Let's Dance With the Dead

At the very last moment, I clung to the edge before I fell completely.

“Ugh! Wh-What the hell?!”

As I gawked at the ceiling, clinging to dear life, soft footsteps grew closer until a familiar face peeked down. There Claire stood, staring down with those porcelain green eyes.

“Oh? It’s you again,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“C-Claire?! What is the meaning of this?!”

“Hmm? I’m inspecting the damages here. Apparently, my guests were complaining that the floors were creaking too loud.” She pointed at the red sign at the entrance. “Didn’t you see the sign? It says ‘Do Not Enter.’”

“What do you mean?! That’s a road sign! I thought that was decoration!” I grunted and climbed out of the hole, brushing off the debris. “Oh, great, my dress is ruined…”

“Oh, want me to stitch it up?”

“Erm,” I stared at her mint-green, frilly dress crudely sewn and shook my head, “no thanks. Just let me through… Is the bathroom still working?”

“Oh, yes. Just watch your step, hehe.”

Carefully, I walked past her, right before Claire also said, “By the way, they’re also here, watching you.”

“What? Who’s ‘they?’”

“Hehe, beats me. Don’t worry about it. They won’t hurt you. Not after tonight, of course. Better watch your back if I were you...”

I squinted at her, watching her hum and playfully swing her mop around like a child not knowing how to do her chores. Definitely strange and creepy, but I shouldn’t waste my time here.

I looked away and continued with my business, ignoring Claire’s giggles behind me.

***

“Oh, Blanche, there you are!” said Maria. “What took you so lo—eh? Wait, what happened to your dress?!”

I looked down at the ripped hem and sighed. “Uh…” Would they believe me if I said I almost fell through the floor? “I… tripped in the bathroom,” I said, shrugging.

“You can’t just casually rip your clothes while tripping! Did you fight a dog or something?”

“Of course not. I was just unlucky.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” asked Ray.

“No, I’m fine,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back. “What about you guys? What did I miss?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just scrolling through reels. Hehe, check this out!” Maria held up her phone, showing a video of a cat pushing another cat off a table.

“Pfft, that’s so mean!”

“Right? The cat looks just like you! It even has blue eyes too!”

“Ohh, haha. Yeah, it kind of does.”

Ray glanced at Maria and me, raising a brow. “...Soo, are we not going to fix the dress?”

I blinked back down at my dress and shrugged. “Eh, it’s whatever. It actually kind of fits in more with the others,” I said, pointing at the other partygoers with ripped clothes. “Don’t you think so?”

“Hmm…” Maria stroked her chin. “You’re right. Everyone here is wearing old, ripped clothes…”

“And then there’s us, wearing modern getups like we’re out on a trip to the mall,” said Ray, scratching his head.

I giggled and shrugged. “Hey, that just means we’re unique! Maybe we can even stand out more in the contest.”

“Yeah! …By the way, when is the contest again?” asked Maria.

I took a peek at my phone. “In… ten minutes.”

The three of us glanced at the grandfather clock striking close to nine in the evening.

“R-Really?! Why didn’t anyone say anything? Where is it?”

“It’s at the theater hall, silly goose!” said a flickering jack-o’-lantern.

Maria yelped and jumped backward, arms sprawled over her head. “Uwah! What was that?!”

“Hahaha!” The pumpkin resting on a table cackled and coughed, its face frozen. Definitely had a tiny speaker inside of it. “You should've seen the look on your face! Hah! Priceless!”

Maria flushed her face and pouted.

“Anyway, just follow the crowd—everyone will be there. Good luck, you’ll need it…” The pumpkin’s laughter gradually faded with its light, leaving us cold shivers.

“Can’t this place get any creepier?” Ray muttered, shuddering.

I shrugged and said, “That’s the whole point of Halloween.” I pointed at the other guests as they walked through a particular door. “Come on, let’s follow them.”

The three of us curiously followed the crowd, maintaining our distance and staying quiet. As expected, lively music gradually grew louder the further we walked, and when we finally arrived, a grand stage at the end of the hall greeted us.

Standing on the podium was Claire herself, quietly humming and rocking her heels as more guests poured in. We began to wonder where contestants were supposed to be, but I could see Crowley blending in with the crowd, so assuming he was also a contestant, maybe we were right where we should be.

We couldn’t be sure at all, really. The contest page never mentioned how it should go.

A few more minutes passed, until eventually, the grandfather clock officially chimed nine in the evening. The spotlights dimmed, leaving one to shine upon the sole speaker on stage.

Claire tapped on the microphone. “Ahem! Testing, testing. Can you all hear me?”

The crowd responded with grunts and cheers.

“Ahh, splendid! Hehehe, Happy Halloween, folks! It’s that time of the year again! Isn’t that so exciting? It feels so refreshing coming back to the living world, am I right? Golly, modern technology is improving so fast, I can barely keep up! It’s crazy!”

A few people chuckled and shared murmurs.

“Anyway, all of you already know why you’re here. Our one and only thrilling costume contest is about to start! But, to you newcomers out there—yes, I see you—I bet you’re a little lost. Hehe, I totally understand that.”

Claire twirled her finger and paced around the stage. “You see, this costume contest isn’t like any other human event. We do things a little… differently here. As spirits, we’re all wearing our usual getup, aren’t we? There’s no fun showing off what you always look like, you know? That’s why we show off ‘other things’ in this contest.”

As she said that, the golden chandelier directly above her began to quiver.

The doll girl stretched a wicked grin. “Hey, hey, have you newcomers heard the rumors? On every Halloween, a witch or a warlock is born. How, you may ask? Why, you simply have to—!”

As unexpected as a strike of lightning, the chandelier abruptly snapped off the ceiling.

The three of us widened our eyes, turning pale as the chandelier crashed onto the girl, crushing her body right onstage.