Walpurgis Hallow

Witch's Valentine

From the private diary of Cindy Valentine.

Good morning, Walpurgis Hallow.  I love this town. Sort of. I mean, I know I'm not exactly queen here anymore.  But you know what?  That doesn't bother me.  Because I don't have the chains of the social ladder holding me back.  Without the whole drama scene of jocks and goths and nerds and girls like me...the world's a better place.  I guess now I can be totally honest about how I feel now, now that the other girls and guys aren't breathing down my neck.

The first person I really want to talk about is Alice.  What a babe, honestly.  I know, I know, diary.  I know I was mean to her. But...she's my friend now.  And nothing's ever going to change that.  I would die to protect her, honestly.  I know it seems silly for me to say that, but...She's good.  Anyone who can turn Eddie Gabriel around has to be.

Eddie...wow.  What a difference. He's actually become a human being, not that shallow bastard he used to be.  I can't believe it.  But I actually kinda like him now.

But he's still not getting any from me.

I have some standards left.

 

Time stands still in the few hours around sunrise, or at least slows down.  In Walpurgis Hallow, sunrise is a golden haze, a vague border of energy rousing the weary automatons of flesh and bone that toil away in its bars, tourist attractions, and necessities. And yet, there are many mornings where the sun refuses to shine, when the fog rolls in and the town becomes a dark, cold cemetery.  The walking dead move from coffee shop to office to bar to home, and the streets are full of the disaffected, the disconnected, and the dying.

It had been a long day of work for Eddie, who had been working out of a guitar shop on Borden Street.  The sun had already set, but the last few shops were still open.  Valentine's Day was tomorrow, and he had his heart set on getting a gift for Alice.  Alice was in many ways the only girl he'd ever truly loved—the rest, he was reluctant to admit, had been lust and teen hormonal urges.  Alice was truly special to him for a few reasons—not least of which had been the fact she'd saved his life.  She had saved his life in two ways—one was that she had finally convinced him to see the world optimistically and believe in something; the other way was that if she hadn't been with him, he would have probably died of chemical poisoning on Halloween night back in 1986.  It had been months since then, and now Valentine's Day approached.

He saw it in an old pawn shop, a heart-shaped locket of tarnished gold.  It was unmistakably gold, but it tarnished like silver.  It was engraved with a pattern similar to ivy, twisting around like vines.  The old man running the shop had no idea where it had come from, but he was willing to sell it for a mere ten dollars, as it had no distinguishing markings and had sat in his shop for years.  Eddie paid for it and left, and he presented it to Alice.

"Eddie, it's beautiful! Thank you!  You're so sweet..." 

She'd taken the locket and put it on, her black-painted lips touching Eddie's pale pink ones.  Her recently shorn hair brushed gently against Eddie's flowing mane, and as the two embraced, something stirred inside of them.

—

Cindy was envious.

Not that Cindy would ever for a moment consider admitting this.  It would be too similar to admitting defeat, something she seldom did.  But she was a woman to whom envy was all too familiar a guest.  Cindy liked to think she had a pretty good life.  She liked to think that her beauty was an asset and that her family life was good.  But...there was always something missing, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she hoped, and pretty much begged.