A Horrifying Halloween Tale
By: Christopher Gary
Halloween, a beautiful time, is it not? A time where kids roam free, where candy is disruptive without care, and where the night shines with a pumpkin's smile. I remember a tale around this time, a tale that can make a man's spine chill, where a child could run in fear, and when any animal would have the right instinct to run away. You're interested in the tale, are you not? Why else would you be listening to a man like me? Well come; have a seat, have your favorite treat in hand, relax, and don't let the whispers get to you.
The tale I speak of happened around 10 years ago. When I was much younger and I had friends around me. We were excited for Halloween and dressed up for the occasion. I dressed up as the grim reaper, one of my favorite mythical creatures. My scythe was made of plastic and was as long as a young child's arm. It was my favorite toy. I would always play with it outside of Halloween and always act like a hero or a deadly creature. My robe was as black as a dye could get, and my hood loomed darkness over my head, only showing my mouth and chin. If I remember correctly I had about... five or so friends at the time? Honestly the memory was so horrifying that I forgot most of them, except for a few who were... lets move on. Me and my friends were going around the neighborhood, searching for treats and making fun of others with a light smile. We were good kids at the time, we always apologized whenever we made a mean spirited joke. Some of my friends even gave out candy as an apology. I was too selfish and never gave out my candy of course. The night was young and we were still hoping for a house to visit, but we visited most of the houses in the neighborhood. When we got desperate for candy, we saw a strange looking house. It was distant from all of the other houses and had a larger field. The trees around the house looked like claws trying to catch anyone who would pass by. The grass had a withering affect to them, with no life whatsoever. None of us ever recalled the house before, but one of the bravest out of us all went straight for the house. We all followed her like a pack of wolves following an alpha. The warnings are still vivid to me to this day. They were all around the yard. One of the most scary ones that I remembered was "all who enter will either leave scarred for life, or will never exit". That one got my nerves worked up. I urged my friends from the house but of course I was ignored. I still followed them. I should have ran when I had the chance. I also remember one of my friends making fun that the grim reaper is scared of a distant house. So I sucked up my cautions and went with my friends blindly into our despair.
When we finally made it to the front door, one of us knocked. No body answered. They knocked again. Nothing. One of us boldly said "lets go inside if the door is unlocked." Some of us had our doubts of going inside. However, the brave young child that I spoke of before opened the door without hesitation. The devil sang a song when that wretched door opened. It creaked violently as if giving us a final warning, but none of us listened to it. So we all went inside, one by one. The full moon shining gave us just enough light to see in the house. We were all impressed with the houses decor and layout. It was like something straight from a haunted house. With the wood making the house being completely black, and with each and every piece furniture looking like it was made by witches. One of us suggested that maybe this was a haunted house, and we all believed it. Why else would there be a creepy looking house? we all split up to search the house for anything relevant. Might I say to you that this house looked larger then its outside. There seemed to be a hundred rooms and a hundred floors. we all lost each other eventually. I didn't know of anything about my other friends, and I started to feel the darkness getting to me. Every room was different in some way. Either by size, decor, or atmosphere. I cannot tell you how many rooms I have entered, because my legs started to walk on their own. I wandered endlessly into the house. I think an hour or so passed until I decided to start walking back. But the moment I decided to walk back, I heard a high and disfigured voice that I will forever hear in my dreams and nightmares alike. The voice said with a cheerful and impish voice.
"you carved me up for Halloween right!? Here, now its my turn!" the voice echoed throughout the entire house I imagined. And right after it, a blood curdling scream rang through my ears. I cannot even begin to tell you what horrific sounds came after that. I just ran through the entire house, back where I came from. I ran for what seemed like ten minutes when I heard wolfs barking and growling. I looked behind me and saw no such creature following me, but I heard another scream in the house. I have to add that all of these screams sounded like my friends, which made me terrified beyond all belief. The sounds of meat tearing and bones cracking soon followed the scream. I imagined the worse and continued running through the house. At this point I blindly just went down stairs and ran from room to room, generally in the opposite direction I originally took. I bumped into chairs and tripped over pieces in the wood, but every part of my body told me to keep running away, to get out of this house. Shortly after, I heard another disfigured voice.
"hey kid! Want to see a magic trick?". And of course, another scream came after that voice. All that I remembered is that there was a balloon pop and then silence overtook the direction in which I heard it from. I kept running for god knows how long. I wasn't tired because adrenaline made my body blindly run. Or at least that's what I thought. After a few more minutes, I noticed that a darkness was following me through the house. Every part of my body screamed when I saw that darkness, and I ran with all of my might. The darkness acted like a kind of liquid, and I seemed to follow me wherever I go. I threw my candy bucket at the darkness, because I forgot that it was slowing me down in a way, and I also dropped my scythe to put more focus on my running. I gained a little speed but the darkness was still hot on my trail. The next thing I heard was a chainsaw, and a scream came right after it. I can only imagine that the chase didn't last long, because the chainsaw stopped after a few minutes. I think that I was the last one alive in the house. But all I cared about was running. It didn't last long however. The darkness got to me after the last scream. When It finally caught up to me, I could not see anything around me. Just the pitch black of eternity itself. My heart was racing, from the running or from the situation I don't know, but it was racing. I tried to walk around and find a way out. My wandering lasted for about three minutes when I bumped into something. my heart skipped three beats, I counted. After a few moments, I had the stupidity to look up. There, I saw the most horrifying thing to see. It was a tall figure, at least ten feet tall. It had a robe that was even darker the the darkness around me. It had a scythe that is as sharp as a crescent moon. And its face... god have mercy on whoever sees that face. It was a skull, but a skull that could never be re-seen or drawn. I could not tell you even if I had my life on the line on what that monster head looked like, but for some reason I just knew it was a skull. Then it hit me. This is the grim reaper, this is darkness itself... this was death. It just looked at me with its ungodly eyes for a few seconds. I felt like it was looking at my soul rather then me. Then, it spoke in many voices.
"you have seen true terror and heard the most horrific things. Death would be a blessing for you" the figure spoke without moving anything on its head. Then I lifted its scythe in a slow manner. Each second felt like my soul was being withered away just by standing next to this death incarnation. Then slowly, it swing its scythe at me, carelessly and yet with grace in a way. The scythe nearly got to me when I blacked out from something .Everything after that is a blank. I woke up the next morning on the street, next to where the house used to be. And laying next to me was the costumes of my fallen friends. A werewolf, a jack-o-lantern, a clown, and a serial murderer. My right eye is closed shut by a new scar that was made that night. And on my side was my scythe, with a message written in a red liquid painted on it.
"never return, always remember"
I can't tell you why I live to this day. Maybe the house wanted to send a warning, maybe it thought my life would be worse than death. One thing is for certain though. That house WAS haunted. It only appears at Halloween and tortures its victims in any way it sees fit. So I give you a warning, all of you a warning. When your up Halloween night and you see a withered and black house; never enter it under any circumstances. You can try to burn it, you can try to tear it down, but if you have any value in life or sanity, do not enter.