Chapter Text
It was the perfect Halloween night. The moon was full and bright and the sky a mesmerizing dark blue. The stars were hidden behind the thin wisps of gray clouds that lazily drifted by. The atmosphere was set and Louis had worked tirelessly to get a room in his mansion all set for tonight. Bowls were filled with chocolates, Reese's peanut butter cups, Skittles and other sugary sweets. Candy corn was placed in a separate bowl for the few people who enjoyed the ‘Poor man’s Halloween candy’ as Louis put it. James was hovering over that bowl talking excitedly with Aasim about good indie horror movies they had watched recently. Both of them were comparing notes while eating the candy corn.
“Well I see neither of you have good taste buds when it comes to candy,” Louis strolled over with a book tucked under his arm.
“Candy corn is good, you’re just bitter that you don’t understand that fact,” Aasim huffed with annoyance and grabbed another handful.
“I’ve never been bitter a day in my life. Everyone always compliments my sweetness,” Louis grinned then looked over at James who was munching on an Almond Joy. James always seemed to enjoy the most controversial things. Pineapple pizza, candy corn, Almond Joys, the Minions for some reason. He sure was an odd one. “You're really vibing with the corn too, Jamie boy?” Louis saw the surprise in James’ eyes at the new nickname.
He gave a shy nod then kept eating.
“Hey, I’m back and I brought more candy corn like you asked,” Jesse called out from the steps that led into the room. He tossed them over towards the group. Aasim caught them with a small yelp and watched as Jesse casually went over and spoke with his boyfriend, his pinky intertwining with James’.
“Whelp, I should leave you two lovebirds alone! Oh and the third wheel,” Louis teased Aasim who sighed deeply.
“Ruby is busy bobbing for apples with Brody and Sophie,” Aasim gestured over to his short fiery girlfriend who was like a machine when it came to bobbing for apples. Brody, meanwhile, was cheering Ruby on then taking a turn here and there. Her attention seemed to get diverted though by Sophie who seemed keen on eating an entire apple one at a time while her head remained submerged in the basin.
“Well maybe you should go over there and bob for some kisses then,” Louis playfully nudged Aasim’s side, ignored his excuses then went on his way to check on his other friends.
“Yeah! Yeah! That’s right! Suck on this, Mitch!” Clementine yelled as she performed a move that won her the match on Street Fighter 2 .
“No! Fuck off! That was bullshit and you know it, Clem!” Mitch frowned over at his friend.
“Hmm? Sorry, what was that? I don’t understand loser,” Clementine placed her hands on her hips and watched in amusement as Mitch grabbed a quarter from the skeleton head bowl by the arcade machines.
“I don’t understand loser, bleh! Shut up, Everett, and get ready for another round!” Mitch got the next match set up and angrily picked his fighter.
“Looks like you two are having fun,” Louis strode forward, giving his most dashing smile towards his girlfriend.
“Hey, Lou,” Clementine stole a quick kiss, humming softly against his lips for a moment then returning her attention to the arcade game. “Can’t kiss right now, I’ll meet you by the couch after I whoop Mitch’s ass again.”
“Heh, keep on dreaming!” Mitch smirked then went on the offensive for the first round.
Louis smiled and shook his head. They looked like they were having fun. His gaze wandered around the room until it landed on the pizza table where Willy was trying his best to impress Allison by eating more pizza than AJ. Unfortunately for Willy, AJ was trying to impress his best friend Telulah and he wasn’t planning on losing. It was a feral, haphazard contest that Louis was surprised Sophie hadn’t taken part in.
“Oh shit! Shit! No!”
Marlon’s voice rang out as he failed a level of The House of the Dead . The catchy “Game Over” theme started playing while Marlon ran his hands through his mullet.
“Oof, that’s rough buddy,” Mariana gave the blond a friendly whack on the back then got set to have her turn with the arcade game. “Insert Coin(s)” appeared on the screen before the scene switched to a table where a phone was ringing. A scared voice appeared on the phone before suddenly ending. After a second the iconic theme started playing, giving those classic spooky vibes when the organ joined into the song.
