This is another story of Abby Robin. This story takes place the Halloween before An Unusual Romance Story. Hope you guys like it!
To me this story is like Abby's mental diary, sort of like my other stories.
This story isn't supposed to be all that scary, but it is supposed to be funny at some points.
Read, Enjoy, and Review! I take anonymous reviews too!
Prologue
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?!"
"No!"
"PLEASE?"
"NO!"
"Oh, come on Abby, why won't you go to the haunted house with us?"
"Because if I do, then you'll be screaming the whole entire time!"
It was true; Kim was the screamer out of all of us.
"You're going to miss out on the fun!"
"Honestly, I'm bored with haunted houses Kim; besides, Christy and I are already planning on going Trick-or-Treating."
She gave me a weird you-can't-be-serious look.
"Aren't we a little too old to go Trick-or-Treating for Halloween?"
"No way! You're never too old to do it! Even my brother still does it!"
"Yeah, well, you're brother is weird!"
"I know, but if he's willing to go, then you should be too!"
"Abby, my mom won't let me go this year!"
"Why not?"
"Because she doesn't want me walking around our neighborhood that late at night. You remember when I told you about our neighbors across the street and when they got their house robbed."
"So? You can still come with us! Hannah's planning on going with us as long as her parents say yes; heck, Jacob and Shane are going with us too!"
"Golly! How many people are going with you?!"
"Well, let's see: Christy, Hannah, Jacob, Shane, and Brenda; that's all who's going so far."
"What about Polly?"
"Nah, she's going to a party that night; she can't do it."
"Oh; who else are you inviting to come?"
"Well, I was thinking about inviting Danny to come with us?"
"Danny? From church camp?"
"Yeah."
"Are you kidding? He doesn't even live around here!"
"No, he doesn't live here; he lives only a half-an-hour drive away."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I talked to him on e-mail yesterday; he said he lived near us."
"Oh, cool; have you invited him yet?"
"Yeah, I even asked my parents; they said it was OK, but he has to talk to his mom."
"Hm, so pretty much the whole gang is going?"
"Yep, and I don't see why you wouldn't want to go with us! Besides, we aren't just going Trick-or-Treating!"
"What else would you be doing on Halloween night?"
"We're all hanging out at my house."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, sort of like a party!"
"Oh."
I knew how much Kim hated not going to a party when the rest of her friends were, especially for Halloween.
"Well, I guess I could ask my mom if I could hang with the rest of you guys."
"Sounds good to me!"
Sounds like a great way to start out celebrating Halloween, huh? Yeah, that was just the beginning, trust me. I mean, I knew that Halloween was going to be fun this year, just like any other year; still, there was something special about this year that made it the best Halloween I had ever celebrated. Why exactly was it the best? Well, it's hard to tell the whole story in just a short explanation.
October 31st
Yep, it was that time of year again. It was the time when the colors of the leaves on the trees would change so drastically. It was the time when the cold wind would blow against my face and make it turn red. It was the time when you could hear children running around laughing and playing with their friends. It was the time when I would get to hang out with all my friends on the most fun night of October. As of right now, it was about six o'clock on Halloween night and I was sure excited! The whole gang would be there. My cousin Christy; my church friends Hannah, Kim, Jacob, and Shane; Danny, my best guy friend from church camp; and Brenda, my practical sister that I got to see almost every day. That seemed like a pretty good amount of people for a party, especially with how small my house was. We all had our costumes decided for this year. Christy, Kim, and I were being (OK, don't laugh) the "Jonas Sisters", Jacob was being a ninja (and even though I was already done with my crush on him, he still looked rather cute in his costume), Hannah was being a dog (ha-ha, funny), Shane (for some reason that I have no idea what it was) was being a firecracker, Danny was being a werewolf (the same thing he was last year), and Brenda was being a hippie (even though she already was one in real life). We all had our costumes and everything else we would need for the party tonight. Kim, Hannah, and Christy were coming a little early to help me with the rest of the decorations. Christy had already arrived, she was getting out the two liter bottle of Pepsi in the garage when Kim and Hannah arrived. I ran out and greeted them with hugs.
