Despite working at them for a living, Lillian had ironically grown to hate parties. Parties of any kind. Birthday parties, new years parties, you name a kind of party and Lillian hated it. Except for this party. This was the one and only social event of the year she looked forward to, and it was the company's annual Halloween party. This was the time she could wear whatever she wanted, instead of her princess getup, and she appreciated that.
Sitting in the car, riding with Alex who had asked her to carpool, Lillian was dressed as a Genie while Alex was dressed as a werewolf. Alex was applying eye makeup in the rearview mirror while Lillian drove, and she occasionally glanced over at Alex, somewhat scoffing. "What?" Alex asked. "Who ever heard of a werewolf using beauty products," Lillian said, making them both chuckle. "Well," Alex replied, "most werewolves aren't as ravishingly beautiful as I am, so there." Lillian laughed again, loudly this time, as she turned into the parking lot of the usual building the company rented for this event. After parking and getting out of the car, the two women started to head through the lot, towards the building. It was brisk out, and they could hear the shouts of a nearby house party as kids ran up and down the street in Halloween costumes, trick or treating. The sounds made Lillian remember why this was her favorite holiday. "It's so easy to feel like a kid again when Halloween comes around, even when you're older," she said, "I mean, it's the only holiday that has absolutely no restrictions on it. Candy for everyone, we all get to dress up and it's entirely nondenominational." "You make a valid argument," Alex said, pulling her werewolf mask down over her head, then looking at Lillian, asking, "How do my eyes look?" "You know, I now understand why you were doing makeup, because it really does add to the effect," she replied. Just then Tyler, dressed as a golfer, jogged up to their side and began walking beside them. Lillian and Alex started chuckling and pointing at him. "That's your costume?" Alex asked. "It was easy," Tyler remarked, shrugging, "at least I'm gonna be comfortable all night." "...shit, he's got a point. This thing is gonna make me sweat," Alex mumbled. *** Happily walking down the street, her little braids bobbing up and down, young 9 year old Stephie Marks was having the night of her life trick or treating with her dad. Her mom had stayed home to hand out candy, and when she asked why dad couldn't do it, he'd told her, "because people don't trust candy given by strange lone men", which made her mom laugh. She liked it when her mom laughed. She liked it when her parents made eachother laugh. Honestly, there wasn't much in the world that Stephie Marks didn't like, except perhaps dark chocolate. She much preferred milk chocolate to that, and even white. Stephie had picked out her costume months in advance, and not because it was difficult to make or anything - she was just dressed like a mermaid - but because she loved Halloween that much. Now, skipping down the street hand in hand with her dad, who was also skipping along with her, Stephie was thrilled to finally have her favorite holiday be here once again. At school that day, they'd spent the whole afternoon doing Halloween activities - reading spooky stories, watched a scary movie and having a Halloween parade around the school so all the kids could show off their costumes - and now it was the long awaited trick or treating. "Stay in my sight, okay?" her father called as she skipping ahead of him. Stephie raced up the stairs of one house, grouping herself with another bunch of small kids, and as the door swung open they all hollered "treat or treat!" and the woman who answered smiled at them all before dumping handfuls of candy in their respective containers. After she was finished, only Stephie thanked the woman profusely before running back down the steps to her father, who waved politely at the woman as he took his daughters hand and kept up with her down the street to the next house. Yes, Halloween was the best night of the year. *** Alex couldn't believe that most of the women here, all in their twenties or thirties, were dressed in fairly skimpy or sexy costumes, and now she felt especially out of place. Tyler patted her back and chuckled as Lillian continued past them to the snack table. "Well, at least you can take some sort of solace in the fact that you aren't a sexy werewolf," Tyler said. "Jokes on you, everybody would wanna sleep with a sexy werewolf," Alex said as they followed Lillian to the table. Alex immediately scooped up a handful of chips and, lifting up the mask, stuffed them into her mouth and chewed as Lillian picked up a small cracker with nice cheese and a small slice of meat atop it and nibbled on it. "Did you not eat before coming?" Tyler asked, and she shook her head. "No, I expected them to serve something here," she replied, "I mean, I wasn't expecting a five course meal or anything, but