Hiding in Plain Sight
October 31st, Halloween night.
It's been one year since Michael Myers was crushed to death by the giant metal crushing machine in the scrap yard.
And still... Haddenfield's curse continues.
6 PM
I'm following closely behind my prey. Fitting in with the other Halloween goers, hanging out in larger groups that happen to be traveling in the same direction as they are. I easily blend in, wearing a baseball cap, and long baggy clothes. I also wear shaded glasses and dark leather gloves. My victim is wearing similar clothes.
I've been stalking my prey for about a week now, ever since I saw them hanging out together, skateboarding near the local gas station. A couple of young teenage boys. From their height I would say they were between the ages of twelve and fourteen. The reason I'm wearing similar clothes is because I saw him earlier today, buying a soda from a machine outside of the dollar store. Baseball cap… check. Long baggy dark clothes… check. Glasses… check. However, it doesn't look as if he is wearing gloves though. He must only wear them when he is skateboarding.
His friend hasn't met up with him yet, but I overheard him talking to someone on his cellphone, saying something about meeting up at about 6:30. I'm sure that's who he was talking to, they had been hanging out all week. That would be the perfect time to set my next plan into action. His friend lives a few blocks away still. Hopefully that is where he starts heading.
It would be sad if I have to abort. I've been driving around for the last week, studying the landscape of the neighborhood, looking for all the perfect places to hide in plain sight. The best places were in the shadows just before 7 PM, behind large bushes near the road and shady trees that cast a large shadow as the sun went down. Plus, the crowd of Halloween goers would have dwindled down quite a bit by then.
6:25 PM
My prey starts walking away from the larger groups and begins heading in the direction I was hoping he would be heading in- towards his friend's house. I can stay about a block behind him, walking on the opposite side of the street.
We were about two blocks in when the boy got interrupted by another group. From the way he was communicating with them, they must have been kids that he knew from school.
I walk towards a crowd of people and wait, watching for him to continue heading towards his friend's house.
A couple minutes later he leaves the group and continues walking. I break away from the group I was blending in with and begin following again.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened.
"Hey! Wait up!" A teenage girl's voice yelled out in the boy's direction. "I'll tag along with you for a minute!"
Damn it! She just looked over at me. I decide to casually turn and start walking into an alleyway, heading the other way. I stop behind a privacy fence and watch through the cracks as the two of them meet up, hoping she doesn't inform him about seeing me.
Damn it! She's pointing back to the alleyway I ducked into. The bitch is going to ruin everything! I might have to abort.
She points in my exact direction, almost as if she can see me through the privacy fence that I am hiding behind, although I know she can't.
The boy tries to shrug it off as if she is exaggerating.
Then, they begin heading in the direction of his friend's house. The girl looked back one more time to make sure someone wasn't coming out of the alleyway. I stood my ground behind the shaded fence.
As soon as her eyes turn away, I move laterally to a side street parallel to the street they are walking down. I have to walk a little faster now, so that I can keep my one block distance and not be detected. I know where his friend lives. I followed them to his house a few days back. I know where both of them live.
6:35 PM
The two of them made it to the boy's friend's house. I'm only standing a few yards away, hiding behind a group of lilac bushes, their blossoms beginning to decay, adapting to the colder weather. Everything decays. It's the one thing this planet can promise you.
His friend comes out of the house and greets the other two of them.
They begin walking in my direction. I have to squat down behind the thicker remaining foliage of the lilac bushes to keep them from seeing me as they pass right on by.
SNAP!
Crap. I didn't adjust my weight properly and I caused a twig to crack in half.
"Hey! Did you guys hear that?" The girl asked, looking back towards the bushes.
She starts walking towards me. My heart is racing. If she discovers me hiding here, I will definitely have to abort the mission.
She is only a few feet away.
Suddenly, a squirrel scurried from out of the bushes. Somehow I hadn't disturbed it, but the girl's presents certainly must have because it ran past her feet and scurried up a tree.
"Ha ha ha!" The two boys laughed, seeing how spooked the girl was. "Damn! You would have thought Michael Myers himself jumped out atcha!"
For a second it looked as if she was going to continue scoping out the bushes, but luckily she decided to turn back around and start walking with the two boys again.
For the next twenty minutes or so, I follow them as they trick-or-treat.
One of them gets a call on their cell phone. I can hear him talking to someone on the phone about meeting up at the park after trick-or-treating was over, which only has about a few minutes left. Most of the houses handing out candy were already shutting their lights off and, as expected, the crowds were dwindling.
I hadn't planned for them to be meeting up with more people, and I certainly wasn't counting on the girl tagging along. My plans were unraveling and I was getting pissed, but I wouldn't allow my composure to dictate any bad decisions on my part.
