*Author's Note - this is a story that has sex in it, but it is not immediate and is not the main plot. The places and music are real. Any story similarities to real persons alive or otherwise aside from the two main characters would be just coincidence.*
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Dear Journal, have you been actually listening to me all these years? After what happened to me this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that you have a soul or something. That's a chance I'll have to take because if I don't write this down I might begin to question my own sanity. How will I ever sort it all out? Please don't answer that if you have a soul because it'd just be too much for me to take right now!
You know I went up to York, PA to see Steve this weekend. I managed the drive up there without any trouble. We spent Friday night watching Vincent Price horror movies by candle light and playing the creepiest music we had in our collections. We've listened to Sabbath, Ozzy, Dio, Priest, Maiden, and the rest for years. We knew which songs were perfect for getting into the Halloween spirit. It was the weekend before, so it was the perfect thing to be doing. It was a blast. We joked back and forth leaving each other frustrated as hell, but it was extremely amusing. I'd worked so hard over the last several years to get our friendship back on a comfortable level. Yes, I hate that I'd hurt him in the past. Yes, it really hurts sometimes to know that as great as we were sexually, it wouldn't be happening again. He wouldn't ever feel that emotionally close to me again, but being able to spend any time with him has been more than worth the constraints. Ended up crashing for the night about 2 a.m. and sleeping in on Saturday.
We went out looking at a few haunted houses that afternoon. They were pretty lame. I didn't feel any vibrations at all, just the tension of people jumping out at you in costume. Steve mentioned we weren't really all that far from the Gettysburg if I wanted things authentic. I always avoided places like that because I was afraid of what I'd pick up walking through them. Of course I laughed the suggestion off. We had dinner and went home to change for the concert. Should have seen Steve's face when I walked out of the bathroom in my outfit! Somehow I knew he'd love seeing all my cleavage in that halter-top. It's been warm for October, and I like showing off the fact that I've gained a cup size.
I think he enjoyed my flaunting my 40 C's. My legs looked great in the hose and pumps I'd gotten to go with the short skirt I bought. The minimal red went great with all that black. My makeup was a cross between Alice Cooper and Ozzy just as a lark. He looked great in his wolverine get up. The tight jeans and black jacket were enough to make me hot all over. When he trailed his "claw" across my bare chest I thought I would jump him on the spot. We laughed knowing everyone at the Blue Oyster Cult concert would think we were crazy. There wasn't any point in getting totally costumed. It'd be a few minutes at the show before we'd be covered in sweat with all the dancing around we'd be doing. We just figured we'd have some fun playing dress up.
We made it to the concert without too much traffic. It was at the Ducks club so the wait in line wasn't all that long, but every time someone new stared at us we put on quite a show before laughing ourselves silly. Of course I played up to him with as much sexual innuendo and bare skin as possible. It was absolutely heaven to know his jeans were becoming tighter on him all the time as a result. Being friends doesn't take away the thrill of knowing you can really make someone get hot and horny. Lord knows he had my panties and hose soaked from the barbs he was throwing back at me. He had my nipples so hard just from listening to him tease me. Thankfully there were a few other people at the show in costumes so we weren't the only silly people there.
BOC was great as always. It was terribly hot in there since it was a small club. I decided to be daring and had a few beers instead of soda. Steve teased me about being a bit drunk, but I noticed he had a few beers of his own to match mine. Trying just to be friends, in the mood we were already in, we never should have done that. It'd just been so long since we'd been out together celebrating near Halloween. BOC truly put everything they had into how they played Don't Fear the Reaper. The crowd went nuts along with us, and the place was full of the eerie spirit and appreciation. At one point during that song I thought I saw someone in the audience dressed like the Reaper and circling the floor looking over everyone. It was such a cool costume to wear anticipating the song and the celebrations. He got really close to where we were standing towards the end of the song, but he stayed far enough away that I couldn't see under the cowl. I got goose bumps and couldn't look away from him. Steve kept going wild during the song while looking between the Reaper and I.
