Cardinal

Chapter 14 Cardinal

The car door made a loud bang as I stepped towards her house. 1764, Hollwedel Dr. It was a light blue house with a fairly simple design. There were multiple Halloween decorations across the front yard, a few ghosts hanging from the tree along the side of the house, and a large spider that sat in the corner of the porch. I walked up the driveway, passing by a multitude of different cars, a party clearly brewing inside.

I continued onto the porch, looking back to my car. My mom gave me a smile as I grinned back towards her, before continuing towards the door. Nervously, I rang the doorbell. It made a loud dinging sound that I could hear from the front, and within milliseconds, Mallie had already opened the door and screamed my name in joy. I jumped back, startled at how sudden everything was.

She bursted into laughter, her short black hair swaying with her motions. Once I calmed down, I laughed with her before she held her arm inside.

"Welcome Harrison, I'll show you around."

"Thanks," I stated, walking inside, holding onto the pig mask that went with the costume. Suddenly, I realized I didn't pay much attention to her costume. Quickly, I turned around and looked towards her. The robe dragged across the ground as she stood there, and she didn't wear the purple scarf that went with the costume. The best part of the costume was the blood design she had across her face.

It started at her forehead before weaving its way around her eyes. From there, the design went towards her nose before shooting down past the creases of her mouth. It was a strange demonic marking, used for different rituals I assumed. She smiled at me, noticing that I was looking over her costume.

"Do I look good?" she asked, before giving me a toothy grin.

"You look amazing, Mallie! You nailed it with the design on your face."

"Aw, thank you," she began. "It took me roughly forty-five minutes to get it right because I wanted it to look good but also messy at the same time. It was really difficult to say the least." She quickly guided me to the left, where I walked into a living room. Across the room was a large T.V., and in front of us was a large couch with two chairs on the left side of the room, facing towards the next room on the right.

There was a crowd of people, most of them in costume, sitting or standing around inside the living room.

"Oh, is that Harrison, Mallie?" I heard a woman ask from one of the chairs. She wore a tiger outfit with the guy sitting beside her, I assumed to be her husband.

"Yeah, it is," she explained, before positioning her arms to show me off like a kid at show-and-tell. I smiled and awkwardly waved as everyone turned towards me. I felt their stares as they examined the strange creature brought into their house.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Daniel and this is my wife, Alexandra," a man sitting on the couch in front of me stated, before reaching his hand out to shake mine. He wore a masquerade mask, alongside a suit. He was a bigger guy with light brown hair and a brown beard. I respectfully shook his hand, before moving my hand towards his wife, Alexandra, respectfully shaking her hand as well. She wore a similar mask alongside a vibrant, red dress.

I smiled at both of them, before hearing two girls squeal from the right side of the room. My head quickly darted to the two girls that stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Mallie! You never told us he was this cute!" the girl on the left yelled in admiration and joy. She wore a bloody nurse's outfit, and her skin was painted a light grey color. This girl had to be Christina. She had vibrant, blonde hair that was slightly red due to the blood stains that were applied to the costume. The girl to the right was Francis, having a pale skin tone and long, orange hair.