me telling you where each other was." Astrid cast her blue eyes over the nearby revellers. "I haven't seen him yet, so you can skip anyone in this room if you want to. If we don't see him in a while, I'll abandon the plan and try phone him."
"Thanks." he gave her an appreciative smile.
"Let's drop these off and get some drinks, shall we?" she suggested, indicating the beverages they'd brought. The two of them made their way toward the buffet table in the large formal dining room.
"…Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
to terrorise y'awls' neighborhood!..."
Vincent Price's voice crept from the stereo as clichéd organ music piped during the closing stanza of Thriller. Hamish and Astrid stood by the buffet table; while at the opposite end of the room, a collection of slightly inebriated and sober teenagers attempted to dance like Michael Jackson's zombies beneath a chandelier with coloured bulbs.
The two of them laughed as some of the dancers fell out of routine, and one even fell over onto the floor. The antics served to help Hamish relax a little after his growing nerves at their arrival, and he took a swig of his green-coloured drink, which somewhat tasted like orange juice, as the song came to an end. A brief pause circulated the room, and was followed by rising orchestral strings.
"Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This our town of Halloween…"
His eyes were drawn from the improvised dance floor as Astrid fished out her smartphone. The movement of her thumb across the screen confirmed she'd received a message, and she scanned its contents before a smile played on her lips.
She returned the device to its denim domain, and gave him a brighter smile. "He says he thinks he's seen you, but he's gotten tied up in a game'."
With this new information, he trained his eyes back across the dining room, there were a couple of skeletons visible: a girl in a costume that resembled a skeletal dia de los muertos spirit, and a man appropriately dressed like Skeleton Jack out of A Nightmare Before Christmas, but in his 'Santa Jack' attire. Neither of the two however was in the process of playing a party game.
"There aren't any games being played in here." he observed. "Probably on the other side of the house, we haven't been there yet."
"Sure." she agreed, and took a quick draw from her own plastic cup.
They crossed the hall, finding a crowded front parlour on the opposite end of the first floor. The room was more dimly lit than the first two, but illumination was provided by a bountiful array of light-up plastic skulls, ghosts and smiling pumpkins.
Several sudden screams rang out from a group of guests crowded around a television that stood in one corner, playing a DVD of The Woman in Black. Towards the back of the room, there were guests clustered around a pool table, and more at a game of beer pong.
Yep, the makings of a classic party by the twins. His eyes were drawn to a skeleton that was dressed in a smart suit, his hand poised to send a Ping-Pong ball flying. "Wish me luck."
She gave him a thumbs up, and watched as he approached the table of beer pong players.
A fist hammered against the surface of the door and he waited, irritably aware of the dampness of sweat that clung to him and the myriad of scratches that criss-crossed his hands and arms.
As he waited for the door to open, a low simmer of irritation quickly reached boiling point.
The door to the house cracked open an inch, and Tomi's disguised face peered through the crack.
"Who is it?"
"You know who it is!" he growled.
"We don't know… uh… 'Hewitt Iz'." Rebekka's voice called over the music.
"Would you stop jerking me around here!"
"I dunno, maybe we like jerking you around." she responded. "I know Tomi would like to jerk around with you, if you get my meaning."
"I got your stupid chicken, so let me in already."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We can't let you in until we've made sure it's what we're after. This is a very exclusive, uh, deal."
"You let 'Hiccup' in, and Gustav! It can't be that exclusive."
"That, sir, is fighting talk." Tomi responded.
"Just look at it already!" Stefan shouted, holding up the ridiculous creature he'd been ordered to acquire at short notice.
Tomi and Rebekka peered out at the annoyed-looking chicken held tightly in Stefan's left hand; the creature's breast was slathered with black and yellow paint, in a poor imitation of Tomi's own facial decoration.
At seeing the abomination of artistry, the dreadlocked boy's face lit up in delight. "It's real! Just like I dreamed!"
"So, let me in." Stefan asked, making his voice sound as sociable as humanly possible.
Rebekka opened the door wider. "Ooooh, did we say one chicken that looked like my brother? We meant two chickens. Sorry."
"Oooooh," Stefan pondered theatrically. "That's why I brought a spare." he held out his right hand, grasping an identical hen. "Now let me in."
"Okay." Tomi nodded.
"Sure." Rebekka agreed.
Stefan had only managed a single step toward the door when the twins both held up a hand each to stop him.
"But there's one more thing we need."
The chickens were hurled into the air with an indignant squawk as the bloodied and paint-speckled Viking warrior almost blew his top. "What?! What now?!"
The two twins remained as cool as a cucumber. "Yeah, we would love to let you in, Stefan. Really, we would. But you forgot the most important thing."
"Which is?"
"Uh, a sturgeon dressed like Chief Haddock."
"Give me a fucking break!" the chestnut-haired teenager fumed.
"Uh-uh, arguing with the party management can result in permanent banishment. And that's a lot of big words." Tomi warned.
Stefan remained standing there in silent rage, before he turned and stomped off down the path back toward the road.
"A sturgeon dressed like Chief Haddock. I'll give you both a sturgeon…"
