The Halloween Costume Tailor Trilogy Podcast Transcript
Good evening, it’s Spooky Boo coming to you from the lighthouse in Sandcastle, California. Many of you have been waiting for tonight’s final episode of The Halloween Costume Tailor. Last year I put the final touches on part two. Tonight I bring you the full trilogy including part 3. If you’ve already heard the first two stories, feel free to skip to part 3 or listen to all three to refresh your memory.
This podcast would not be possible without the listeners and Patreon members including madjoe, P. A. Nightmares, Ivy Iverson John Newby, Patrick Mcauliffe, 933TheVolt.com, and Bubble Slayer. To find out how you can help support the show and keep it on the air, visit the webpage www.scarystorytime.com/support where you’ll find links to Patreon, merchandise, and various other ways to tell people you love listening to the podcast. Your patronage is much appreciated.
One more thing, I’ll be a guest on Creature Features next weekend on the 16th of October. Tune in at 9:00 PM Pacific on YouTube or KOFY TV 20 as well as Apple TV, Roku, and various TV stations around the world. Find out your showtime at www.creaturefeatures.tv.
Now let’s begin…
The Halloween Costume Tailor
A Horror Story by Spooky Boo Rhodes
~~~ 1 ~~~
It was your typical October morning in Sandcastle. The fog and clouds were still blanketing most of the bay area and probably wouldn’t roll back to the ocean until around noon, if at all. Cyrus Vanslow traveled to Sandcastle from New York state every year two weeks before Halloween. Each day he stopped in a large city with his little traveling caravan of gypsies until the two weeks before Halloween where he and his crew of carnies set up camp on the hillside above the beach before the big Halloween ball at the Miller house every year.
He hadn’t planned on arriving so late this year, but his latest costume was a bit of a problem getting all of the pieces collected. He had to stop in Siesta, a small town just at the foothills of the Sierras to make sure the parts in his new collection were still intact. He told the caravan to go on without him and when he stopped to get a bite to eat before heading west to the California coastline, he knew right away what the problem was. The temperature on one of the freezers in the back of his cargo truck wasn’t freezing anymore.
He immediately smelled the sweetness of hot rotting meat when he opened the side door to the back of his rig. He grimaced as the stench wafted up to his nostrils. Such a waste of human life disturbed him. He didn’t do what he did to mercilessly kill people, that would be wrong. He did it for the cause. Each victim was preselected from a survey taken off the internet. His selection had to be perfect from size to looks. Now he’ll have to improvise and either find another person from the candidates in the area or create a whole new persona.
Cyrus shut the door to the truck and went into the little cafe with his laptop in hand. He scoped out the dining room, happy that he didn’t see very many people even at noon. He looked at the counter and noticed the handwritten sign pointing to the rows of empty tables. SEAT YOURSELF it read in all caps. He shrugged and found a table near the window where he could keep an eye on his truck. The smell was surely contained within and the human nose might not be able to smell it from the outside, but a K9 could and around here police dogs were pretty popular.
“Do you happen to have wifi, ma’am?” he asked the waitress as she arrived holding a pad of paper and a pen. He thought how she might look really nice as that huge sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid with her rather large body frame and tussles of long gray hair. She even had perfect overly painted lavender lips with dark lip liner. Even the mole placement was superb.
“Oh yes, honey. Just look up Katerina diner in your wifi list. It’s free for customers especially you, sugar,” she winked at him. “What will it be? We’re still serving breakfast or we have the regular grill that you’ll find anywhere else right there on the menu.”
“Steak, eggs over easy, and a pot of your best coffee. Thank you, Julia” Cyrus smiled as he looked at her nametag. Her name even sounded like Ursula.
“You got it, sugar!” she smiled and waddled away.
Looking up all of the clothing stores and freezer repair centers in the area from his laptop, he picked out two and called to make sure they had time to look at his equipment. As expected, the repair center had more time on its hand than any other place, probably due to the lack of people in town. Another crumbling small town in America. “What a waste,” Cyrus mumbled.
Julia placed two plates in front of Cyrus along with the pot of coffee and a cup. Then she grabbed the steak sauce and catsup from another empty table and placed it in front of him. “I get out of here in an hour, sugar. Want a tour of the town?”
Cyrus thought for a moment thinking about his plans for the day and then smiled. “How about in two hours? I need to drop my truck off to get something repaired and you can pick me up from the repair spot. I’ll treat you to whatever you like.”
She smiled, and when she did he marveled at her beauty. Although very large, she was gorgeous and perfect for his needs.