"Hey guys! I thought you said you were going to be here early!"
"We did, but we forgot; sorry."
"Ugh. It's OK; come on inside, it's freezing!"
The three of us went inside and into the family room and were soon joined by Christy. My parents were still down in the basement trying to find the rest of the Halloween decorations.
"Abby, where are your parents?"
"Oh, they went to the grocery store to go buy some stuff for Halloween."
"Really? What kind of stuff?"
"I don't know, they didn't tell me specifics."
"So, when is the actual party supposed to start?"
"At about six-thirty."
"Then what are all of us doing here so early?"
"Well, I wanted some time to get to hang out with my girls. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Well, no; but what are we planning on doing until the others get here? It's not supposed to get dark until....eight!"
"What do you guys want to do?"
"Well, I was hoping we could have a dance party and maybe some karaoke. You know, the stuff that the guys definitely won't want to do."
"Hm, sounds like some good ideas to me. I say we get the stereo on and the karaoke machine started!"
And so we did; we brought out the CD's and started singing and dancing along to our favorite songs.
* * * * * * *
Jacob, Shane, Danny, and Brenda all arrived on time to the party. The gang was all here! (It feels so cool to say it like that!) It was seven o'clock now and we were all treating ourselves to some pumpkin cookies.
"Abby, when are we supposed to be going Trick-or-Treating?"
"At about eight o'clock."
Danny suddenly had an idea.
"Hey guys, let's tell scary stories!"
"Yeah!"
"Sounds good to me!"
As soon as everyone was done agreeing to Danny's cool idea, we all sat down in a circle and I went to turn off the lights. Danny turned on his lantern and put it in the middle of the circle.
"OK, I've got a good one!"
Danny told his "scary" story, but no one really seemed to be scared. It was really more funny than scared, but I could still feel it give me the creeps every once in a while. The story didn't take too long for him to finish.
".....and no one ever saw him again. Dun-dun-DUN!"
We all laughed.
"OK, Abby, do you got one?"
"What?"
"Well, it's your house; it's your turn."
"Oh, OK; I guess I do have one story, but it's not very long."
I had only heard the story once, so I didn't really know it, but I at least knew the specific details.
"So, there was this man named James Stewart Amity who lived here about one-hundred fifty years ago. He was said to have been the meanest, creepiest, and most hated man in the whole town. He lived on this very land. One day he mysteriously died; no one ever knew why. Some say that people came and murdered him; some say that he killed himself; but most people say that he had a heart attack. About fifty years after he died, they tore his house down and built this one. The legend says that his final words were 'I will be back someday'. It says that on his two-hundredth birthday, he will come back to haunt this house and take the body of the owner of the house. The end."
"Wow, you were right; that was short."
"Yeah, but you know, I really don't believe in all that ghost and haunting stuff."
"What? Abby, why not?"
"Because there is no such thing as ghosts."
"How would you know?"
"I just don't think there is such thing!"
"Well, then you don't think right!"
"Ugh! Whatever. I've lived in this house for seven years and there have been now signs of ghosts!"
I really didn't believe in ghosts nowadays because anytime there had been any strange noises or laughs, it was always just my brother Troy being a jerk and pulling a prank on me to try and scare the life out of me. I was pretty sure we didn't have James Amity haunting our house and I definitely wasn't going to just start worrying about it because my friends were.
"So, when did the legend say he would return?"
"On the night of his two-hundredth birthday. Oh yeah, the legend also said that his birthday was on Halloween."
"Well, what a coincidence; it is Halloween!"
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything!"
"Oh yeah? How old was he when he died?"
"About fifty years old."
"Exactly my point!"
"Guys, James Amity's ghost isn't going to come and try to haunt us. There's no such thing as ghosts!"
"Abby, you never know."
"Yeah, that's true, but I won't believe it until I see it."
"OK, whatever you say."
