Scared and Screaming Halloween

“Aw, that was so cool.”

“Man, you have got to go in there.” 

“That was so neat.” 

The yells and screams of the laughing trick-or-treaters echoed around us as they ran from the house we were approaching.

“You have to go inside, if you want to get candy,” a boy yelled to us.

We never went through the front doors, but this house called us to enter.

My gut told me not to go.

Since I didn’t want to look chicken, and neither did my friends, we went inside.

The floor creaked as we slowly entered the warm living room.  Flickering candles made shadows bounce in the darkness.  

A lady with a white dress, long black hair and an eerie smile stood behind a man with green skin who was lying on a table. A red streak of blood slid out the side of his mouth. Black shiny hair covered his square head.  Shadows showed scars in uneven patterns on his face and hands.  Bolts grew out of each side of his neck, and he looked as if he might be sleeping. Large black shoes stuck out of the white sheet that covered the rest of his body.

The bowl of candy on his belly rose and fell with each breath.

Suzie, our bravest friend, reached for the candy, grabbed a piece and quickly made room for the next trick-or-treater. My sweaty hand trembled as I reached for a giant snickers bar. I tried to grab it before the bowl went too high and would be out of my reach. I let out a breath as I grabbed the candy bar and threw it in my bag, the bowl still rising and falling.

Next, it was Cathy’s turn. As she reached for the candy, Frankenstein grabbed her hand as he snapped up, his dark eyes on us. We all screamed.  Cathy grabbed candy from the wobbly bowl with her free hand, and yanked her other hand out of Frankenstein’s tight grip.  We couldn’t believe how brave she was! 

All our screaming relieved some of our fear as we ran from the house.

Another boy approached us outside and said, “You gotta see the haunted house over on Thomas Avenue. It really is haunted. No lie!”

We decided we had enough of being scared for one night, and we continued on with our normal routine – knocking and not going through doors – our pillowcases filled with candy treasures that weighed us down.

I was one spooked ghost that Halloween, but I still wish we would have gone to the haunted house!

This post was inspired by RemembeRed at http://www.writeonedge.com: “With Halloween approaching, many of us are revisiting fond memories of trick-or-treating, favorite candy, and parties. Reach back to a costume that made an impression. Was it yours? A friend’s? Maybe it was a costume you never got to wear. Show it to us with your words, draw us into the emotions it evoked at the time.”