Trick or Treat in the night of the witches - Second place winner: solitarius_lupus

Trick or Treat in the night of the witches Challenge - Day 5 from Werewolf Week 2021

As my eyes fluttered open, I was blinded by streams of bright sunlight piercing through the disappearing fog and lifted my hands to block out the light. Standing up was harrowing; every muscle in my body burned with pain and vertigo made me sway slightly as my feet shuffled in the damp earth. A sudden wave of nausea struck me and I bent over to vomit in the grass, wiping my face and wrinkling my nose at the stench of vomit.

Wracking my memory, I realised there were gaps in my memory. Last night had been Halloween and my friend Rose, the Alpha's daughter, and I had got dressed up to go to her brother, Nathan's, Halloween party in the woods. I could recall the thick fog that had settled across the valley, obscuring the light from the full moon, but after that there was nothing.

I must have drunk too much and passed out in the forest.

Looking down, I noticed the witch's costume I wore was in tatters, smeared with mud and what looked like blood. Someone must have been messing with fake blood like last year, I quickly decided, not even bothering to smell whether it was real or fake.

Stumbling through the forest, I soon found a familiar trail that was thick with the scent of our pack members. It did not take long for me to follow it back to the clearing where the party had taken place, only to find the passed out bodies of many drunk individuals, including Rose, Nathan, the Beta's three daughters and the son of the Gamma.

I laughed as I saw the fake blood, drenching their clothes. It looked like someone had brought several pints of the stuff and slopped it over everyone, which explained how it had got all over my hands. It seemed we would all have to be buying new costumes next year because these were definitely ruined. Especially Rose's black vampire gown, which had a gaping rip in the side, filled with blood.

I gagged as I looked more carefully at the tear in her dress, noticing the unmistakable white gleam of a bone sticking out. It was then that I noticed the distinct lack of heartbeats and staleness of their scents as though they were all -

Lurching forwards, my hand collided with her icy cold skin and I searched desperately for a pulse as my father, the pack doctor had taught me to. My vision blurred as my shaking fingers found nothing and soon I was gasping for air.

The only thing I could focus on through the dark spots swimming in my eyes was the blood splattered across the wall of a crumbling building.

WE ARE THE WITCHES OF SALEM.

SUFFER OUR WRATH.

RECEIVE OUR JUSTICE.

Looking down at my blood-stained hands again, I noticed how the tip of my index finger was almost clean, as though the blood had been smeared off it.

My heart stopped.

What had I done?