Ted looked at the wall clock, trying to make the hands move faster. Fifteen more minutes and the workday was over. Most days, he could care less about quitting time. He lived alone, and it had been months since Lisa had broken up with him, so staying at work gave him something to fill his empty life.
"You know that looking at the clock constantly won't move the hands any faster," Catherine said, laughing at the young man in the next cube. Since he had started working at the firm, she had taken on the mentor/mother role.
"Got a big date or something?" Catherine asked.
"It's Halloween," Ted said, smiling. He liked Catherine, but sometimes, she was kind of a busybody.
"Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" Catherine asked the eighteen-year-old.
"I'm not going trick or treating. Sean got us tickets to the hottest Halloween party in the city."
Sean had been Ted's best friend since middle school and tried unsuccessfully to get Ted to start dating after Lisa walked out.
"The party in the old Hensley place? What's the name? Scarefest?" Catherine asked, frowning.
Scarefest was held each year on the old Hensley plantation and played off town folklore about the dark arts Jebediah Hensley had practiced there 200 years ago. Each year, on All Hallows Eve, people would lock their doors and pray to God for protection. The day after, more townspeople would be missing. No bodies were ever found.
Legend said that finally, the church elders decided to see the threat for themselves. A group led by the pastor quietly approached the Hensley's stable. They said Jebediah was sacrificing young women to a demon for immortality. The pastor, determined to drive out the evil, had the men burn down the stables with everyone inside.
Rumor had it that all the men involved in burning the stables had died mysteriously. The property was abandoned with the Hensley family's death and reverted to the city at some point for back taxes.
"Yeah. I have wanted to go for years, but the tickets are hard to get."
"Maybe you shouldn't go. That party has a bad reputation. Every year, several people go missing."
"The girl from last year? That was just a publicity stunt. She turned up a couple of days later, still high from the party," Ted told her, annoyed that Catherine was trying to keep him from going.
"Still, others have gone missing that were never found, as far back as when the Hensleys owned the house."
"That is all a bunch of superstition," Ted said dismissively.
Young people know everything
, Catherine thought as she sighed.
"Just promise that you will be careful, Okay?" was all she said.
"Yes, Mom," Ted replied as he put his things away and left.
Ted raced home, almost getting into a wreck when he blew through a stop sign. Once inside his apartment, he changed into his costume. Looking back at him in the mirror was a nerdy version of Alucard, a half-vampire/half-human character from a video game. He had bought the costume for Halloween last year, but Lisa thought it was stupid, so he put it away.
"I will be the best-dressed vampire there," Ted said, looking in the mirror.
Grabbing his keys, he stopped by Sean's place to pick up him and his girlfriend, Sue.
"Nice costume, Bro," Sean said while climbing into the passenger seat.
Sean and Sue had dressed as the zombie version of raggedy-Ann and raggedy-Andy.
"You some kind of pirate?" Sue asked as she sat in the back seat.
Sean and Ted looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"No, I'm Alucard and. Oh, never mind," Ted said, seeing Sue roll her eyes.
"Come on, you two. Can we be at least civil tonight? Sue, Ted isn't a pirate. He's a half-vampire/half-human," Sean said, looking at Ted. Ted read the implied message: please don't fight with her tonight.
"Ready to get scared?" Ted asked, changing the topic.
"Hell, yes!" Sue shouted.
Sean smiled, and the trio were off to the party.
They pulled into a crowded makeshift parking lot just as the sun set, casting the trees and tents in a deep maroon that quickly faded to black as the sun dropped below the horizon.
"Everyone remember where we parked," Sean said, putting his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
"Why do we need to remember?" Sue asked.
"In case we get separated, silly," Sean told her.
They followed the crowd to the entrance, where someone dressed as a troll was checking tickets.
"Ticket, please," the troll asked, looking over Sean and Sue.
"Let me see your right hand," the troll said after looking at the ticket Sue gave him.
Sue extended her hand.
"This might sting a little," the man in the troll costume said as he set a device with a stamping wheel inside against her skin.
Sue giggled as the wheel spun until it stopped on a snake image, which it stamped her hand with.
"Shit. That hurt, asshole!" Sue exclaimed, jerking her hand back to examine it.
"Hey..." Sean started to say, moving to protect Sue, looking like he would punch the troll.
"Listen, Dude. I just work here," the troll said, pointing to the bottom of the ticket.
"The ticket says you will be marked on entry so the Lady and Lord of the manor know you."
"That is what this stamper does. It decides what stamp you get and pricks the skin as it puts the ink on your hand. The ink lasts until the sun rises before it burns off. You can leave if you don't want the mark, but the woman stays until sunrise like everyone else marked."
"This is bullshit," Sean says, grabbing Sue's unhurt hand, trying to pull her away towards the car.
"Hey. Let me go," Sue demanded, pulling away from Sean.
Sean looked at her in surprise.
"I have wanted to see the inside since I was a kid, and I'm not leaving until I do," Sue said as she took a few steps from Sean.
Sean looked at Ted.
"Don't look at me. You already know my answer," Ted said, extending his hand to the troll. The wheel in the device spun and stopped on a bat. Ted remembered what had happened to Sue and was ready for the prick.
A burning sensation flashed up his arm before disappearing almost as quickly as it started, causing Ted to wonder if he had imagined it.
"You're holding up the line, sir. Either in or out," the troll said, glaring at Sean.
"You are both fucking crazy," Sean said as he extended his hand to the troll.
Sean decided he wouldn't show any pain when the stamp pricked his hand after stopping on the spider symbol.
"Next," the troll said, waving Sean toward the gateway.
"That wasn't so bad," he told the other two, putting his arms around Sue and Ted on the other. The three of them walked through the main gate.
The music was loud inside the party, and the dim light from multiple firepits was only broken by strobe lights.
Just a few feet inside the party was a table where a mummy served glasses of punch from several bowls.
"Hey, let's get something to drink," Ted said as he approached the counter. Sean looked at Sue and shrugged.
"Stamp, please," the mummy asked.
