8:21 p.m.
"...this breaking news bulletin just in, the entire eastern half of Hardin County has suffered a mysterious blackout," Annie's radio crackled, "At least thirteen towns in a thirty mile radius have gone completely dark at this hour. Crews are now en route to the Bainbridge Power Substation, which controls the communities in question, but there is no word on when the power will be back on, or what caused the blackout..."
"Well what do you expect, dummy; it's a thunderstorm; the power station took a direct hit, obviously," Lynda commented sarcastically at the radio from the chair next to it, "Pass me another one, Annie," she directed her friend, sprawled casually out on her bed nearby.
"My mother's going to know we've been drinking up here if you keep downing them, Lynda," Annie warned her, but nonetheless produced a can of beer from underneath the bed and tossed it to the blonde. A loud crash of thunder sounded outside, making Laurie jump a little from her position on the floor. Ordinarily she wasn't scared of thunder, but something just didn't seem quite right tonight. She took a quick glance out the window. Visibility up the street was severely limited each way thanks to the sheets of rain pounding against the window, but no one seemed to be outside the Bracketts' house at the moment. That didn't completely put her at ease, though. Ordinarily she'd have given her parents a call to come pick her up under the circumstances, but tonight, as they'd announced to her yesterday, they were at the movies together, and the film wouldn't be over for at least another hour. She would eventually have to take her chances and brave the streets of Haddonfield, and hope nothing would happen...
"OK, last question," she announced, turning back to her literature book, "What is the symbolism of Tess laying down on Stonehenge's altar?"
"Yeah Paul, we're almost done, maybe later tonight at your place if I can find a good enough reason," Annie wasn't paying the least bit of attention, having been on the phone with her boyfriend for the last ten minutes-which Laurie considered quite risky given there was a thunderstorm going on outside. "Anyone, anyone with an answer?" she asked out loud.
"How am I supposed to know?" Lynda lit up a cigarette; she hadn't even looked at her own book all night, basically having tried to copy off Laurie despite her friend's best efforts to prevent such cheating, "I lost track of what they expect us to get out of this a long time ago," the blonde continued, taking a long puff.
"Well, for one thing, I find Tess's fate a good example of how too much pressure from society can force us into being something we'd rather not," Laurie argued, "Now come on, I've given you all the help I can with this; what's the symbolism?"
"I'm with Lynda on this, Laurie; I don't have a clue, and I don't really care," Annie turned briefly away from the phone, then returned to Paul. Laurie sighed deeply. "Come on, this is important you guys," she told them firmly, "You're going to need a good grade with this to get into college; believe me, I've seen the entry forms."
"And then do what when we get there?" Lynda posed, taking another swig of liquor. By now she'd finished off three cans and was starting to look somewhat tipsy from the fourth, "I mean, they don't teach you anything in college anyway. At least not in the classrooms. I met Sherry Langen's sister last week, and she's enjoying the extracurricular activities at Lake Forest, if you know what I mean. But you wouldn't, Laurie, being a virgin and all that. So what did you put down for the answer?"
She leaned over her friend's shoulder to see what she'd written. Laurie had had it. She slammed the book shut on the paper. "I give up," she announced, throwing her arms up in surrender, "I've been trying to do this the right way with the two of you for two hours, and neither of you are willing to try on your own. Go ahead and fail if you want, but I won't be used as a tool to help you graduate when you don't show any interest, when you only appreciate me as a tool..."
Without waiting for an answer, she rose up and slid her head against the window in a combination of disappointment and frustration. Her eyes stayed glued to the street outside-still deserted-even after there was a low clatter as the phone was dropped to the floor and her friends' reflections joined hers in the glass. "Come on Laurie, we don't just think of you as a tool," Annie told her with an apologetic tone, "We really do appreciate your company, don't we Lynda?"
"Oh yeah, totally," Lynda nodded rather sloppily from the alcohol.
"Well sometimes it just seems that way," Laurie told them softly without turning around, "I really appreciate having you two around too, but sometimes I just get the feeling that...well...you just don't..."
"Of course we do," Annie put an arm around her shoulder, "We'd do anything for you, Laurie, anything at all. And we really are going to miss you next year."
"Totally," Lynda agreed. Laurie managed a small smile. "Thanks," she said softly, "I don't mean to shout or get upset, it's just...you know how important school work is to me. I just, I just guess I wish more people could think the same way."
"That's totally you all right," Lynda told her, "Well, with luck someday you'll find that person. Maybe."
For a few minutes, the three of them just stood there staring out into the stormy darkness, only briefly illuminated by lightning for a few seconds. Finally Laurie glanced at her watch. "Well, I'd better get going," she announced, bending down to get her purse and books, "My parents don't like me out later than nine on a school night. Now remember, though, this is an important paper, so at least try and give this some effort after I leave; I care for you guys too, and I don't want to see you left behind at graduation."
"Whatever," Lynda had already returned to the teen gossip magazine she'd brought. "Hey, John Travolta loves flying planes. That means he and I could get high up high."
