Halloween Frightacular

* Friday – Sarah's Bedroom *

Sarah's POV

Tonight is the night – Erica and I have been waiting for this Halloween party for the last three weeks, now. We saved up our money, coordinated our costumes, and even managed to score ourselves a pair of dates. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to convince Ethan to come, and even how longer it took Ethan to convince Benny.

After unwrapping my costume and placing it neatly at the foot of my bed, I make my way to my bathroom and turn on the shower – I absolutely love showers; whenever I'm in my tub, I find myself floating on bliss. I don't have to hide – my vampirism, my worries, fears… all of it leaves me the second I step foot underneath the steaming hot water…

Click… Clank…

–My eyes jerk open at the sound of something hitting my bathroom floor… but I must be tripping – I'm just super excited, excited to the point that I'm imaging things… that's all. Blindly, my hands search the shower the for the faucet's knobs. I turn the off the water and jerk the shower curtains aside.

"AHHH!.."

A bloody, naked me stares blankly at me from across the bathroom. Welts and scars cover her from head to toe, excreting blood from all of her open wounds. Before me, she stands in a puddle of crimson-red blood…
–but then, she's gone…
I close my eyes shut, hoping that when I open them, I would find myself alone. I do, for after wiping the water out from eyes and searching every corner of my bathroom for any signs of a bloody me, I come up short. Luckily, I come up short…

"–what in the hell…" I reach for my towel and wrap it around my trembling body. I'm more than scared to step out of my tub right now – I just want to cut the water back on and cower away within the confines of my shower's cubicle.

–but… I need to pull it together. Get ahold of yourself girl… it wasn't real.
'it wasn't real… it wasn't real…' I continue to assure myself as I fearfully place a foot on the bathroom floor. "Sarah.!" Someone calls from my bedroom. The sound of their voice nearly sends my undead heart into frenzy…
– I slowly make my way over to the bathroom door and snake a hand around the knob. I hadn't made up my mind to open it, but when the voice calls out to me, "Sarah…" once more, I fall under the realization that it's just Erica, and I'm more than happy to swing the door open.

"Sarah?.." she says again as I step into her company. "–you look like you've just seen a ghost…" A trembling hand finds its place over my heart as I approach my bed – "–girl… you don't know the half of it…"

* Friday – Morgan Family Residence *

–the school bus – probably the school's biggest freak show. Bullies, nerds, jocks, and even geeks like me are forced together for a thirty minute ride home, on the school bus… I hate riding the bus home, but today was one of those days when walking just wasn't in my vocabulary… you know what I mean?

The bus rounds its final corner before my stop and slows down to a halt at the beginning of my street. FINALLY…
–I speed-walk from my seat near the rear and step off the big yellow in pure bliss – home sweet home, has never been any sweeter…
Before approaching the front door, I check the mailbox for anything new, just as the cheese pulls away from its stop – good riddance.
–no mail, so I'm more than happy to skip up to the front door so I can get myself ready for this stupid party Sarah canoodled me into buying a twenty dollar ticket for.
As I approach my doorstep, I take notice of a yellow slip of note paper, taped to the middle of our front door.

hey Ethan… Won't be home til later…

food's in the fridge… Jane's with us…

please get the grill from out back and

set it up for our bbq tonight

–love, mom n dad.

Great, my parents are finally cooking real food tonight, and I'm going to have to miss it…
–oh well… atleast I get a free night to hang out with Sarah… I'll choose her over baby-back smoked ribs, any day.

I chuck up my losses and round the side of the house into the back yard. My folks keep the grill in the shed, and luckily for me, they keep the shed unlocked. "–okay… grll… tackle box… lighter fluid… charcoal…" I toss everything that fits inside of the grill and pull it along, up to the backyard patio. One more trip, and I got everything that I need.

I flip open the grill and a mound of muck and dust poofs up into my face – we haven't barbequed in while… and it shows. I dump the bag of coals in its entirety into the grill, sprinkle a bit of fluid onto it, and close the lid. "–well… that ought ta' do it…"

I reach into my pocket, grab my key, and shove into the backdoor's keyhole. The lock-pin slide open and I slip inside. Immediately upon entering the house, I know that something's wrong…

"–hello..? anybody home..?" I flip on the nearest light switch and my eyes fall onto the kitchen – the fridge's door stands ajar… wide open. "–that's not right…" I close the fridge – an erie feeling consumes my mood, and just as eager as I was to make it home today, right now, I even more eager to make it to the party now…

"–hello… anybody..?" I call out again as I approach the staircase and look up onto the second floor. Nobody. The staircase creaks with every step I plant…

Creaaaak…. Creaaaak…

Upon reaching the upstairs, I peer down the hallway before making up my mind to check the rest of the house. "Anybody home..?" I say as I approach the upstairs bathroom.
"–what's wrong big brother? I thought you liked scary movies…" I turn on the spot! "–Jane..?"
My eyes catch a whim of my baby sister before she vanishes off down the hallway.

Okay… what is going on here? Now I'm frantic, but even so, I swallow my anxiety and make my way towards Jane's bedroom door. My hand shakes as I reach out for the handle – with a solid grip, I give the knob a little turn and push the tall oak wide open.

–and here, the nightmare begins…

I'm now standing in the middle of what looks like a deserted locker room. I turn around, but to my surprise, Jane's door is no longer there – I'm staring into the empty canvas of a filthy brick wall. "–JANE!" I call out again, but some twisted, menacing laughter was her only reply.
–to be honest… I can't even say that it was Jane who was laughing at me…

At this point, I'm ready to curl up into fetal position and rock back and forth with my eyes closed…
–I'm just about scared shitless.

"–JANE!" I pass a row of tatter bleachers and lockers with their doors left askew… In the distance, I can make out the only locker with its door not hanging off sideways – but as I give a start to approach it, I hear my baby sister's voice, crying out to me in aganony…

"HELLLLLP! help me please, Ethannn…" she cries.

"–I'm coming JANE!" I break into a sprint down the aisle – the closer I make it to the unbroken locker, the louder and more frantic Jane's cries become. "HELLLP MEEEEE!" she pleads – my hands slam onto the locker's pull… but my little seer's heart was not prepared for what I was to find inside...

I yank open the locker's door – a bloody mess falls out onto the floor before me. I look down, struggling to keep today's lunch from spewing out, but as my vision focuses onto the mess before me, I nearly black out at its gruesome image:

–Jane' s head, severed at the neck, rests amongst a pool of vomit and blood on the floor before me – her eyes stare blankly up at mine, and I fall backwards onto the floor.
"–OH NO OH NO NO NO JANE PLEASE NOOOOO!" I cry in hysteria.

I shuffle backwards – my body's consumed in a muck of blood and only God knows what else…
"–What's wrong big brother…" A frail figure emerges from my baby sister's locker. His face is scarred and burned – his image resembled that of a scarecrow.
–in an evil, muffled voice… he mumbles, "–I thought you liked scary movies…" before producing a bloody knife and dragging it across my throat…

TO BE CONTINUED...