𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕚𝕕 𝕀 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖? Partygoer x Partypooper / backrooms

♦20♦

The stall served a lot of various different snacks: popcorn, ice cream, some chocolates, sausages, hot-dogs and some more stuff that I never saw before in my life. While for me gathering food was easy, because I could eat literally anything, for partygoers it was the exact same opposite. Their main diet consisted of human meat that we obviously would have trouble with getting here. Sure, humans were everywhere ,but because this world was literally ruled by them, there was simply no way we could kill anyone without suffering the consequences. What would they even do to us if they discovered that we are literal monsters? I kept wondering. Would animal meat be even enough for partygoers to satisfy their hunger? I was certain that they could live only out of human flesh as it's the only thing they were programmed to digest. Maybe that was just their way to temporarily pacify and distract themselves from hunger. The more I thought about it, the more sense it started to make. But unfortunately, in that case eating human food would only postpone the consequences in time. It was still something though.

We carefully sneaked onto one of the stalls that served hot-dogs. The person selling them was a young teenage boy with black wavy hair and tan skin. His face was covered in freckles in a warm caramel shade. We used the moment of his inattention to quickly steal a few sausages from that weird heating device humans used. What a shame that we didn't have such a thing in the backrooms. We all grabbed two sausages for each of us and quickly, but without trying to look suspicious, ran away.

When we were far enough we took a break and sat on a nearby bench. Even if we lacked a human disguise, today was halloween so we could easily pretend that it's our costume. Even though I knew that no one should care, I still felt exposed and I was certain I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I could see it in 67's eyes that they tried their hardest not to do anything socially unacceptable in the Frontrooms.

While we were all slowly finishing our food a random person suddenly approached us.

-I absolutely adore your Halloween costume! - A young woman with elf ears and vampire fangs praised us in a charming voice. - All the details you put into it... - She went on complimenting us. - It must have taken forever to make! - She smiled at us, happily.

-Umm... Thanks. We really appreciate that. - I responded trying not to sound too suspicious.

-You should definitely take part in our Halloween costume contest! It starts in about an hour on this stage! - She pointed with her finger at an empty stage with a crowd already forming next to it. We avoided this place on purpose. The more people we got in an interaction with, the biggest were the chances of us being spotted as backroom entities. But wait... did they even know in this universe about our world? Either way it was too risky.

-I think that we'll pass on this, thanks ma'am. - 32 immediately responded. Even if he was scary and... hard to understand I liked to believe that he actually wanted to get us out of this alive.

-Please, sir! I insist. We really need more people for the show! - The woman begged us and I felt nothing more than guilt forming inside of my body. I always tried not to upset anyone, even strangers. When I did I would always feel like a bad person.

-As he said, we are sorry ma'am, but we're not interested. - 67 repeated, visibly indicating that they were not willing to take part in that.

-You can win an attractive prize! - She winked at us, trying to somehow change our minds. The idea of winning something felt... convincing. It depended on what it was though.

-What is it? - 32 asked curiously, but coldly at the same time. The woman giggled right away.

-I knew you would be interested!! Trust me, it's worth it. - She tried to sound even more convincing. We all just looked at eachother, trying to somehow agree if we should either take part in that competition or not.

-Give us a moment ma'am. - I whispered as we started discussing between each other if that's a good idea or not.

I have no clue how it happened, but we eventually agreed. We didn't even know what the prize was, but we decided to give it a try. We came to the conclusion that it's unrealistic to get spotted as an entity since humans in the Frontrooms didn't even believe that we exist. Sure, they were some exceptions, but everyone always called them crazy or childish for that.

As soon as we said "yes" she dragged all of us in the direction of the stage. She started slowly explaining the rules while we all tried to patiently listen.

-The rules are simple!

Your costume has to be hand-made.

You have to present the character that you're currently dressed as.

Cheating under any form is forbidden.

Have fun! ... That's all I think?-

She kept smiling at us, happily. The rules were pretty basic and easy to obey. Nothing too weird, however something about her unreasonable happiness was upsetting. Maybe that was just how a happy human behaves, but either way her smile and careless laughter made me feel as if she was brainless. Her voice was charming and expressive, it sounded squeaky and overly cheerful which made me feel as if it was empty or just forced.

The stage was made out of deep dark wood with purple curtains along with a bunch of different halloween decorations. The pumpkins had a carved smile in them with warm lights inside. They kept the stage bright while maintaining this magical halloweeny vibe.

-The show begins in half an hour. What a shame that I didn't approach you guys sooner, but what's important is that you're here! - She explained. I had no sense of time, I spent my whole life in the backrooms so I didn't actually know how much thirty minutes was. All I knew was that it's something you would call a short or sometimes a medium period of time.

Our agreement was the most spontaneous decision we made in the frontrooms so far and I didn't know how to feel about it... All I hoped for was for us to win something useful.