Detective Vega dragged himself out of the coffee shop, an annoyed look on his face as he made his way back to the car. He angrily tapped the window with his elbow, finally getting the sheriff to reach across the driver seat and open the door, taking a cup of coffee for himself.
"Tell me again, why we are out this early in the morning?" Detective Vega asked between sips of coffee, taking a seat.
"Because of Michael-" Sheriff Doyle started before being interrupted.
"I know, I know, the Michael Myers crap." Detective Vega mumbled, irritating the sheriff. "But what specifically are we going to do, like right now, this early?"
"If we can find him before he finds that family, we can stop whatever bloodshed that is going to happen." Sheriff Doyle said to the detective, who remained unamused. "Believe me, I've seen the death and destruction firsthand. We need to get out ahead of him."
"Yeah, about that, and I only ask because you keep bringing it up, but what exactly is your experience with Michael Myers?" Detective Vega inquired, his curiosity the only thing keeping his bad mood in check.
"Depends, which time do you want to know about? There was the time I first saw him, and the time I actively tried to stop him, which almost got me killed." The sheriff replied with apprehension all over his face.
"Both, preferably." The detective said, eager to learn what he could about the buried history of Michael Myers. Between his cases and the sheriff dragging him around everywhere, he still hadn't had a chance to look at the Myers file. So any info he could learn about Myers was intriguing, to say the least.
"The first time I saw him, I was eight years old." Sheriff Doyle leaned back into his seat, his hand wrapped around his pill bottle, ready to go if he needed them. "I was one of the kids Laurie Strode, his sister, was babysitting on the Halloween night when he attacked her. She fought back and eventually ended up stabbing him with his own knife. She came to get us out of our hiding spot in the closet to tell us to go get help, and I remember looking over her shoulder and seeing him lying there, all of us thinking he was dead. But you can't kill evil detective, and you never forget the malevolent presence you feel when he is lurking around…. and that's how I know he's here." The sheriff finished his story, relieved he didn't need his medication.
"Okay, wow," detective Vega said as he took a deep breath, processing everything the sheriff just said before continuing. "I'm sorry you had to go through that as a kid, but during the time we've been together now, in the present, we haven't found any concrete evidence that Michael Myers is out here." The detective argued. "And as I'm snapping back to reality here, I'm starting to think I'm just as crazy as you are for believing it."
"Just one more day, detective." The sheriff pleaded desperately. "If after tonight nothing happens and he isn't here, you can call me crazy all you want, arrest me for obstructing justice, whatever….. But if he is here, then tonight will be a horrific night for the citizens of Los Angeles. I need your help. Nobody else will believe me, especially now that it's Halloween."
"For a good fucking reason to." Detective Vega replied, before exhaling sharply and turning back to the sheriff. "Okay, what should we do?"
"Maybe we can find him. He has to be hiding in the city, somewhere he couldn't be noticed." The sheriff theorized.
"Like?"
"He'll look for a place that reminds him of home. Do you know of any abandoned houses in the area?"
"Yeah, a handful that I know about, maybe more."
"Then that's where we'll start, let's go."
[...]
Jade suddenly awoke in the middle of Tori's room, her head pounding and her vision blurry. She racked her brain, trying to think back to last night. She remembered driving home, deciding not to sleepover at Tori's again since she needed to put the finishing touches on her costume. She didn't know how she got back here, or where Tori and Cat were, but for some reason she wasn't focused on any of that right now, instead choosing to look around the dark room. She felt a malicious presence in the darkness, and it was suffocating the room. She flung the door to the hallway open before stepping out and slamming the door behind her.
"What the fuck…?" Jade muttered, squinting as she tried to see what she stepped in. She reached her hand down to her foot, before bringing it back up to her face. "Tori!? Cat!?" Jade called out, panic in her voice, after realizing it was blood. Her vision returned to the puddle she stepped in, seeing that it trailed down the hall. She gulped, following it to the hallway closet. She reached out to the doorknob, but before she could do anything further the door creaked open and a flash of red invaded Jade's sight. The goth felt a weight on her chest and fell backward, landing on her back with a groan.
