2.11.5. The Aurora Skies Times Spooky Day Special
The Aurora Skies Times
Spooky Day Mania: Police Receive Flurry of Reports as Festival Goer Frightens Citizens
Spooky Day is a beloved holiday in Aurora Skies and the annual festival draws attendees from all around the island. Most years, it’s a fun-filled and candy-rich celebration. This year, however, the festivities became all too real for some citizens.
It was early in the night the the Aurora Skies Police Department found itself bombarded with distress calls from citizens, calls which soon clogged their emergency line. “It isn’t unusual for us to receive a lot of calls on Spooky Day,” Officer Luke Bee explained, “but this year was just insane. And most of the calls were about the same incident.” The “incident” in question was apparently a festival goer in a frighteningly realistic costume.
The costume, according to officers who took reports from citizens, seemed to be that of a werewolf. Witnesses described the “werewolf” as “in his early twenties, with short blond hair and an athletic build.” The costume apparently included face and ear prosthetics, false canines, and reflective contacts. After speaking to several eyewitnesses, police determined that the “werewolf” must have been a particularly spirited festival goer. “He must have been dedicated,” witness Lamont Olsson said, “because he was running on all fours and everything. After talking to the police, I realized that he must’ve been a really good costume makeup artist or something. But he still scared the hell out of me.” Mr. Olsson provided a picture he took of the individual to The Aurora Skies Times.
The costume, according to officers who took reports from citizens, seemed to be that of a werewolf. Witnesses described the “werewolf” as “in his early twenties, with short blond hair and an athletic build.” The costume apparently included face and ear prosthetics, false canines, and reflective contacts. After speaking to several eyewitnesses, police determined that the “werewolf” must have been a particularly spirited festival goer. “He must have been dedicated,” witness Lamont Olsson said, “because he was running on all fours and everything. After talking to the police, I realized that he must’ve been a really good costume makeup artist or something. But he still scared the hell out of me.” Mr. Olsson provided a picture he took of the individual to The Aurora Skies Times.
Spooky Day Festival organizers were also startled by the incident. “I was put in charge of judging the costume contest,” Kristofer Vinter said, “and I was leaning towards giving first place to a kid dressed up as a cowplant. But then I saw him! This guy was wearing the best werewolf costume. Although he hadn’t officially entered the contest, I thought the award should go to him. But he ran off before I got a chance to talk to him.” Mr. Vinter awarded the first place prize--a small trophy and a giftcard to Füd Feud Diner--to the child instead. He expressed his regret on missing out on the “werewolf,” however: “I mean, the kid deserved the prize. But I really would’ve liked to meet this guy. His costume was amazing. I act with The Aurora Skies Players, and it would’ve been nice to get his thoughts about the costumes and makeup for our upcoming production of The Phantom of the Opera.”
Despite the island-wide interest in the mysterious “werewolf,” Officer Bee admitted that the police were unable to locate him. “According to eyewitness reports, he seemed to run to the woods. We don’t have the resources to go around chasing someone in a werewolf costume, so we just let him be,” he said. It seems the curious citizens of Aurora Skies will have to live with this mystery unsolved.
Officer Bee does believe there is something important to take away from this situation, though. “Spooky Day is fun for most citizens, but it does scare some people,” he said, “The crucial thing to remember is that the emergency line is for that: emergencies.” The Aurora Skies Police Department urges citizens to call 911 only for fires, severe accidents or injuries, or other such emergencies. Citizens should call 555-5555 for non-emergencies, such as minor accidents and crime tips.
How can you expect citizens to call such a COMPLICATED non-emergency number??
ReplyDeleteDoes Luke know it's Nik?
Hey it could be worse. It could be 0118 999 881 99 9119 7253 (requisite IT Crowd clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWc3WY3fuZU)
DeleteHe didn't when taking the reports, but I imagine he figured it out when he saw the picture in the newspaper. Then he probably rolled his eyes and said "what a jackass."
That's a really long non-emergency number. I would lose count of how many 5's I'd need. Over here it's 101, nice and easy, though people still call the emergency line for silly things -.-
ReplyDeleteI love this btw. It's so like a newspaper article you'd get IRL and a great touch!
So I learned today that the US is like the only country that doesn't have a standardized non-emergency number. XD It's always five digits (plus the three digit area code) and it changes from place to place. Once again, my American-ness taints my writing.
DeleteThanks! It was fun to write. I might do more little things like this.
This was cool ^-^
ReplyDeleteAre we gonna see how Nik and Lark react to the newspaper?
And right now I'm just kinda picturing makeup artist Nik, that's just great in general tbh, just imagining him trying to figure out what the hell to do xD
Thanks! we won't see their reaction right away. It might take a few chapters, honestly.
DeleteHah! Like, he has a bottle of foundation in one hand and primer in the other and he's like "okay which goes first? 'Cause in a house, it's the foundation, but if you're painting a wall primer goes first..." Makeup artist Nik would def be amazing. XD
Oh! I didn't realize how lucky it was that Nikolas' freak-out happened on Spooky Day! Let's hope it all blows over...
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the police were alerted worries me though. It won't take Luke long to figure out who the man in the "costume" was!
It was very lucky it happened on Spooky Day! That's why I wrote this--I was afraid people would think I had something awful planned for him after his public freakout.
DeleteLuke probably figured it out as soon as he read the article. But who knows if he'll investigate it? It'd probably be a waste of police resources. ;)
Love that you included this! And I didn't remember that this happened on Spooky Day, but since it did it makes sense that it was assumed to be a costume. Costumes can be very realistic sometimes, and there are a lot of people who get really into it.
ReplyDeleteI like that they interviewed Luke. He must be getting up there in the law enforcement career.
My husband gave me the idea for this and I thought it was too cute. And re: costumes. My cousin cosplays (she goes to cons like every other month) and some of the costumes she does are BONKERS. So yeah, people can get into it. XD
DeleteHe's level 5 or 6, I think, all on his own! He's making me so proud. XD