2
The old gypsy drove his truck out to the dump and paid the dump fees. A mere $25 would do the trick to get rid of this hunk of meat in his freezer. In his truck, he carried 4 freezers, each containing the props he needed. This was the only one with one body, which was a good thing because with all 4 freezers dying it would have been a disaster for the party in Sandcastle. All of his props needed to be completely frozen when he arrived and stored for a week while he prepared the other details. One simple problem could ruin everything and his reputation.
Before opening the meat locker, he placed an old emergency tarp he carried in the back of his truck just for this purpose. With large yellow rubber gloves, he opened the freezer and hoisted the body on to the tarp. It wasn’t easy dealing with such large prey, but he prided himself on being a very strong man. After rolling up the trash and securing the ends of the tarp, he looked from left to right. When he was sure no one else was around, the bundle was tossed out of the back of the truck.
He watched silently as it tumbled then rolled down the side of the hill. The smell of the dump was even worse than the rotting meat in the back of his truck, but he would soon be rid of that issue as he called the closet hotel he could find where he could rest and take care of the next issue after he hosed out his truck at the local car wash.
Without hesitation, Cyrus jumped back into his vehicle and drove off toward the front gate. He gave the attendant a $100 bill for turning the cameras off and also left a little insurance policy of an extra glove in the guy’s car down at the bottom of the hill, just in case anyone asked questions.
Rolling down the hillside that protected the surrounding cities from the smell of the garbage, he turned on a song by KISS and began humming the tune. He was going to get lucky, very lucky, and then have the perfect specimen for the Halloween party in Sandcastle, California. He heard there was a new resident in town who was very important and he wanted to make sure this resident was pleased with the costumes.
3
In exactly two hours and not a minute later, the gypsy arrived at the appliance store. He took a glance at the shabby man at the counter and realized he could have the perfect costume for Al Franken’s baggage handler in the movie Trading Places. Why the shop forced their employees to wear such drab clothing was beyond his comprehension. Life was supposed to be full of beauty and wearing such gear would put him down in the dumps. Fortunately for Cyrus, he chose to wear his own colorful blend of yellow, black, and purple shades. His mother always told him that people won’t take him seriously if he simply dressed up like a salesman in blue all of the time. Of course, his mother wore her own gypsy flare that could be seen from any space station far above the Earth.
“I just need this freezer fixed to carry the meat to a carnival in the next day or two,” he stated while patting the top of the freezer. The other 3 freezers were locked shut and running fine. Cyrus looked around the back of his truck, amazed at the cleanup job he had done. The smell and mess were gone without a trace of blood or rotting flesh. It took a lot of bleach and elbow grease to clean it up in such a short time, but that is what overly eager teens were good for. They wanted money for the weekend and he gave them a job to do. They’d do just about anything for a Jackson these days, including clean up what he told them was putrid, rotting beef stench.
There were four of the boys scrubbing the freezer and the floor of the truck. it took 6 cases of bleach and a couple of mops to finish the job. Cyrus would have to spend extra time making new costumes for the Halloween party that was only two weeks away, but people were always willing to pay a handsome price at the Miller Mansion for the costumes, and this new costume he was preparing would be no exception! It even fit his oceanside theme this year.
“Just don’t open the other freezers and make sure they are not turned off at any time,” Cyrus commanded as he tossed the keys to the serviceman. “I can’t have any of the meat spoiled and it would ruin me, understand? There will be another tip for you when the job is finished.” he gave a $100 bill to the man, who took it gleefully.
Cyrus dialed the number handed to him by the waitress. “Yeah baby, I’m ready. Come and get me at Joe’s Appliance. Of course, I’d love to see your house,” he smiled.
4
Upon arriving at the home of home Miss Julia Smith, Cyrus reached over and grabbed her pudgy hand that was resting on the gearshift. She smiled at him and winked with those large fake eyelashes and overbearing blue eyeshadow. It had been quite a while since he allowed himself such pleasure, but it wasn’t often that he found a voluptuous woman willing to take a traveler in for an afternoon.
“Tell me this isn’t love,” she said and then laughed. “I’m just kidding, you’re cute and all but I’m not into the relationship thing, you know what I mean?”
“Oh yes, perfect because I can’t stick around. I have a show to do,” he smiled knowing that her decision fell right into his plans. “Is anyone else here?”
“Nope, I live alone. It’s hard to find a good man around here, know what I mean?” she squeezed his hand and leaned over to kiss him.
Cyrus pressed a finger up to her lips and grinned. “All in due time, my dear.”
They both exited the car and scrambled to the door. She fumbled with the keys and when she finally found the right one, she opened the door to the biggest mess he had ever seen. Even his grandmother’s house wasn’t so filthy while she kept her chickens and pet rats running free in the house.
