Halloween Vault Contest 2018

Just My Luck

 Lyla gazed about the room. The warm glow of the jack-o-lantern lights bathed the room in an apricot syrup hue. She'd come with her boyfriend, Alex, who had to leave because of a family activity, but now she was alone at a party where she barely knew a soul. She glimpsed a pile of magazines on a bookshelf and thought perhaps losing herself in a piece of literature, however thin, might help her to be less awkward amongst the strangers surrounding her.

The cover looked oddly medieval. The woman had ebony hair that was sleek as a raven's wing. Lyla tugged at her own frizzy strawberry blond hair gazing down at the lovely woman with envious dark eyes, seeing the woman gazing back at her with startlingly gorgeous emerald ones. She opened the magazine and felt a surge of energy wash over the ground like a tidal wave.

She peered around, everyone had gone strangely silent. She cleared her throat shyly and shut the magazine placing it back on the shelf. The party resumed as if nothing had happened. Lyla gazed around as the dishes slowly began to lift off the table like something out of a horror flick.

A woman traipsed towards her. She looked as though she'd walked off the front page of the magazine with her violaceous dress. She moved out of the way and buried herself in the hordes of people. She watched the woman pick up the magazine with a sickening smile and let it burst into flames on her palm.

She then waltzed her way to a cluster of girls and tendrils of soft blue smoke eased their way around them causing them to go silent and follow the woman. She continued she continued until she made her way towards Lyla's group. Her heart pounded as she backed into a pantry, unsure of what to do. The woman began to gather her new little group of followers before creeping closer to the pantry. Lyla grasped the first thing nearest to her and when the woman came close enough, she threw open the door and whacked her in the head with a rolling pin she'd found. The woman caught the rolling pin before it could hit her and smirked. Lyla kneed her in the gut on impulse, clearly catching the woman off guard and, when the woman was doubled over, she crashed a nearby platter over her head.

The woman collapsed to the floor. The groupies awoke from their trance and began to mill about like the body wasn't even there. Lyla regained her composure.Why did these things always happen to her? First a giant lizard, then a ghost and now this? All the events she went to were always crashed by something bizarre. I should become a professional, I would be a fantastic monster hunter. She sighed rolling her eyes and dragged out the creepy woman's body hoping to stash it away someplace safe.

"The things I do for people."