still you'd think a company this large and successful would've somehow found a way to manage feeding their employees for just a few hours. Hell, there's not even any Halloween themed cookies or anything." "There's pumpkin pie," Alex said, pointing at a pie that hadn't even been opened, making Lillian roll her eyes. "Great, yeah, cause pumpkins are used during Halloween. They really went the extra mile here, didn't they," Lillian mumbled, making Tyler laugh as Vera walked over to them. Vera was dressed like an elf from a fantasy book, and Tyler raised an eyebrow as she approached. "Wow, you look fantastic," Tyler said. "Thanks!" Vera said happily, pushing her hair behind her elf ears placed over her actual ears, "I wanted to do something different, as most years I don't really try very hard. I always liked reading fantasy novels when I was younger, so." "You don't read fantasy anymore?" Lillian asked. "I only read dirty magazines," Alex said, making everyone look at her until she quietly added under her breath, "...but, like, for the articles." Vera, barely able to container her laughter at Alex, said, "I don't really have as much time to read anymore, and a lot of fantasy is in depth, complex and very lengthy, so it takes a lot of time and patience, and I just don't have those qualities as an adult." "It's true, as a kid I had nothing but patience to sink time into things others considered pointless or trivial," Tyler said, "now I feel like my time is precious." "It's because as an adult you realize you only have such a finite amount of it before you die," Alex said. "You know, it's no surprise to me that you don't get invited to many parties," Tyler said at her. Lillian wandered away from the group as they gathered around the snack table, and she noticed someone sitting on a chair near an office door, fiddling with their costume. Lillian slipped away from the group while they bickered amongst themselves and walked towards the person. They looked up as Lillian stood in front of them, and smiled down. The person appeared to be a teenage girl, and Lillian was surprised to see her here. "My dad's around somewhere if you're looking for him," the girl said, and Lillian drug a chair next to hers and seated herself. "No, you just looked bored, so I thought I'd keep you company. I don't like parties myself," Lillian said. "Then what are you doing at one?" the girl asked. "Well, I'm legally obligated to be here, since, you know, I work for these people," Lillian said, "Trust me, I sat out one one year and was firmly reprimanded because of it. They essentially told me if I didn't wanna be a part of the team, then I shouldn't be signed up with one, even though we all work separately and only ever see one another during times like this." "You're not a loner. You came with people," the girl retorted, making Lillian glance back at the crew, still by the table, clearly discussing something intensely. "I mean, those are actual friends, not just coworkers. But okay, that's fair, perhaps I'm not as withdrawn as I make myself out to be," Lillian said, her thoughts immediately leaping to that of Maddison and Rina. She had been more social lately, it seemed. She sighed and stood up, adding, "Well, I just thought you might like some company, but I can leave if you'd like." "No, you...you don't have to go," the girl said, "It's nice not to be alone." Lillian seated herself again and the girl shifted in her seat. "So what's your dad usually dress as for work?" Lillian asked. "A monster," the girl said softly, "not much of a stretch of the imagination, if you ask me." This statement worried Lillian. *** It was getting late, and Stephie's father wanted to begin heading home. The streets weren't empty, exactly, but they had certainly thinned, and he was getting tired. Stephie, of course, still had energy to spare, because children never run out of steam, especially on a long awaited holiday. He checked his watch and scratched his forehead before tapping Stephie on her shoulder while she dug through her candy bag while walking. "I think we should start heading home," he said. "Just one more house!" Stephie said excitedly, making him smile. How could he turn down that level of unbridled enthusiasm? "Alright," he said, "but just one more." He didn't really recognize this neighborhood, and that alone should've tipped him off that they'd gone too far from their usual route, but Stephie was having such a good time he didn't think much of it. He stopped and looked across the street at a house party going on, and he thought back to the kind of Halloween parties he and his wife used to attend before they had Stephie. Those days were long gone, now. These days their idea of a wild night was to stay up until 2am and eat a few bowls of ice cream apiece. He turned back as he heard the sound of small feet shuffling up beside him and looked down, expecting to see Stephie, but instead seeing a little boy. He quickly apologized, and the mother understood