While saying my house is in the middle of nowhere would be too harsh, my closest neighbor is a mile away; that’s why the sound of someone knocking on my door startled me, even on Halloween night.
It was fifteen minutes to midnight; I was watching an old horror film I caught on TV midway through its running time. I could have found something more creative to do on Halloween, but seven days in being single after what would’ve been a year-long relationship doesn’t put me in a creative mood. After my girlfriend dumped me I also lost my invitation to this year’s Halloween party, but no worries, I found something else; watching TV and drinking beer on my own always was a solid second choice on what I wanted to do to celebrate Halloween.
And then the knocking. Living where I am, my house wasn’t very popular with the trick-or-treaters this year, like any other year, which is why I never bother with candies. At this time of the night, I can’t say I expected a myriad of kids on my doorstep as I opened the door, but part of me wished to see my ex, crying and begging to have me back.
I opened the door and saw a petite devil, wet from head to toe, sobbing quietly. I regret to inform that it couldn’t be my ex, since she chose to wear the much more original sexy cat costume she wears every year. In my disappointment, I forgot for an instant that someone was actually crying outside of my house at midnight.
She explained, between sobs, that she got lost and that her phone died. She asked to use my phone inside, and not knowing any better, I let her in. She walked inside my better-lit living room, and I sat on the couch while she phoned her friends. The lighting allowed me a better look at her; the costume she was wearing was definitely what was supposed to be a “sexy little devil” outfit, with a too short red skirt and cheap plastic horns. Her drenched hairs are what made me realize that it was raining outside, and the mud over her knees and forearms indicated that she must have fell in a puddle at some point during her travel. As she made her call, I wondered how she could’ve possibly wandered off to my house, if she really got lost, she must have been walking for at least half an hour, maybe even more.
She hung up and let out a deep, reassuring sigh. She told me friends would pick her up in an hour, and she asked if in the meantime she could use my shower. As awkward as it was, I also didn’t want to let this poor stranger soak in dirt water until 1am, so I pointed her to the bathroom. At this point, my half-drunk mind was just rolling with it, but now I didn’t really know what I should do. Since sitting in the living room for sixty minutes wasn’t exactly tempting, I decided to head back to my bedroom, where I continued the horror movie marathon I was barely paying attention to.
Busy marinating in self-pity and reminiscing a year of dating, it took the sound of the shower stopping to remember that someone else was in the house with me. As I heard footsteps from the hallway making their way to my bedroom, I sprung up from my bed, trying to adopt a stance that looked cool and collected.
She walked into my doorframe with only a towel wrapped around her. I didn’t want to look away, in fear of being rude, so I just stared at her. A gratefulness emanated from her baby blue eyes and coupled with her soft smile my heart sped up its pace.
“Thank you. For everything," she said, softly.
I simply nodded, speechless. I could feel an invisible spotlight shining on her, and the world around fading away. A quaint voice in my head was questioning what was happening as a feeling I’ve never felt before magnetized me towards her. I was so dazed I didn’t notice I was slowly walking towards her.
“Thank you," she repeated.
My body was moving on its own, and so was my right hand, that found comfort on her cheek. My eyes were solidly locked unto hers; I barely saw her dropping the towel, but my left hand still went for her chest. My two hands were caressing her body, and slowly a gut feeling was telling me something was wrong, and slowly this divine scene of beauty started to appear uncanny. Almost disturbing.
I felt powerless as my lips drew closer to hers. I closed my eyes as our mouths tangled, it felt like kissing a cloud. My heart beat faster, but it was less due to excitement and more due to panic: my body and mind were two different entities, and I could only witness my corpse being lured to hers: it took a piercing sting in my lower lips to snap me out of this daydream.
I pushed her back and tapped my fingers to my lips before inspecting them. I had to look back at her and notice a similar red substance drop from her mouth to realize the liquid on my fingers was my own blood.
“You… You bit me," I mumbled.
“Oh! My bad," she replied.
My bedroom started to spin around me, and after struggling to keep my balance, I dropped to the floor, and the rest of the world faded to black.