Young Writers Society

*This is from my “Celina and Alejandro” stories. This is underneath my folder titled “The cake curse”. Gacha Club character designs are on my wall. Enjoy!*

Introduction

On Halloween night, monsters roam the streets of Relson. From the Campbell house is a curse, a curse of cake that turns children into their monsters.

If it were a funny costume, then nothing would happen. If it were a scary costume, then…

Hell would be raised.

Chapter One

THE RELSON FOREST-EARLY IN THE MORNING

Celina nudged Alejandro awake. His red eyes opened to the autumn sunlight. They had much work to do, much scares to make.

But weren’t their parents waiting for them? Didn’t they have another home?

No, everything was fine. They were just where they needed to be.

Right?

Chapter Two

Alejandro opened his weary red eyes, the dark circles even darker from he tossed and turned. He never slept the night before Halloween.

“Do we have to scare them? Can’t we just go home?” Alejandro asked.

“Home? Home? What do you mean, we are home!” Celina argued. Alejandro wasn’t making sense. The woods was always their home, he should have known that. He was weird, but never that weird?!

“Don’t you remember?” Alejandro asked, placing a pale, clawed hand on Celina’s shoulder.

Her mouth dropped open. Yes, she did remember, as a matter of fact.

Chapter Three

FLASHBACK

That Halloween night, when Celina insisted that it was alright to eat the cake slices. When they felt the pain stabbing within them.

Then the claws came out. The sharp, horrid claws, the knife-like teeth, the hazy memories…

They were monsters because Celina HAD to insist on eating the cake slices.

They were monsters because of HER.

Chapter Four

“We’ve got to turn into humans again!” Alejandro said.

“But how? We’re like this forever.” Celina said.

If only they hadn’t eaten those cake slices, perhaps they’d still be human. They would be with their families.

“We go back to Mr. Campbell’s. We eat the cake slices. We save everyone else. We become human.”

“You think that it will work?” Celina asked.

Alejandro shrugged.

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a try.” Alejandro replied.

Chapter Five

Celina and Alejandro walked close to one another, trying their best to avoid the other monsters. A little boy witch named Malik was cackling while petting a black cat. His friend, Silence, was walking haphazardly, for she was a wind-up doll.

“I’m sorry that I made fun of you for being scared. That was completely immature of me.” Celina said. As she watched the monsters stalk or crawl, she began to understand the paralyzing fear that the wicked was around the corner, the fear that Alejandro had every Halloween.

“It’s water under the bridge now. We have to get out of here.” Alejandro said.

Even though no one took notice of them, they still stayed close, even holding hands so as not to break apart.

Chapter Six

FLASHBACK

So was that what power was? Making all of the little children scream and squeal.

Never before had Celina ever felt the authority of an adult, the respect of a teacher.

They all BOWED DOWN TO HER!

Chapter Seven

No one stared at them. It was Halloween, after all. People accepted to see others dressed as monsters.

Celina looked back at the woods, the place they left. She couldn’t believe it. Every year, it always felt so refreshing.

She was in the real world of cars and buildings. No longer was Celina lost in the mystical world of trees and dying animals, she was with noise and people, the welcoming lights of society.

Somewhere, in one of the houses, was her parents.

Chapter Eight

“We can’t stay for long. We have to find the Campebell house.” Alejandro said, gripping Celina’s claw.

“But can’t I just look at the houses a little longer?” Celina asked.

“No, we have to go.” Alejandro said.

Her first time in the human world feeling like a human and she couldn’t look at the houses?

Well, perhaps Alejandro was right. If they went to the Campbell house, then they would become human.

Best to keep on moving.

Chapter Nine

There were houses that already were giving out candy to Trick-or-Treaters. Relson was one of those towns that celebrated Halloween at 1:30 PM and ended at 5:00 AM. Yes, there were children who never slept until the afternoon.

Celina sighed, reminiscing of a time when she was twelve years old, going Trick-or-Treating until 3:00 AM. Her parents told her that she couldn’t handle it and Celina argued, with baggy eyes, that she could.

It seemed so serious then.

“There it is! The Campbell house.” Alejandro whispered to her.

Across from them was a white painted house, a single pumpkin on the front step. There was only one pumpkin that decorated the house, but everyone knew that was the place where the cake slices waited.

Cotton curtains stained yellow over time shut the windows from the world. It wasn’t time yet, but soon, it would open its door and hungrily wait for unsuspecting children to fall victim to its curse.

Very soon, the door would open.

Chapter Ten

Celina and Alejandro walked up to the front door, adrenaline in their veins. Finally, they would have a chance to be human!

Alejandro turned open the knob, but he didn’t need to. The door opened quite easily.

They didn’t know what to make of it. Why wouldn’t the door be locked? Was it a trap? Were they in danger?

But they were already in danger when they ate the cake slice last year, so what more danger could they be in?

Off they went into the house.

Chapter Eleven

For some reason, Celina thought that the inside of the house would be dark and dingy, like the basement in a horror movie.

But the inside was painted with clear blue walls, decorated with pictures of smiling people framed by dark brown oak.

Most of the photos were of a boy and girl, a different age in each one, wearing the most extravagant, over-the-top Halloween costumes.

She followed the path of the pictures, ever so intrigued. She never saw anyone else leave the house except Mr. Campbell.

But did he have a family, once?

Chapter Twelve

The photos of the children extended from zero to sixteen years old and then…it stopped.

“I can’t find the cake anywhere, I guess I’ll have to look for the recipe!” Alejandro called out. Where was he? In the kitchen?

It didn’t matter. He would find the recipe, she would solve the mystery.

What were the letters on the long table with the single vase of dried, yellowed roses, reeking of rank mildew?

Chapter Thirteen

Celina picked a letter up from the desk, wincing at how it stuck to her fingers like honey. What was on it? Spilled coffee with mold? It was disgusting.

The letter read:

My children, can you read these? Can you see these? I have tried talking to you with the oujia board, but you have not responded.

Are you alright? Are you in Heaven? Are you in torment? What can I do to save you if you need my help?

Please give me a sign.

-Your loving father.

Celina dropped the letter. Mr. Campbell was trying to contact his children. Somehow, it connected to what happened every Halloween.

She just had to read more letters.

Chapter Fourteen

Another letter read as followed:

I want you to come back home. You didn’t deserve this. Those kids shouldn’t have done that to you.

You were just being happy and celebrating a holiday. They hurt you because they have no heart.

What can I do to help?

-Your loving father.

Celina’s heart beat with a cold dread of the conclusion to come. Alejandro was rummaging through the kitchen, searching for a recipe for the magical cake.

Where was Mr. Campbell? Shouldn’t she have noticed him?

Perhaps he went out for the day. Either way, it was nothing to worry about. Celina was so close to finding the absolutely wretched truth.

Chapter Fifteen

A news article lay folded on the table. Celina picked it up, ignoring how it smelled like spoiled milk.

October 31st, 2009

TWO TEENS DIE IN PARTY MISHAP

In the small town of Relson, twin siblings Marguerite and Merle Campbell attended the Blaine family house for a Halloween party.

A wall portrait had accidentally fallen on them both, crushing their bodies. No one knows how it happened. Questions are being asked of those who attended the party.

Condolences are sent to the parents.

“That’s not the entire story.”

Celina froze. The newspaper fell from her hands.

She knew that voice very well. The voice of the man who had cursed them, had changed them.

Mr. Campbell was right behind her.

Chapter Sixteen

“They didn’t just die from the fallen portrait. Something that big wouldn’t just fall.” Mr. Campbell said, taking a step towards her.

“My children told me that the people attending took it down and dropped it at them. They were the only ones their age who dressed up and they were the laughingstock of their school.” Mr. Campbell said.

His eyes were filled with petrified anger, zombified insanity.

Celina took a step back for her own safety.

Chapter Seventeen

“I gave them the cake slices so they would know what it would feel like to be a monster.”

Mr. Campbell placed a hand on Celina’s shoulder. She felt his nails dig into her skin like sharpened, demon claws.

Wait. She was a monster.

“That’s awful, but it’s not my fault.” Celina said.

She pulled his arm away and ran off to the kitchen, running with inhuman speed and grace.

Chapter Eighteen

Alejandro held a worn piece of parchment paper in his left hand. He grinned when he saw Celina make it to the kitchen.

“You’re not leaving! Not when they’re in trouble!” Mr. Campbell screeched.

Celina took Alejandro’s right hand and out they ran.

Chapter Nineteen

Trick-or-Treaters stared at them as they ran down the sidewalk in a frenzy, away from the Campbell house.

Celina could have sworn that two adolescents, a girl in a ghost bride costume and a boy in a dark, muted angel costume, smiled back at them on the street before fading into dust.

But Alejandro made no comment on it whatsoever.

Chapter Twenty

After miles of running, Celina made it to the woods. Alejandro stayed behind in an abandoned kitchen with the recipe, working to make the cake.

The monsters had left to scare the humans. It was just her and the animals, who were indifferent to her presence.

Celina shoved the cake slice in her mouth, without hesitation. The chocolate crammed its way through her throat desperately, plunging her into sugary oblivion.

She was done hiding.

Epilogue

Alejandro gave everyone the cake slice to bite into for humanity. Celina crept into the Campbell house and slashed Mr. Campbell away with a shining kitchen knife.

Everyone is happy now. The monsters are humans and with their families. Mr. Campbell is dead and with his children who died from horrid peers and his wife whom he killed in a rage.

Nobody is a monster. Everyone is happy.

Everyone.