Halloween Night

It's kind of hard to explain...

      He walked down the street, mask shrouding his face. He had always enjoyed the anonymity of Halloween night, it awarded a certain camaraderie with those around him that he was normally too shy to speak to. When he wasn't himself however, it was easy to speak with people. It was also his one chance to get people to come into his haunted house, and see who could stand his level of decoration and scares.

      He continued his walk, venturing past three houses that kept their porch lights off and had no decorations. He considered this to be bad form. After all, Halloween was a time of celebration, when the veil between the human world and the afterlife were at its thinnest. He smiled, as the next house he walked by was pulsing with the life and light of a party. The house was completely decorated, of course not as much as his was, but that was to be expected. He was, after all, the most passionate about the holiday.

      He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, hard enough that the nearest party-goer would notice the sound over Monster Mash playing in the background. A werewolf came and answered the door, lifting his mask to better see the potential guest. “Hey man, that's kind of a bogus costume... did you BYOB?” the werewolf asked swaying slightly as he stood.

      “I'll do you one better,” he replied. “I brought a bottle for me, and one to add to the punch bowl.”

      “My man,” the werewolf let loose a drunk attempt at a howl, then took him by the arm and began guiding him into the party. “So what's your name?”

      “Call me, Henry,” he replied, uncorking one of the bottles and holding it up before taking a long swig of the amber liquid. “Nice to meet you.”

      “Well Henry, I like you already. The name is Jack.” he said, pronouncing the “J” in a high pitch, revealing exactly how drunk he was so far.

      Henry spent hours at the party, drinking (though not getting drunk), dancing, socializing, and loving every moment of it. He'd found a small circle of friends that he liked, just as they had embraced him. Finally he felt comfortable enough to ask what he had been waiting to, “hey guys, who's drunk enough for an adventure? I decorated my house to hell and back, you guys should come... I bet it'll scare you guys!”

      “YEAH, that's a great idea!!” exclaimed Catwoman from beside him. With that, he knew every guy in the group would agree, mainly because of her skin tight leather costume... and they did.

      To his surprise, the shy girl dressed in a surprisingly covering fairy costume also said, “I'd love to see a haunted house! How far is it?” This also made him happy, for though they had talked throughout the evening, he hadn't thought her to be the type to join him, due to her timid qualities.

Henry smiled genuinely, “it's right around the corner.”

       “Then hell yeah! Let's go!” said Superman from across the circle of people.

Jack and a man dressed like Captain Hook murmured their agreement, downing the last of their drinks as they readied for their trip.

      As they walked he soon found the shy girl walking next to him, with all others following closely. She turned to him and asked quietly, “you're not really drunk, are you?”

Her question surprised him, usually he was good with fooling people on that front. “How could you tell?” he asked.

      “Your sentence structure gave it away, you haven't slurred one word,” she said looking at the ground. “How aren't you drunk? I watched you open and down a whole bottle of whiskey.”

“I drink a lot when I'm alone,” he replied looking into the distance. She didn't look convinced, but he changed the subject with the announcement that they had arrived at his house. Once again, he felt glad to be wearing a mask.

      They all looked his house up and down, it was the epitome of gloom and fear on Halloween. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, nearly touching the ground, covered with a lair of fog, broken only by headstones and freshly turned dirt. The house itself was black, but what really made it look ominous was the moon highlighting it from the back in vivid detail.

      The group seemed giddy with anticipation of what his house had in store. They walked into the main hallway, which was had a green light and thousands of spiders along the walls. He gave them the basic tour of the house, each room bringing a new fear to claw at them, the only one who seemed unaffected by the disembowelment and unknown creatures was the shy girl. It seemed strange, she was more fascinated by what she saw than terrified as the others were.

      Finally, they made their way upstairs and into the hallway outside his bedroom. “Just one more room,” he told them.

      “Hey man, why is it that you are so into Halloween but you're basically not even wearing a costume?” Jack asked looking around the darkly lit hallway as creaking noises sounded from behind him.

Henry wordlessly opened the door to his room, revealing a pile of bleach-white bones with teeth-marks in them. He stepped in front of it and turned to face them, smiling as he said, “Jack, you see, my costume is the best part...” As he finished speaking, he pulled the rubber mask from his face and stood to his full height, prompting screams of horror from the group, as they saw his real face.

      It felt good to take the mask off, to have the cool air touch his rough red skin. His blackened horns began to grow out of their retraction points in his skull, and he gave them a toothy smile, bearing his razor sharp teeth. They stared into his black eyes for a moment before each screamed and bolted down the stairs. He assumed they were running for the door, but he had no intention of following. Scaring them was his purpose, simply to have fun for an evening and to give them the most memorable Halloween they had ever had. 

      He noticed however, that one had stayed behind, and the shy girl, looked at him from the confines of her blue dress and sparkling tiara with a sense of fascination. She smiled slowly and said, “I don't see what's so scary about that...” with the final words, her eyes began to emit a deep green glow.

Author's Note

Admittedly it may not be my best work, but I really wanted to write a Halloween story before it was over. It's a favorite holiday of mine. First Draft, still, any opinions welcome.

Reviews

[Traci]

You definitely have talent and I am quite impressed with your writing style. You captured my attention from the very beginning, and I like the fact that one stayed behind, almost seemingly more frightening than him. Great job!

[NoblePariah]

Thank you again! I never really decided what she was, the reader's imagination does a far better job than I could.

[Traci]

Sometimes that the beauty of the story, letting the reader's imagination draw their own conclusions. And also leaves it open to another chapter :) and perhaps new ideas from your reader's input.

[Marie]

I'm reading this at 11:00, so Halloween is just about over. It's a pretty good way to end the day. I don't think it's quite as good as "The Meeting"; still, it's awfully good. Not gruesome as it could have been, but with a nice twist.

[NoblePariah]

Thank you, when you say more gruesome do you mean the end part when he reveals himself, or just the rest of his house made to scare the other people? I rushed through that part a bit.

[Marie]

No, I meant it wasn't gruesome at all. It could have been, but apparently this demon only wanted to give people something to remember at Halloween.

[NoblePariah]

Oh, I see what you meant now, though I've been writing some darker stuff recently so I was trying to do something a bit more lighthearted for this one.

[Acropolix]

Interesting ending, wonder what she will turn into :) I have one small comment though. It is not really an issue but you use 'he replied' for both Henry and Jack, which might cause some confusion as to who is speaking. Though, it's clear enough for sure. Just alter the choice of words maybe some more. Just some small stupid critique I know... Anyways, good job! Admittedly, not bad at all!

[NoblePariah]

Thank you! I will get on that thing about using he replied, I actually wrote this in like 2 hours between classes so I was sure a couple things slipped through the crack.