Halloween

[smartnsassy]

Anastasia looked up at the old Victorian style mansion and then back down at the paper in her hand. It was the right adress all right, and it looked like it could have been a haunted house; just not the funhouse kind.

First of all, there were no crowds or lines of children and teens. In fact, there was no anybody. the house itself seemed buzzing with a certain life force, yet there was no outward sign of any of it. A light, coming from the street, cast long shadows in the grass. The effect was errie to be sure. Anastasia would here imagined organ music in her mind.

She didn't want to go in, but what else could she do? The cab had sped off quickly after she had paid the fair and her cell phone had stopped working. There where no other houses around that she could see, and the only light was the one which illuminated the house in question.

She wasn't about to go traipsing in the dark, directionless, defensiless and alone. There was nothing for it, she would have to go inside.

 

[smartnsassy]

Anastatia pulled at her long velvet dress, straightening it out here and lifting it there, so as not to trip on it in her overhigh heals. She had gotten the costume at Hot Topic in the mall, and considering the damp muddy ground she was begining to wish that she hadn't spent so much of her hard earned cash on the white velvet gown when it had come in a deep emerald that she had known would compliment her red hair and match her green eyes.

Her main concern now however, was how to get from the road to the door without ending up face first in mud. Her ankles turned dangerously with every step, and she found herself lifting her hem higher and higher as a precaution.

Once she reached the step and banged with the old iron knocker, she realized the her free hand was holding her skirt up high enough to reveal a white sequened thong. she let her skirt down and waited for an answer.

 

[smartnsassy]

whatever she had expected, this was not it. The man who answered was tall and elegently dressed, not in costume but completely normal in appearence. An empty and silent entranceway opened before her. At least, she realized, it was well lit and clean.

"I have an invitation," she told the man, who was probably in his 60's. He had steal grey hair and eyes to match. He could have been a sea captain, or even an Admiral once from the look of him. And probably once he had been a handsom man, in a severe and comanding way. The thought gave Anastasia mixed chills.

He looked at the paper, and then at Anastasia. "This way," he told her, and without really waiting to see if she would follow, swept down the hallway ahead of her.

 

[smartnsassy]

At the end of the hall were a pair of heavy wooden doors. The man stopped in front of them, pausing quite dramatically, and then threw them open in a grand gesture.

The mansion seemed to burst to life as light, music, exotic smells, laughter and talk traveled into the hallway. When her eyes focused, she could see that it was a large chamber filled with elequantly dressed dancing men and women. the men wore tails, the women wore corsettes pulled tight and petticoats. Everyone wore masks. It was a place in another time.

She turned to the butler, but he had quickly disapeared. Instead she saw a that atop a fine peice of wooden furnature, he had sat a gift for her. It was a white cats-eye mask on a stick. It was decorated with velvet and sequins and seemed to match her and her outfit perfectly. Taking it with a smile, she placed it in front of her face and entered the room.

 

[smartnsassy]

Very quickly, a man in a black cape pulled her into a dance. He spoke not a word, but his movements spoke of grace and power and control. He led, and she followed. He wore a dark mask of black and inky blue. She felt mezmerized by the strangers presence.

Soon another dance pulled her away into his arms. This man, dressed in bown, she could tell- was younger, perhaps only twenty. He had more of a carefree spirit, a more relaxed demeaner, and less of a desire to lead. They danced together quite equally and soon began to talk.

 

[smartnsassy]

"What brings you here tonight?" the young man asked.

"An invitation," Anastasia answered. "I got this invitation in the mail. I thought it was just an advertisment, made up to look like it had been personalized. Anyway, I figured that anything was better than staying home and handing out snickers bars and eating two for every one I gave out, so I came. Only now, I'm starting to wonder if the invitation really wasn't personal- and who sent it."

"Intreiging," the young man mused. "Sounds as though you have a bit of a mystery on your hands."

"A bit of a myst.." Anastasia thought that the way the young man spoke was a bit piculiar. Perhaps he was just staying in character. She new a few people who were like that every halloween. Whoever they dressed as, they became. "Yes, I believe I do."

And the next thing she knew she was being swept away by another dancer.

 

[smartnsassy]

This time, her new partner was a real suprise. It was a woman. She was dressed in period clothing; a dramatic scarlett dress under which she clearly wore a very tightly pulled corset. Her breasts where pushed up high and tightly pressed together. The gown seemed to push them up like a shelf, puting them on full display. The woman pulled her close, almost like a lover's embrace. It was a gesture that suprised her and took her breath away.