I was pretty sure that was the end of that argument, but my confidence didn't last too long. We were still in our circle; Shane was in the middle of a really funny ghost story about a man with a mustache (weird, I know). I was starting to lose my understanding of the story (plus a lot of cookie pieces were getting stuck in my braces), so I excused myself to head into the kitchen for a drink. I could've sworn I heard something that sounded like thumping coming from my bedroom upstairs. I was curious, so I snuck upstairs to see what it was. I opened my bedroom door to see that the lights were on; so was my stereo. That was strange, I didn't remember turning it on today at all and I definitely didn't have it on when I had gone to bed last night. I wasn't very sure why I did, but I curiously decided to check the volume level; it was at maximum volume! I definitely never put it at full volume before unless I was trying to hear it all the way from down in the basement. I turned down the volume to regular level and pressed play. It was playing a CD that I hadn't ever heard before; it was a bunch of Halloween-ish kind of music. I opened the CD compartment and took out the disc. Yep, it was the disc that I had asked Troy to get for me; and how nice of him to have already opened it and put it in the compartment for me. I didn't want the others to start wondering where I was, so I went back downstairs to join them.
"Abby, what were you upstairs for?"
"Oh, I just......was getting my costume together."
Of course I didn't try to explain to them all the creepy noises or the weird things happening upstairs in my room. Kim suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, do you guys hear that?"
We all paused to listen. There actually was a strange noise that sounded like somebody was running around in the next room.
"Somebody go see what it is."
"Here, we'll go look."
Danny and Shane got up and went to the other room. It was about a minute later that the noise seemed to actually stop.
"Hey, it actually stopped."
"Yeah, but Danny and Shane aren't back yet........Do you think something happened to them?"
"Guys, I'll bet they're fine!"
"How can you be so sure about that? For all we know, they could have gotten kidnapped by James Amity!"
"Guys, I'm telling you! James Amity's ghost doesn't exist! He isn't here to haunt us! It's Halloween for goodness sake!"
"Yeah, his birthday is on Halloween!"
"Guys, for all we know, my brother could be trying to scare us! He always does it to me on Halloween."
"Abby, this is serious! Shane and Danny could have gotten taken!"
"No, they didn't get taken! Here, I'll go and get them."
"NO!"
I ignored them and went into the other room.
"Danny? Shane? Guys! Did you guys find what the noise was?"
I didn't get an answer back. I shrugged and went back to the other room.
"Did you find them?"
"No; I called their names, but they didn't answer."
The four of their faces turned terrified. How weird, Jacob and Brenda both were never scared of things. OK, either they were trying to pull a trick or they really were frightened; but then why wasn't I scared? Sure, I had a little chill go down my body once, but other than that I was perfectly fine. I mean, what if James Amity's ghost was real? I quickly shook that idea off.
"You see Abby? James Amity is here to haunt us!"
"OK, I really don't get it! How can you guys be so freaked out about this?"
"Because I don't want to be taken by a ghost!"
I glared at Brenda.
"Bren, you've never been scared by ghost stories ever, so what in the world are you so scared about? You told me that you've heard tons of ghost stories before!"
"Well, out of every ghost story I've heard, none of them have involved the exact spot I was standing in at that second!"
"Come on! Nothing is going to happen! Shane and Danny could have easily gone upstairs or something! As a matter of fact, we're going to search the house, find them, and I can prove to you that James Amity isn't haunting this place."
"Well, if you want to get killed by a ghost, you go ahead; but we're not going anywhere!"
"Yeah! There's no way I am going anywhere! Especially down in your basement!"
"Yeah!"
"You go ahead Abby!"
"Fine, I will! If you guys want to be left here alone, fine with me!"
They hesitated, but they began to follow; I smirked.
"Oh, so you guys decided to change your minds?"
"Well, we're not going to just sit there and wait without you! It's your house; you know it way better than the rest of us!"
"OK, suit yourselves!"
As long as I didn't have them all behind me screaming their heads off I was perfectly fine. I went off into my own room for a second to look and I found Troy standing there by the stereo.
"Troy, what are you doing in my room?"
"I got you that CD you wanted."
"Yeah, I saw it earlier."
"Well, why did you turn the volume down?"
"Because I didn't want the person that would accidentally press play to go deaf! So, was that you that made that thumping noise a while ago?"
