Count down to Halloween 2

There is more to Halloween than dressing up and having fun (so I'm told!) but telling spooky tales and eating delicious sweet concoctions is all part of the season! I have been known to make trifle filled with wiggly worms in bright green jelly (yes the sugared ones!) and spent ages one year adding spider legs to spooky marshmallows (licorice straws) I have filled my house with spiders webs- having first brushed away the real ones!- and hung skeletons from every available light socket. I'm so excited this year that I can hardly wait!
Are you going to any parties? I came across this great spider costume if you haven't yet decided what to wear:

   
Spider Lady costume


Here is a spooky story with a castle as its backdrop. Written for a Yellow Silk Dreams anthology 'Scarlet' was part of 'Behind Stone Walls':

 

A juggler arrived on the stage. He was a strange little man with very sharp features, wearing a court jester’s hat. He began dropping his clubs deliberately and everyone was laughing at him. Katy reached out her hand to the man on her left brushing briefly against his arm without averting her eyes from the scene. The laughter grew and echoed around the stone walls, Katy could hear her own laughter almost as a separate entity coming from somewhere above her head. The jester came closer and seemed to focus intently on Katy’s face. He seemed familiar to her somehow, like a distant relative. She tried to remember where she had seen him before and concentrated on his face. The room began to go numb around her as she saw herself reflected in the jesters twinkling eyes. Once again Katy imagined herself walking through the spring trees with the man she loved holding onto her arm.

They stopped to view a small gathering of birds pecking hungrily at the ground. The birdsong filled the air all around them high up in the trees and all across the grand lawn. Suddenly her suitor turned her towards him and kissed her softly on her waiting lips. She gasped as she felt his tenderness turn to urgency as she began to slowly respond. She parted her lips to allow his tongue to enter gently between them feeling it nestle against her own, softly stroking along the sides. The powerful sense of passion began surging through her veins and she trembled…

Back in the Castle and still watching the juggler Katy shivered, she hugged her chest and waited once again for her mind to settle. The juggling jester was staring directly at her, his hat of bells dancing. It was as if he could read her mind, as if he knew… Almost angrily Katy stood and left the room.

In the rest room Katy splashed her face with cold water trying to calm her nerves. What was wrong with her? It had to be the wine, she shouldn't drink so much, it was something her friends had always been concerned about and this was precisely why. Katy took a deep breath and turned around to check her reflection in the full length mirror before heading for the door. Wow, she loved this dress! How could it make her waist so tiny and her breasts so voluptuous? She knew she looked stunning. Peering closer she thought there was definitely something different about her face. Stepping backwards she covered her mouth with her hands.

It was her eyes! They were different somehow. Leaning closer to the mirror she studied them hard. There was no doubt about it her reflected eyes were brown, but how could that be? Katy’s eyes were blue weren’t they? It must be the light she told herself. Don’t be so ridiculous, nobody’s eyes changed colour, maybe they had always been brown?

Her head began to swim and her heart pounded loudly in her chest. Just at that moment Ellie entered the bathroom.

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