"Cat get off!" Jade grunted, trying to get free from Cat. The goth twisted her body, finally squirming out from under the redhead. "Caaat.." She whispered to her friend, who was lying face down in front of her. Jade carefully reached over and flipped the redhead onto her back.
"Oh my God…" Jade cried out as her hand shot up to cover her mouth, hoping she didn't throw up. The blood from Cat's empty eye sockets flowed down her face and trailed to her ear. The goth recoiled backward, crawling away from her dead friend until she bumped into something behind her. She slowly turned around, seeing a figure shrouded in darkness towering over her. She immediately took off the other way, down the stairs and towards the front door. She fumbled with the lock, before finally flinging it open. Tori's body was hung on the other side, a pained look frozen on her face as an axe sat in her chest, pinning her to the door. Tears blurred Jade's vision as she passed her, reaching the driveway and getting into her car. A thousand thoughts ran through her head as she reached for the ignition, thankful that the key was already in it. She sped away, crying and afraid. Jade drove wildly down the dark street, before she heard a squeak from behind her, as if someone was moving against the leather of her back seats. Her eyes darted to her rearview mirror, seeing the shadowy figure rise up. She screamed before turning back to the road, headlights blinding her completely.
"FUCK!" Jade shot up from her bed, her hair sticking to the sweat on her forehead. She felt around her bed, make sure she was safe at home and that it was just a dream. Satisfied, she sighed in relief and fell back into the comfort of her sheets, hoping her heart rate returned to normal sometime soon. She turned her head towards the clock on her nightstand, seeing it was almost time to get up anyway.
What a fitting way to start off Halloween, she thought before reaching for her vibrating phone.
"Vega," Jade said simply after reading her caller ID.
"Good morning to you too." Tori scoffed, before continuing. "Cat wants to know if you could swing by her apartment and pick up her costume. My dad said they got everything they could from her apartment evidence-wise, and she could go back whenever she wanted to. But she still needs to get it cleaned before she could live in it again, and I'd rather she didn't go back there right now anyway."
"Yeah, yeah sure Vega. I'll call you when I get there." Jade agreed, throwing the covers off of herself and sitting up on the edge of the bed.
"Thanks, Jade! See you soon." Tori said with too much sweetness in her voice for how early it was.
Jade hung up and started to gather her things to get ready for the day. She still wasn't sure how Tori convinced Cat to go out today, but if it meant Cat was feeling better, she wasn't going to question it.
[...]
"For the hundredth time, I need to know where it is," Jade said, frustrated. She'd been asking Tori the same question for the past five minutes while she sat on a bench outside Cat's apartment.
"It's in her room," Tori informed, trying to get Cat to stop getting sidetracked in her talkative nature.
"No shit Vega. I need specifics. I'm not going in there until I know exactly where it is."
"Why's that? Is the big bad Jade afraid?" Tori teased, trying to lighten the situation.
"No, but that place is probably filled with biohazards. I'm not catching some disease because I couldn't find a Halloween costume." Jade spat. "Will you just put Cat on the phone?"
"Hey Jadey!" Cat sang out, ringing Jade's ear on the other line.
"Sup." Jade returned the greeting, letting the redhead get away with using her nickname that she despised. Usually, it would annoy her, but since Cat was in a better mood, Jade didn't want to ruin it. "Okay, Cat." The goth said slowly. "I need you to tell me where your costume is."
"It's in my room silly," Cat told her best friend, giggling.
"I know that Kitty Cat," Jade said through gritted teeth, trying not to be mean. "Where, specifically."
"In my pink bag, on the top shelf." Cat stated.
"Thaaank you." Jade sighed, finally making her way to the door.
"Bye Jadey!"