"Yeah, I ran out of the room because I didn't know if it was you or one of your friends; if it was one of them, I didn't want them to suspect me for what in the world I was doing in your room."
"Ah, I see. Smart move."
"Why, thank you!"
Kim and Brenda came into the room.
"There's no sign of them! Where could they be?!"
"Guys, chill. We'll find them. Keep looking."
"Ugh!"
They both went back out to keep looking.
"Abby, what is up with you're friends? They're acting all freaked out!"
"They think that Danny and Shane are missing."
"Really? So, it's working?"
I shushed him.
"What's working?"
"You know, that whole-"
I shushed him again. I responded in a whisper.
"We decided that would be a surprise, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, right; sorry."
He gave me a thumbs-up and walked out. I went to look with the others.
"Have you guys found them yet?"
"Nope; you?"
"No luck."
"Ugh! Where could they be?"
"Relax; I'm sure they're perfectly fine."
"Perfectly fine?! Abby, they could have gotten kidnapped by James Amity! Do you really think they're going to be OK?"
"Don't worry! We'll find them soon enough."
"Wait, what did the legend say? Like, why would he haunt us?"
"Well, the legend said that he would come and take the body of the owner of the house."
They all looked at me with terrified expressions again.
"What is wrong with you guys?"
"Abby, you said that your parents were at the grocery store, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did they say when they'd be back?"
"Yeah, at about seven-thirty. Oh yeah, they told me that we aren't allowed to head out for Trick-or-Treating until they get back."
"OK, so what time is it now?"
"Oh, about a quarter-till-eight."
They looked at me worried. Ugh! That was getting annoying!
"Guys, it's not like they got taken either! They could have easily gotten held up at the register line!"
"But they're the owners of the house!"
"Puh-lease! If there's anyone that will get taken, it's me!"
"Abby!"
"What?"
"You're acting as if you want to get taken!"
"Well, I'd rather not be, but I don't believe in all that mumbo-jumbo about ghosts!"
It was absolutely true too; I didn't believe in all that stuff. I was getting sort of tired of looking for the guys upstairs, so I suggested that we go down to look in the basement.
"Abby, are you crazy?!"
"No, I think we should look for them down in the basement! You know, we do have a Foosball table down there."
"Seriously? You do?!"
"Yeah, they could have easily gone down and started playing Foosball."
"Hm....I don't know Abby."
"Just trust me on this, OK?"
They all thought hesitantly for a while, and then they all sighed.
"OK, let's go."
We went down to the door that led down to the basement; I opened it. It sure seemed to me like Shane and Danny could be down there because there was a light on that looked like it was coming from the game room. I started to walk down the steps and they all followed behind me. I could hear something that sounded like two guys playing Foosball and shouting random things at each other; the voices sounded like Danny and Shane too. I smirked.
"Hey guys, I think I hear them!"
"Yeah, I think I do too!"
"That sounds exactly like Shane and Danny!"
"It must be them!"
"Come on guys, let's go!"
We made our way down to the bottom of the annoyingly long staircase and headed toward the direction of the noise.
"You see guys? I told you they weren't taken!"
"Yeah, you must be right Abby."
The four of them seemed pretty relieved as we kept heading toward the sounds and they kept getting louder. It was sort of dark near the game room, and I thought I heard the noises stop all of a sudden; I froze.
"Guys, am I the only one who noticed that the noises just....suddenly stopped?"
The terrified expressions came back to all their faces.
"Still don't believe in ghosts Abby?"
"Oh, come on!"
I went over and opened the door to the game room; I saw that the light wasn't turned on.
"Um.....guys?"
"You see Abby?! They've been taken! And now James Amity is making strange noises to lure us toward his trap!"
"What trap? He doesn't have a trap! And like I said, his ghost doesn't exist!"
"Then explain why we heard those noises and that shouting that sounded exactly like the guys!"
"Well....I really can't, but-"
"But nothing! Let's face it, we're done for!"
"No, we're not! There is no such thing as evil spirits or ghosts!"
There was what sounded like an evil laugh behind us. We all turned around.
"Abby, that wasn't you, was it?"
"No....and if it wasn't me, was it you Brenda?"