Laurie shook her head. Apparently it would only take a fairly seismic event to make them take school seriously. She walked downstairs and fished her umbrella out of the vestibule. "Leaving already, Laurie?" Mrs. Brackett called from the kitchen, where she was busy pouring brownie batter into several baking pans.
"Yeah, my parents don't like me out late on a school night. Uh, Mrs. Brackett, would it be OK if you gave me a ride home tonight? I mean, with the weather what it is..."
"I'd love to, Laurie, but I'm afraid my car's at Irwin's Garage tonight; left it there overnight for its annual inspection tomorrow," Mrs. Brackett shook her head, "It should be out tomorrow afternoon, but I'm afraid you'll have to walk home tonight."
"Oh, OK. Well, thank you anyway, Mrs. Brackett. Have a good night," Laurie took a deep breath and stepped outside into the maelstrom. The rain pounded down almost horizontally, forcing Laurie to hold her umbrella sideways to keep at least somewhat dry. The weatherman hadn't been kidding when he'd said it would be a strong cold front moving in. But at least she'd be home in less than ten minutes even without a ride.
No sooner had she gone more than twenty steps, however, then all the lights on the block abruptly went out with a loud zap, plunging Haddonfield into pitch darkness. Laurie lurched to a stop and glanced in both directions. First the eastern half of the county, now Haddonfield itself. Was something going on here?
Of course not, she shook her head firmly; that was ridiculous. It was probably a tree on a power line somewhere. The electric company would have it back up in no time. She continued walking, albeit more slowly given that she could only see a few feet in front of her. From all over town the honking of horns from irate drivers stranded in traffic filled the air. Laurie bustled across Chestnut Street in front of her as fast as she could; no point in risking being hit by a wayward car that might try and take a shortcut around the inevitable jams.
There came an abrupt crunching sound not more than five yards behind her, much like someone had scraped the curb stepping up onto the sidewalk behind her. She turned, but the street was completely empty from what she could make out through the darkness and rain. Her heart started pounding. If the homeless man was still out there, now would be the perfect opportunity for him to strike...
She increased her pace again, not bothering to look back now. The rain picked up even more, pounding down in her hair until she had to stop to wring it dry. She looked up to try to get her bearings, and saw the Myers house looming in the night before her on the left. Her father had just sold it and had requested her assistance in laying out the key for the new owner tomorrow. Somehow, though, as she stared up at it through the night, she couldn't help but feel as if the house was alive, and that it was staring back at her, glancing right into her soul through its empty windows...
A rustling sound from a nearby bush made her jump again. She swung her umbrella wildly in the darkness-until she could hear some low voices mumbling over the pounding rain. Children's voices. "...fifteen years ago tomorrow night," a boy was saying with deliberately ominous tones, "He came home from trick or treating, went inside, got a REEEEALLY big knife, crept upstairs, and stabbed the living hell out of her."
"W-W-Why would he do that, Ritchie?" gulped another boy. Laurie slowly crept forward to see the two of them crouched behind the bush, trying to shield themselves from the deluge as they watched the Myers house intently, unaware of her presence.
"No one knows," Ritchie grinned somewhat evilly; he was clearly relishing telling such a sordid tale, "When the cops showed up, he was just standing there on the curb, holding the bloody knife in his hand, kind of like...THIS!"
He lunged forward with a loud cry, making the other boy scream. "Please don't do that!" he protested. Once he collected himself, he asked nervously, "So, where's he now?"
"They took him off to the nuthouse, I heard," Ritchie told him grandly, "But the memories of that dark night still linger here. Mikey Seward saw some ghosts when he went in last month, he told me."
"S-S-So what are we doing here now then?"
"We're going in and proving the ghosts are there."
"W-W-W-Why!?"
"Because I say so. Unless you're a chicken."
"I'm, I'm not a chicken, Ritchie, I just...I think we..."
"Well you're sure acting like a big chicken," Ritchie taunted him rather harshly, "What's there really to be afraid of here!?"
An amusing idea sprang up in Laurie's mind. She seized the bush on the far side away from the boys and gave it a rough shaking-perhaps fittingly at the same time as another crash of lightning and thunder crackled overhead. Both boys screamed in terror at the sudden "awakening" of the bush and ran away as fast as they could. Laurie couldn't help laughing to herself. Knowing that others were uneasy about Halloween made her feel a bit better.
Her bliss vanished very swiftly, however, as another bush by the house rustled abnormally loud behind her-this time accompanied by what sounded ominously like heavy, labored breathing. She spun and brandished the umbrella wildly towards the bush. "Who's there!?" she cried loudly. There was no response and the bush immediately went back to normal. Gulping, Laurie hesitantly approached the bush and gave it a kick. Nothing happened, and there was now no sign that anyone had there in the first place. And she could see no figures around the side of the Myers house when another bolt of lightning briefly lit up the sky and illuminated everything. Laurie took a deep breath and continued walking as fast as the weather would permit up the street. Only about three more blocks to go now-but in the darkness, that seemed like three miles...
