Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Happy Halloween

The parking lot was filled with cars, and the cars kept pulling in. Since it was getting near Halloween, everyone wanted to get their costumes. Two glass doors stood there, waiting to be opened to reveal the contents behind them. Getting closer, a reflection could be seen; just an average, blonde-haired girl with two French braids to hold her hair back. She took a deep breath to help her because she knew if she reached her hand forward to push one of the doors open, there was no going back. She braved up and put her right hand forward and pushed the glass door open. Finally she worked up enough nerve to get where she wanted to be: inside the Halloween store.
The door shut with a loud, hard thunk. The first thing to be seen was a huge, hairy black spider hanging by a thin string from the ceiling. A mannequin stood by the doors of the Halloween shop greeting customers as they came. It was dressed in a plum suit jacket and pinstriped pants. The vest under the mannequin’s jacket was puke green with three black buttons down the middle. There was a mask over its face. This face on the mask was as white as a ghost with dark black outlining the holes cut out for one’s eyes. Even though a smile was not cut out of the mask, it appeared to be drawn-on, tracing the lips and then went up to where the cheek bones would be with a blood-red outline. This was no ordinary costume; this was meant to be of the Joker from the movie The Dark Knight. The mannequin’s green eyes followed shoppers as they walked by, proving there was something mysterious about it.
Halloween decorations were all around. Just to the left of the store entrance, a young girl with two French braids stopped abruptly in her tracks. There was a man, and all one could see was from his shoulders up. It was a machine; the outside of it smelled and looked as though it was made of rubber, like a rubber mask, and it was attached to a neck. There was a motion sensor so that whenever someone walked by, the head turned in a full circle, and the crunching and crackling of bones could be heard. The look on the man’s face looked as though he was in excruciating pain; his nose was scrunched up, eyes squinting, and mouth open, showing his teeth gritting. Once the head returned to where it began, the girl was able to walk away from his gaze.
To the right, there was an aisle. Each side of the isle was filled with square, plastic bags with pictures of girls modeling the costumes that were inside each of the bags. Each bag read “Do not remove costumes from bags! Ask for assistance.” There was such a variety of costumes. In one bag, there was a bee costume. It was a tube-top styled dress with black and gold horizontal stripes. The very bottom had ruffles on it to add a little frill, and it just barely covered the model’s rear. Right beside the bee getup was a diva costume. The girl modeling the outfit was wearing a shiny silver, retro dress and tall, white go-go boots. Her hair looked as though it was not going to move; it was plastered to the side of her head, flipped out at the ends just like a ‘70’s diva. The next costume that caught my eye was that of a fairy. This model was wearing a tight blue one-piece outfit. It was light green, and the top fit her like a tube top, similar style to the bee costume, and the bottom was like a swimsuit with a frilly white skirt to help cover her up. Silver glitter outlined her seams like pixie dust. On her back, there were two wings made of see-through green material. It seemed as though she had just came out of a fairy-tale book.
The two owners of the store were behind a big counter that stretched by the dressing rooms. They just sat there and took outfits out of their plastic bags for the customers who wanted to try on costumes. “Does this look okay?” a girl asked her friend as she let out a little laugh. A blonde, about five foot nine inches tall, came out of the dressing room wearing an outfit that resembled that of a nurse. The top buttoned up, and the bottom stopped unexpectedly right at her hip bones. It was obvious that this costume was not made for girls over five-five. One of the employees said, “Oh, I think that would be cute with some stalking!” Her friend who was sitting in the corner, judging her friend’s costumes she tried on, let out a loud, “HA! I think it’s a little short, Car.” The girl with the outfit on smiled and went back into the dressing room. The workers at the store seemed to always be doing this. No matter how awful the costumes looked on the people who tried them on, they always gave good reviews to the customers. These people were surely trying to sell their merchandise rather than help their customers
The word “Morgue” appeared to be carved into a piece of wood above a narrow doorway towards the back of the store. Near the morgue, thunder crashing and rain pouring down could be heard from a machine in the left back corner of the room producing these stormy sounds. The “morgue” was lit by a black light. On the walls around me, there were various images and words written with bright lime-green paint. It glowed brightly on the dull gray walls due to the black light. On the wall to my right, it read “I still know what you did last summer,” in the neon paint, and to my left, the wall read “Help me!” Pictures of skulls and cross bones were all over the walls, along with hand prints on the wall clawing down as if someone was trying to escape. Deeper into the morgue, there was a large black coffin. The lid was open, tempting anyone who came near to take a peak inside. The contents of the coffin contained a pale white skeleton dressed in a ragged blue tee-shirt. On his chest, there were four black tarantellas (fake, of course).
Right outside of the morgue, there were gory weapons made of plastic and fake blood. For being phony knives and swords, they looked more realistic than they used to appear. Rather than the old dull and gray plastic used for knives and swords, all of the weapons now were made of silver and shiny plastic, resembling that of a sharp object; however, they were just fake. Two little boys ran down an aisle. They looked like they were about five- and seven-years old. The older boy had fiery red hair and freckles that filled up his face, unlike the younger brother who was shorter and had chestnut-colored curly locks framing his face. “I’m going to get you!” said the older boy, chasing the younger one around with one of the realistic swords. The mother of the two demanded in a harsh voice, “Danny, come here right now!” It didn’t take long for the older boy named Danny to start marching in his mom’s direction, his head down in embarrassment.
The decorations, the costumes, and the people were still shopping at Drac’s Place, ready to celebrate the spooky holiday of Halloween. The two glass doors still stood still. The experience of the spine-tingling store brought much to one’s attention. Halloween is a holiday that just about everyone enjoys preparing for. The decorations, the costumes, and the candy can be overwhelming sometimes, though. This holiday helps create some laughs, screams, and tummy aches. The new swords and knives show that people these days are constantly demanding bigger and better possessions. What once was used, the dull gray knives, is now considered to be less effective compared to the shiny silver weapons. The store owners proved that instead of caring about their customers’ well being, they were simply eager to sell more Halloween décor. Halloween is one of the most fun prepared holidays; people should just take a breath to enjoy it.

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