Crazy, Sexy, Ghoulish: A Halloween Romance by G.G. Andrew

Author:G.G. Andrew
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter Nine

Devil’s Night. The infamous night before Halloween. Even the air felt different that evening.

As I walked to the Haunted Shack, the wind blew in big, startling gusts, like a playful giant was breathing bouts of cold wind on the corpse of our Indian summer. The air was full of change and possibility, with forces frolicking unseen. It was as if one of those big gusts could sweep me up in the air to skip around the moon.

As a particularly strong breeze teased my skirt, I gathered up my long black dress and giggled.

Now that I’d decided to tell Brendan at his party, I couldn’t wait to see him. To let him heckle me and to try to scare him. To play and tease until I could return home and text him all night like we’d done before.

So what will it be tonight? he’d written I’d left class that afternoon. Zombie nurse, vampire, or a surprise?

Surprise. I’ve got to keep the visitors on their toes.

At the Shack I grabbed a black, pointy hat from the closet. Besides a little lip gloss, I left my face free of makeup. Instead I would wear a gnarled witch’s mask, the features knobby and grotesque. I twirled the mask on my finger.

You might have trouble recognizing me, I texted him. You might have to look at my legs again. Strictly for identification purposes.

Strictly for identification purposes. What, have I done something else before? I’m a complete professional.

“Nora,” Tim bellowed when he saw me, his arms wide. “My pretty little witch.”

“Your pretty scary little witch.”

“There’s the spirit! Only two more nights. Can you feel it?” Tim wore a goofy grin through his thick white-and-red makeup, the effect both happy and sad. “If only we could stop the clock.”

We crammed for a quick monster meetup near the front, but everyone working knew the drill—scare, rinse, repeat—and soon I donned my pointy black hat and walked toward my place in the Shack.

The witch’s booth was right after the dolls, so I had to walk past them. I barely looked at them through my peripheral vision—just enough to make sure they weren’t suddenly going follow me.

You make such a pretty witch, Nora.

I quickened my step.

Remember to put on your mask, Nora.

In the hallway after, a row of glowing skeleton heads grinned at me from the wall. Then I passed through a doorway that had an actual door we could shut—rare in the house—and a nearby buzzer I skillfully evaded.

A single, swaying lightbulb hung over my booth, casting a shaky spot of light on the counter in front of the booth. Off to one side, it held tiny little dishes of peeled grapes, blood-red noodles, and purplish gelatin made to look like body parts. Probably the grossest part was the number of people who would be touching them tonight and spreading germs. Shelves in back were heavy with jars filled with thick yellow liquid and mysterious shapes that may or may not have been more of Tim’s failed cooking experiments.

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