The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 110

29 December 2024

“We should all go for a night on the town!” Evelyn said. “Get a limousine, and hit a club or three.”

The idea had merit, but was just as likely to be fun as disastrous. Hecate would need to merge her three personas, otherwise people would react poorly to Sparky and Ethereal… unless…

“It would work well for Halloween.”

“Yes!” Evelyn said. “We could just be ourselves.”

“…and still end up losing the costume contest…”

A low-key lit, cinematic photograph of a Halloween costume competition where a group of five individuals, all in their mid-twenties, stand triumphantly on stage, donning an assortment of hilariously horrible, handmade costumes that are a testament to their creative ineptitude, yet somehow charming enough to secure them first place, with a faded, brightly colored banner draped behind them, reading "1st Place" in bold, Comic Sans font, amidst a backdrop of dimly lit, eerie purple and orange hues, with faint fog machines wafting mist around their feet, and the audience in the background, a blur of excited faces and camera flashes, all capturing the absurdity of the moment, shot in a shallow depth of field, emphasizing the winners and their outrageous attire.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.