Yamato's Strange Halloween
By Utsukushii Ryu
They claim the house was haunted, but it looked okay to me, so I walked up the driveway towards the porch.
My name is Yamato Ishida, but my friends call me Matt. I'm from Japan, and I'm 13 years old. I never was the superstitious type.
I walked over towards the front door. I knocked on it. It made a hollow sound. There was no answer. I opened the door, and bats flew out over my head. I ducked slightly to avoid them. When they were gone, I stood up straight again. Inside, it was dark and dusty. I walked in and looked around. Inside, it looks more like a mansion than a house.
Then I heard footsteps above me. I headed for the stairs, planning to see who it was. Someone grabbed my shoulder, and I jumped in surprise. I turned around and saw a shadow of a person. "You okay, Yama?"
I blinked. The person walked over to a wall and flicked a switch. The light was dull, but I could make out whom it was. "Taichi!"
Taichi Yagami is my best friend, and is the only person who calls me 'Yama'. I only call him 'Taichi' when I'm annoyed or angry with him. He's Japanese too.
Taichi smiled. "In the flesh," he answered. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to check this place out," he answered casually. "I wanted to know if it's clubhouse material." He headed for the stairs and walked up them. I followed.
"Why?" I asked. We walked down a hallway.
"I wanted to find a place where Sora and Mimaru can't find me...not to mention the other girls who aren't—and is—in your humungous fan club."
Well that was painfully obvious. Tai was very popular since he was the captain of the soccer team, though not as popular as me.
We entered a door and inside were two other boys.
"Takeru?! Koushiro?!" I asked, astonished.
"Hey, Matt," said Takeru, my 9 year old brother.
"Were you guys moving around up here?" asked Tai.
"Yes, why?" asked Koushiro.
"Well, you guys nearly scared Yama and me to death," he answered sarcastically.
"Sorry," answered Takeru. "We just wanted to move things around a bit."
"Whatever," said Tai, rolling his eyes.
"Well, this place could be turned into a clubhouse," said Koushiro. "But..."
"A catch," said Tai, sitting down on a dusty couch. "There's always a catch...!"
"What did you expect?" I asked, leaning against the door, my arms crossed. Koushiro frowned.
"You didn't let me finish!"
"Sorry, 'Shiro," said Tai, slouching in his seat. "Go on."
"Good," he said. "As I was saying, this place could be turned into a clubhouse, but what about Mr. Thomas, the gamekeeper of this place?"
"Not only is he the gamekeeper of this house," said Takeru. "He also takes care of the cemetery down the road." I raised an eyebrow at the tone Takeru used as Tai sat up in his seat.
"Yeah," he said. "I heard he was a creep."
"The kids in my class said they've seen him before," said Takeru. "They said he was pale, his face was shallow, he has very little hair, and he looks as if he was only made of skin and bone!" I shivered slightly.
"Whoa, that's creepy," I said.
"I know," said Koushiro. "You guys are lucky." Takeru looked at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You don't live next door to him."
"Whoa, sorry dude," said Tai. Koushiro sighed. Suddenly, he brightened up.
"Hey, I just thought of something," he said..
"What is it?" I asked.
"I forgot one little fact," he said. "Old Mr. Thomas hasn't been in this house since last October."
"Why?" asked Takeru.
"Who cares about a creep?" Tai said. "Let's fix this place up!"
Did I mention Tai is also free-spirited, and kind of loud-mouthed? Not to mention he has a knack of bossing people around.
We began moving things around in all the rooms in the house. Koushiro fixed everything that has to do with mechanics; Tai and I moved the furniture to our liking and dusting them off, while Takeru went home to bring some food, his PS2, games, a TV, snacks, soda, and some beanbag chairs. When Takeru came back, he had to bring them back in a shopping cart.
"Whoa, you didn't have to bring so much, man," said Koushiro as he helped Takeru put the food and soda in the now working refrigerator.
"Won't mom mind?" I asked as I put the snacks into a cupboard.
Oh, did I mention that my mom and dad divorced when Takeru was only a baby? Well, they did. Takeru lives with my mom and I live with my dad.
"No," Takeru said. "She'll probably think it's a phase I'm going through, don't worry."
"Hey guys," said Tai, coming down the stairs. "Did you know that tonight is the full moon?"
"So what?" I asked, looking at him.
"You mean to tell me you've never heard howling at night during every full moon since..." Tai's eyes went wide.
