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The air in the car was growing chill. Lewis Robertson stopped the tapping noise he was making with the envelope on the steering wheel. Angrily, he tore the card from the envelope and re-read the words of the invitation. On the front was a cartoonish picture of a ghoul. In the voice bubble above his head were the words, “Come to a Halloween party!” Inside was an address. Lewis checked for the hundredth time to be sure the address inside the invitation matched that of the building he was parked before; they were the same. He tossed the invitation to the passenger seat of his car. He stared at the front of the building for a while longer. It was one of many abandoned warehouses along the waterfront, though not in as bad repair as most. Still, there were no other cars here and he had seen no sign of other people in the half-hour he had sat in front of the old building. Is it a joke? He hadn’t wanted to come to any damn party anyway. He hadn’t wanted to do anything for the past month except stay in his dark house and be left alone. He didn’t need to work anymore; Beth’s life insurance had paid the mortgage as well as all the other bills they had accumulated in their five years of marriage. And the policy they had taken out on little Brandon only two months before had been enough to pay the funeral expenses for both of Lewis’ loved ones. Lewis stopped that train of thought, afraid if he stayed on it he would begin crying again. He didn’t want that; recently it had become too hard to stop the tears once they began. He thought instead of his mother and how she had nearly forced him to come to this nonexistent party. “You haven’t left the house in weeks,” she had scolded. “This is a golden opportunity to get out and mingle with friends. You need that.” “How do I know this party is being given by any of my friends?” Lewis argued. “Why else would you have been invited?” she countered. She had nagged until Lewis finally gave in and agreed to attend the party. He knew his mother was only concerned about him being shut up alone and brooding over the accident. She had made the red devil costume he was wearing. |
| The Halloween Feast
By Steven E. Wedel |