THE FESTIVAL OF SAMHAIN
CHAPTER 20- OVERINDULGENCE


"Mmmmm, my god, these are orgasmic!" Dayna exclaimed as she took another bite of her soul cake.

"Oh yeah? What would you know about it?" Connor Lowe, ever the opportunist, joked, slugging down some non-alcoholic gluwein.

Dayna, chewing her food, didn't dignify him with a response. She just held up her middle finger for all to see.

The group, which included Sherry, Brandon, Dayna, Sienna and Connor, were making their last rounds at the festival before their planned excursion to the corn fields of Billow's Woods for the much-ballyhooed rave.

"Thank you so much for stopping by," Maggie Temple joyfully said to the group as she cleaned off a table nearby. "We appreciate your support."

"No, Maggie, thank YOU," Sherry replied. "It's people like you that really exhibit what the true meaning of Halloween is all about."

Tossing some plates into the trash, Maggie returned to her spot behind the counter of her tent, while the others finished up their dessert.

"I tell ya, I'm full!" Brandon smirked, burping loudly. "I definitely should have had just one."

"Oh yeah? And how's that going to help you, Mr. Track Star?" Sienna asked.

"I'll be fine," Brandon responded. "It's going to cost me some extra time in the gym, though."

"But that's why we do this," Sherry added. "We put in the extra work so that we can enjoy days like this, isn't that right, Brandon?"

"You know it."

"Besides, we can just dance it off at the rave later."

"True," he agreed, holding both his hands on his stomach. "But I think I'll wait until this digests at least. I've saved enough souls for one night."

"Speaking of the rave, are we going or what? We're burning daylight," Sienna demanded.

"What daylight?" Connor piped back, still annoyed the way his girlfriend was treating him. "It's been cloudy all day."

"It was a figure of speech!" Sienna shouted. "God, what a fucking moron!"

"I'll give you a figure of speech!" Connor yelled back, tugging on his genitals.

"Guys, come on, why can't we have a good time for once?" Sherry asked. "This is getting old."

"Yeah," Brandon concurred, clearly trying to relieve the tension between them. "Can't we call a truce for one night?"

"Fine," Connor sarcastically groaned, getting up and leaving them to throw away his trash.

"Fine!" Sienna bellowed out as well, loud enough for Connor to hear. "This night is a total bust anyways."

"Well, how about if we take Sienna with us in the truck, and Connor, you ride with Dayna?" Brandon suggested.

"What, me? Ride with Lydia Deetz?" Connor quipped, re-joining the group's table.

"It's no pleasure for LYDIA either," Dayna complained. "But if it will shut you two up for a while, I'll do it."

"Whatever," Connor reluctantly agreed. "I'll ride with Marilyn Munster in the Dragula."

Dayna just rolled her eyes as Sienna nodded in agreement as well.

"Great! We will meet you at the rave in 20 minutes or so?" Sherry asked.

"Sounds good," Dayna said. "The sooner the better."

"See you soon, girl," Sherry stated, looking right at Sienna. "You can still turn this around. I promise, the night is not lost. It will be a night you won't ever forget."

The group then departed the seating area and headed toward the exit of the Festival Of Samhain, bound for the parking lot.

At the same time, emerging from behind Maggie Temple's booth, Michael Myers slowly followed, keeping his distance as he passed the large red 'EXIT' sign and left the festival.

Standing nearby, watching HIS every move, Caleb Wilkes smiled.


***


"So, what did you think?" Diane Moulson, dressed as Carrie White, asked her fellow teacher, Wade Robertson. "Will you be having seconds?"

"You bet!" Wade responded, with both his fake Joker-smile and his real smile grinning from ear to ear. "Quite an interesting mixture, I must say."

"I'm not big on Irish cuisine, but I'll admit, I enjoyed it," he continued. "Now, there's another Irish custom I'd like to indulge in-- the art of drinking oneself stupid. I have many pints of Guinness with my name on it."

"Wait-- what about Principal Simpson? What about the rave?"

"Who?" Wade forgetfully replied. "Oh, fuck, I forgot about Simpson! How long have we been gone?"

"Hmm, a half-hour maybe?"

"He's gonna flip his lid! I'm a dead ma--"

"Hold on, Wade," Diane interrupted. "If he hasn't sent a search party for you yet, I'm sure things are fine. Plus, he knows we're chaperoning the rave, so he'll understand."

"You think?"

"Positive."

"Well, in that case, are you ready to head out, princess?"

"If you say so."

"I do."

"And Mr. Joker, sir?"

"Yea?"

"Ohhh, I just love purple!"

Wade just stood there in awe as Diane quoted Vicki Vale from the Tim Burton version of 'Batman'.

"Come on, Wade, I've seen 'Batman' like 100 times," Diane informed him. "I was just playing it coy to see how you would react."

"Well stop the press!" Wade smiled, doing a bad impersonation of Jack Nicholson's Joker. "I'm only laughing on the outside. My smile is just skin deep. If you could see inside, I'm really crying. You might join me for a weep?"

"Your impression sucks, but I appreciate the effort," Diane stated, walking away from Robertson and toward the exit. "Come on, let's go!"

Taking the hint, Wade wasted little time in catching up to her, and the two chaperones were on their way to Billow's Woods to complete their duties for the evening.


***


Back in the middle of the festival, a little girl in a white and pink fairy dress staggered toward the dunk tank, clearly lost and in search of her family.

"Mommy?" the cute little angel called out, waving her fairy wand in the air as if it would magically make her parents appear out of thin air.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she continued, looking past the dunk tank toward the other booths hoping a good Samaritan would assist her.

When no one did, she began to whimper, then cry. Almost instantly, a small gust of wind came by and blew the curtain behind the dunk tank open, catching the seven-year-old's attention.

With tears streaming down her face, the naive youngster stopped weeping and decided to explore. As she threw open the curtain, she spotted a morbid site on the ground before her-- a large puddle of blood.

"Mommy! Someone spilled ketchup all over the ground!" Not sure what to make of it, the clueless adolescent put her hand into the puddle, then licked it out of curiosity.

When she realized what it really was, the little girl shrieked at the top of her lungs and turned to run away. However, she slipped and fell on the blood, causing it to stain the entire backside of her costume.

Hearing her scream, the girl's mother practically dove inside the tent to rescue her daughter. When she found the puddle of blood (and the body of Principal Marvin Simpson behind it), she too let out a blood-curdling scream.

"SOMEBODY HELP US!"


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