Survival Of The Fittest

Truly, there were few days of the year Lillian Larsen loved more than Halloween.

Her birthday, maybe, but she'd already had her's back in September and suspected that she'd come to resent that date eventually. And Christmas was always fun, if a bit bland, very much the Superman to Halloween's Batman. She always preferred having trick or treaters arrive at the front porch instead of carolers, or listening to the Monster Mash instead of Last Christmas. It was just... Well, fun really, a chance for everyone to show off their spooky side.

That Halloween in particular was one she'd been looking forward to for a while now, having returned to Philadelphia for the weekend to attend a party hosted by her best friend Brynn. Well, technically it was one of her housemates who had arranged it, but apparently she helped set up the decorations so... Close enough. Either way it'd been almost a year since she last saw her, so she was elated by the opportunity to catch up with one of her oldest friends. Of course, it did mean she'd end up missing out on Dani's party, which unfortunately clashed. She was hoping to see what her friends in Salem decided to dress up as, having to settle for whatever photos taken on the night end up on social media the following day.

Still, as she made her way down Baltimore Avenue she couldn't help but soak in the atmosphere, with trick or treaters passing from house to house and jack-o-lanterns glowing brightly in every yard. Brynn was a year older than her, and was currently in her first year of study at the University of Pennsylvania. She along with several other students decided to rent a house out in Cedar Park, a beautiful Queen Anne-style building that looked perfect for the occasion even without the various spoopy decorations, including a life-sized clown animatronic in the front garden that startled her on her way up. She had to hand it to Brynn, she spared no expense when it came to getting into the spirit of things, pun fully intended.

She'd knock on the door three times, standing there with a soft hum as she listened to the sound of college students partying it up inside. She was admittedly a tad nervous about attending a college party, especially as she'd almost certainly be the youngest person in attendance, but those nerves would give way when the door opened to reveal a familiar face on the other side.

"LILY!" exclaimed Brynn with glee, her best friend opting to wear an all-black fallen angel ensemble, with small black wings and a dainty halo above her head. "Girl, you look AMAZING! Love your outfit, really goes well with the new haircut!"

"Haha, yeah..." Lily replied with a chuckle as she scratched the back of her head. She'd gone for what could be best described as a Lady Two-Face get-up, the half of her face where her head was partially shaved covered in grisly make-up, along with a pinstripe suit split into two separate colours right down the middle. "My brother kept insisting that I go as Two-Face this year ever since I got the cut done. And, annoyingly, I couldn't think of any better ideas so..." she'd say, with a shrug. "Here I am!"

Brynn would laugh and invite Lily inside, handing her a red cup of alcoholic punch as she went about introducing her to the other party goers. Thankfully they mostly seemed to lean towards wearing fun costumes, with your usual assortment of vampires and zombies mixing it up with celebrities and superheroes. The best costume by far had to be the host's, who was determined to spend the entire evening dressed as Gritty, infamous Philadelphia Flyers mascot and renowned antifascist crusader. Overall, the general vibe of the party put a smile on her face, especially when the music switched between Halloween classics like Thriller to 80s movie themes like Ghostbusters and Fright Night. 

"And this here is Natalie! Nat, this is my friend Lily, we go waaaaay back" said Brynn, introducing Lily to a tall young woman dressed like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, complete with a long red wig and appropriate face-paint. "Heeey, nice to finally meet ya! Brynn's told me all about you..."

"Oh, has she now?" asked Lily, looking to her friend with a bemused grin. "Like what, exactly?"

"Nothing untoward!" said Brynn, exchanging glances with Natalie as they both tried to hold back their laughter. "I mean, not gonna lie, we were both expecting you to show up with devil horns..."

Lily tried to look annoyed, but couldn't help but crack a smile. Ever since she posted a picture of herself posing in front of the Satanic Temple back in Salem, she'd ended up with a bit of a reputation as Lilith the Satanist. Not helped at all when she later got caught reading the Satanic Bible at school, which in hindsight was maybe not the brightest idea... But, oh well. Turned out the stupid book wasn't even by the same Satanists who ran the Temple, the LaVeyan branch being a tad too Darwinist for her liking. The Satanic Temple was pretty chill though... Not that she considered herself a member or anything.

"Anyway, can I get either of ya a can of pop?" Natalie would ask, her Minnesotan accent coming across strongly as Lily shook her head. "I'm good for now" she'd reply, turning back to Brynn with a smile. "Soooo, how's college life been treating you so far?"

The night would pass by pretty quickly, with Lily spending the majority of it catching up with Brynn and her friend Natalie, engaging in idle small talk about this, that and the other. Nothing too dramatic, just chilling out and making up for lost time. There would be the occasional moments when Brynn and Nat were caught up gossiping about their other college buddies, Lily spending those moments checking her phone to see how things were going at Dani's Halloween bash. It was during one of these idle check-ups that she saw a message from her friend Rebekah that caused her to stifle a laugh.

"Pfff, oh my god..." Lily chuckled, looking up from her phone to Brynn. "Apparently Big Dick Buster almost got into a fistfight!"

"Big what?" asked Natalie, Brynn bursting into laughter. "Lily's secret boyfriend, I'm guessing?"

Lily would roll her eyes. "Not quite, not really had time for that kinda thing."

"Awww, really? No special someone you've got your eyes on?" teased Brynn, before looking around at the other party-goers. "Hey, maybe we can do something about that... Ooh, what about that jawn over there? He's your type, right?"

Lily would glance in the direction Brynn was pointing, raising her brow when she realised it was at some tall guy with a goofy werewolf mask on. She probably should have expected that, given how Brynn never failed to remind her of her cringey early attempts at writing supernatural romance fiction.

