“Wedding”

“It should be illegal to have a wedding on Halloween,” Rachel lamented to her girlfriend Abby. She examined the run she got in her stockings from getting into the Uber.

“Well, hopefully they’ll at least get into the spirit of the day,” Abby responded, always the optimist. Rachel shrugged off her comment and started haphazardly applying lipstick. As always, the two of them were running late. Rachel wasn’t necessarily jazzed about giving up her favorite holiday to celebrate the wedding of a friend she barely liked, and thus took her sweet time getting ready. She tossed around the idea of dressing in costume, just as a middle finger to the bride and groom. Abby talked her out of it, but she still snuck a small masquerade mask in her purse, just in case.

The wedding hall was beautifully decorated with pumpkins, mums, leaves, and other seasonal items. It looked like it was ripped straight from a page out of Modern Bride. Despite all the autumnal accoutrements, however, it was decidedly not Halloween-themed. Rachel surveyed all the decor and, picking up on the non-spooky vibe, made a beeline to the bar.

“Sorry, alcohol and will only be consumed during the reception,” the bartender pointed to a sign that confirmed is direction. Rachel wanted to cry. This was definitely going to be the worst Halloween ever. Abby grabbed her arm and guided her into the reception area. Noticing the pained look on Rachel’s face, Abby tried to make her feel better.

”Hey, at least the reception’s starting soon. And, hey, if it really starts to suck we can leave early and catch the tail end of the parade,” Abby’s words made Rachel feel better. She knew it meant a lot to Abby to be there, and she was still putting Rachel’s needs first. Rachel decided to try and get into a more jovial spirit, she wanted Abby to have fun no matter what.

The two located their seats in the hall. It was surprisingly bare inside, a stark contract from the abundance of decor in the hall and other rooms of the building.

“Geez, did they fire the decorator before she got to reception or something?” Rachel joked as Abby elbowed her to quiet down. Even the tables were fairly bare: there were no flowers or fancy silverware. There was just a bottle in the center of each table—it looked like some kind of tequila with a scorpion at the bottom of the bottle.

“Each table gets a bottle of tequila? Maybe this night won’t be so bad after all,” Rachel quipped.

Others eventually started to filter on, all taking their seats. It was eerily quiet, no music playing, even if just for atmosphere. Then Abby and Rachel realized something: they didn’t recognize a single soul in the room. Abby considered asking if they were in the wrong room when the lights went out completely, shrouding them all in darkness.

Abby and Rachel held onto each other’s arms, growing uneasy. Something was wrong. It all just felt so… off. When the lights came back on, albeit dim, everyone in the room was wearing a mask. Rachel scrambled in her purse to pull out her emergency mask and quickly placed it on her face. Abby barely had time to react before she was whisked away to the dance floor.

“Abby!” Rachel yelped as a person wearing a devil mask spun Abby around and waltzed with her across the floor. The music playing grew louder, an eerie, foreboding version of Danse Macabre. Rachel tried to get up, but it felt like she was being pulled back down to the seat.

“Why did you come?” A masked man sitting at her table asked Rachel.

“Excuse me?” Rachel replied.

“If you don’t want to be here, why did you come?” The man asked again.

“It’s my friend’s wedding!” Rachel replied as she tried to fight off the invisible force keeping her trapped in her chair.

“She’s not your friend. None of these people are your friends,” he responded.

He had a point. Rachel wasn’t the biggest fan of the bride, and sometimes she felt like Abby only stayed in contact with her to keep up appearances. Why were they both sacrificing a day that meant so much to them to celebrate someone they were barely holding on to as a friend. Once she was married, she’d move to another state and they’d likely seldom if ever see her again. This was all just a charade to keep the status quo.

But Abby looked so happy on the dancefloor, twirling happily around. Rachel thought maybe she had just been projecting her own views onto Abby. She had been so miserable in the days leading up to this. And, for the first time in what felt like months, Abby looked genuinely happy.

“Don’t worry,” another masked woman at Rachel’s table whispered to her, “we’re all playing a part in this masquerade.”

Rachel surveyed the room nervously before speaking again, “where are the bride and the groom?”

“There they are,” the masked woman replied, pointing to Abby and her dance partner.

”No! That’s not them. That’s my girlfriend. That’s my Abby,” Rachel protested, still unable to move.

Right at that moment, Abby’s dance partner leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Rachel’s cheeks grew red, flush with anger and embarrassment. What the Hell was happening?

Abby turned and made eye contact with Rachel. She smiled at her. The music grew more sinister and the lights in the room came up entirely. Everyone seemed to be a watching her. She looked down to see someone loosening the ties that had been carefully wrapped around her waist, the ones she didn’t noticed that kept her trapped.

Abby beckoned Rachel to come over to her. Rachel approached her with trepidation, she didn’t know what was going on and she had never felt more frightened in her life. She stood a foot away from her love, petrified. Abby moved in closer. Closer. Closer. She put her lips up to Rachel’s ear.

“Happy Halloween,” she whispered.

Rachel pulled back, confused. The lights dimmed again and music started to play. It was the Monster Mash. Everyone started dancing.

There was not going to be a wedding that night. There never was.

Too bad everyone drank the tequila, and no one would live to tell the story of the greatest Halloween party ever thrown.