I had meant to wait until Halloween to start this fic, but I decided to make an exception in order to celebrate the release of the Halloween Complete Collection last (especially the official release of the Producer's Cut of Halloween 6 that all true Halloween fans, myself included, have been waiting many years for)! I just unboxed my own last night, and I can't wait to have a marathon the next day I have completely off.
Prelude to a Nightmare
The date was Friday, October 31st, 2003, the hour 10:30 p.m. The night air was cool, the wind calm.
Midterms had finally come to an end at Mahora Academy Middle School division and Class 3-A's test scores were at an all-time high, thanks to their gifted young teacher, the ten-year-old prodigy, Professor Negi Springfield, who also happened to be an incredibly powerful wizard. The students of Class 3-A were celebrating, as they always loved to do, but tonight was special.
Every year on Halloween, some of the girls of 3-A sneak out right after dinner and find the darkest, quietest, most secluded place they can and tell scary stories until only one is left. That young woman claims the title of "Queen of Scares" until the next Halloween when everyone gathers to do it all again.
Tonight, the competition was fierce and the stories fiercer. By now, only Kaede Nagase, Fuka and Fumika Narutaki, and Kazumi Asakura remained unperturbed. They were all huddled a tent in Kaede and the twins' room in the Middle School dormitory. As last year's winner, Kaede wanted to host their tradition this year personally. Negi had initially thought a night of scary stories would be fun, but after the first hour, the young English teacher found out how easily frightened he was. Still, he held himself responsible for his students and wanted to stick it out until the end.
"But as they looked around the house, there was no sign of the banshee," Fumika was finishing her story. "All they could hear was the shriek getting closer … and closer … until …" and she screamed at the top of her voice, scaring Negi out of his wits. His scream nearly drowned out hers.
But Fuka only yawned. "Is that the best you can do, sis? That scream was the scariest thing about that story."
"Aw, come on, Fuka. I put a lot of thought into that one," the younger twin complained. "It's not my fault you're better at this kind of thing!"
"Well, I thought it was plenty scary, Fumika," Negi straightened his glasses. "In fact, if I were grading these stories, that would have been at least a B+."
"Aww, thanks Negi," Fumika hugged him tightly from behind. "You always know how to make a girl feel better."
The boy laughed awkwardly. "Think nothing of it."
"Okay, that's enough of the mushy stuff. That's not what we're here for," Kazumi interrupted. "It's my turn now, and get ready, because this one isn't just freakishly scary; it's completely true!"
"Wait a minute, Kazumi! Shouldn't scary stories be kept untrue? It's better that way," Fuka protested, but Kazumi held up a finger to shush her.
"That is usually true," she smirked. "But this story is scary enough without all the sensationalism."
"I don't mind at all," Kaede said calmly with her usual squinty-eyed smile. "The scarier, the better, I always say."
"Kaede, you liar!" Fumika laughed. "You never say that."
"Guilty," the tall thin girl giggled. "But it stands."
"Well, I'm okay with it," Negi said, wiping his brow with his handkerchief. "If nothing else, I'll learn something from this … in addition to all the nightmares I'm going to have for the next six months." Everyone laughed at this.
"As long as you don't have 'em for the rest of your life after hearing this story, Professor, you'll be just fine," Kazumi winked at him. Negi gulped.
"Now I'm sure you've all heard of the bogeyman," Kazumi began. "Well, what if I told you he was, or rather, is real?"
"The bogeyman?" the twins squealed, hugging Kaede's ample bosom in fear. "He's real?"
Kaede laughed. "The bogeyman is real? Do you really expect us to believe that? He's just something parents tell their kids about to scare them into being good."
"Whether you believe it or not isn't up to me, but the facts remain," she shrugged. "I've been researching this case for a few years now, and this is as good a time as any to tell you guys about it.
