Tough Times at the Halloween House Party
The moon was down and out for the count as Eddie cruised down the road towards a party he wasn’t sure he wanted to go to. A bottle of Gray Goose rode shotgun with him, buckled in with a seatbelt to boot. Eddie wasn’t an admirer of vodka himself, but the drink was a crowd-pleaser and a free gift from his cousin; so nothing was gained, and nothing lost. When he was about five minutes away from his destination, a black cat leaped into the glow of Eddie’s headlights, prompting him to slam the brakes.
“Shit!” Eddie yelped, grateful that he had decided to buckle up his booze; the sound of the liquor swishing in the bottle added to his simultaneous stress and relief. The cat remained motionless in the road for a time, staring directly at Eddie’s face; its eyes seeking entry into his soul as they shone from the lights reflected against them. The driver frustratedly honked his horn at the animal in his way, only for it to remain stationary. “Jesus…” Eddie mumbled under his breath, putting his car into park and unbuckling his seat belt. As he did, the superstition about black cats causing bad luck occurred to him, but he waved the idea away as needlessly superstitious at best, and horribly prejudiced against black cats at worst. After all, the poor bastards had enough on their plate, what with the number of ritualistic sacrifices occurring around Halloween. It was dangerous even, for a black cat to stop in front of a car this late at night in the fall; for all it knew, Eddie was a wannabe witch primed to skin it alive for a seance, or whatever the hell amateur witches got up to.
Stepping out of his car, Eddie prepared to shoo the cat out of the way of his vehicle, only to find that there was nothing there in the patch of light. It must’ve just scampered off, Eddie thought to himself, groaning and stepping back into his car. Eddie shrugged and buckled himself in again as snugly as the Gray Goose riding next to him.
After spending too much time finding parking by the apartments where the party was being held, Eddie knocked on the door to Tracy’s place, waiting in the cold for what felt like an eternity, only for Tracy to open the door with a wicked grin.
“Eddiiiiee, good to see ya, man!” Tracy was dressed in a classic vampire costume; white button-down shirt, high-collared cloak, fake fangs, and a tasteful amount of fake blood dribbling down her chin.