Flerte Fatal (Fatal Flirtation)

The Toss

 Enid was nervous. It just didn't seem right to crash a funeral. While she loved Yoko and Divina, some of their decisions were just a tad questionable. Now if it had been a normal funeral, nothing would have been wrong. Except this funeral was creepy. Yoko claimed she had found it in the town paper, and that it was nothing to worry about, just another rich girl dead.

Except the grounds chilled Enid to the bone, the dark mansion in the background against the all black mourners, paler than the dead themselves.

"You catch a doll that would spell your future demise... and end up with the chance of a possible girlfriend, very much alive." Except, the person who was orchestrating the funeral neglected to mention the last part, his bald head the shiniest thing on the cloudy day as he gave a lopsided, twisted, grin as he ended the sentence with demise.

Everyone stands up, and Enid has to tug Yoko out of her seat that she lounges in, attempting to look cool with her sunglasses and raven black hair tossed back. Enid doesn't care what else Yoko does really, but at least they can blend in so that they don't get in trouble immediately. They're already looking out of place enough for this odd funeral.

Everyone in front of them blocks them as they stand in the back row. All the hands go up at once, reaching for something and cries of defeat echo in the yard.

Then the reason hits Enid in the head, literally. A doll hits her in the head and bounces off into the hands that she had happened to have out from tugging Yoko to her feet. She fumbles a few times before she catches the doll, a delicate replica of the girl in the casket at the front.

A mustached man with his hair slicked back strides up to her and takes her hand, shaking it vigorously, "Congratulations my girl! You'll be the next to follow my little scorpion! I'm sure she will be delighted in this unexpected twist of events. She always loved surprises and jump scares when they were done right."

"...Your little...scorpion...?" Enid echoes in complete confusion. Then, assuming the most probable explanation was probably true, she smiled, "I'd love to find your pet for you sir, what is your scorpion named?"

A pale boy in black and white stripes steps up next to the man. "That's what he calls my sister, Wednesday. You know, the dead girl in the casket?" Enid's jaw drops. What father calls his dead daughter a scorpion?

A slim, lithe woman practically glides forward, and the man steps out of the way in apparent reverence. "Yes, soon you will be following Wednesday. It was her wish that the doll be tossed to determine whose demise will be next."

Right then and there, Enid faints.

-0-

Everything is so normal when Enid wakes up that she think at first that it was all a fever dream. The obnoxiously loud hand me down alarm clatters on the small end table at the end of her bed. The sun shines through the window above it, signifying the morning.

Slapping the alarm clock so that it shuts up, Enid takes a moment to do a small stretch and listen to the chirping of the birds in the bright sun. Indeed, the cloudy day in her memory seemed so far from the sunny part of the sky she could see from her window was so far from the gloomy day in her memory that it further convinced her that perhaps it had been a dream all along.

Climbing out of her bed, Enid was careful to bow her head to avoid hitting it on the slanted ceiling of her room. Really, the word room was too generous. It was a converted closet, with just enough room for her bed, the tiniest end table that just about fit an A4 sized paper for when she was doing homework, and a slim dresser that faced the bed. Which now opened just enough when it was smack against the side of the bed for her to squeeze her hand in and retrieve her clothes.