“Je t’aime, Je t’aime, Je t’aime, Je te déteste, Go away.”

Three bells tolled as everyone awaited their fates. Ava lept from her bed, ragged breaths on her tongue, as she dreaded her doomed future.

La Fête de la Faucheuse, the festival of the Grim Reaper, happens on Halloween night when a blood moon bleeds through the sky. 

On this night, the Grim Reaper rises, deciding who gains a new life and who has to lose a life. There needs to be a balance between the dead and the living. So, for the dead to become the living, someone in the town has to die and lay in their graves. 

The townspeople never knew who was chosen, but the dead always knew. Once they had risen, there was no escape. They scattered across lawns, burst through doors, smashed through the walls. The dead did not care who was taken because all they wanted was to live again and they will do anything to make that happen. 

Ava doesn’t know if she was chosen, but the shattering of glass downstairs and her mother’s blood-curdling screams tell her a different story.

“La, La, La, La, La”

Ava was nineteen years old, nineteen. She just started her freshman year in college, had a stable job, and was finally learning to love herself. She thought that if she ignored the chills and the foreboding woes then she would be fine. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I need more time! Her thoughts scrambled and merged as someone started to bang on her bedroom door. Ava barricaded her door with her bookcase, but as the slams got louder and stronger, it fell.

“Je t’aime, Je t’aime, Je t’aime, Je te déteste, Go away.”

Ava froze as her books spread across her room. Her panic rising as the banging continued, the doorknob simultaneously rattling. She knew it was too late, it was too late for her.

The person on the other side punched through her door, “Ava, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Bella.

There stood Bella, Ava’s childhood friend of thirteen years. Bella had a smile slashed over her mouth, bloodshot eyes, rotting fluorescent skin with a blue hue, her last outfit now torn up and dirty, her hair was messy and full of worms, and her wound was still fresh.

Ava trembled as Bella stalked towards her.

“You know, I find it ironic that we’re in this situation now, Aves,” she cackled mockingly. “But, I guess it’s payback. I mean, you did watch me die and even helped my murderer stab me to death, so no wonder your life will be mine now.”

It hurt to talk, it hurt to talk so much. Ava was just so overwhelmed because she was just trying to stay alive.

She gave up everything for Bella and she just wanted to be selfish for one night. So, she did watch her die and she did help in the murder, but it was the best decision for Ava to stay alive…

Last Halloween, a person of the dead charged into Bella’s house while they were having a sleepover. However, Ava wasn’t the target, Bella was. Even as she heard Bella’s screams of pain and mercy, even as Bella called to her for help, even as Bella cried, Ava did nothing and soon she had enough.

She grabbed a knife from the kitchen cabinet and stabbed Bella. Once, twice, then she slashed a smile through her mouth.

“S’il vous plaît, S’il vous plaît, S’il vous plaît, For you and me.”

“La, La, La, La, La”

Ava believed her actions were right, but never thought about the consequences. She just wanted to stay alive and if that meant killing her closest friend, then so be it. She was offering Bella the mercy of being killed by someone close. What she did was right, Ava tried to convince herself.

As Ava looked at Bella with tears dripping down her face, she realized that there was nothing she could say to fix her mistakes. Her throat felt dry as she let out the loudest sob she could muster.

Ava expected Bella to drag her, stab her, or slap her, but none of that happened. Bella pitied her old friend, but the betrayal still burned.

Instead of apologizing, Ava simply stopped crying and took a deep breath. 

“I’m ready,” she said, her eyes not wavering from Bella’s stare.

“Il était temps, Il était temps, Il était temps, The blood moon is here.”

A trail of blood lead outside the front door. 

That’s probably Mom’s blood, Ava thought somberly.

As they walked on the gravel, Ava observed the chaos in their town. 

Windows were broken, front doors on the ground, cars were crushed, possessions were tossed all over, townspeople were being dragged against the ground, and the dead did it all with a smile on their faces. 

Ava looked down, not being able to bear the chaos anymore.

“Just one slit on your throat, The flooding of your blood, Your bodies in our graves, Your lives are ours, young blood.”

“La, La, La, La, La”

At the cemetery, their throats are slit and their blood is spread into the ground. Then the dead bodies are placed in a coffin to lie in. Once the body is sealed and buried, the dead will gain a new life, saying “Repose en Paix.” Rest in peace.

Ava knows the ritual by heart, but she still shivers as the first people are buried. Bella smirks at Ava’s discomfort.

“You have made me suffer so much. I hate you. You took everything away from me and now I’m going to take everything away from you,” Bella declared, a malicious glint in her eyes.

She let Bella drag her to her grave and watched as Bella slit her throat in a quick motion. Ava didn’t feel the pain until she started coughing up her blood. She didn’t feel the loneliness until Bella sealed her in the coffin. Ava didn’t feel anything until the darkness swallowed her whole.

“Bonne nuit, Bonne nuit, Bonne nuit, Enjoy your new lives.”

“La, La, La, La, La”

In the town of St. Cata, the dead come alive and the living becomes dead. No one knows where it is and no one can escape, but if you come to visit, know that your life is at stake.