"Wait, Cat it's locked!" Jade said as she twisted and turned the doorknob. "What now? Hello? Hello?!" Jade cursed as she pulled the phone away from her ear, seeing that her friend hung up. She quickly dialed Tori's number again, only to go straight to voicemail. She tried the door again, tilting her head back in frustration, letting out a groan until she noticed an open window above her. Jade thought for a moment, looking around for something to boost her up to the window sill. She smirked, walking over to the bench she was sitting on earlier and dragging it over and into place. One foot at a time, Jade was able to boost herself up high enough to reach her hand to the window sill. She shifted her weight around slightly, testing the sturdiness of the bench. It didn't collapse immediately, which was good, but she figured the only way to know for sure was if she just went for it. She leaped, trying to get the top half of her body into the window. Unfortunately, her foot slipped, and she lost the feeling of safety underneath her. The shift in momentum pushed her backward and she flung her hands out to her sides, trying to catch anything to help lessen her fall. Her hand scraped against the brick building as she fell, hitting the ground with a thud. It took her a moment to shake away the dizziness and regain her senses and now she just laid on the ground, contemplating even getting up.
How did I get to this point in my life? Jade thought, staring blankly up at the sky until she was interrupted by her phone ringing.
"What now?" Jade spat, barely able to maneuver her sore arm enough to put the phone to her ear.
"Yeaaah," Tori started, a touch of awkwardness in her voice. "One of Cat's neighbor's called, she said some goth girl was trying to break into Cat's apartment. I assume that's you?" Tori finished, using every bit of her restraint to not laugh.
"No Vega it's that other girl you asked to pick up Cat's costume."
"So you aren't lying on the ground right now?" The brunette asked.
"STOP SPYING ON ME!" Jade shouted, now in a sitting position, to whoever was watching.
"Ow." Tori whimpered as she recoiled away from her phone, hand over her ear.
Jade slowly rose to her feet, surveying her surroundings. "Yeah, I'm Cat's friend, not a criminal! So fuck off!" Jade continued her rant, directing it towards the person watching her across the courtyard. The figure didn't move, just stayed slightly out of view, but enough for her to notice them standing there. Whoever it was, it was starting to weird her out. "Tell Cat to get her nosy fucking neighbor to go back inside." She added.
"Cat, Jade wants you t-" Tori began before the redhead cut her off. "Okay, okay I'll tell her. Jade, Cat wants to know why you don't just use the key?"
"What key?" Jade inquired, almost at her boiling point.
"The one under the rock that says 'home'." Jade heard Cat say in the background. "The one under-"
"Shut it Vega," Jade cut her off, getting up slowly and starting to ache everywhere.
Jade finally entered the home, shocked at the state it was in. The dried blood was disgusting and she couldn't even imagine what else lurked in this disease ridden nightmare. She hurried through the mess in the living room in hopes that the bedroom was in better shape. To her disappointment, the bedroom was just as bad. She hurried to the closet, wondering why someone would go through the trouble of doing this. Going through the rooms in hopes of finding something valuable was one thing, but whoever did this destroyed everything in their path. The closet was destroyed, the shelves being torn out and scattered. Jade finally found the bag by Cat's bed, finding everything inside ripped to shreds. Unsure of what to do next, she pulled out her phone and dialed.
"Gonna hang up on me again?" The scorned brunette on the other line asked.
"Maybe. But more importantly, Cat's, well everything is ripped apart in here." Jade told her, looking around the room again, something under Cat's bed catching her eye.
"Even her costume?" Tori questioned with sadness in her voice.
"That is a part of her everything Vega." Jade spat, pulling out a stuffed purple giraffe from under Cat's bed that somehow survived unscathed. "Now what?"
"I'll ask Cat. One sec."
[...]
"Hurry up, man. We need to get to Tori's!" Andre yelled through Beck's trailer door, slightly adjusting the hat of his rasta hippy costume.
"I'm not going," Beck stated from inside.
"What, why?" Andre questioned, pounding on the door repeatedly. "C'mon you bought a mask yesterday, might as well wear it."
"I look like an idiot."
"Don't worry it's Halloween, everyone will think you're supposed to look like an idiot." Andre snickered, poking fun at his best friend.
"Just go without me."
"C'mon don't be like that I was joking."
"What's going on?" Robbie emerged from Beck's parent's house in costume. Andre busted out laughing, causing Beck to come out of his trailer, seeing Robbie and laughing just as hard. The 'Navy Seal' uniform he had been hyping up for the past few days turned out to be a black button-down shirt and blue jeans, making him look like Popeye the Sailor.
"Holy hell man, what happened?" Andre questioned between fits of laughter.
"Yeah weren't you getting it custom made?" Beck added, trying to keep a straight face.
