Mass Meeting Chronicles, Part 4

I’m walking home and, suddenly, I hear thunder clap. I run away because, miraculously, I discovered a forbidden stairway. Although the rain drenches me, I frantically beeline towards light, away from the scary staircase. 

   A voice calls out from behind me. “Girl, I love your outfit,” it says (scarily). I turn, but the source of the words is just out of view, beyond the visible light of the staircase. I take a step towards it.   
 
“I…” I hesitate, wondering how it could even see me and my purple halter top. “I bought it on Depop.” I step toward the voice, and I find a zombie! But wait, she's kinda cute… “OMG, I love YOUR outfit!!”     

She smiles at me, but she’s missing a few teeth. I feel a sudden jolt of courage, which prompts me to say, “Hey, you’re actually kinda cute! Do you want to go out with me?”     

The zombie girl smiles even wider, exposing even more missing teeth. “Aw, that’s so sweet of you to ask. Of course!”     

We decided to have our first date in a haunted basement, sitting on the floor watching JFK’s inauguration speech while sharing a caramel mint lavender matcha latte with extra toppings of human teeth sprinkles. It was the best time ever. We are now married with two cats. I keep telling the cats the story “How I met your mom.”

*Mass Meeting Chronicles is a series of short stories written collaboratively by Gayly members at our Winter 2026 Mass Meeting. We followed an initial prompt and each tried to continue the story crafted by the member before, effectively creating the chaos you see before you now. Enjoy!