Invizking

Having been a smoker since the age of sixteen, Marti made many attempts to break the habit. She first went cold turkey at nineteen when she couldn’t afford to buy cigarettes, but found herself bumming smokes at every opportunity.

At twenty-two, her boyfriend introduced her to nicotine gum. It tasted unsavory and did little for her cravings, so she dumped both the gum and the boyfriend.

At the age of twenty-five, she tried the patch. After making herself sick from applying too many at once, she found smoking to be safer after all.

The cardboard sign read “Haunted House” in black magic marker with an arrow pointing down the street. It was nearing 10 o’clock; our bags sagged from so much free candy and our limbs were sore. A haunted house adventure sounded like a perfect ending to Halloween. We mustered the strength to hurry and resisted temptations to continue begging houses for candy.

Orange and purple lights strung along its walls shone through the artificial fog belching from concealed machines. Spooky sounds and eerie music emanated from the open door; strobe lights illuminated the entrance.

Her problem was she knew not when to stop eating; that had to be the only rational explanation the concierge could think of as the homicide investigation entered the building and headed for the elevator. His hands shook as he wiped more fluid off from his face.

Detective Samuels tapped his pencil on the side of his neck as he thought up a way to properly articulate his question.

He finally decided upon two words: “She popped?”

“Popped,” explained the concierge. “Like a balloon; a ghastly balloon. It was hideous.”

Suellyn gazed at the sky-blue decanter on the table in the cellar, biting her lip as temptation grasped at her with hooked claws. Its rippled label, written in fanciful font, read “Drink Me”.

The glass was completely smooth; no insignia of its craftsman was present on the bottle. It felt chilled against her skin, as though it had been removed from a freezer. The air was cool in the cellar, but for it to be so cold was mysterious. It was unreasonably light, as if it was empty, yet she felt the liquid slosh inside.