My Soul To Keep

Chapter 11

Gather with us on All Hallow's Eve for a night of celebration you will not forget. This will be an open party to anyone who wishes to join us in our ceremony to separate ourselves from the darkness. We will first have our own feast before the party starts. Special for Halloween, we will have our own costume party, and we ask that you dress in your own visual interpretation of darkness. What is "darkness?" What is it that consumes our lives and prevents us from living to our fullest? What is evil? We not only want to see your visual interpretation, but we want to feel it. We want to see the evil on your face and your body. All this week GOL members will be getting together to work on any costumes and help new members with theirs. Halloween is NOT about putting on a costume and getting candy; it allows us to have a special occasion with "the other side." It is about fear and learning not to fear death and the afterlife. This will be a very special occasion, and we urge you to pass this message along to others who want a different experience. Our ceremony will continue with the theme of the darkness, that while darkness may consume us on the outside, it will never touch us on the inside. We ask that you also bring with you a change of clothes and they are to be all WHITE. At midnight on Halloween night, once it is officially over and November 1st, we will change from our Darkness costumes and into our white clothes to symbolize our casting away of it and revealing our inner Lights. We will have a short tea ceremony for cleansing and then you will wear the same clothes during the day to further continue this theme.

The latest email from Mitchell increased my excitement. A costume, huh? The regular clothes I had in my closet wouldn't work, so I decided maybe I should head on over to The Manor for some help with my own personal "Darkness" costume.

***

Seth greeted me at the door, and I was a little confused to see that he was wearing a blindfold.

"Uh, Seth?"

"Greetings, Sister Skyler."

"Why are you blindfolded?"

"It's perfect for Halloween. Darkness being something that blinds us is part of the outfit I want to put together."

"You're not going to walk around like that all day, are you? How will you see?"

He smiled while I let myself in. "I don't need to. I feel around me. It's like echolocation."

"Uh huh." I walked past him and noticed that he seemed to be watching me...as though he could actually see through the blindfold. I reached the kitchen area and some members were there having lemonade and chips and doing homework. I greeted everyone and got settled, and a minute later Damien came out of the bathroom in the hall.

"Hey, Sky."

"Hi," I answered. "Where have you been?"

"Here, mostly. What are you going to do for Halloween?"

"I don't know yet. I was hoping to get some ideas."

Mitchell walked in holding Ad Astra, whose eyes were closed in bliss while he rubbed behind her ears. Ad Astra purred loudly. "Hello, everyone." Seth came in the room, then started feeling his way down the other hallway. "We are going to have a wonderful Halloween tradition," Mitchell said to us at the table. "Some of the members are already making flyers to go around campus, and it's so important for you all to pass them around and tell your friends about it." "We'll do what we can," said a girl at the table. Mitchell went in the kitchen to get a treat for Ad Astra and then left again. The girl looked at Damien and me curiously.

"Are you guys 7th grade?"

"Yeah," Damien answered.

"Oh. I thought you were higher since you seemed like you lived here." Something warm spread in my stomach. I wasn't sure if Damien had the same thought I did, but if he did he didn't show it. "Live here? I thought it was only for upperclassmen," I said.