"It seems there was a mix-up," Robbie stated matter-of-factly, both of his friends nodding in agreement. "The tailor thought I meant 'Navy' as in a sailor, not Navy Seal."
"Oh really?" Andre continued the teasing.
"Brightside-" Robbie started.
"Oh, there's a bright side? It keeps getting better." Andre added, not able to help himself.
"Yeah, I can still use my muscles!" Robbie said with excitement, pumping up his 'muscles'.
"Perfect." Beck and Andre said in unison as Robbie 'flexed' his new muscles.
"Okay, Cool Guy," Robbie sensed the sarcasm and tried to turn the tables back on Beck. "Let's see your costume."
"I'm okay," Beck replied, immediately quieting down.
"All that talk..." Robbie jeered back, to Beck's irritation.
"Fine, fine." Beck unveiled a whitish-gray mask with a mouth open, contorted face with blacked out mouth and eye holes. He put it on and stared down his friends. "So?"
"That's it?" Andre inquired, unimpressed.
"That's it? What else could there be?" Beck genuinely asked.
"Well for one, you're in street clothes." Robbie pointed out.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be, how would I know what to wear?" Beck argued.
Andre left the two outside, going into the trailer to help his friend.
"What about this?" Andre emerged from the trailer after a short while, holding up dark blue coveralls.
"My coveralls for working on my car?"
"Well, you don't have a lot of options," Andre answered with a shrug.
"Better than looking like a weirdo in street clothes and a mask," Robbie added.
"Don't you have some spinach to eat?" Beck shot back, causing Andre to burst out into laughter again, before grabbing the coveralls and returning to his trailer to change.
[...]
Detective Vega pulled up to an abandoned house in a suburb around Los Angeles. Both men exited the vehicle and slowly made their way towards the front door. Sheriff Doyle took the lead, taking the stairs up to the front door. Both men eyed the porch, noticing the dust accumulating.
"I know you didn't know about the last one, but do you know what happened at this house?" Sheriff Doyle asked, both men standing in front of the door.
"Yeah actually. A family used to live here until one night, a burglar broke in. Long story short, it got nasty and only the father survived. He hung around for awhile, but losing his wife and kids was too much for him. He took his own life not too long after." The detective revealed.
"That's terrible…"
"Yeah, and as you can see, no one has been interested in the house since." Detective Vega said as he swiped a spider away from his face. "Now it's just another myth, a haunted house for the neighborhood kids." He added, crouching down and inspecting a juvenile drawing of a ghost on the porch floor in spray paint.
"It seems that every town has one." Sheriff Doyle said with his hand on the doorknob, looking to Detective Vega for the go ahead. The detective nodded, and the officers breached the door. The sheriff took the stairs while the detective broke left, clearing what looked to be what was left of the living room. He dropped to a knee, seeing a couple of rats piled together in a pool of blood. He leaned in a little closer, trying to inspect the critters.
"Fuck!" Detective Vega shouted as he jumped back, startled by a black cat that scurried out from an old cabinet. "Damn cat," he muttered, watching it dart farther into the house.
"Detective!" The sheriff called out from upstairs. "I think I found something."
Detective Vega walked into the upstairs bedroom to see Sheriff Doyle crouched down over something. He crept up, looking over the sheriff's shoulder and suddenly wishing he didn't. It was the corpse of a dog, the throat was ripped out and what remained of it entrails were spilled onto the floor.
"Still warm." Sheriff Doyle noted, pulling his hand back and wiping it off on his pant leg.
"There is a cat somewhere in the house…" Detective Vega informed, looking for any reason to explain the situation.
"No cat did this." The sheriff stated, looking at what seemed to be bite marks.
"Maybe a raccoon then. Or maybe a junkie squatter was using this place and we scared him off." The detective rationalized, but it fell on deaf ears. The sheriff was lost in deep, unbeknownst to detective Vega. "Drugs can fuck you up," the detective continued, oblivious, "combine that with being homeless without any source of food, and a junkie could have easily done this." He finished before watching the sheriff get up and head for the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Detective Vega asked as he followed Sheriff Doyle out of the house and to the sidewalk. He watched the sheriff carefully as the older man turned from side to side, surveying the entire neighborhood. "What's the matter?"
