The Seedling Session

Louis Ommins was throwing a Halloween party. Not just your average Halloween party, though. Instead, it was a game that led your mind through a maze. It was a game he made up called The Seedlings Session. It's where you ask questions while carving pumpkins, and each time you refuse to answer the question, you have to eat a handful of pumpkin seeds. It was cruel to an extent, aside from the fact that pumpkin seeds are edible, and probably no one will refuse a question once they know the consequence.

Now he'd invited a few different people from his friend groups. Two were a couple, Mary and Paul; the second were two sisters, Olivia and Callie; and the third was his two best friends, Eli and Beth. He'd told Eli and Beth some of what was going on with the game night but not the complete details on the questions. They only knew of the pumpkin seeds, which they each found disgusting.

It wasn't until around 7 p.m. that people started to show up. First was Mary and Paul, having that they are the oldest and right on time. It went straight in order of age, having my two best friends, Eli and Beth, arrive last but not least. Everyone sat around the long rectangular table with their pumpkins and carvers out in front of them.

"Why is the top already cut off?" Paul asks Louis.

"It's to make it easier to get to the seeds. With each question answered, you get to carve into the pumpkin, and with every question ignored, you take out more pumpkin seeds to eat."

"This is a strange game," Olivia says.

"Let's start with the first question." Louis interrupts. "The first question is for you, Paul."

"Throw it my way," Paul says.

"Okay, question one. Do you believe in magic?"

Paul hesitates. "I mean..." He shrugs. "No." He answers as he carves into his pumpkin.

"Not even the slightest bit of magic?" Beth asks.

"I don't believe in magic either," Callie admits.

"Okay, Mary, next question. Why has someone with your mindset not taken over the world?" Louis asks.

"Okay, where are these questions going?" Olivia questions.

"My mindset would not wish to take over the world," Mary says matter-of-factly as she carves into her pumpkin.

"Okay, Beth, next question," Louis says. Both rolls her eyes, not seeming to be having much fun with the game.

"Eli..." Louis says with a wink. "What's your favorite scary story."

"My favorite scary story." Beth now starts getting more into the game again. "Well, Louis, my favorite scary story is about a group carving magic pumpkins while one of them secretly tried to take over the world."

"Should have seen that one was coming," Callie remarks.

"It was a night in the middle of October, and one of many friends had decided to throw a party. The one hosting the event was Evan. Evan was a tall blonde man commonly known for having the house everyone went to. He had invited four of his friends. Isaiah, Gabby, Joshua, and Kaylee. None had any idea what would come to them in the night besides the carving of pumpkins and the annual celebration.

Now, as I said before, Evan had a lot of friends. So each of the ones invited to this particular gathering was not his usual group. If anything, they were each from different social sceneries. Isaiah was a tech nerd who knew Evan through helping him fix his laptop a few times. Gabby was a musician, having performed in musicals that Evan made the set for, and them each getting to know one another during rehearsals. Joshua was a jokester, always pulling pranks on others, including Evan. Kaylee was a quiet girl that Evan had done a few projects with for science class. With each of the differences in the particular people, this seemed to be the first time they'd spent time with one another outside their school, aside from Evan."

"Okay, enough of that. Thank you for the beginning of that story, Beth." Louis interrupts again. "It's Olivia's turn now. What's your favorite horror movie?"

"I don't like horror movies," Olivia answered honestly with a shrug. "But if so, I'd have to go with The Nightmare Before Christmas."

"That is not a horror movie." Callie laughs.

"It does have Halloween in it, though," Mary says, defending Olivia.

"Okay, Callie, what is your favorite dessert of the season?" Louis asks.

"Definitely pumpkin pie." Callie answers while crossing her arms with a proud smirk on her face.

"Everyone seconds that," Paul says with a laugh.

Everyone chuckles along except Louis, Eli, and Beth, who each seem rather bored, if anything.

"Okay, now, Eli, would you please finish the story Beth started." Louis requested.

"Don't mind if I do." Eli chuckles. "As each carved into their pumpkins, Evan played The Nightmare Before Christmas in the background. As the movie went along, so did the carving. The only strange thing was there weren't any seeds inside the pumpkins. Joshua asked Evan, who ignored him and commented on how good his pumpkin was coming along. Gabby took notice of something else peculiar. As they carved into them, a stench started to form in the air. It smelt like pumpkin and flesh put together. Gabby asked Kaylee, who replied that she only smelt pumpkin, as did Evan. Once they'd finished carving, Joshua grew more suspicious of something happening underneath all the carving. As he stood up, his face slammed back into the pumpkin. He now had a gash on the back of his head from a pie pan held by Evan. Gabby started screaming and then had the same process done to her, only by Kaylee this time, and-"

"Why are you still telling the story?" Beth interrupted.

"They're already dead," Louis says emotionlessly. "We just killed them as you told the story."

Eli looked around at the four dead bodies before them.

"Don't worry. We took care of the seeds; it's time to make pie."