"Haha, very funn-oh..." she replied, taken aback when said jawn took his mask off to reveal a chiseled face underneath, taking a sip from his drink before showing off the most perfect smile she'd ever seen. In response Lily would look away with a flustered look on her face, taking a sip to hide her blush as her friends burst out laughing again. Christ, can someone help me change the subject already?

Unfortunately, her prayers were answered by another familiar face from her childhood, albeit one she was a little less keen to see in the flesh again. "Woah, is that you Lily? Fancy seeing you here!"

She'd look up from her drink to see a gangly young man she remembered to be another of her former classmates, wearing what appeared to be a bloody shirt of some kind with a plastic sword tucked into his belt. "Oh, Gabe! How... Lovely to see you!" she'd reply with an awkward smile, remembering all too well about how their last meeting ended with her turning him down. Again, after she'd already told him she wasn't interested the first time he asked her out.

"Yeah! You're looking good!" he'd say, the look on his face suggesting that maybe third time was the charm. "Going for, like, Two-Face's Harley Quinn or something?"

Lily would shrug. "Or something, I guess..." she'd reply, sipping from her cup as her friends watched on, ready to step in if necessary but otherwise letting Lily handle things for now. "Who exactly are you supposed to be, anyway?"

Gabe would grin a bit too eagerly, pulling up a mask he had by his side and putting it on, before unsheathing a plastic sword from his belt. She still wasn't entirely sure who he was meant to be at first, though there was something about that mask that rang a bell. Especially the way it seemed to resemble a smiley face, with two black lenses for eyes and no mouth... By the time it finally hit her, her face would scrunch up in disgust.

"Oh for fuck's sake, really?" she'd reply, letting out a shocked chuckle. "Blood Boy? REALLY? What is this, 2008?"

She probably should have expected someone to wear a costume inspired by Survival of the Fittest, that kind of thing was apparently all the rage about a decade ago. Nowadays though, most people tended to see it in the same light as going to a Halloween party dressed as Charles Manson or Osama Bin Laden, you just... Like, you just didn't go there if you didn't want everyone to give you a funny look.

Gabe just let out a hoarse laugh, like he usually did. He was always a bit of a provocateur, trying to get a reaction out of people, though he at least had the self-awareness this time to recognise that any shot he might of had with Lily just went up in smoke. So instead he'd wander off, Lily sighing as she turned back to her friends. "There's always one, isn't there?"

Brynn was laughing it off herself, though Natalie was noticeably quiet as she watched Gabe walk away. "Wouldn't be a Halloween party if you didn't have someone overdoing it. Probably should have given you a heads up about Gabe, sorry about that..."

Lily shook her head. "Nah, s'fine... Honestly, that went better than I expected it to" she'd say, taking another sip of her drink before turning to Natalie, her brow raising when she noticed the troubled look on her face. "You, uh, doing okay Nat?"

"Yeah, I..." replied Natalie, her voice shaky as her hand trembled, taking another sip before putting her cup away. "Excuse me for a moment..."

Lily and Brynn would look to each other as Natalie stormed off, before quickly following her outside into the back garden, keeping an eye on her as she went to sit down by herself somewhere quiet. A concerned look in her eyes, Lily would turn to Brynn and whisper in her ear. "Is... She alright?"

Brynn sighed. "Yeah, I... Did I ever tell you about Nat?"

Lily shook her head. "About what?"

Brynn looked away, checking to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. "Don't tell her I told you this, but... Her older brother was one of the kids who got abducted all those years ago."

Lily's eyes would widen in shock. "You're kidding me? Her brother was in Survival of the Fittest?"

Brynn nodded. "Yeah, the fourth one... Marty I think his name was? He... Wasn't one of the ones who made it out..."

Lily gulped, looking over at Natalie as she sat alone, taking her wig off to reveal her short blonde hair underneath. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for someone to have their loved ones taken from them like that, dragged off and forced to partake in something so... Unfathomably horrible, so much so it was hard to believe it was a real thing that happened, so easy to just write off as some act of fiction happening to a bunch of kids you've never heard of.

She remembered hearing from Fitz that the fourth was one of the biggest, with well over 200 students abducted and only a small handful making it out alive. There must have been hundreds of Natalies all across the states just from that version alone, along with all the other times it had happened since. So many people who had to live with such a tragedy, only for jackasses like Gabe to treat the whole thing like a sick joke, laugh it off with gross memes and borderline sociopathic banter. 

Even with her soft spot for the macabre, she had her limits, remembering all too well the one time she got too curious and decided to look up footage from a past game... She felt tight-chested just thinking about it, and she didn't even know anyone who was in it. She couldn't help but wonder if Natalie had ever watched any footage of her brother, find out what happened to him. 

She didn't dare to ask her. Instead, she'd walk over, sit down by Natalie and offer her a shoulder to cry on. Brynn would join her on the other side, Natalie wiping her tears and offering the two an appreciative smile.

"Thank you... I-I should be okay, just needed..." she'd say, with a sniffle. "Just needed a minute to remember an old promise I made..."

"Hey, don't sweat it. It's all good..." replied Lily, sighing softly herself before looking up at the night sky. She wondered in that brief moment how she'd handle the news that her kid brother was abducted and forced to take part in a death game, whether she'd want to seek that footage out or just anxiously wait for the results to come through.

She also couldn't help but wonder how her family would react to the reverse, if that kind of thing was to ever happen to her... 

In the end, she figured it was best not to think about it. It was Halloween after all, and what better way was there of escaping the horrors of real life, than to indulge in more fantastical horrors?