"Hey! We are heading to the park when we are done." The boy I was mimicking said to the girl. "You wanna come with us? We are going to hang out and smoke a blunt or two… build up some munchies and then eat all our candy."
"Ugh. No thanks." The girl replied. "I can't get caught smoking weed. My parents would kill me!"
The two boys looked disappointed. You could tell they clearly like her.
"In fact, I should probably start heading back home now. It's getting dark and all." She turned and looked down the dark road. "Would one of you want to walk me home?"
"Sure." The boy I was mimicking replied.
The boy's friend looked pissed. "Dude, she lives like six or seven blocks away. If we walk her home, we might not be able to get to the park in time before they spark it up.
The girl could tell that the boy was perplexed by the decision. "You know what? I'll just walk back by myself. I've got my cell phone. I'll call for help if I need to."
"Are you sure?" The boy I was mimicking replied.
"You heard her! She's a big girl! I'm sure she will be just fine!" His friend retorted.
This is perfect. The girl is the only one that has seen me possibly following the boy. I will simply get to her before she makes it home and then double back to the park in time to get the other two.
As she walks off, I stay in the shadows, walking through backyards and wooded areas. Since I know where she is heading, I can get there before she does.
My movements cause a few birds to fly away, the noise causing the girl to start walking a little faster.
She gets a call. "Hello….. Yeah, I'm heading home now…. Okay, I should be there in a couple minutes." She hangs up.
I make it to her house a few seconds before she does. I can see her mother and father through the window. They are sitting there watching FOX NEWS, probably the scariest thing on television. And... what a couple of sticks in the mud, it's Halloween and they don't even have their lights on for trick-or-treaters.
The girl begins walking up to her door, but at the last second, I jump out from behind a bush, surprising her. Before she could scream, I tightly pressed my chloroformed cloth against her mouth and nose. She squirmed for a couple seconds, but it didn't take her long to pass out. I even had nose plugs so that I didn't accidentally faint due to inhaling the fumes myself.
Someone is coming to the door. I drag her behind a bush and wait for the door to open. It's the father. He must have been checking to see if she was getting closer. He then pulls out his phone and begins dialing her number. I quickly searched her pockets, finding the phone just before it could ring and silenced it.
Whew! That was a close one.
After the father shut the door, I lifted the girl's motionless body and took her into a wooded area where I then duct taped her mouth shut, tied her hands behind her back, and zip-tied her feet together. I would go ahead and carry her to my vehicle and then have my way with her, but at the moment, I don't have the time because I need to get back to the boys, so instead I cover her with a bunch of loose leaves, and head back towards the park. She should be unconscious for quite some time. I even left a chloroform rag close to her nose in order to keep her sedated. I will just come back later and take her with me.
A few minutes later, I make it to the park and see the two boys hanging out with four other teens. They are all laughing and having a good time while smoking their joint.
I will just wait for the two of them to break away from the group. There won't be anyone else around and it will be completely dark.
A few minutes had gone by and they had finally finished smoking… or so I thought! That was until one of those punks pulled out another joint… and this one was much fatter than the last.
I was getting impatient. I knew I needed to get back to the girl before too much longer and I still haven't yet been able to enact the plan I set out for.
Just as soon as the boy lit up the next joint… WHOOP WHOOP! A siren could be heard and lights could be seen pulling up to the park entrance.
The boys scattered in all different directions.
The Sheriff quickly parked and then jumped out of his car when he saw them run off. He shined a flashlight at the ground and realized why they were running, noticing a joint still burning near where they ran off from.
I stay hidden near a wooded area about two-hundred feet away.
"I'M NOT HERE TO ARREST ANYONE!" He blurted as loud as he could. "I'M LOOKING FOR A MISSING GIRL! HER NAME IS BRENDA JOHNSON!"
Hearing the Sheriff yell that name made the boy I was mimicking stop. He hid behind a tree. His friend continued running off a bit further, until he also stopped and hid behind a tree as well. They were probably only fifty feet from where I was hiding. The rush made me tremble.
"SHE WAS LAST HANGING OUT WITH DONOVAN WILLIAMS!" The Sheriff again blurted out, now letting me know what the boy's name was.
After hearing his name, I could see that the boy was frightened and unsure of what to do.
"Psst!" His friend whispered as loudly as he could.
The sheriff began shining his flashlight in their direction.
"C'mon Donny! He is just trying to trick you into coming out. You know Brenda made it home and told on us!"
Donovan thought about it for a second, and decided that his friend was probably right. He then started backing up slowly and caught up with his friend.
They noticed the Sheriff starting to walk closer.