The sound of the arcade game was quickly muffled out though as the Scooby Doo theme song started playing on the big screen TV. Duck was sprawled out on the couch holding Oakley in his arms while Gabe rested in Nurgul’s. Both couples were excitedly talking about their favorite Scooby Doo episodes while Tenn and Violet lay on the floor. The two friends were softly talking as they drew spooky pictures to celebrate the holiday. Neither of their drawings were scary at all though. Tenn had landed on drawing ghosts while Violet was busy drawing a big, fluffy werewolf. Despite all the noise nearby they seemed to be enjoying their drawing time together.
“Eat this, shortie!”
Therissa’s booming voice appeared as she sent the air hockey puck scorching down the table.
“You’re shorter than me, dumbass!” Minnie yelled back and whacked the puck with such force that it flew off the table. The small puck packed quite a punch as it went flying through the air and thunked against Prisha’s face.
“Ow! Damn it!” Prisha was pulled away from her conversation with Omar over hauntingly stunning musicals.
“Sorry!” Minnie and Therissa called out to Prisha at the same time before Renata scampered over and stole the air hockey puck from her.
“You see how tough my girlfriend is?” She smirked competitively over at Bethany who was making a weird concoction of different sodas for Renata.
“Therissa has already won a round. Come back when Minnie has won one.” Bethany gave a competitive smile right back then looked over at Omar. “Hey, those spider cookies you made were fucking great. Mind giving me the recipe?”
“I don’t mind, but do you think you can actually not burn this batch?”
“Ummm su- yeah no, they’ll probably taste bad.” Bethany smiled while her friend sighed deeply.
Louis grinned as he looked around the room. Everyone was having a spooky good time. He couldn’t wait to make it even better. With a big smile he strode to the middle of the room.
“If everyone would pause in your spooky fun, I have a special surprise for everyone,”
The others turned when they heard that and worked to make their way over. They listened to Louis’ instructions as he placed a book on the table by the couch. Everyone worked to find spots where they could see what was happening and many of them didn’t mind sitting on laps to help make space.
“Before I explain, a quick story! Two weeks ago I was brainstorming this night. How would I make it the best Halloween ever? Where would I find enough comfy beanbag chairs for folks? How could I become even sexier for a certain someone for this special haunting night?” Louis smiled over at Clementine who shook her head but a flirtatious smile rested on her lips.
Violet rolled her eyes and sunk deeper into Prisha’s arms. “Is there a point here or is this just another rerun of your love life?”
Louis tutted and shook his finger “How poor are they that have not patience!”
“What?” Sophie tilted her head to the side.
“Oh! That’s Sharpie-”
“Shakespeare,” Prisha corrected Renata with a long sigh. “Why the hell would someone be named Sharpie?”
“If they wanted to be cool,” Therissa held out her open palm and accepted a downward high five from Renata.
That created a stupid argument that everyone chimed into until Marlon spoke up.
“Guys, come on, let’s hear Lou out!”
“Thanks bro,” Louis gave an appreciative smile then cleared his throat and displayed the book. “I found this creepy ass book at a yard sale and it looks like it has spells!”
“Ooo!” Some voices cooed in awe.
“I don’t know, isn't that maybe… dangerous?” Nurgul pointed out from her beanbag chair.
“You mispronounced ‘fun’,” Louis corrected.
“This is stupid. That’s just some book a bored teen wrote. Still, we shouldn’t mess with it. Just to be safe.” Aasim pointed out.
“Wow, someone’s chicken,” Allison chimed in and walked towards the book, flipping it open.
Prisha seemed anxious at that move. “Ummm perhaps that is unwise,”
“Chill, it’s just stupid Halloween fun,” Allison looked over at Prisha then turned to a random page.