"He was here, that dog was fresh." The sheriff finally spoke, still turning around and looking in every direction. "He has to be close. Get in the car, cover the front of this block and the next, I'll check the alleyways." He directed, to the annoyance of the detective.
"That's insane-" Detective Vega couldn't get two words out before the sheriff disappeared into the abandoned house's backyard. He threw his hands up in the air in frustration, before spinning around to head to his car. He had a hand on the door handle when a rustle behind him, and across the street. He managed to catch a shadow disappear behind a hedge of bushes. He rushed across, one hand settling on the gun in his holster, the other pushed the bushes apart, expecting a serial killer on the other side. Thankfully finding nothing out of the ordinary, he clicked his gun back into the holster and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
[...]
"Thanks for stopping by." The teacher said as he opened the door to his classroom and let the woman in.
"It's no problem," the woman responded, placing her wet umbrella down on a desk and unraveling the scarf from her neck. "I thought they said the storm wasn't supposed to hit until tomorrow."
"It's just a light storm, should let up soon. Nothing compared to what's coming tomorrow." The teacher replied, taking a seat behind his desk.
"I noticed the decorations, getting ready for a Halloween ball? Man, I used to love Halloween" She remarked, taking a seat across from the teacher.
"Not exactly, principal Helen decided to cut costs this school year by not throwing any 'unnecessary holiday themed balls', as she put it. The kids decided to decorate out of protest, now I'm just in here catching up on grading." The man, Sikowitz, explained as he placed a cup of hot coffee on the desk.
"Whoa wait a second, you're a coffee drinker now? It really has been too long." The woman teased with a smile on her face.
"Of course not!" He laughed back, sliding the cup of coffee across to her and grabbing a coconut out from behind his desk for himself. "I could never give these up."
"There's the Sikowitz I know!" She exclaimed, taking a look around the room and noticing how it had barely changed over the years. "Wow, being back here, it brings back memories."
"Yeah, I remember as well. You were one of the good ones." He remembered fondly, before continuing. "It's a shame you never pursued your passion."
"Yeah, but it was never really up to me." The woman noted, a hint of sorrow in her voice as she took the cup of coffee.
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to bring up the past."
"It's okay, it seems that the past is all I can think about nowadays anyway." She said before taking a sip from her cup. "Might as well tell me now, did you get in trouble because of me?"
"No no no," he reassured her as he shook his head. "There were police here, but they only talked to principal Helen. They were vague with their reasons, but they asked if anyone ordered for anything to be delivered here."
"I'm glad you're in the clear," she exhaled in relief. "Did you get it then? Did everything go smoothly? Where is it?" The woman's demeanor changed from friendly to anxious in an instant.
"Well.. no. All I've gotten so far was my coconuts."
"You sure?" She asked, the man nodding in return. "Damn it! He told me it would be here by now." The woman cursed to herself, looking down to the floor.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sikowitz reached across the desk and put his hand over the woman's, comforting her a bit. "I know you said you couldn't tell me, but if you're in danger you need to seek help."
"No!" The woman withdrew her hand quickly before regaining her composure. "I have it under control."
"But you are in danger?" Sikowitz asked again to the annoyance of the woman, who got up to leave.
"Thank you for sticking your neck out for me, it was really good to see you but I have to go, please don't say anything about me being here." She said, hastily throwing on her scarf and grabbing her umbrella, heading for the door.
"Just wait for a sec-... wait!" Sikowitz called out, getting up and going after her. He stopped at the door to his classroom, seeing she was already gone. He sighed, returning to his desk. The teacher noisily tapped his pen against his desk, struggling to focus on his work. He reached for his phone, hesitantly scrolling through his contacts. He hovered over the call button, unsure of what to do. It really wasn't his place to get involved in a family matter that wasn't his, but he had the feeling that a student of his was in trouble and he couldn't stand by idly if that was the case. He was snapped out of his thoughts by his classroom door shaking as if someone was trying to get in.
"It's open." He informed, putting his phone away and waiting for the person at the door. When no one entered, he got up, opening the door to an empty hallway. "Hey, Sinjin!" He hailed the nerd who was passing by in the halls.