“Sorry about the mess,” she confessed while tossing the dirty clothes out of the walkway and pushing her rather large ass in his face. There was no way in hell he was going to attempt to pleasure himself with this slob. He thought about it for a moment and realized this really was the perfect scenario for his plans. They would be searching for her for weeks as they cleaned the house!
As she led him to the bedroom, he followed pretending to be interested. At first, he was a tiny bit excited, but seeing the box of old pizza on her bed didn’t help the matter. She ignored the old food as she took off her clothes. “Hey, eyes over here,” she pulled his face toward her by his chin. “Don’t worry about that mess over there. Aren’t you going to take your clothes off?”
“I simply want to admire that gorgeous body of yours,” he smiled, carefully grasping the syringe in his pocket. “Turn around, I want to see that beautiful backside.”
She did as he said and then screamed as he plunged the need into her jugular. He clamped his other hand over her mouth until she fell on her bed with a loud thud while breaking the legs on the bed and forcing the pizza box to open, sending old pizza all over her hair and face. He frowned when he realized he would have to clean what looked to be day-old pizza sauce out of her hair.
While cleaning her up with a warm rag, he thought about driving her car over to the shop to get his truck. With the stolen plates, it would be weeks before they tracked down his truck and by then he would be long gone, in a new truck and across the country. It would take them days to gut out her house trying to find her body. He thought hard about this as he hoisted her large body into the bathtub and cut her neck from ear to ear allowing the blood to drain into the sewer as much as possible. Since it was so close to the party, there was no way he had time to properly prepare her as he normally did, but he knew he couldn’t avoid it.
Instead of taking her car, he parked it in the garage and locked both doors. Within moments and a phone call, a cab picked him up down the street where he explained he was trying to find a friend’s house without luck. Cyrus was good at bullshitting, it’s what his family taught him to do.
~~~ 5 ~~~
Upon picking up the truck with the freezer now in perfect condition, Cyrus gave the attendant the extra tip and another to the mechanic. He pulled out and traveled down the road and into a grocery store where he changed his license plates with another car and put some rather large business magnets on the sides of his vehicle that he kept rolled up in the back of his truck in case of this type of emergency. He put on a jacket that covered his obnoxiously yellow and purple shirt and topped his head with a matching baseball hat. After getting back on the road, he smiled at himself. He looked just like the very boring appliance repairman.
Backing the truck into the driveway of Julia’s house he parked as close as he could get to the garage. Cyrus rolled up the back door of his truck and the garage then opened the freezer. He parked so close to the garage that the neighbors wouldn’t see what he unloaded (or loaded) into the house. As far as they were concerned, he was delivering a washing machine.
Removing her from the tub wasn’t as easy as he thought. He hoisted her 400-pound body on to the plastic tarp he brought and had to stop every few minutes to adust her rolls to fit into the corners of the hallway and doors. When he finally reached the garage, he laughed as he pulled her down the stairs. Her fat made this horrible slapping noise with each downward step taken into the garage. He pulled her up the ramp and into the truck where he hoisted her body into the freezer.
“Oh Julia, you beauty. People will talk about you for years! Your life is not wasted, my love.” he said as he shut the freezer door and began to clean up the mess left behind.
~~~ 6 ~~~
About five hours later, Cyrus pulled his large truck and trailer into the driveway of the Miller Mansion looking over the Pacific. People were gathering around and following him as he made his way through town and stopped at the gates to the property. Every year the gypsies brought the best carnival to Sandcastle and there were no known better costumes. It was a century-old tradition and got better every year.
The gypsies, knowing that he was having truck issues, were already set up in the field around the house. The lights from the carnival rides and games littered the green grass on the hilltop surrounding the mansion. He continued driving until he parked in the spot he secured every year. During the next week his assistant Maise, who was already setting up the costume tent, would help him with sales as he put together his most prized possession: Ursula the Sea Witch!
The Halloween Costume Tailor Part 2: EVACUATION!
Bright lights from the gypsy carnival lit up the night sky in Sandcastle. The fog cover was high that night and the lights just reflected the off of the clouds. People from miles away knew the town was starting its famous carnival and there would be droves of people coming in. The Sandcastle Police Department was ready and even hired more people from out of town to work for the next two weeks. Casey, the city’s police chief, was sure that something crazy during the next two weeks would happen–especially during these strange times.
