I caught my reflection in the glass of the front door, and straightened my long skirt, before reaching out, tentatively, to press the doorbell. I took a deep breath; I wasn’t used to doing parties on my own yet, and waited. No one answered, well the deafening music probably had something to do with that, and I turned thinking perhaps this was my excuse for not showing up. “Argggghhhhhhhh” I turned round in a flash, to find Frankenstein, a ghost and a mummy bearing down on me. “Shit! You guys! You scared me half to death!” I laughed. They were all cracking up. “Come in Kara, come and get some Halloween punch down you”.
David was the first to be able to talk sensibly. I hugged him and pushed my way through the others into the hallway. “On one condition,” I grinned, “You don’t make me bob for apples!” “You’re kidding” Sara said “That’s the first thing you’ve gotta do”. I groaned, they were as mad as ever. Only this bunch of 28 year olds would hold a Halloween costume party and expect all their guests to bob for apples! Sara and Jenny dragged me through to the kitchen, where various assorted spooks and ghouls were busy getting intoxicated. “David, hold her hands behind her back!” Sara ordered, and David guided me towards a large wooden barrel in the middle of the kitchen floor, and stood behind me. “Hold my hair?” I asked. David gently gathered my hair – both real and my wig – into a ponytail, and his other hand grasped both my wrists.
A beat. A memory of when David and I used to date. His hand in my hair, and of him restraining me. All in the past. We were never right for each other, just two good friends hoping they could make something more out of their respect for each other. Still, on a night like this, when everyone else seemed to be paired off, I thought perhaps it would be worth trying again? I caught our reflection in Sara’s dining room mirror. I smiled to myself – no way! Too safe. David just wasn’t my type. But we did make a cute couple, especially whilst he was dressed as Frankenstein and I as a vampire. I leant forward to the water; eyeing the apples floating there, “Hold on!” I called “I have to take my teeth out!” David let my hand go and I pulled out the fake eyeteeth. “OK, lets go” I said. I spotted one apple floating near the edge and tried to stake it with my real teeth. I was desperately trying not to get my face too wet, so my make up wouldn’t run, ‘cause then there would be nothing left to hide behind, and turned my face to the side. In doing so I was able to see around the room, and I tried to see who else was there. Some others I knew quite well, and some by sight, as friends of friends, and some it was hard to tell who they were. Just as I was about to grasp that apple, someone turned to watch. He was stunning.
I almost gasped out loud. Another vampire. He seemed older than the rest of us, and I wondered who he had come with. He was tall, slender, and his eyes were piercing. Our eyes locked and I felt my knickers soak through. I made ineffectual attempts to grab that apple, but I was doomed to fail, I couldn’t drag my eyes away. “God Kara – you are crap!” David shouted above the music, and pulled me upright. Our eye contact broke. I laughed. It was always good to be with my friends. Since my split with Jamie it was them who had kept me sane. Well almost sane. Jenny pushed a large glass of orange coloured punch into my hands and urged me to drink up. I did so to chants of “Down in one!” I drained it, needing the kick, and held out the glass for a refill. “So what else do you guys have up your sleeve for tonight?” I asked. Sara answered, “Well first you can peel that apple there, the one you couldn’t bite, and drop the peel on the floor to see the initial letter of your true love.” I smiled, a game Sara and I played at Halloween when we were kids. “Ah,” I replied “But that only works if you can peel it in one go – and I never could”. “OK, next you look in the mirror in the hall, recite the magic chant and see the face of your true love over your left shoulder”. “OK, ok” I acquiesced, “Lead me to my true love”.
The hall was lined with candles shedding their soft warmth on our faces as we gathered round the mirror. Sara had even carved a pumpkin that stood on the little hall table. She always was the arty one. It looked like a professional work of art, whereas mine had always looked like a punctured beach ball. I had long since given up trying. “Right, face the mirror Kara”. I stood in front of the big oval mirror.
“On Halloween this mystic night, When ghouls abound and witches take flight. I call upon the spirits near To show me one who will be dear. Before the Holy Day’s first light, Show me the true love of my life.”
Ok, ok, I know what you are thinking – how sad! But as I said, Sara and I were kids together, and we have said that rhyme every year since we were about 10 years old. These things kinda stick in your mind. I’m not even sure where it came from – more than likely we made it up ourselves.
I stared deeply into the mirror; I really wanted it to work this year! I had felt so alone recently, so empty. I had really believed that Jamie and I would stay together. The hallway seemed to darken slightly, and the candles flickered, I took a sharp breath inwards, and stared at the mirror. Nothing. I could have sworn that someone was there right behind me, and I was going to see their face loom over my shoulder. The room span, I felt goose bumps break out on my neck and it seemed to get chilly for a second. Silence, the music of the party seemed to fade out into the distance, and I was alone in the hallway, but still nothing. I kept staring. The volume of the party came back up, and the room came back into focus. “Did you see anything?” Sara asked. “Yeah,” I replied “Prince William”, and they all dissolved into drunken laughter again.