"Enjoy," their host said as they stepped through the doors. What little light there was from the city lights was extinguished as the doors slammed shut.

"What's going on?" he whispered. "I can't see a thing."

"I think we have to go down the stairs," she said.

She reached for his hand for the first time as they made their way down, one-two one-two down the spiral staircase, and was glad that he did not pull it away. A few times she heard him stumble in the dark. She wanted to say something but the darkness would not let her. The only thing she could do was to hold on tighter so he would not fall.

At last they reached the bottom, where the light from the emergency exit sign illuminated the door handle.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she murmured as she reached for the knob.

He sounded like he was going to say something but stopped, probably thinking of the finality of the door closing. And how rude it would be not to show up.

Together, they pushed open the door, revealing a room decorated in pastel colours, with furniture sized and designed to appeal to kids. There were butterflies everywhere. It looked like the picture on the invitation, only everything was shaded in darkness, as though night had fallen within this room.

"Well, it is a dinner party," she said softly, trying to convince herself.

Her friends sat under the only working lights, a silent group gobbling down as much food as they could.

"You're here," Sun said, smiling. "Don't worry, we saved you some."

She pointed to the pots and dishes, all filled with mushy stuff coloured red, green, flesh, now smeared around her friends' faces. This did not look like the food in the invitation.

"What happened to everyone?" She asked.

Sun shrugged. "They were here, but then they disappeared."

A growing unease shouted at her to leave, that something bad was happening but she found herself sitting down at the table. Sun scooped up some red paste with her hands and plopped it onto her outstretched hands. She tried to hand some to him, but he shook his head.

It tasted oddly sweet.

Less than a minute after she ate the fruit, the pains started. She looked to the dark and saw another guest lying on a table, a gaping hole in his body and mushy stuff lying on and in and all around him.

"Maybe we should get more," Sun said, getting up and heading to where the other guest was.

"We have to go," she whispered to him. "Don't you see him?"

"No," he whispered back, "but let's go anyway, this place is giving me the creeps."

As Sun scooped up red mushy stuff from the guest-dish, they got up and headed to the door. Surprisingly, it gave way easily.

Halfway up the stairs, they heard footsteps and the voice inside her brain told her what was going on.

"She's coming after us."

"Maybe she wants to leave too?" he suggested.

She shook her head, even though she knew he could not see her and told him to move faster. Sun's pace increased with theirs and they soon found themselves running to the top.

They made it just in time. This time he was the one who rushed to the door and pushed it open, the door swinging open silently. He ran out and held out a hand. She followed behind and doubled over. The sudden pain in her stomach was intense and it was not letting her move.

"Help me," she whispered, but the light from the city must have distorted her features because a look of horror came into his face and he shut the door.

She managed to stand, the pain gone as soon as the barrier was closed, and looked through the window. The city looked the same as when they left, though the light was hurting her eyes. She grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it was stuck.

"Help me!" she screamed but he turned and shook his head sadly. He said something she couldn't hear and disappeared into the bustling crowd.

She heard footsteps and then someone, Sun, put her hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go back to dinner," Sun said softly. 

Note: This was inspired by a really, really weird dream (nightmare?) that I had.