"No. Jacob?"
"Nope, not me!"
"Kim?"
"No way! That wasn't me!"
"Christy?"
"Of course that wasn't me!"
"Well, if it wasn't any of us.....then who?"
We all froze and stared in the direction where the laugh had come from; it laughed again. We all stood there silently. All of us suddenly screamed hysterically, even me.
"Come on guys! Let's get out of here!"
"Still not believing in ghosts Abby?"
"Who cares! Let's just go before another one of us gets taken!"
"You're all too late now!"
We all turned to see a pale man in ragged clothes standing there holding what apparently was Danny and Shane both unconscious by their arms. We all screamed again.
"There is no more of Danny and Shane now!"
"It's James Amity!"
"That's right! I have come to take over someone's body! Did I mention that it's my birthday tonight? Now I shall celebrate by enjoying the taste of these two boys' spirits!"
I stepped forward.
"But they aren't the owners of this house, I am!"
"I don't care! These two were easy targets and they're all I need!"
He laughed evilly again. Kim thought out loud to herself.
"Wait a minute! Abby, James Amity looks just like your dad!"
I turned around to her with a frightened look.
"That's because...."
A mischievous smile suddenly came to my face.
"....he is my dad!"
"WHAT?!"
The pale man chuckled and I joined in on his laughing.
"Nice job Dad; we got them good!"
"Abby, what's going on?"
"Happy Halloween guys! We decided to have a nice trick before we went out and got some treats tonight."
Yep, that was what all the mysterious noises and everything were. Troy had given me the CD to try and scare the others, but I sadly hadn't ever found the perfect moment to use it.
"So, you pulled a prank on us?"
"You bet we did! You guys totally fell for that whole story! There is no James Amity!"
"Seriously? There isn't?"
"No! I randomly thought of that name! I made the whole thing up!"
"Wait, then what about Danny and Shane?"
"Oh, we're fine!"
Jacob, Christy, Hannah, and Kim jumped. Shane and Danny had appeared right behind us.
"Yeah, when we had gone to see what the sound was, we saw Abby's dad. He told us about the prank they were attempting."
"Yeah, and we gladly accepted when he asked us if we wanted to be part of it."
"Knowing us, of course we'd be in for a Halloween trick."
Brenda went up and got in their faces.
"How could you guys do that to us?!"
The two boys smirked.
"Nice try Brenda."
She turned to us, smirking as well.
"Yeah, I was in on it too. I was the freak-out girl."
"We were all in on it."
"All except for you four."
The four were Kim, Christy, Hannah, and Jacob.
"You know Kim, I'm surprised you didn't start screaming randomly and run into the night."
"That wasn't very nice of you guys to do!"
I fake gasped and defended myself jokingly.
"Oh, come on guys, we were just trying to have some fun!"
Jacob stepped toward me.
"OK, I've got to admit, that was a pretty cool adventure."
My dad put my hand on my shoulder.
"You did a good job yourself Abby."
I grinned at him.
"Thanks Dad!"
"Now, who's ready to do some Trick-or-Treating?"
We all cheered happily and headed upstairs to put our costumes on. It was a pretty fun night, I gotta say. All our costumes were pretty hilarious, especially Shane's (well, of course a firecracker would be a hilarious costume!). Plus, we got tons of candy. It was about midnight when we got back to the house to sort out all of our candy. Well, it turns out that all the kids were staying over for the night, even the boys. Yep this Halloween was definitely different than all the others I had celebrated, and it was definitely one worth remembering. We all slept in the living room that night, but us girls put our sleeping bags a little ways away from the boys'. I'm pretty sure I was the last one still awake because I heard everyone else asleep, especially Jacob with his loud snoring; I couldn't help but laugh quietly to myself. I sat up and looked around the room. I couldn't help but wonder to myself what it would be like if there really was a ghost haunting my family's house.
THE END
Ta-daaaah! I hope you all liked this one-shot as much I enjoyed writing it! You didn't think Abby and her dad were behind the whole thing, did you? Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Reviews are extremely encouraged! Thanks everyone! PEACE OUT FOR NOW!!! :)