If only the power would come back on, she rued; walking in total darkness was adding to the increasing unease she felt. Each house she passed seemed to be staring at her, she thought with dread, the dark windows seeming like piercing eyes. The tree branches creaked eerily in the strong wind above her, looking for all the world like sharp fingers about to descend and seize her. Even the otherwise innocuous barking of a dog on the other side of the street sounded like an ominous warning. The sooner she did get home, the better, for the neighborhood was starting to make her VERY nervous...
She shielded her eyes as the first sign of light in what seemed like ages blazed on up the street; a pair of headlights moving towards her. Another flash of lightning revealed it was Chet Vett's van. Laurie shook her head knowingly. Vett was just the type to be out in inclement weather, a local lunatic who harassed everyone in town to buy things they didn't need. Just two weeks ago he'd barged in on the Strodes at dinnertime, claiming that they simply had to buy his new advanced dish detergent, leaving only when her father had threatened to call the cops on him. But at least he was harmless, so nothing to worry about from him.
A second flash of lightning lit up the night sky. It was at the exact moment of the flash, as the van was about parallel with her, that the driver turned towards her-and Laurie saw very clearly it wasn't Vett. In fact, the driver seemed to have no face whatsoever, just an empty void where it would be. Her blood froze; he-or, quite possibly IT-was looking straight at her-even without a visible face, she could tell it was. She stared numbly as it continued driving down the street, too shocked to move...
When someone abruptly crashed into her from in front, sending her toppling to the ground. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing there!?" came Janet's aggravated bellow. "Oh it's you," she snorted with thinly veiled contempt, "They kick you out of the library for the night, Strode?"
There came the snickering of half a dozen of Janet's usual coterie from the darkness. Laurie tried to block them out as she heaved herself back up. "I'm not really in the mood, Janet, I just...thought I saw something there," she said as calmly as she could.
"Poor Strode; now she's finally starting to lose her mind, right ladies?" Janet coolly asked her crowd, who burst into outright laughter. Frustrated, Laurie pushed her way past them, trying to block out their parting taunts to her. Much as she'd like to make a stand against Janet one of these days, she knew fighting wouldn't really solve anything, especially when she was just a block and a half from home now.
Just then there came the crunching of leaves right behind her. She whirled and swung the umbrella around again, but once more no one was there-at least not visibly. And Janet and her friends could be heard continuing down the block the other way, too far away to have caused the sound. But nonetheless, still she could feel somebody there...
"Come on Strode, keep it together," she tried to reassure herself as she started walking as fast as she could manage, "It's all just in your mind. You're getting too carried away by this..."
She unexpectedly slipped and fell into a large puddle. Groaning, she got back up yet again and wiped herself dry...
...and saw it not more than five feet behind her. The same hooded, faceless figure that had been driving the van. It lurched ominously towards her, a ghostly white hand extending out from under its robe, directly towards her. Laurie's mouth hung wide open, but no sound was coming out. There was only one discernible option: run for her very life...
In a flash she seized her belongings and took off as fast as she could. Behind her, she could hear the faceless figure increase its pace to keep up with her. She resisted the temptation to look back and blindly charged towards her house, now seemingly a mile away. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached from the supreme effort, but she dared not pause even the slightest.
Only about fifty feet to go now...but she could feel her pursuer breathing almost right down the back of her neck. Twenty feet...she almost slipped again but managed to right herself just in time. Ten feet...she took a flying leap for the door. Fumbling for her keys, she threw it open and all but dove inside, slamming the door shut behind her as hard as she could. She gasped deeply for breath...when a hand suddenly touched her shoulder. With a loud scream she swung her umbrella and made contact. It was at that moment the lights finally blazed back on. "Dad!?" she gasped, seeing him clutching his nose from the impact, "Oh God, I'm so sorry, I didn't see...you got home early...!?"
"The projector broke down, so they sent us home with a refund," her mother entered the kitchen, "We'll...Laurie, what happened!?" she frowned worriedly at her daughter's panicked expression, "You look like you just saw a ghost...!"
"There's someone following me, out there!" she pointed frantically at the window. Mr. Strode bustled over to it and glanced out. "I don't see anyone out there now," he announced.
"But there was, you have to believe me, he chased me up the whole block!" she protested, even though a compulsory look of her own confirmed the now well-lit street was in fact deserted again.
"Of course I believe you, Laurie," he gave her a knowing look that convinced her he did indeed, "Did you get a good look at who it was?"
"I don't...no, not really," she admitted, not really willing to say her pursuer had no face and jeopardize her credibility.
"All right, I'll go call the police," he reached for the phone, "Caroline, go get her some clean clothes; she's clearly been through something really trying."
"Come on honey, it's all right now," Mrs. Strode put her arm around her daughter and gently led her out of the kitchen. Laurie couldn't help but share this sentiment completely. She felt safe again in the confines of her own house. But what had the figure-who or whatever it was-been after her for? And how had it so suddenly disappeared when it was almost on top of her...?