"Now, on October 19th, 1957, in an unidentified hospital in Haddonfield, Illinois, USA, a baby boy named Michael Myers was stillborn, yet somehow resuscitated 10 minutes later on his own, much to his parents' delight. Now, nobody knew it at the time – they celebrated it as a miracle of life – but that night, an honest-to-God monster had been born into our world. Little Michael grew up a normal little boy, but on the night of Halloween 1963, Michael inexplicably took a very long, very sharp kitchen knife and stabbed his sister Judith to death with it. He stabbed and he stabbed and he stabbed like he was a starving man trying to open a bale of rice, and from that day forth, Michael Myers had become 'living evil,' a real bogeyman. He was a manifestation of the worst sins of mankind, nothing but a living, breathing, killing … machine."
And so she continued, telling them, one detail after another, about how Michael Myers had been admitted to Smith's Grove Sanitarium at age 6 and stayed there for 15 years, only to make an inexplicably clever escape, returning to Haddonfield to kill his younger sister, as well as anyone he came across along the way. For more than an hour she told the stories of what Michael was known to have done, everything from the 30 – likely more – vicious murders he had committed in Haddonfield, Halloween after Halloween, to how many times he should have died but didn't.
"It all came to a head exactly one year ago when he killed several teens and adults who had foolishly entered his old home, his territory. Over the course of the night, he was hung, electrocuted, burned and buried alive under the wreckage of his own house falling on his head. Michael's corpse was brought to the Haddonfield morgue that night, but police reports claimed that the next morning, there was not a single person left alive, Michael's body was nowhere to be found, and the only evidence left was a bloody scalpel, without fingerprints, lodged in the coroner's forehead," she finished.
"Th-th-th-th-then you're saying he's … still out there?" Negi stammered nervously.
"Without a doubt," Kazumi was now holding a flashlight under her chin, her voice barely above a whisper. The twins were so scared they were almost crying. Even Kaede looked a little blue in the face. "And without his home to keep him anchored, he is now free to wander the Earth. So on nights like tonight, remember: the bogeyman could be anywhere … even right here!" she yelled and held up a long kitchen knife. She was met with an ear-piercing combined scream from the twins and Negi, followed by a THUMP sound: Negi was so scared he had fainted.
"Well, that certainly was a bit … unsettling," Kaede whispered, a little blue in the face. "I think it's safe to say you've given us the scariest story of the night, Kazumi. I haven't seen Negi faint from fright like this since … ever."
"That's right," Kazumi laughed. "Now bow to your new Queen!" Then they heard the door open.
"I heard screaming."
They all turned to see Negi's senior teacher, Takamichi Takahata poke his head in. "Everything all right, ladies?" Then he saw Negi passed out on the floor. "Oh my."
"Yeah, everything's fine, Professor," Kaede smiled. "We were just doing our annual scare-fest, and Professor Negi decided to join us this year, though I think it might have been a bit too much for him."
Takahata sighed. "You'd think after all he's been through, he could handle something like this." Kaede nodded.
"Anyway, Professor," Kazumi interrupted. "Not that it's really my biz, but what are you doing in the dorm? Did something happen?"
"Not necessarily," he shrugged. "But Headmaster Konoe called me and said he sensed an ominous wind blowing tonight and he wants all teachers to be on their guard. Since Negi is living here in the dorms, I decided to deliver the message personally. I was on my way to his room with Konoka when I heard the screaming."
"Sorry, Professor," the twins said in unison. "We were just so scared."
"It's okay," he said gently, patting them on the heads. "Just no more scary stories, okay? Can't have any complaints, after all." He turned to leave, throwing them a brief wave as he closed the door behind him.
At that moment, Negi began to stir. "Uh … mm? What happened? Did I pass out or something?"
"Yeah, Teach." Kaede was cradling him in her lap. "You were so scared by Kazumi's story that you fainted."
"Oh, yeah. I think I remember now," he shook his head to clear it as he stood up. "Well, Kazumi, you get the 'A+ of the Day.' That story was absolutely terrifying."
"Especially the knife thing at the end," Fuka added. "Where did you get that from?"
"The kitchen downstairs," Kazumi winked, ducking out of the room. "Which reminds me, I should be returning it before it's missed." The Mahora students shared the kitchen equipment, and when they removed things from the kitchen, they were required to sign a checkout form that was posted on the wall, but she had snuck it out without doing so.