Every year something did always happen in the town. Usually, it was simply a strange UFO sighting or a report of a ghost, vampire, or cult performing some ritual in the graveyard, but it was never anything critical. This year felt different. Casey could feel it in his bones and that was usually a bad thing. Usually when Chief Weinsfeld felt different something really bad was going to happen and this is why he was so valued in the community.
There was only one more week until the carnival and Casey knew something was wrong. Very, very wrong. His hand shook as he put down his morning ritual coffee and looked at his cell. Another text message emergency. The fire up north had spread throughout the hills, igniting almost everything in its path. Every October since 2016 something was on fire and he knew it wasn’t just dry branches and leaves or a careless power company. Something was starting these horrible fires–something inhuman and unnatural.
“Awww shit,” he muttered in his coffee cup as he read the rest of the message.
“Ahhh Susie, it’s Weinsfeld. I hate to do this so close to Halloween, but we’ve been ordered by the governor’s office to evacuate until further notice. I don’t know, it’s not even close but the winds are supposed to be insane for the next few days. Set up something with Alameda and Santa Clara counties if you can. Yeah, we’ll pull off some kind of fundraiser for those who need it, I know just the person who can help with that. I don’t know. Just let me know. Reggie and I will start the rounds. Get the emergency broadcast out on KSND and the tv station as well as Nixle, Twitter, Facebook. Yeah, everywhere. Thanks.”
He clicked end on his cell then called Reggie to help. They were going to go door-to-door again. What a surprise. The last time he went door-to-door there was some strange drug or viral breakout and people were eating each other. Something else that hasn’t been determined of what happened. One of his best cops was still quarantined in the hospital without any answers. The doctors can’t figure out what the hell is going on, either.
And speaking of hospitals, what are they to do with the state hospital? Moving people from that facility was going to be a problem. There were so many who were either too old to move or others who were just too crazy to move. Not prisoners, they would be simple because they can be bussed in chains, but these people are a whole new level of freak show these days. Roy could help. The ward of the hospital listened to him.
~~~ 2 ~~~
“I knew you’d be here old friend,” Roy said as he smiled, his opaque eyes focusing on Casey’s location in the room.
“I figured you would, Roy. Hey, there’s an emergency I thought you could help with.” Casey took a seat in the empty chair next to Roy, keeping his eyes on the people kneeling in front of his friend. He trusted no one in this circle, not even Roy. Ever since the accident when they were kids, Roy was different.
“I already know, the witch told me in my sleep last night. You want me to help you evacuate the city.”
Weinsfeld shook his head and chuckled. “Perhaps just the people here. They’ll listen to you and it will make it so much easier. I have to find a place that will take everyone by this evening and that includes the jail, too. It’s going to be a really crazy day. Anything you can do to help with your…um…people will be incredibly helpful.
“You mean my disciples?” Roy smiled. As Roy’s organs were failing, the hospital told Casey Roy was put on steroids. His body was gaining weight and most of his teeth were gone by now. He looked more like a ghostly white jack-o-lantern than anything with his almost toothless smile and almost glowing opaque eyes.
“Yeah, I suppose.”
Roy pushed himself up to his feet, something Casey Weinsfeld was unaware that Roy could even accomplish these days, and held up his hands. “Gather round, my friends. Gather round.”
Suddenly, people from all over the room and from the hallway were crowding inside Roy’s room. Casey stood uncomfortably next to him, knowing most of these people frowned on him and many possibly wanted to kill him. Roy waited to speak until the room was full as his minions came in from their rooms and the outside hospital grounds. How many of these patients heard him, Casey had no idea. He no longer asked questions of his insane friend.
“I know many of you do not like the law, but this man here is my friend. He wishes to help you. There is a fire possibly headed this way, as you already know by my sermon last night. The witch told me. I said there would be helpful and here he is. Help him and listen.” A low roar came from the crowd now standing around the room and out in the hall. When they stopped, they all kneeled in unison.
Casey shook his head and started to speak. As he did, one of the kneeling people stood and yelled. “He’s the enemy!”
“SILENCE!” Roy yelled.
The man then sent back into his kneeling position as Casey spoke. “There is a fire about 60 miles from here and spreading fast. We are evacuating the city on orders from the governor. I need your cooperation in getting a few things together and being ready by noon tomorrow. If the spread is stopped in a few days then everyone will return home. Roy will keep you informed of what is happening and when. Until then, just be ready. We want everyone to be safe.”
“Listen to the Lady of the Lake!” one of Roy’s disciples yelled.
“She is the light!” another screamed.
“Okie dokie,” the chief tried to stifle a laugh and shook Roy’s hand. His laughter stopped when he touched his friend’s cold, leathery skin.
