Out in the dark, where only ghouls and ghosts roam, there is a coffee shop. This coffee shop is inhabited by vampires, ghosts, goblins, werewolves, and more. All mortals who get lost on Hallows Eve find their way here. In this coffee shop is an old woman, a strange mortal. She has been there for many centuries. No one knows who she is, or even where she came from, but they say if you stay long enough you can hear the whispers of a tale she’s told for ages:

Centuries ago, two teens, a couple, had gone out on Halloween night. They mocked the theory of ghost, ghouls, and the supernatural. They made fun of those who believed in vampires, the supernatural, and the afterlife. On the night of Hallows Eve they had gone to a graveyard. They began to kick up the coarse dirt and tossed raw eggs at the gravestones.

As they ran around mocking the names of the dead, a dark green fog appeared from the ground. A horrific smell of rotting flesh hit them. It seemed as though the world was getting taller and taller, when in reality they were being pulled into the ground by skeletal arms. They pulled free and ran into the nearby woods. Once far enough from the graveyard, the boy grabbed his girlfriend’s hand as she was trembling. They had gotten lost.

They walked around for a long while before being approached by a large hairy man. He was seven feet tall and was covered in hair from head to toe. The couple didn’t want to believe their eyes, but it was without a doubt a werewolf. One of the very things they had mocked that night. All sorts of things they didn’t want to believe had begun to happen that night. The very things they had taunted their whole lives were coming to life before right their eyes.

The strange old mortal woman paused to take a sip of her coffee before continuing:

The couple was frightened. The poor teenagers ran as fast as they could before the young girl stumbled and fell. If only they had taken these things more seriously, maybe then they wouldn’t have met such a gloomy fate. The werewolf was now near them, slowly getting closer, when its eyes widened, and it ran away.

The bit of relief that came after wasn’t there for long. What scared away the werewolf was a giant ugly green goblin. Its skin was oozing and quite lumpy. Its head was misshapen and angry. Its long, pointy dripping nose was covered in warts. His teeth were like needles. He was carrying a large brown spiked club. He had a long-hooded velvet vest; it was purple. He was much larger than the goblins in fairy tales and myths. His pants were slimy and scaly as if he had just skinned a snake and immediately wore it after. The couple had no time to react. He scooped them into his ginormous burlap sack, threw it over his shoulder, and carried them way.

Eventually the couple was dumped violently out of the bag into a cage. The giant goblin smirked at them while telling them how he would roast then over an open fire, slathering them in the guts of roadkill for extra taste. His voice was deep, scratchy, and so low it almost felt as though it shook the earth itself. He rattled the cage making them fall while his laughter bellowed throughout the stone room.

He left, closing the door with a great thud. While the boy panicked the girl pulled a bobby pin from her hair. She fidgeted around with the giant lock until it popped open. The boy looked at the girl in disbelief. It was cliché, but it worked. They pushed open the giant cage door. After climbing up and out of the cage they looked around. They found a hole being currently chewed through by a gnome who got frightened and ran. They ran out of the hole and into what looked like a giant village. Thankfully there was a large trail of bushes lining a road that led into the forest. They ran into the bushes. The girl got caught on a branch, violently falling to the ground, twisting her ankle into an unnatural position. Getting away would take longer than they hoped.

The boy looked troubled but put his arm around his girlfriend anyway. For hours they trod along through the bushes, stopping only twice to rest. When they finally got to the forest they ran as fast as they could, considering her injury. They came upon a large field that looked like it’d been scorched with fire for years before going out. The sky was a dark terrifying red.

About fifty yards into the field was a small building, black with white lettering. It said, “Imp’s café”. The couple walked closer to the building. From the outside you could see through the windows. In the café there were strange creatures. There were vampires, werewolves, gnomes, a large snake, fairies, and more. The couple looked terrified, but the owner of the store came out. It was a red Imp, a demon like creature with horns. She had the tail of a scorpion, large sharp teeth, large dragon like wings, pointed ears, and her hands were claw like. She simply smiled and pointed to a sign that stated no violence between any creature was allowed or they would be eaten by the large snake.

The couple walked into the café. The boy wanted to go find help but the girl could walk no further. Once the Imp assured the boy that the girl would be protected, he left to try and find a way home for help. He promised he would be back, and with that he left. Rumors say that his girlfriend still waits here to this day, telling their story in hopes he might someday come back.

A red Imp walked over and handed the strange old mortal woman a new coffee, smiling sadly in her direction. The mortal woman thanked her kindly as a tear ran down her face.