Blood in the Bath (1/5) By Leah Scarpati

(1/5), (2/5), (3/5), (4/5), (5/5).

It was Halloween night and the weather suitably matched the mood of the evening. Like a parody of a horror film, the wind howled at forty miles per hour, blowing the dried up autumn leaves up into mini tornadoes down the deserted and dimly lit street. The odd raindrop fell from the sky, threatening to pour down but unable to carry out the threat to its full potential. A couple of houses had got into the spirit of the holiday, one had a jack-o-lantern laughing on the door step, its flickering flame had long since blown out. Another, had skeletons and vampires dancing around the front garden much to the delight of the young 'trick or treaters' that were now safely tucked up in bed, in sugar induced comas.

The living room was infested with nervous giggles as the Ouija Board was carefully constructed. The open fire crackled noisily; one of the girls jumped and another choked on her toffee apple, to yet another infectious round of nervous laughter.

Evie Butler was glowing, and it had nothing to do with the heat that radiated from the burning logs. Five of her friends from school were here; well more accurately, her best friend from school was here, Gemma. The others were the popular girls in her class at school; Evie couldn't believe they had turned up. They didn't usually pay her the time of day at school; but Evie's Mother had spared no expense for tonight's party. The small living room had been carefully decorated in the spirit of the evening. Cobwebs were hanging from the light fixtures, spiders hung from the walls and bats hung from the ceiling.

A large mirror hung on the wall above the sofa and a message had been scrawled in blood-red lipstick across it, 'Help Me!'

They had played bobbing for apples; they'd tried out old wives tales by peeling apples and throwing the peel over their shoulders to see the initial of the men they would marry; they ate toffee apples and popcorn, sweets and cake until their teeth cried for surrender. Evie's Mum had promised to stay out of the way while the girls played and watched horror films on T.V. Having six girls screeching their heads off until the early hours wasn't exactly her idea of fun. They were nearly thirteen now. It wouldn't be long before they were too grown up for sleep-overs; then her sleepless nights would start.

In the living room, Evie's Persian cat, Chang, flirted around the girls' legs almost as excited as Evie was at having so many friends around. After the initial bewilderment at having seen such an unusual cat and comments like, 'He looks like a walking foot stool!' and 'Did he run into a door?', the girls calmed down and hands simply reached out to stroke his long brown fur absent mindedly, as he weaved in between them like a feline Dougal from 'The Magic Roundabout'.

It was coming up to the Witching hour. The girls had already changed into their pyjamas and bed socks, some snuggling up into their sleeping bags, others wondering nervously what the rest of the night had in store. They all sat around the table in the middle of the small living room, watching Evie place the cards carefully around the edge of the table and then left to fetch a glass from the kitchen.

Continued .... Next Page (2/5)

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