"Let's get out of here, man. We can't let him smell our breath. Let's get home before other police officers show up. Then, they can't say we were ever here."
"Sounds good to me."
I follow the two boys as they track through the woods, looking for an outlet that adjoins their neighborhood.
Once I see the direction they are heading, I hurry ahead of them, so that I can get them before they make it home.
I sit in the back of my van, gawking through the darkly tinted windows, awaiting for them to cross my path.
Within seconds they came from out of the wooded area and quickly walked until they came to a T intersection in the road.
They stopped. If they took one direction it would lead to their homes, and if they took the other direction it would lead them to the police station.
"Look, Josh, I want to go home, but I also think I should check on Brenda." He declared. "I will stay off the beaten path, that way the police won't find me. I just want to make sure she actually is at home."
"Alright. Just stay in the shadows. I'll call you later!" Josh replied, watching Donovan dash off out of sight.
Josh then started making his way down the road.
Just then, I jump out of my van and tackle Josh to the ground. I then cover his mouth with a rag filled with chloroform and pull him up and into the van.
He squirms for a little bit longer than Brenda did, but for only mere seconds, until he too succumbed to the chemical.
I tied him up and duct taped his mouth the same way I did to Brenda, except I tied the knots even tighter on him. I then wrap clear plastic wrap around his head.
Now, I can get back to Brenda, and my night will be fulfilled. Donovan was never my true target. I dressed up like him so that the police would think I WAS him. And… now that his other friend, JOSH, was going to come up missing as well… the police would only have Donovan to blame.
Within a minute, I drive across the neighborhood and make it back to the wooded area where I left Brenda hog-tied.
I begin uncovering the leaves, rustling them around, kicking them side to side.
OH SHIT! The body is gone!
I pull out a small flashlight and begin looking for tracks. The woods were a little muddy from the recent rain we had, and judging by the smears of mud on the ground, it wasn't hard to find the path she took.
I finally found her. She had somehow managed to crawl or slither her way up a steep embankment which led to a road. The embankment must have been at least forty feet high and she was closing in on the top. I would have to try and climb up it as fast as I could and stop her before reaching the road.
(Pant) (Pant) I was breathing heavily, trying to dig my feet into the side of the muddy hill. The heavy breathing caught her attention. When she looked down, our eyes locked. She trembled in fear because she knew I was coming for her and I was going to GET HER!
And that's what I did. Just before she could make it to the top, I grabbed her by her ankle, stopping all of her momentum.
I then climbed up over the top of her. "You thought you were going to ruin my plans, but guess what? I was only trying for one of you little bastards tonight, and instead, I'm getting TWO!"
I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a knife. I knew she was going to be a pain in the ass and figured I should just kill her right here.
Suddenly, she took me by surprise. She somehow had managed to get her hand free and she then stuck the chloroformed rag that I left by her earlier directly in my mouth, causing me to fall backwards.
I quickly pulled the rag from out of my mouth and tried to catch my breath. I didn't want to pass out from ingesting the chemicals.
She took that opportunity to try and make it to the top of the embankment.
She was almost successful.
I managed to stop her just as one of her hands reached the edge of the pavement.
I turn her over and straddle towards her mid-section. I then raise my knife up high above her head, clenching it tightly, ready to strike down with all of my might. "It's time for you to die BITCH!"
BANG! A gunshot is fired.
I feel a new pain in my shoulder. I look down. There is now a fresh hole in my shirt just above my chest. The same place the new pain is radiating from.
I look towards the road and see flashing lights. I was so obsessed with killing her that I hadn't paid attention to my surroundings. The police must have triangulated Brenda's cell phone signal.
The Sheriff had his gun drawn and a flashlight aimed at my face. "Put the knife down, Donovan!"
He thinks I'm Donovan. I wasn't going to go out like this. I WAS GOING TO TAKE AT LEAST ONE VICTIM TONIGHT!
I look back down at Brenda. She knows exactly what's coming next.
Just as my knife was plunging into her chest-
BANG BANG! Two more bullets hit me. One in my arm and one in my neck, causing me to fall backwards down the hill. As I tumbled and slid, all I could wonder was if Brenda was dead or not. I was hoping I got one of them and I know the knife pierced her skin before the bullets entered my body.
Soon, I finally stopped rolling after hitting a tree near the bottom.
Somehow I was still alive. I could see the sheriff shining his flashlight in my direction. I kept my eyes mostly closed, playing dead by lying still. He didn't dare try making it down the steep embankment to see if I was still alive or not, plus he needed to check on Brenda.
I wait until the flashlight is off of me and he is calling for back-up.
I then use every ounce of energy that I have left in my body to try and get away. As long as I can make it to the river to clean my wounds, they will never find me.
Until next Halloween.