politely, taking her little boy by the hand and leading him down the street. Stephie's father continued to turn in circles, looking everywhere in his immediate vicinity for his daughter, only to come up empty time and time again, and he began to grow worried. Where had she gone? Just one more house. Just one more house. It was something he'd regret saying for the rest of his life. *** "Parents are dicks," Lillian said, "I mean, even the ones who seem to try for your best interests wind up being dicks, because they never ask you what you want, they just think they know what you want. So even if their heart is in the right place, their actions speak louder than words." "It's embarrassing having a dad who works for parties for a living as a costumed character," the girl said, "everyone else's dads are doctors or lawyers or work in office buildings or are involved in some remotely kind of respectable career, but my dad just...does parties in a monster costume." "I like to think that we perform an important service, bringing joy to kids," Lillian said. "Funny how he can bring other peoples children joy but he can't make his own kid happy," the girl replied. "I know what you mean," Lillian said. "Do you? Because you sound just like every other adult who's tried to relate to me," the girl said, almost snapping at Lillian and surprising her now, continuing, "every therapist, school counselor, teacher, whatever...you all sound the same. Do you really understand, or are you just saying that to get me to let my guard down?" Lillian was surprised, taken aback by this sudden vinegar, and didn't know how to respond. The girl stood up and took off quickly, walking into the crowd and vanishing. Alex took her seat, eating a piece of pie crust and looking at Lillian. "You okay?" Alex asked. "...I guess just because you're friends with one kid doesn't mean you can be friends with them all," Lillian said. "Teenagers are scary," Alex said, finishing her pie crust, and then sliding a paper plate with another piece of pie on it onto Lillian's lap, smiling, "here, I brought you a piece before it was all gone." "...thanks Alexis," Lillian said, smiling lightly; she couldn't deny that Alex was a real friend, and perhaps she should just be grateful for that. So Lillian spent the evening in the chair, talking with Alexis, occasionally dancing with her when Alex asked, and just overall having a surprisingly decent time. On the way back to the parking lot that night, she spotted the teenage girl screaming at her dad near their car, and as Lillian lifted a fairly drunk Alexis into the passenger side seat, she shifted and opened one eye. "What's with all the screaming?" Alex asked, groaning. "It's nothing," Lillian said, "none of our business." And then she drove Alexis to her apartment, letting her spend the night, thinking she shouldn't be alone. As she drove past the teenage girl and her father, their eyes caught briefly, and she could see the teenage girl looked genuinely remorseful for how she'd acted, but it was too late now. The party was over. Maybe next year. *** Stephie, despite hearing her father say to stay in his sight, had immediately rushed up the porch of a house, and rang the doorbell. The lawn was well taken care of, the house looked nice and clean, and a man almost her fathers age, dressed well, opened the door to her. She held up her bag and said "trick or treat!", and the man immediately grabbed a bowl of candy inside near the door, dumping some into her bag. Stephie thanked him, then turned, her back to him, as she looked through her bag before heading back to her father. The man looked around, noticing how empty the streets were, and then swiftly placed one hand around her mouth, the other around her waist, and pulled her violently into his house, shutting the door behind him. Stephie's father would eventually return home, much to his wifes shock, with a slew of policemen. They would stay up all night, waiting for the cops to find their daughter, only for morning to break with no sign of a return. It wouldn't be another week until they finally found Stephie, wrapped in a carpet and dumped in the back field of a nearby high school. She'd been strangled to death. Even days after that, her father, Jackson, could still hear the shrill sounds of his and his wifes screams when they were brought to the morgue to identify their little girl. No fingerprints or any other evidence was found, and no suspect was ever named. Every night, before he fell asleep, Jackson would be lying in bed, trying to clear his mind but all he could hear was that sentence, destined to be forever haunted by four little innocent words... Just one more house. Just one more house. Just one more house.
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A young woman named Lilian Phillips, who plays a princess at birthday parties, befriends a little girl who had a child die at her own birthday party. Archives
April 2024
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