Halloween by John Passarella

Author:John Passarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan Books

23

Allyson had been inside the decorated gymnasium for a grand total of ten seconds before wishing Vicky had ditched her babysitting commitment to come to the dance. Oscar had wasted no time dragging Cameron off to provide a distraction while Oscar retrieved his stashed beer. Instead of enjoying the school dance with her boyfriend—if she could even call him that yet—she felt as self-conscious as if she’d wandered in off the street, certain everyone was staring at her while making unflattering or pitying comments. Hard to live in the moment, she thought, when the current moment sucks.

To take her mind off her temporary solitary status, she decided to take in her surroundings and hope Cameron returned sooner rather than later. She wasn’t sure how long she wanted to gut it out alone. Avoiding the dancers in the center of the gymnasium, gyrating over a large pentagram decal applied to the hardwood floor, she made a circuit of the perimeter, bobbing her head in time with the loud music.

They’d entered the gym under an archway made of black and orange balloons. Strings of alternating blue and yellow balloons—their school colors—rose from the floor to crisscross the ceiling before coming down on the other side, giving the effect of giant spider legs. As if immune to the laws of gravity, no less than five skeletons hung suspended from the ceiling in various vertigo-inducing poses.

In the corner to the right of the balloon archway stood another skeleton, strung with orange lights bordered by bales of hay, also strung with lights and covered in fake cobwebs. A spotlight shone down on the skeleton, which was also the focus of a floor strobe light.

As Allyson reached the midpoint of the gym, several cheerleaders rushed onto the dance floor and performed a choreographed cheer routine before the DJ stage at the far end of the gym. Roving spotlights, strobe lights and large speakers hung from a light truss framework over the DJ’s two-tiered stage. An oversized Frankenstein’s monster made of papier mâché lay prone on a table before the DJ, several candles burning next to the head. Headphones draped around his neck, the DJ wore a rubber mask, a ghoulishly wrinkled face framed by wild white hair, which reminded Allyson of no Dr Frankenstein she’d ever seen. Behind the DJ and his equipment, he’d set up a fake horror movie electrical panel and two glowing towers designed to look as if they would produce a Jacob’s ladder electrical effect. Beside the DJ, two girls danced, one costumed as a belly dancer, complete with pink lei around her neck, the other in a skimpy red latex outfit, possibly one of the many variations of the sexy devil costume.

As the cheerleaders departed the dance floor together, Allyson checked out some of the costumes her classmates wore. She spotted a few in black with skeleton masks, a pirate, one girl dressed as a Kabuki dancer, a wizard hanging around with a magician who, like Oscar, wore a cape, but with a string tie closure.

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