It was that time again.
When was the last time we had been called?
I couldn't recall, but it had to have been closing in on a year.
I shuffled my way through the seats, awkwardly shuffling past others as they chattered and sneered between themselves in eagerness.
Truthfully, I didn't want to be there, I had a motel to run and these meetings always took time away from my job, an actual job that needed to be done unlike many of the others in this room, but I couldn't say no.
Not just because I didn't have the courage the speak up to many of these beings but also because, despite my hesitance, my curiosity was peaked.
Finding the most isolated seat I could, I sat down and rested my hands in my lap, keeping my eyes trained on the large screen that hung above the announcement stage.
It was strange sitting here after so long, it was always strange I suppose but something about this meeting felt especially off and I couldn't put my finger on it.
Maybe it was because it had come out of nowhere, usually we'd have a week or so to prepare but they had insisted on waiting only three days before calling everyone in, an unusually quick turn from obtaining the target and assigning them a faction.
With my usual unease, I spare a look around to see who else had arrived or were filtering in.
Many smaller names from lesser known factions had filtered in, many that I didn't know personally and were the most likely to get the next target.
The lesser knowns were always given more targets, there were such a vast number of smaller factions that their names took up the majority of the lottery which, in itself, made it nigh on impossible for anyone to be assigned to the well knowns.
Elm Street hadn't been assigned to for many years and Freddy was one of the biggest names within the community but that was no real surprise, for every Freddy there were a million Leslie Vernon's.
Somehow, I had found myself categorised with the well knowns and thus rarely got assigned anyone, which I was perfectly content with, though the others would grumble and go back to the roster they had been stuck with for years.
They wanted new toys and I simply wanted to run my motel.
The less assignments I had, the less I had to worry about keeping an eye on mother and her short temper while also keeping customers happy and out of harm's way.
A new survivor would be an added stress that neither of us needed, unfortunately not turning up wasn't an option.
(This is a taster of a story I've had in the works for a while, I'll eventually get around to writing more but it's currently slow progress. I just wanted to share a little bit of it for the spirit of Halloween.)