This Is Halloween (Excerpt)

Nightmare - Jay Quin

October 31, 2022. As of today, it's been exactly three months since Kayla's beloved

grandma passed away. Although the loss hurt Kayla more than she can say in words, something

good did come out of it. Gran transferred ownership of her historic two-story Victorian home to

Kayla just before old age took her life. The four-bedroom house had way too much space for a

single woman like Kayla, so she invited her three closest friends to live with her – Mona, Raina,

and Diamond. Living with three other women of color, who were in their late twenties and focused

on building their careers, had its challenges. It also had its advantages. For instance, Diamond had

invited them all to attend the Halloween party one of her co-workers was hosting. Currently, the

four ladies were in their separate bedrooms preparing for a night of ghoulish fun.

Kayla stood in front of the oval mirror hanging on the wall above the pedestal sink in the

bathroom attached to her bedroom. Her almond brown left hand carefully wrapped a strand of her

black-brown hair around the electric curling wand. Nineties hip-hop played from her cell phone

connected to a small Bluetooth speaker placed on the floating shelf hung above the toilet. Subtly

she danced to the rhythm and recited the words. She hadn't gone out since her grandma passed

away. The loss had come as a blow to Kayla. Her grandma's age of ninety years old didn't make

it any easier to deal with. Kayla had always been close to her grandma. She spent a lot of her

weekends and summer days in this very house simply basking in Gran's attention. It was her

favorite escape from reality and it warmed Kayla's heart when she learned that Gran wanted her

to have the house, especially because Kayla's older cousin had made it clear on more than one

occasion that she wanted the house for her growing family. That didn't matter because Gran chose

Kayla. Kayla couldn't be certain but it almost felt like Gran knew Kayla would need the space so

she could have her closest friends close by and the house was the perfect way to make that happen.

Maybe she did know. The woman always had a somewhat supernatural intuition.

With an eager grin, Kayla carefully placed the curling wand on the edge of the sink before

walking into her bedroom. Her costume was laid out on her queen-sized bed. She was going to be

an angel. She shed her loungewear and began changing into the costume. As she pulled the white

tulle skirt over the white unitard, a loud thud caused her to jump. Her round eyes widened before

her lips smacked together and she shook her head. Turning to her bedroom door, she twisted the

bronze knob and pulled it open.

Thump!

She heard the sound again as she walked down the hall to Mona's bedroom. Gently, she

knocked on the door before twisting the knob and pushing it open.

"Mona, Roscoe is-" She stopped talking as she saw that Roscoe, Mona's beloved German