October 31st
The water rippled as she took elegant strokes, kicking but barely making any splashes, it showed the skill of the swimmer in the water as she swam another length, only taking one breath in the middle of her length. Vaguely she could hear someone talking like a commentator above her before she rose out of the water brushing her hair off her face and grinning at her friend who was clapping.
"And the Haddonfield champion rises again!" he cheered with a grin, stretching his arms out and making a grandiose appearance as she pulled her goggles off and shook her head.
"Really?" she laughed shaking her head as she held her hand out to him to help her up and out of the water.
"Come on, can't you see your name in big shining lights?" Oscar cheered as he helped her up looking up at the sounds of two others joining them.
Oscar was one of Skyla's closest friends given he had never made her angry. He was sweet and unsure of himself, trying desperately to be something he wasn't instead of being himself, making him act over the top and energetic. Big and bulky in build, but not overly tall he wasn't really noticed much around school and his curly hair in many ways didn't always help.
Then there was Vicky and Alison. Vicky was loud, opinionated, intelligent and just damn right sarcastic and sassy, where as Alison was a bit more reserved and quieter, worked hard and studied.
Skyla could respect that about Alison and she was what Skyla would consider her best friend, often the one she could turn to and rage to when her anger spiralled out of control. Alison was also the one she'd been friends with the longest, since majority of the other kids she often got into verbal spats or sometimes even physical acts of violence.
Thus, with too many detention slips, Skyla decided to turn her anger and aggression towards a more rewarding source and took up sports, swimming she was champion of her school, she ran every day, once before school and then an hour after and boxing at weekends, helped keep most of the anger in check or release it in a more positive way.
"Skyla!" Alison called waving to her as Skyla waved back.
"Alison, Vicky, hey," she grabbed the towel Oscar handed her, muttering a quiet thank you as she wrapped herself up in it. "Looking forward to the activities tonight?"
"Well, I'm not… but I imagine Alison is," Vicky smirked shrugging slightly. "Baby sitting."
"Ooo… tough break, tough break…" Oscar commented as he stood between the three girls. "If you girls don't mind I've gotta go and find my date for this evening.. before he goes breaking anymore hearts!" he said as he began walking away making the others laugh.
"Tell Cameron not to forget about tonight," Aliso called, making Skyla frown slightly but she shrugged it off, brushing her hair back as they walked to the changing room.
She didn't like Cameron. She just had a bad feeling about him, something was off. She wasn't sure what, but she didn't like him with Alison, though she never said anything. She didn't want to loose a good friend over a slight dislike of a person. She didn't have many friends so she needed to keep the ones she had.
"I gotta say I do wonder how you do it," Vicki commented taking a sip of her drink while Skyla got changed in one of the changing areas.
"Do what?"
"This whole work out thing you've got going on," the blonde went on as she waved her hands in gestures, Alison holding her books close to her chest smiling and sometimes laughing quietly at Vicki's remarks. "It just seems like a lot of work. That I really don't have time for."
Skyla laughed softly as she pulled her t-shirt on. "It beats punching people in the face and betting in trouble," she replied buttoning the top buttons together. "I mean, I really don't want to do that again if it's all the same to you, or do you prefer me using human punching bags?"
"I remember that time you smashed Clayton in the face with a baseball bat," Vicky commented with a fond smile. "Gotta say, beat more creeps like that I'm all for it."
Alison was laughing softly while Skyla shook her head with a fond smile. "I've upgraded from baseball bats," she replied as she fastened her belt with a hunting knife carefully hidden at the back of it, pulling her jacket and pulling her shirt down to hide it.
She never used to carry a knife, but ever since she got mugged, she'd taken to carrying a knife around with her, it was at least something she could use to defend herself with.
"Seriously though if you ever want to hit him in the face again you can," Vicki piped up making Skyla roll her eyes fondly as she walked out carrying her bag.
Skyla Crow was and had always been a bit of an outcast growing. She was quiet but full of rage which when she was younger she couldn't control and would lash out at anyone and anything and it would be very hard to calm her down. She got into fights at school but once she reached her teens she began to take an interest in sports and became very good at swimming, swimming for her school and winning many of the little competitions the school held amongst it's athletes.
She was calmer now, but that often comes with age, but every so often when the rage got too much for her to handle she would lash out, often breaking things or smashing glasses or plates, her wardrobe often took beatings and had a lot of holes in it.
She lived with her mother, no father in the picture, she didn't even know who that was, not that she cared. They can't of been that important if they were never in her life's she never gave them a second thought.
But since the mugging, Skyla had become slightly more closed off and reserved, carrying her hunting knife with her at all times and never letting it leave her side. Of course no one knew she had it and she never used it, even in the fights she had at school, even if there was an itching feeling to reach down and grab it, she mostly just used her fists or the environment around her to prove a point.
