“Oh, my god,” cried the girl to her friend. “Tell me you’re not going out in that.”
“What?” the other girl defended herself. “We’re going to a haunted house!"
The first girl stared at her friend silently, slowly chewing on a piece of pineapple flavored bubblegum. Her short brown hair fell beautifully around her face until it reached her chin, flowing back to form a subtle a-line cut. She had just got her hair done earlier that day. It was perfect—the way she always wore it.
“God, Jessica,” Holly said while Jessica continued chomping on her gum. “You need to loosen up. It’s Halloween.”
“No, tomorrow is Halloween,” Jessica retorted. “Besides, we’re not the ones who are supposed to be dressed up—they are.”
Holly rolled her eyes. Jessica didn’t like that she was wearing her warlock costume to the haunted house, but she didn’t care. World of Warcraft was awesome, just like her costume’s rendition—which she had made herself. Spikes protruded from the armor over her shoulders, and the inlaid red jewels sparkled ominously. Underneath the black hood covering Holly’s head lay matching black hair. It was cut similarly to Jessica’s, but with a steeper incline toward the back, complete with bangs that covered her forehead.
Most people thought the two girls were sisters. They resembled each other closely enough, and in truth, they behaved like sisters. But the reality is that they were best friends, having forged an indestructible bond years ago.
Holly looked around Jessica’s bedroom as Jessica did a final check of herself in the mirror. “Do you have everything? Are you ready to go?” Holly asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jessica said impatiently, pursing her lips in the mirror one last time before reaching for her purse. “I wouldn’t want you to miss your swarm of boys.”
Holly smiled inwardly but pretended to be annoyed. “Oh, shut up. The guys would be all over you too if you didn’t have a boyfriend,” she pointed out. “By the way, why isn’t Graham coming?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Jessica said, flicking her hair angrily. “He’s busy apparently.”
“Oh, I see,” Holly said, knowing why Jessica was upset. It was understandable. Graham worked long hours. Jessica rarely got to see him.
“Okay, let’s go,” Jessica announced, leading the way out of her room and down to the garage.
Together the two stepped into one of their most prized possessions, a blue van. But this was no ordinary van. This was the Normandy-SR2. As Jessica carefully backed out of the driveway, she powered on her iPod.
“I love this song!” Holly shouted, clapping her hands excitedly. “Beats Antique is such a great band!”
“I liked them years ago,” Jessica informed her.
Holly rolled her eyes once more. Jessica always had to outdo her. But it wasn’t just Jessica. This was the way everyone behaved who lived in southern California. Hell, she herself was constantly trying to upstage Jessica. She had to. It was California’s code.
As they drove, the girls talked about new costuming ideas. Creating costumes had brought them together when they were younger, and it was a passion they continued to this day. Truth be told, they were quite good. And it was for this reason Holly was proudly donning her warlock costume. You see, normal life is boring. Reality sucks. There are no spaceships to own, and no magic swords to slice bad guys with.
Think about it. How often do you get to dress up and become something more than yourself? How often do you get to escape the drudgery of everyday life? Whenever and wherever there was an excuse to wear a costume, Holly seized the day. Halloween, Christmas, Renaissance Faires, Comicon, PAX, PAX East, costume parties, dinner parties, Nerd Prom, and—of course—Flag Day.
Arriving at their destination, Jessica and Holly stepped out of the Normandy and began walking to the haunted house. They were particularly excited because this haunted house was completely new, making its first appearance this year.
Mass Defect was an entirely new kind of haunted house. Rather than being set with the traditional witches and goblins kind of theme, it was set in space—in the year 2148. The fliers advertised that one could expect to encounter all sorts of evil mutant aliens and twisted space abominations. Summed up—a mass amount of defects.
Holly and Jessica strode to the back of the long line, gladly absorbing the attention Holly’s costume garnered. Boys, men, married men, gay men, and women all openly gawked at the two as they passed. The warlock costume was impressive, as was Jessica’s perfectly styled hair.
To accurately describe the efforts of the crowd to win the ladies’ affection would be an arduous and overwhelming task. Suffice it to say then, the two were not at a loss for the attention of hormone-crazed boys, and girls, who desperately hoped to win the ladies’ hearts.
After an hour of waiting in line and politely rejecting the crowd’s advances, Jessica and Holly finally arrived at the ticket box and purchased two tickets. In no time, they would be strolling through what promised to be the best haunted house. Although it had been running for only a few weeks, it was already being hailed as the greatest haunted house in human history. Passing through the line’s mass delay, Holly and Jessica were at last transported into what the civilizations of the galaxy call… Mass Defect.
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