“It’s all right old friend,” Roy squeezed the chief’s hand hard, “I’m still your buddy.”
~~~ 3 ~~~
Getting the town evacuated wasn’t all that difficult. Most people followed directions and were appreciative of the warning, but some were reluctant to leave. For those who refused, there was really nothing that Chief Weinsfeld could do. The jail wasn’t big enough to hold everyone and it was being evacuated as well. Most of the prisoners who were guilty of heinous crimes were sent to San Quinten anyway so the move was just a few people other than hospital residents. They would require a bus. The Cow Palace in Daly City was already set up for a concert they had to cancel and the stage area would be big enough to hold most of the residents of the hospital.
The biggest problem were the gypsies. Even though they could have just left in their caravan without issue, most of them would not leave. Casey tried to round them up, but many refused to even speak to him. The excuse was they had already traveled almost 2,000 miles and they weren’t going anywhere or leaving their belongings behind. Casey figured maybe their unappointed leader Cyrus Vanslow could speak to them.
After a few brisk knocks on Cyrus’s trailer, the flamboyant gypsy came to the door. Even when he wasn’t acting, the gypsy was in his circus clothes. This amused Casey, but so did the fact that the gypsy looked a bit like the Joker. All they needed now was a Batman to come riding in in the Batmobile then his town would be complete.
“Hello, Mr. Vanslow. There is an evacuation order over the town and I’ll need you to take what you need the most and get out of town. The nearest cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Fremont have room and have agreed to help out in any way they can.” Casey smiled and offered his hand for a shake.
Cyrus ignored the handshake and laughed. “I’m not going anywhere, Officer Weinsfeld. I have a party to plan for.”
“Sir, it’s Chief Weinsfeld, and it is an order, not a suggestion. It’s coming from the governor.”
“It could come from the President of the United States and I ain’t going anywhere.” Vanslow crossed his arms in defiance and huffed. He then shoved his arms, wrists up, at Casey. “Are you going to arrest me?”
Casey studied the marks on the gypsy’s arms. At first, he thought maybe the gypsy might have tried to take his life at one point then realized he was a cutter. The scars ran up the inside of his arm all the way to the wife-beater undershirt he wore.
“No, sir. You’re on your own though. If the fire does come to Sandcastle with the winds that are supposed to happen, we cannot be responsible for you or any of your belongings. I’m to report to the National Guard of how many people that refuse to go and you’ll be one of them. At that point, it’s up to them what they want to do with you.”
“Such fascists we have here in California.” Vanslow laughed then stuffed his hands into his pockets. I’m not going anywhere, sir. Report me how you must. I do hope it is over with before Halloween. I don’t want to miss that party.”
“Business doing okay for you?” Casey asked, curious about how the man would stay in business.
“Oh yes, all costumes have been ordered already and that is one reason why I can’t leave. The special orders aren’t ready yet. It takes a day for each at least and I have 3 more to finish. I do hope they’re here for the fitting as they’ve paid so much money for these beauties.”
“Very well,” Casey stepped away from the door and put on his cowboy hat. “If you see any fire or need any assistance evacuating, do call,” he then paused for a moment noticing the big freezer behind Vanslow. “Good day.”
~~~ 4 ~~~
Vanslow let out a big sigh as he watched the police chief leave in his black patrol jeep. He laughed at the big freezer just big enough to hold his prey. Just a few more days and she would be perfect for display just like those in the freezers stacked behind her. He looked at the glass cases standing upright behind him. It was going to be difficult to move this frozen woman to the case, but he had help by a few of his gypsy friends. Blackmail was a great thing and it worked wonders on employees who needed money and couldn’t work in the real world. Most of his workers were criminals with records. He paid them handsomely and threatened them with jail time if they were ever caught. Some of those states they helped him in had the death penalty and they knew it. Another point of security for Vanslow.
He sat down at the sewing machine and pulled out a long piece of silk and another of light leather then aligned the edges and folded a crease. With a piece of cotton positioned between the two pieces, the tailor began to sew together his first creation. He wasn’t too concerned about the blemishes in the leather for they added to the collection. His costumes weren’t cheap. This one, in particular, ran $35,000, mostly for his time and effort, plus the potentially hazardous way he collected his leather and that it was a special order. This unique piece included a tattoo a beautiful blue and purple butterfly that would grace the skirt of the princess who wore this piece.
The day he found the donor of this piece he was incredibly lucky. Not many beautiful women found his colorful flair attractive. Usually, he had to capture his prey and brutally take their skin, but that night her beauty captivated his heart. He lured the woman to his trailer for the promise of money, something easily done when preying on women who sold their bodies for pleasure. She was different than the others though. Vicki was gullible and new at this. Her craving for drugs was obvious and just a mere mention of the candy in his pocket then she was in the palm of his hands.