"Hey Skyla, you okay?"
"Hmm? Yeah, yes, sorry," she laughed shaking her head, pushing her dirty blonder hair out of her face to show her ice blue eyes, they were almost steel in colour in certain lights and in darker lights they looked black with no colour in them at all. "Just thinking is all, you know me…"
"Are you alright?" Alison asked concerned. "Just with the mugging and everything-."
"Seriously I'm fine," she interrupted smiling softly at her friends. "I've been in worst situation then that mugging and beside you should see the other guy," she laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, letting her hands run through her shorter hair.
The three laughed at the joke, Alison shaking her head with a little roll of her eyes, before they went their separate ways down the corridor. "I'll see you later at the dance, Alison," Skyla called as she headed for the exit with the other kids, the hustle and bustle drowning out any reply she might of heard from her friend.
Since school was finished, Skyla went home, calling out to her mother as she entered. It was a nice house, quite big and surrounded by houses with kids and families, an elderly couple down the street, it was a picturesque little place. A slice of the ideal America everyone wanted.
Haddonfield was a nice quiet place, the place you'd want to raise your kids. Nothing really happened, yes there were a few robberies and the occasional vandalism but.. .for the most part nothing happened. Except for all those years ago.
A shiver ran down her spine and she shuddered. The things that man did. He murdered five people, one of them being his own sister. You had to be some form of a monster, something terrible, to do something like that at such a young age.
Skyla placed her bag on the counter as she wandered through to the living room finding her mother glued to the tv, watching a news report about a bus crashed or… something like that.
She listened to the news report and frowned slightly. "Smithsgrove? Didn't you used to work there mum?"
"Hmm? Oh, Sweetheart I never heard you come in," she smiled at her daughter before turning back to the tv and being glued to it like before.
"I did shout," Skyla mumbled rubbing her eyes. "But, yeah, didn't you work there mum?"
"Yes…. just before I had you…" her mother, Cathrin, mumbled as she watched still. "I stayed a little bit longer once you were born but left to become a full time mother.. but in the end I had to go back to work and now I work at the library," she smiled at her daughter finally, getting up and switching the tv off.
"You were brave," she commented. "To work there I mean, with all those patients and not to mention… him."
"Him, dear? Who do you mean?"
"You know… Michael Myers…." Skyla mumbled. "Even now we still tell stories at school about the Haddonfield boogyman."
"Oh yes. Yes I worked with Michael, I was nurse," Cathrin went on. "He was one of my many patients I did rounds for. Honestly Michael isn't as bad as they made him out to be. He really is quite sweet…."
"Mum he murdered five people."
"And I'm not condoning that but… once you get past that shell…. he's…." she trailed off and blinked back to reality smiling. "Well he was quiet. Didn't do anything while I worked there and was always so very well behaved."
Skyla shook her head. "Probably didn't want to draw too much attention to himself," she mumbled walking upstairs and taking her bag. Her mum always got weird when talking about her old place of work. Either dreamy or treating it like it was a closed off part of her life. One of the two.
The young woman came down the stairs slipping her headphones in, dressed in running gear as she looked over at her mum.
"I'm just heading out for a jog," she called opening the door and then taking her usual route through the forests surrounding Haddonfield. On her way she passed the graveyard, the place always gave her the creeps, but it was sometimes a nice way to cut through, made the journey shorter, though Skyla never used it in October, especially not today. Too many gravestones with the end date being the 31st of the month.
She kept running, darting through the thick woodland area before a flash of movement caught her eye and she froze staring into the woods to see if she could see it again.
Carefully she took out her headphones looking around to be able to hear and listen out for anyone.
"Hello?" a twig snapped in answer and she span around. "Hello? Is someone there?"
Nothing, except the wind in the trees and the rustle of leaves, with the occasional sound of wild life.
The young woman stayed a moment longer before checking the time and running back towards her home, she needed to get back to get ready for the dance and help her mum set up the house for the children later when they came knocking for sweets and candy.
Skyla ran back through the woods, not noticing the shape at the edge of the path, hidden well behind trees, watching her. His head tilted slightly to the right before slowly tilting back to it's original position. The motion almost too fluid to be human as it slowly began to move down towards the path and walk along it. Slow, heavy and methodical foot steps echoed for no one to hear, even Skyla was long gone and no one else would walk the path at this time, too busy setting up their houses or getting ready for various parties.
Even once the individual made it to Haddonfield it would be dark and no one would see him as being out of the ordinary. It was just another out to celebrate halloween, that's all it was.
It was just another mask in the crowd.
T.B.C: