Erika looked over the final preparations for the Halloween party. It was a tradition for their sorority to turn their house into a haunted mansion during Halloween. Right now they were putting the finishing touches on the attic, where the actual party would be held.
The redheaded Romy and Toby, her boyfriend from the basketball-team, were busy setting up the sound-system in the corner while Angela and her twin Mai were fussing over the food. She turned around again and watched as the raven-haired Sarah studied the old book beside her before carefully painting another blue squiggle in the circle.
Once again Erika studied the large sigil in the center. It was blue like the rest and connected to the circle by three lines. It didn't really resemble anything but it still reminded Erika of something. The design was enchanting, although Erika didn't think that was the right word. Enchanting was too delicate a word for the primal vibe she got from it.
Erika walked over and put her hand on Sarah's shoulder who seemed to jump at the contact. "You know, you don't have to put in this much work. Don't get me wrong, I like how you want to make it authentic but it just has to look occult."
Sarah turned her head, resting her hand holding the brush on the floor at the same time. "It's really no problem and I just think you should do it right if you do something."
Erika nodded. "And what is it supposed to do?"
Sarah gave her a smile. "Summon the demon Optabido."
Erika blinked and then shrugged it off. "Okay, well you are the expert on these things." She frowned as another thought hit her. "This is removable, right?"
Sarah chuckled and nodded and Erika let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, just checking. Well, I have to go over to Amanda's to get my costume. I should be back in an hour in time to greet the first guests."
They said their good-byes and she left, not noticing the appreciative stare Sarah was giving her denim-clad behind or the glimmer that traveled from the painter's pale hand through the entire symbol before vanishing again.
-------------------------------------------------
'Stupid Amanda and her hormones!' Erika fumed as she stomped back. 'Two hours! Two fucking hours waiting in the hallway while she has a sex-marathon with her latest conquest.' So now she was late, very late.
'But my costume looks fantastic,' she tried to console herself. She had gone for the pirate look, with black leather trousers that hugged her legs and a frilly shirt that was untied to show of her modest cleavage. She wore a bandoleer with a cheap plastic sword on her left and had her light-blond hair in a braid that came to her shoulders.
The party was supposed to have started an hour ago when she finally arrived, but she was surprised to find nobody at the entrance. The door was open and she could faintly hear the spooky music drifting into the night but the hallway was empty.
She walked in looking around in the hope of seeing a latecomer but either nobody was interested in their party or everybody was so interested that they were actually on time. Neither possibility sounded right to Erika and nobody was around.
'Just me and the fake spiderwebs, bats and the spooky music...' Erika blinked as it finally registered that the song had changed and that she didn't recognize it as one they had selected for the evening. The music now playing spoke of a thrumming need. It gave her the feeling that something was waiting for her in the house. Unthinking she took a step back and jumped when she heard a bang behind her.
She turned around and saw the door was now closed. And she was still alone. 'Must have been the wind,' Erika reasoned. Only problem was that it wasn't that windy. 'Okay, I think I have wasted enough time standing around. I better get upstairs.'
She took the corridor on the right and strode purposefully down the dimly lit hall. She turned right where the corridor ended expecting to see the stairs to the second floor but stopped when she found a corridor identical to the one she just went through. She looked back and found her vision blocked by a wall at the end of that corridor right about where the hallway was supposed to be. That intersection was a mirror image to the one she was standing in down to the small table with a lamp and a plastic spider on it.
The blonde pirate couldn't think up a perfectly logical explanation for what she was seeing and panic began to well up before she fought it down.
'So my two options now are going forward or trying to make my way back,' she reasoned. 'Or I could just use my cell to call for help.' Her hand went to her pocket in a reflexive move to retrieve the phone when she realized she had forgotten it in her haste to get changed. 'Okay, well I still have two options.' The thought rang with false cheer.
In the end Erika decided to go forward hoping her chances to meet someone that way were higher than if she tried to backtrack. She saw that another hallway intersected with this one five doors down and hoped she would see something familiar once there because she was rapidly getting lost. Perhaps it was all the Halloween decoration or more of the weirdness going on but she hardly recognized anything.
She was just passing another door identical to all the others she had seen so far when she heard a growl coming from behind it. Erika froze at that first sign of another living thing. She looked at the door and tried to catch any other noises. More growls and a roar came from within the room but she also thought she had heard someone talking.
Licking her suddenly dry lips she reached for the handle. The background music wasn't helping to quell her anxiety and actually seemed to grow louder, thumping in time with the beating of her heart. A tremble ran through her body. Once she pressed the handle down the door swung open on its own revealing two occupants. A boy and a girl mating on the rug not two meters in front of her.