As she stared at him with watery eyes, he slowly began to slice into her side, under her armpit. Doing this to a live capture made the skin easier to work with. He began his conquests for the week right when he arrived knowing that he didn’t have much time for the skin to be tanned and treated. It amazed him that people would actually pay for his creations without even seeing the final product first, but they did, and he had to make sure they looked amazing. Of course, these customers knew exactly what they were getting.
Most of the time it was a random hit with specific instructions as to skin color, blemishes, hair color, and other attributes but this one was special and was a bit more pricey. His customer could handle it though. He thought about the conversation as he continued to slice down the side of her leg and around the ankle.
“Yes, her name is Vicki. She’s an addict and a hooker. You’ll find her down on Polk in San Francisco. That’s where she makes most of her money these days. I don’t want her abducted in Sandcastle, I want her to just disappear. Got it? I’ll give you $10K now and $45K when the job is finished.” Pete Downs blabbered into the phone.
Vanslow didn’t think Pete sounded all that educated as did most of his customers, but he had proof of the thrift store owner’s income and it was probably more than most of his Ivy League corporate customers made in a year. A little shocked, he accepted the funds and the order.
As he lifted her skin from her body, Vicki’s heart raced as she went into cardiac arrest. The state of shock she was in already made it easier for the blood to flow her veins as he cut which also made it easier to remove it from the body. She shook and convulsed as he pulled and then she was gone. He was careful not to tear the butterfly for that was the most important piece to his customer. He perfect skin would make the most beautiful wall piece for his customer. Her face would make a lovely mask and hands for elegant gloves for others to buy.
Vanslow laughed a little as he stitched in the backing for the picture then mounted the skin in a picture frame. That is all the customer cared about. The rest would make nice party decorations or pieces for next year’s costumes.
~~~ 5 ~~~
It was around 9:00 PM when Vanslow finished his creation and left for Peter’s old run-down thrift store. How this man was one of the richest men in Northern California baffled the old gypsy. He might not be rich and he might be an old gypsy, but he had class and this old fool with his lazy eye, pungent breath, and tasteless style of old corduroy pants and T-shirts just didn’t reek of money at all. He reminded him of some broke programmer from the 90s after the dot coms crashed and the old programmers ran out of money while the new breed of geeks stepped in.
He drove around the vacant area in the dark. The electricity had been cut by the power company for days and most people were running off of generators or solar. Having the street lights out added to the blackness of the already dark town. Just ahead of him he noticed a man walking slowly in the street. At least, he thought it was a man. As he drove closer he realized the man was wearing a torn-up police uniform. His skin was deathly gray and shadowed. There was blood stained around his mouth and chin then down the front of his uniform.
“Damn, these people really get into Halloween here.” Vanslow laughed then continued to drive the framed butterfly picture to his first customer of the week.
The Halloween Costume Tailor Part 3
All Hallow’s Eve in Sandcastle
As the ballroom began to fill in with people who were very happy to finally be home after a week of being forced out of their houses due to the fires, Roxanne and Augustus stood at the top of the stairs looking down into the ballroom of the Miller house. Constructed in the mid-1800s, the Miller House was a sight of beauty. People usually came from all over to view the unique mansion overlooking the beach in Sandcastle. The owners certainly did reap the benefits of the Gold Rush and then some. Now, with just one member of the Miller family left, the home was entrusted to Augustus who promised to keep it alive in Sandcastle. Little did Mrs. Miller know, Augustus was the actual cousin of a cousin who originally invested in the home back in the 1800s. She figured he was just a relative as he was the spitting image of his supposed great uncle. She didn’t even need a DNA test to know they were related.
The couple greeted each person who came through the door and up the stairs to the balcony. Not many knew Augustus personally, just that he was new in town and had been courting Roxanne for a while. Roxanne, on the other hand, was now the town’s sweetheart. Still as rowdy as she used to be, she had taken a liking to her new role as a philanthropist which was also a good cover for her lack of a job and her late night hours.
“Roxanne, you’re lovely tonight. Who am I kidding? You’re always lovely.” Marcus grabbed Roxanne’s hand and kissed her gently. She looked down at him and smiled.
At once, Augustus slapped the hand away and then shook it. “Welcome, Marcus. Glad you could make it.” Augustus squeezed the lycan’s hand hard as he shook, unaware of the red hue in his eyes.
“Dump some corpuscles, Dracula. I’m not here to steal your girl unless you’re afraid she’ll leave you.” Marcus winked at Roxanne.
