Halloween Horror

On this Friday morning Betty woke up at 3:33 from a nightmare about a vampire. She despised vampires, but in her dream, she was fixing a lady’s hair in her beauty salon on main street. When she sprayed her thick black hair, the lady turned around, looked at her, and quickly bit her on the neck as fast as a serpents'' strike. She woke up sweating and out of breath.

"Compose yourself, Betty. It was only a dream." She said to herself. "Take deep breaths."

Deep breathing always helped her anxiety. She looked up and saw her Bride of the Dead costume hanging from the closet door. "Oh! Today''s Halloween. That has to be why I dreamed about a darn vampire. Macy and I are dressing up for all of our hair and nail appointments... and giving out candy tonight in front of the salon tonight. Time for ghoulish things, and ghosts and goblins... bats and rats." 

A chill went through her body. She feared bats and rats. Getting out of bed she said, "What the hell is it about Halloween that makes it fun? I don''t like vampires, bats, and rats... and more?" She thought for a while... "It has to be the costumes," she giggled. "I love costumes and mounds of makeup."

Getting dressed to go to work, she looked in her dresser mirror. Taking her white cake power makeup, she slapped it all over her face. The Bride of the Dead had to look dead, and she sure did. She added a dab of black lipstick under her eyes and smeared it around. Then, she added a lot of black on her lips. Her long white wig finished her costume and she was off to work.

Opening the front door to the salon, she turned the sign to OPEN. After turning all of the lights on, she went straight to the coffee pot, and soon the smell of fresh coffee filled the beauty parlor. Outside the shop, on the sidewalk, she had a small table for four. She decided to sit there and wait for Macy to come to the salon. There was a fresh cool breeze that passed in front of her face... only her face... as one young girl whizzed by in front of her. As the breeze passed by, she saw Macy coming down the sidewalk.

"Good morning, Betty. Ready for Halloween... with all of the bats and rats you don''t like?"

"Yes, I''m ready. Like my Bride of the Dead costume?" She got up to twirl her dress around so Macy could see the total look.

"Yes indeed. I love your white face, Betty. It looks like someone just sucked all of the blood right out of you."

"Well, I woke up feeling like that. I had this dream about ... 

Macy interrupted her, "Oh! Good morning Miss McVeil. Look at you with your cute witch outfit on. Want some coffee with us before I do your hair?"

"I''d love some, Macy." She went inside to get her a cup of coffee. "How you doing, Betty?"

"Well, I woke up from a nightmare about ..."

Miss McVeil interrupted her. "Oh, Betty, it''s also Friday the 13th. In my 70 years on earth, I can’t remember the last time Halloween was on a Friday the 13th. How about that? Extra spooky things will happen all day long. And there''s a full moon out tonight, too."

"Yeah, how about that? Odd huh?" Betty smiled but wanted to laugh. Miss McVeil was eccentric and now the beginnings of dementia was setting in. She couldn''t bring herself to tell her there was no Friday the 13th for Halloween, so she drank her cup of coffee and went inside to begin her day. Apparently, no one wanted to hear about her vampire dream.

The day went by smoothly. They completed their list of appointments and had fun telling ghost stories and giving each customer an orange popcorn ball. It was time to close the shop and add Halloween decorations to the table in front of the shop on the sidewalk. All of the shops gave candy to the children who passed by. Every year there was a parade of children who lined the streets in every costume imaginable.

Eight o''clock was approaching and that was the time for everyone to clear the streets and go home. The candy was all gone and Macy helped Betty bring the decorations and the empty candy bowls inside. Suddenly, Betty saw Miss McVeil coming towards them at a fast pace for her advanced age, her long black wig flying in the cool breeze. She looked like a real witch flying low on a broom. Trailing behind her long black dress, was a young girl who would not stop following her, dressed like Dracula''s bride.

"Betty... Macy... Help me!"

 "What''s wrong Miss McVeil?"

"That girl behind me has been following me for two blocks. She says she a little vampire. I don''t like vampires."

Betty immediately ran for the shop door to hide but everyone went inside, including the young girl. Betty got a broom to stop the girl from advancing towards her, but it didn''t help.

Miss McVeil yelled, "Don''t hit that girl with a broom! She''s harmless!"

"I''m not going to hit her. I just want her to stay away from me. Tell her to get out of my shop. Now!"

Miss McVeil changed the tone of voice from fear to sounding like a sweet old lady. "Oh, she won''t hurt you, Betty. All she wants is a little bite of your skin. Just an ounce of your blood will do just fine, my dear."

Betty backed away and bumped into Macy. "NO! I had a dream about a vampire this morning, but none of you wanted to hear my dream. I don''t like them. Macy, help me get them out of the shop."

She turned around to look at Macy and she took hold of her waist, smiled, and showed her fangs.

"Macy! Is this a joke?"

"No Betty, it''s not a joke. The young girl is mine and she needs some of your blood."

"You never told me you had a daughter Let me go and all of you get out of my shop. Now, or I''ll call the cops."

Betty’s heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to pop out of her chest. "Get out!" She was struggling with Macy to get loose of her grab around her waist. The young girl came closer and closer to her.

"Macy, get your little monster away from me!" she yelled as she struggled to get free of Macy''s hold on her. Macy wouldn''t let go of her waist.

Slowly the young girl came in front of Betty. A cool breeze passed across her face, and like the strike of a snake, the girl stuck her fangs into Betty''s neck. Betty SCREAMED with fear and then stayed quiet for a whole minute, her long white wig over Macy''s daughter who was sucking the blood from her neck. When she had enough, she backed away with her lips full of Betty''s blood.

"Thanks Mama. This was the best Halloween I ever had."

"Good darling. I''m glad you had fun. Now go home with grandma and I''ll close up this shop for the night."

Macy propped Betty in one of the hair styling chairs and cleaned up the fang marks on her neck.

The next morning the police were called by her first client when she saw her in the chair through the window, not moving as she kept banging on the door.

Her death was classified as a heart attack. The police questioned all of her shop neighbors on the block. Everyone said she was alone on the streets giving candy for Halloween and looked fine in her Bride of the Dead costume.

No one ever saw Macy, her Mama, or her daughter. 

(c) Mary Lynn Plaisance / 10/2018