"...Since...last October..." Takeru finished. "Do you think...?"
"That's impossible!" said Koushiro. I raised an eyebrow.
"You guys expect me to believe that Mr. Thomas is a werewolf?"
"...Not really...." said Takeru, putting the last of the sodas into the fridge.
"You don't think he'll come into this house again, do you?" asked Koushiro.
"Of course not," said Tai. "You said so yourself he hasn't step foot in here since last year. What makes you think he will now?"
"I dunno," said Koushiro. "How about...to get us out of his house?!"
"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "There's no such thing as werewolves."
"And how do you know that?" asked Tai. "There could be."
"You and your monsters," I said, shaking my head.
"And what's wrong with being fascinated by monsters?"
"Nothing."
"Break it up, break it up," said Takeru, coming in between us.
"Do you think we should get home?" asked Koushiro. "It's getting pretty dark, and the moon is almost out."
"What are you, scared?" asked Tai.
"Of course not!"
"Then prove it," he challenged.
"How?" I asked.
"Uh...by staying the night here," he answered, crossing his arms.
"Why don't all of us?" asked Takeru.
"Why not," I said. "That means you too, Taichi."
"Fine," he said. "I'll just call my mom." He walked over to the phone that Koushiro fixed, and dialed his home phone number. "Mom? I'm going to be staying with Yamato, Koushiro and Takeru, is that okay? Yes, yes, no, yes, I will. Fine, bye..." Tai paused, and Takeru, Koushiro and I looked at each other before looking back at him. "...I...I...fine, I...I love you too." Takeru and Koushiro burst out laughing, and I sniggered slightly. Tai glared at us, making us laugh harder. "Bye." He hung up the phone and glared at us harder. "Let's see you guys do it."
I walked over to the phone and called my dad. "Hey, dad. It's Yamato. I know you're probably not home right now, but I'm going to be staying over with Taichi, Takeru, and Koushiro. I probably won't be back 'till tomorrow. You'll have to eat takeout tonight. Sorry. Bye." I smiled at him as I hung up the phone.
"No fair, you don't live with your mom," he said in a huff. It was Takeru's turn. After he and Koushiro called their parents, we were all set to stay the night. It was pretty dark outside. Then, I heard something...like...movement outside.
"Did...you guys hear something?" I asked, looking out of a window. There! I saw it! It was just a flash of movement, but I'm sure I saw it.
"Hear what?" asked Takeru, looking around nervously.
"It sounded like...something's outside..." I answered, turning back around to face them. "You mean you didn't hear it?"
"Hey, man," said Tai, bringing his hands up as if he was surrendering. "We don't have ears like you, the Lone Wolf."
"Ha, ha, very funny," I said sarcastically.
"Why are you guys breathing so hard?" asked Koushiro.
"We're not," Tai and I said in unison.
"Then, who is it?"
"Hey, don't look at me," said Takeru, backing away.
"It sounded as if it was coming from outside," Koushiro continued, walking over to the front door. I grabbed onto his arm.
"If it's coming from outside, we don't want it inside," I said, pulling him back.
"Uh, right," said Takeru, starting to panic. I guess he's hearing the heavy breathing too. "Uh, shouldn't we get upstairs? It's getting pretty late." With that, he hurriedly went up the stairs two at a time. The three of us looked at each other before going after him.
We went inside the room that held the beds. Tai went and sat on one of the beds, Koushiro locked the door, and Takeru sat on another bed and was trembling terribly. I went over to coax him like I always did when he was scared. Then I heard a splintering of wood. "Uh, did you guys hear that?" I asked.
Tai stood up and faced me, his face uncharacteristically pale. "I sure did."
Takeru started to panic again. "My god, what do we do? What do we do?"
"Calm down, T.K." He shut up immediately. He hates it when I call him that. "Okay, uh, I'll go over and see what it was." And that's exactly what I did. I walked over to the window and looked down. I hadn't noticed, but it was pouring outside. A strike of lightening lit up the sky, and I saw the shadow of a hairy creature down below. It looked almost...human...! "Uh...okay...don't panic," I said as I turned back around to look at them.
"Don't panic?" asked Koushiro. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that 'don't panic' means panic?!"
"Well...uh...no."
"Oh god, what are we going to do?!" asked Koushiro, pacing nervously around the room. Tai remained quiet, looking at all of us, then back at me.