“Guys, come on. Most of these people are just residents of Sandcastle. We’re just stuck in this world of simplicity. Let’s just get this over with.” She walked away, a bit disgusted with the two men always literally fighting over her tooth and claw.
“Hello, Mayor Glenn. I’m glad to see you here tonight.” Roxanne grabbed a champagne flute for the mayor as the waiter walked by and handed it to him.
The mayor gladly accepted the drink. “Lovely Roxanne. It has been so long. The last I heard from your parents were when you went missing with your friends. Did you ever find them?”
A hint of pain stabbed Roxanne in the heart when she thought about the night her friends disappeared. It was the night she met Augustus. Part of her hated him for it and the compromise of allowing her to live forever embraced her deeply. Roxanne looked away, toward her maker, trying to hide whatever tears were about to fall. “No, not a trace. I miss them so.”
“Yes, I’m sure you do,” he put his arm around her.
“That’s an interesting costume, Mayor,” Roxanne said as she ran her hand down the curious leather arm piece. It was human to the touch. “What are you supposed to be?”
The mayor stepped back and showed off his rather unique costume, “I know it is terrible in taste, but I’m Ed Gein.”
“That leather though,” she cringed when she touched it. “It’s so unique.”
“I bought it from the gypsy tailor here, you know, Vanslow. It wasn’t cheap, but it’s the finest in calf leather.”
“Interesting,” Roxanne looked over at the tailor who remained in his flamboyant gypsy attire. She then glanced at the mannequins in the plexiglass cases he brought in. As she examined them, they looked extremely human to her and now even more so. “I’ll be back in a bit, Ryan. It was nice seeing you again.”
Roxanne strolled up to the rather large case containing Ursula the sea witch from The Little Mermaid. The gypsy had done a fantastic job on this piece. Every bit of her looked human. Even the Octopus tentacles looked like human skin. She looked over at the gypsy and he smiled then wandered over to where she was standing. As she examined the supple skin of the fat female mannequin, she studied the blue veins in the skin.
“Lovely, isn’t she?” Cyrus whispered.
“She’s very interesting, Mr…”
“Vanslow. Cyrus Vanslow,” he interrupted. “Your husband hasn’t told you who I am yet?”
“Augustus? He told you he was my husband?” she laughed a little then looked again at the figure in front of her. “How did you make her so real looking? And why is she in this case with a digital temperature gauge?”
“She’s a special kind of wax,” his lie was obvious. Most people didn’t even ask, they were just in awe of the costumes on the mannequins. “If she goes above freezing then she will thaw into a big puddle and we can’t have that now, can we?” he practically hissed at Roxanne.
Roxie glared at the gypsy. She knew there was something odd about this man that she couldn’t quite place a finger on. He was definitely not telling the whole truth and maybe not at all. She looked over at Augustus and grabbed his attention with a stare. Within seconds he was by her side.
“What is it, love?” he gave the statue a once over and then at the gypsy.
“Don’t you find this mannequin odd, Augie?” she smiled, allowing a fang to protrude through her smile.
“Yes, I do. It’s almost like she’s real. I’ve been noticing this with a few of these statues,” he turned his attention to the gypsy. “Did you make these?”
“I did,” the gypsy said. “I also made many of the costumes here.”
“Even the mayor’s? His is very interesting. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was human skin.” Augustus put his arm around Roxie.
“Perhaps it is, or maybe it is just lambskin like I said,” Cyrus smirked. As he walked away, Roxie tapped the buttons on the bottom part of the case and moved it from negative 32 to 80 degrees F.
“What are you doing?” Augustus whispered, slightly annoyed.
“Trying to prove a point. I think these are people.” Roxanne flipped the emergency alarm switch at the base of the case to the off position before pulling Augustus away. “If I’m wrong, she’ll melt. If I’m right, she’ll start to rot.”
As the carnival carried on outside with the rides full of kids screaming and the adults inside enjoying the free champagne and hors d’oeuvres, the richest attendees showed off their costumes made by the gypsy. Roxanne eyed every one of the costumes knowing the leather was not lambskin.
“Roxie, come take a look at this guy.” Augustus pointed at one of the figures dressed up as a pirate he had been staring at for about 10 minutes.
“What about him?”
“I know him. When I used to hunt in Colorado I had a vampire friend. This guy looks like the groundsman for his place.” Augustus tapped on the plexiglass.
“You mean, hunting humans?”
“God yes, Roxie. I haven’t had a deer in 2000 years.”
“Call him,” Roxanne handed her phone to Augustus.