“I wonder if the spells work. Maybe it will make us into sexy werewolves,” Renata hopped off Minnie’s lap. “Ooo, or vampires!”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s a pointless text that Louis should put away.” Aasim was getting annoyed. “It’s not like if I looked at the first spell and read it aloud it would do anything.”
“Says the scaredy cat. You’re just trying to say it doesn’t work because you’re scared. Admit it,” Mitch smirked at Aasim. Aasim frowned as more voices joined in. They were all trying to pressure him into reading it. After a few seconds he decided to give them what they wanted to shut them up.
“Fine, whatever! Let’s prove me right!” Aasim cleared his throat and spoke the spell clear and loud.
Nothing happened.
“Well that was underwhelming,” Prisha commented with a sigh.
Brody let out a long breath of relief. “That’s good though.”
“No, Bro, it isn’t! Damn it, I spent two whole dollars on this dusty thing!” Louis pouted and kicked the table. Suddenly a strange green mist emitted from the book.
“Louis! What the fuck did you just do!” Violet snapped as Louis tried to blow on the mist to get it back into the text.
“Nothing! This was Aasim’s fault!”
“Mine?!?! How! Mitch and Allison were pressuring me!”
The room started to grow dark as the lights flickered wildly.
“Louis, take it back! Aasim, apologize to the book!” Brody yelled. Before anyone could give their two cents on the whole thing they were all lifted into the air.
“Fuck me, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck!” Mitch yelled as he was yanked towards the book.
“Shit, Mitch!” Brody reached out for her boyfriend while Omar tried his best to keep her away from the cursed object. It was pointless though. For as soon as Brody’s hand clasped Mitch’s they were both pulled into the book along with Omar.
“Shit! That wasn’t supposed to happen!” Louis spun out of control and collided with Minnie who was struggling to keep Renata safe. The three of them were sucked into the haunted book while Minnie swore loudly.
The rest were desperately trying to make sure they weren’t next. No matter what they did though somehow the book got them. Hands made of the mist started trying to grab Sophie who kicked at them and hissed menacingly.
“Hey, hands off my buddy!” Duck whacked some mist hands away but he was abruptly picked up by the seat of his pants and tossed against Sophie.
“Soph! Hang on!” Marlon tried to get his girlfriend but he soon had fallen into the book with her and Duck instead.
Aasim’s frantic attempts to try and come up with ways to counter the mist did nothing and in a blink of an eye it captured him and some others. AJ was fighting just as hard but he was defeated by the mysterious book as well. It was complete and utter chaos.
Prisha tried her best to hold onto Violet but their hands slipped free from each other as the mist tore them apart.
“Violet!” Prisha called out as she watched in horror as her girlfriend was flying dangerously close to the book. At that speed…
“Got her!” Therissa called out as she tucked Violet under her arm while Bethany was koalaed around her.
“This is the best Halloween ever!” Willy chimed as he spun around like mad with Allison, both being sucked in towards the book.
“No! No! No! Leave them alone, you vile, cursed book!” Prisha yelled but was imprisoned by the mist and swallowed into the book along with the teens she was trying to keep safe. Quickly groups of three were pulled into the book one after another until only three remained.
“Fuck this,” Jesse grabbed onto the couch and used his upper body strength to pull himself forward. James hugged onto him tightly and watched as his boyfriend started to slowly get away from the pull of the eerie mist. They were nearly free when James spotted his best friend spiraling out of control in the air.
“Jesse, we have to help Clem!”
Jesse wanted to disagree. It was already hell trying to get the two of them out safely but he knew James was right. With the deepest and longest sigh ever, Jesse redirected and went to help Clementine.
That was a mistake though. The misty hands shot out from the book along with strange tentacles and the three began disappearing into this book.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Jesse yelled then was abruptly silenced as he fully fell into the depths of the book. The room fell silent save for the sounds of the arcade games.
Not a soul was nearby. With an eerie creak the book slammed shut.