Devil's Night: The Hunt for Laughing Jack

II: DANSE MACABRE

Smirky's footsteps screeched to a halt. His fingers flew to the nape of his neck, and skirted over the raised outline of a tender swelling.

(hallucinatory hands don't give you bruises)

"That won't be necessary." He cricked his neck, turning back to the stairs ahead. "It'll heal. Or are you undermining my healing abilities?"

Smiley made a move to place a hand on the illusionist's shoulder. But he hesitated, as if afraid of getting bitten, and jerked his arm back before Smirky could notice.

"No. Not at all."

As they climbed higher, each avoiding a notoriously creaky step along the way, a distant murmur became a ruckus.

Dark Link shushed them, setting down the pumpkin once they reached the corridor. It faced the opposite wall, projecting a tremendously large face over the peeling wallpaper.

Muffled behind a door, two people were locked in the midst of a heated argument. Something serious? The shade noticed a smiley face carved onto the door's wood.

"It's coming from Jeff's room," he whispered.

Crouching behind a sharp bend, they put their ears to use and listened. The voices were indistinct, words shouted too shrill to catch head or tail of...

Of course, this changed when the door burst open and Jeff and BEN stormed out, the latter covering his naughty bits with an empty Doritos packet while screaming blue murder at the other male.

"I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING IMPORTANT! YOUR STUPID SCREAMING BROKE MY CONCENTRATION!"

"YOU WERE SITTING IN MY CLOSET, NAKED, HOLDING A POT OF GLUE WHILE READING THIS!" Jeff waved around a book that looked like it had gotten partway stuck in a waffle maker. The only surviving (therefore legible) part of the cover said, in cute colourful letters: How To Stick ANYTHING Up There!

"TOBY TOLD ME IT HAD LOADS OF GREAT ADVICE THAT WOULD SUIT MY NEEDS!"

Smiley and Smirky positively cringed.

"WHAT 'EFFIN NEEDS!?"

"I'M GOING TO BE THE CROWN PRINCE OF DORITOS FOR HALLOWEEN; I NEED AUTHENTICITY! SO, I GOTTA GLUE A LOAD OF 'EM TO MY ROYAL GARB!"

"I DON'T SEE ANY DORITOS!"

"I GET PECKISH WHEN I READ, OKAY? AND THE GLUE POT LID GOT STUCK! IT WAS A STRESSFUL EXPERIENCE AND I NEEDED COMFORT FOOD!"

Dark Link, who had simply sunk even lower against the wall, made a growling noise and poked his head around the corner.

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE TRIFORCE, BEN – SHUT UP AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

The little elf jumped around, saw the scarlet of Dark Link's eyes, then the projected face of jack-o-lantern behind him, and screamed.

A window cracked. Smirky fell over in a daze; the thump of his limp body hitting ground shook the floorboards. To top the cake with a cherry, he fell across Smiley's injured foot.

The not-so-good doctor hollered in pain. It sounded like the howl of a savage werewolf.

As the window illustriously displayed in distorted picture - it was an unusual moon, but not a full one. Despite being able to see this clear as day, Jeff also started screaming.

Dark Link sprang from the corner and tried reasoning with him, trying to explain that it was just Smiley and Smirky making fools of themselves.

Thin hairline cracks spread across the window's glass, until it finally gave way and tumbled outwards in pieces. The shattering sound didn't help their case.