"Sup, Sikowitz," Sinjin replied, hands full of stacks of paper and folders.
"Did you see anyone just now?" The teacher asked, knowing it couldn't have been Sinjin messing with his door since he had his hands were full. The nerd shook his head in response. "Need any help?" He asked again, noticing he was about to fall over from the amount of paperwork in his hands.
"Yessir!" Sinjin responded with glee, happy to have help and someone else to talk to in the deserted school.
"What are you doing here on Halloween, anyway?" Sikowitz questioned, taking some of the folders from Sinjin and following him to the office.
"Helen said if I work weekends I can get extra credit for my 'office administrator' class," Sinjin explained, dropping the papers on his desk in the office, Sikowitz following suit.
"That's good, every credit helps," Sikowitz said, trying to break the silence. "Well, Happy Halloween." He continued, before heading to his classroom.
"Yeah you too, thanks," Sinjin replied, popping in his earbuds and starting to sort all the papers on his desk.
Sikowitz trekked back to his room, thrown off by the absence of any students in the hallways. He knew it was Halloween, but there were always at least a couple of stragglers running around, collecting homework or working on some type of performance. His thoughts dissipated as he made it back to his classroom, closing the door behind him and settling at his desk. He reached into his desk for his phone, when his door slowly creaked open. He stared at it, trying to remember if he heard the door click into place when he closed it a minute ago or if he left it open a crack. The hair stood up on the back of his neck, but he brushed it off as Halloween jitters. He walked over to the door, grinning to himself over his silliness. He leaned out the hallway, looking both ways before closing the door. He shut the shade over the window before hearing heavy breathing. He scrunched his eyebrows, almost as if he couldn't believe his ears. He turned around, meeting a mysterious masked man face to face.
"Uhh...hi." The teacher greeted, thinking, hoping, it was just a student practicing for a play. That hope was immediately shattered, as the man grabbed Sikowitz by the throat, lifting him up and against the wall. Sikowitz kicked his feet, hitting the attacker in the abdomen over and over again. It must have had an effect, as the man released the teacher and tossed him across the room. Sikowitz slammed into his desk with such force that it sent him over the top and onto the floor behind it. A searing pain shot through his knee, and when he checked it, he saw that it was two inches off to the left, dislocated. He groaned in agony, looking up and seeing the window he always used to get into his classroom, preferring the garden outside it inside of using the door. He crawled towards it, looking back and seeing the assailant toss his chair aside, slowly making his way after him. Sikowitz struggled to his feet, dragging his limp leg along behind him and jumping for the open window. He saw the ground coming at him as he fell out the window, closing his eyes and bracing himself for the impact. He knew almost immediately something was wrong because instead of hitting the ground, all he could feel was the rain hitting the top of his head. He opened his eyes, realizing he was suspended mid-air. That's when he noticed the hand on his bad leg, which started pulling him back into the school. He tried to fight back, but the man jerked his knee farther out of its socket in retaliation. He howled, the pain forcing him to stop fighting back. The masked man held him on the window sill, his neck aligned with the window's frame.
"Nonono..." Sikowitz pleaded, seeing what the man was about to do and holding his hands upwards to try and soften the blow. The attacker continued without a second thought, grabbing the window and slamming it down onto the teacher's neck with such force that the window cracked, his wrists snapping backward from trying to stop the window. Sikowitz let out a wheeze, blood spitting up from his mouth and onto the window as his limp hands now dangled off to his sides. The attacker tilted his head, seeing the teacher still breathing, but just barely. He raised the window again with one hand, the other on his victim's chest, keeping him in place. He slammed it down again, another crack forming in the window's glass. This time a sickening pop signaled to him that his job was done. He released his grip and the body slowly slumped down out of the window sill and against the wall, blood trickling out of the corner of Sikowitz's mouth.
Well we made it to Halloween(in story), but the fun is just getting started! Hope you liked the chapter, thanks for reading.
OH YEAH,
HAPPY FUCKING HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEN! Hope you all have a great time partying, trick or treating, or whatever you want to do! Just remember to avoid anyone in a white mask and mechanic's coveralls. Stay safe everyone!