"Cheryl, it's Blue Oyster Cult and right before Halloween! Don't Fear the Reaper! Damn, I'm surprised you haven't come on to him!"
Hearing Steve say that to me and then break out laughing, I felt a little silly. I took a drink of my beer and decided to embrace the spirit of things. I held the beer bottle in one hand and started sucking on the bottle neck suggestively while I let my other hand roam up from my legs across my stomach and up the side of my breasts all the while staring completely come hither to the Reaper. I walked a few steps closer to him and in a perfectly serious face mouthed the words Happy Halloween. Before I could get any closer to him as the song was ending, he just side stepped and seemed to disappear behind someone. I went looking for Reaper never to find him. Talk about feeling creepy. It was too strange, but I didn't think about it that hard.
Steve came up behind me a couple of minutes later.
"Still afraid of the Reaper or have you been trying to find him to ask for his number?"
"Very funny, Steve. I was trying to find him to talk to him. Didn't you think he was intense just standing there looking at me? I wanted to see him without the costume."
"Everyone near us was intense with the come on you threw the guy, Cheryl. I thought you wanted to see BOC before Halloween to have fun and be crazy. We're still here and they're still playing. Lighten up, sheesh."
We went back to dancing and singing to the music. The rest of the set was fast and all their most popular songs. I had another beer and decided I was being silly. I did want to be different and just enjoy myself. At the end of the show when we were heading to the car I told Steve I wanted him to take me to one of those haunted fields.
"It's pretty damn late. Those places aren't even open at night you know."
"Steve, it's almost Halloween. We've seen Blue Oyster Cult and the Reaper. I want to be haunted, and I want to prove I don't fear the Reaper. Come on, go be crazy with me this once." I said as I walked up next to him and kissed the edge of his claw in persuasion.
"I can't imagine myself doing this with anyone else but you, Cheryl. Damn, I think we are crazy."
We drove for about 40 minutes listening to Sabbath the entire way. We joked back and forth about the show and our outfits and all the things we'd imagined doing sometime. He found a gravel area off to the side of one of the battlefields and pulled the car over as far as he could before cutting the lights off. We didn't have any flashlights, but we had about a three quarters moon worth of light to see by as we walked. I had grabbed my jacket, but I only had it over my shoulders. Between the beer and the dancing, I didn't feel the cold yet. The whole area was so very quiet after the ringing of the amps. There didn't seem to be any one patrolling the road, but we quickly went through the fence and down the tree line to be safe.
Neither one of us said anything as we kept walking. We weren't even walking fast. I was too busy listening and sensing to see what I could pick up. This was meeting an honest fear and interest of mine and I knew I'd never get another chance this perfectly timed. I wasn't really drunk, but I didn't have all my thoughts together either. I imagined all of those boys and men spending their last minutes here so many years ago. The pain and fear and anger they must have felt. It seemed unreal to me standing there. I felt very shallow for making fun of all of the darker parts of life I didn't understand over the years. All the songs that had been sung about war and death became real to me in that moment.
I walked a bit closer towards the center of the small clearing near the end of the field. I was just drawn by the moonlight shining over the grass and rocks. I let my jacket fall to the ground beside me as I stood perfectly still and quiet. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, opening myself up to woods and earth around me as my senses reached out searching. I could feel Steve just standing there watching me. He always seemed to appreciate that part of me even though he didn't have experience with it himself.
I stopped thinking about Steve after a minute and started thinking about All Hallows Eve. I thought of the dead walking the world during that night. I wondered what they would feel, how they would act, what thoughts they would have consuming them, what they would say if someone could hear them.
"I would think they would say trick or treat or at the very least happy Halloween." A voice said ending on a deep chuckle.
It wasn't Steve's voice. It was very close. It scared the shit out of me. I opened my eyes and looked around to see the Reaper from the concert standing near the tree line to my right. He was about 3 feet away from us and shadowed from the trees across the moonlight. I took one slow step back.
"Steve, do you see him and hear him near the trees?"