"What...did you see...?" he asked, his face dead serious. It scared me.
"Uh...are you sure you want to know?"
"What did you see?" he asked again, more urgently this time. I sighed.
"I...I saw a creature down there..." I said finally. I knew it. Takeru started to panic again. Suddenly, there was a howl out of nowhere. "...Okay...now I'm officially spooked..."
Then, there was a loud crash downstairs. "Uh...guys...?" said Koushiro, relocking the door after he had checked the hall. "...I think we've got company..."
"Great, how long did it take for you to notice?" Takeru asked sarcastically. We all froze when we heard heavy footsteps going up the stairs. Thump. Thump. Thump. Then we heard a sniffing, and then heavy breathing. Another clap of thunder sounded, and the light of the lightning in the room made Takeru jump in surprise, but Tai's hand flew to his mouth to keep him quiet. The heavy footsteps stopped outside the door. We all held our breaths. The creature sniffed heavily, trying to pick up our scent through the dust in the whole house. I silently thanked Tai for not dusting everything off. There was a slight pause...then the creature moved on. We all let out our breaths. "That...was close..." I said quietly.
"...Yeah..." agreed Tai, letting his hand drop from Takeru's mouth. "Can we make a run for it?"
"...No..." said Koushiro quietly also. "...We all told our parents that we wouldn't be home tonight, it's pouring outside, and we've got a werewolf in the same house as us. What are the chances that we'll get out of here without him noticing?"
"Whoa, how do you know it's a werewolf?" I asked in a hushed voice.
"Just trust me on this one," answered Koushiro. "Well...?"
"...Our chances are very slim," answered Tai. "And we can't stay here all night until morning because, most likely before sunrise, we'd be dead by then..."
"Oh, very supportive," I said, rolling my eyes. The creature stopped at our door again. We stood still. It snorted through its nose, and walked on. "We can't leave with it stopping at our door every 5 minutes as if it knows we're in here, even with all of the dust around...!"
"I have to agree with Matt on this one, Tai," said Takeru shakily.
"Can't we jump out the window?" asked Tai, desperately trying to find a way out.
"Of course not! Are you crazy?!" objected Koushiro in a hurried whisper. "Do you know how old this house is?! It'll creak, and we'll be caught for sure! Not to mention we'll die jumping from it this high, unless one of us can actually land on their feet!" The creature stopped at our door again. We didn't move a muscle. It snorted, and then breathed heavily, waiting and listening for any movement from inside. Finally, it moved on. I let out a low sigh. Then, I heard it howl...it sounded too near to us for my liking.
"Now do you believe there are werewolves?" asked Tai.
"Yes, okay! Yes I do!" I almost yelled.
"Hush!" said Tai at me...but it was too late. The werewolf came thumping back to our door and smashed the door. It came into the door, its hairy, large frame barely fit through it. It came at us. "Great going, Yama."
"Well I'm sorry," I said hotly, almost forgetting I was in the same room as a monster. "But you got me frustrated...you know I hate it when I'm wrong..." The werewolf growled deep in his throat, and I quieted. We backed against a wall. I saw it's golden eyes look at us, scaring us out of our minds.
"...Now what do we do...?" asked Koushiro shakily. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow. Then—
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. I opened my eyes. I was in my room. I sat up in bed and turned off my alarm clock. I was covered in sweat. "I know my nightmare was scary...but I don't remember a thing...!" I got out of bed and changed my clothes. I walked down the stairs to find dad not home...again. I didn't feel hungry, so I left. I walked down the street, planning to visit Tai. Then I spotted an old house out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and looked at it.
I've heard rumors about this place. I hear them from the kids in my class. They claim the house was haunted, but it looked okay to me, so I walked up the driveway towards the porch. I walked over towards the front door. I knocked on it. It made a hollow sound. There was no answer. I opened the door and bats flew out over my head. I ducked slightly to avoid them. When they were gone, I stood up straight again. Inside, it was dark and dusty. I walked in and looked around. Inside, it looks more like a mansion than a house.
A feeling of déjà vu struck me, but then I heard footsteps above me. I headed for the stairs, planning to see who it was. Someone grabbed my shoulder, and I jumped in surprise. I turned around and saw a shadow of a person. "You okay, Yama?"
I blinked. The feeling of déjà vu was getting stronger. The person walked over to a wall and flicked a switch. The light was dull, but I could make out whom it was. "Taichi?!"