“He won’t be there. I’ll call later tonight.”
“Hey, look at that guy, Augie. He’s so creepy looking. What a great costume!” Roxanne pointed at a cop dressed in a torn-up police officer’s uniform. His neck looked as if it was half eroded or eaten and his skin was pale–almost a faded green. He looked right at the couple and turned toward the crowd, stumbling over one bum leg. If his limp was fake, he sure did a great job of it.
A scream let up in the crowd of people in the room as the cop grabbed a woman’s arm and bit into it. Blood spurted across the row of women standing there admiring her costume and as they screamed, so did the cop. He let out a howl so full of pain and so loud that it shook the skin from his oozing throat. The bitten woman fainted and began to convulse a moment later. The costume party guests ran in all different directions causing chaos everywhere. As the people fled, the vampire couple watched in awe at the woman with the bleeding arm as she stood and began growling at the cop.
“We have God damn zombies here, babe.” Augustus nudged Roxanne in the arm. She smiled and then with one swipe of her arm, she smashed the plexiglass case holding Ursula.
“Let’s see if this corpse really is wax as he says,” Roxanne pushed the body out of the case. While the inside of the body was still frozen, a few hours on 80 degrees left the outside of the corpse turning grey and rather soft but not quite rotten as she had been frozen since her death.
The zombie cop sniffed the air like a dog and limped over to the now thawing corpse of the waitress. He dropped to one knee and began chewing on the rotting flesh. When it realized she had been drained of all blood, he looked up at the vampire couple and made his way toward them.
“No, you don’t want us death for brains,” Augustus moved Roxanne aside as the zombie swiped at her. It sniffed at the couple and then retreated, uninterested. The zombie cop treaded toward the door where a frightened Cyrus the gypsy was standing.
“What have you done?” he screamed at the zombie then at Augustus. The zombie continued to limp toward Cyrus but within seconds the gypsy was shooting at the monster. With every blow of a bullet, it staggered but continued on.
“Going somewhere?” Marcus grabbed Cyrus by the hair and slammed the door shut with his other arm. The hair on his arms and face began to sprout out. His bones cracked as they elongated and his human flesh and clothes dropped to the floor. Underneath his human skin was a new skin of fine, brown hair.
Cyrus, as disgusting of a serial killer he was, began to scream while he watched Marcus change into his wolf form. The vampires laughed watching the zombie limp toward the screaming gypsy. As Marcus held him there by one large claw, the zombie bit into the man’s colorful suit painting it crimson. When Marcus let go, Cyrus fell to the ground screaming.
“Such a waste,” Augustus said as he looked around at the Halloween decorations dangling from the ceiling. “It could have been such a fun night.”
“I rather enjoyed it,” Roxie chimed in watching the zombie with disgust.
“I guess I was late, as usual.” Marcus shrugged.
They looked on as the tailor screamed with the zombie tearing into his guts. As they did, the police chief ran into the room and shot Officer Billings in the head.
“I’m sorry, man,” he said as he kicked the officer aside. “He was a good man. Hey, are you guys all right?”
Roxanne noticed Chief Weinsfeld was staring at something to her right with a strange look on his face. She turned to look at Marcus and laughed, “You better get some clothes on.”
“Sorry,” Marcus covered himself with his hands and ran off. He had already changed back into his human skin.
As the group laughed, Augustus pointed to the bloodstain on the floor. “The gypsy is gone.”
*****
As the night carried on, Augustus and Roxie walked down the long edge of the water. Both barefoot but not noticing the frigid temperature of the waves, they stopped in the moonlight. Augustus cradled her chin in his hand and as she stared up and him he asked, “Why won’t you be mine, Roxanne?”
“You murdered my friends, Augustus, and for that, I will never forgive you.”
She turned away from him and walked toward the hillside steps to the cliff of their mansion looking over the bay. Something deep inside of her kept her loving him even though she was angry and it was something she was going to have to live with for the rest of her long life.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of Spooky Boo’s Creepypasta and True Scary Stories, head on over to my website at www.scarystorytime.com, click on creepypasta, and then make a comment or follow me on social media by searching for Spooky Boo’s Scary Story Time.
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Join me on Saturday nights to watch Creature Features on YouTube while the fans and I watch horror host Vincent Van Dahl interview fun guests while Mr. Livingston puts up with Tangella’s shenanigans. Poor Handrew. You can find it on KOFY TV20 in the Bay Area and on many different sources such as AppleTV, Roku, and YouTube. Check the website www.creaturefeatures.tv for your showtime. That’s all for tonight. I’ll see you in your nightmares.