"And we," Kaede began, standing up, "should escort Professor Negi back to his room so he can get his rest. Getting scared out of his wits won't be an excuse for missing class tomorrow. We also need to give him Takahata's message."
"Huh," Negi looked at her. "Takamichi was here? What did he want? Was it important?"
"Don't worry about it," Fuka said cheerfully, grabbing his right arm.
"We'll tell you about it on the way!" Fumika smiled, grabbing his left.
"Uh, okay," Negi laughed awkwardly as the twins walked him out the door.
Takahata laughed as he drove his car along the outskirts of the campus toward his apartment. "Those girls are really keeping young Negi occupied. Hope he doesn't have nightmares after all of that," he thought out loud as he turned on the radio.
"-are still investigating the circumstances of the incident," a female voice said over the news station. "Only a matter of hours ago, authorities received a panicked phone call from a dock near Tokyo Bay where they found a young man who appeared to have brutally murdered. Police will not allow our cameras access to the scene as of yet, but the deceased's face was reportedly brutalized beyond recognition, so we do not yet have a name to our John Doe. We are hoping to learn that, as well as the cause of death, pending an autopsy to be performed tomorrow morning..."
"Murder?" Takahata whispered, pulling over so he could think without distraction. "Tokyo Bay isn't too far from here. Less than an hour's drive unless there's traffic."
"There was no murder weapon found at the scene, so police believe the body was moved post-mortem," the newscaster continued. "This just in: We've just received word that the NPA's chief investigator, while examining the scene, discovered a trail of bloody footprints leading to the nearby road and ending near the roadside. The suspect is believed to be at large and in possession of a stolen vehicle. Until more information is known, the NPA stresses that everyone stay indoors and keep their doors and windows locked, but you can be assured that we will stay on this case and report back when more information is known."
Refusing to listen to any more, Takahata turned off the radio. Pulling his car off the side of the road with a loud screech of rubber on asphalt, he performed a fast U-turn and sped off toward Tokyo Bay. "This is bad. This is very, very bad." He pulled his cell phone out of the cup holder at his side, dialed a speed dial number, put it on speaker and put it in a clip on the dashboard to hold it in place.
"What is it, Takamichi?"
"Headmaster Konoe, you couldn't have been more right when you said an ominous wind was blowing tonight. A dead body was just discovered near Tokyo Bay. I'm heading there now to check it out. For all we know, there is a serial killer, and a brutal one at that, at large." He paused for only a moment. "He could very well be headed our way."
"Is it that bad?"
"Worse," Takahata said without hesitation. "If what I believe is correct, this person has no remorse or regard for human life. If he has the ability to rend a man's face until it's unrecognizable then what's to stop him from killing women and children? We need every able-bodied man, woman and child on alert, just in case our worst fears come to pass. Mahora is densely populated. If he gets there, all Hell could break loose."
After a moment, he heard the headmaster's voice again. "I understand. If this is true, then we have no time to waste. I will gather the magical teachers at once and come up with a plan. But let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"If I'm wrong we can apologize to the staff and laugh it off over drinks, but I'm not convinced that this will turn out well. I'll check back with you in a little while," he reached over and shut off the phone, but not before he heard the headmaster say, "Good luck, Takamichi. Come back as soon as you can. We may need all the help we can get."
"Hm," Takahata laughed in spite of himself. "Whether I make it back or not, as long as he's there, those girls have nothing to worry about." Tokyo Bay is only 15 minutes away. If I hurry I can make it in 10 or less.
Suddenly, another car whooshed right past him, heading in completely the opposite direction: straight towards the school. He risked a side glance at the license plate. No, it's probably nothing. Focus on what's in front of you. With that, he put his car into high gear and accelerated.
This is my first time doing a couple of things, so I hope you were all satisfied with my first attempt at a horror-theme story, and that I did an at-least-okay job with narrating scary stories.
I believe in reader participation, so if anyone has an idea for something they'd like to see happen, such as someone facing off with Michael and possibly/likely get cut down, just write a review or send me a PM and we'll see if we can make it happen. Just because I have a basic outline in mind for this fic doesn't mean changes/improvements can't be made.
