The Halloween I Left My House

Summer has freedom and Winter has its snowfalls, icicles and evergreen trees that tower over my friends and I. And everything is in bloom in Spring. 

Then there’s Fall which has  Halloween. Every year on this day, superstitions send chills down my spine because my naive mind can’t help but to believe them. The feeling that something horrible is bound to happen haunts me all throughout October. I refuse to leave the house on Halloween afternoons when everyone's out trick or treating and my Halloween nights are always sleepless. But all fourteen years of my life, nothing remotely dangerous has ever happened to me on Halloween. And so, I wonder if maybe it’s all been in my head. 

Today is October thirty-first, and I walk home from school with Ivy and Missy like I always do. I laugh at their jokes and complain about geometry homework and pretend that I feel normal, because it’s just an ordinary day. I think nothing of the baby blue Volkswagen Beetle that passes us by. All I notice is that I feel sharp pain on the back of my neck. Something stings and I touch the spot where it aches. My skin has become frigid, almost like the cold fiercely is biting at it. But just like that, it’s gone, and all is normal again. 

Well, maybe it isn’t, because that blue car passes us by again, and this time, the pain multiplies by a number too big to comprehend. Seconds later, it’s over, but a lump in my throat remains. 

“Sneak out with us tonight, Mel,” Ivy remarks, elbowing me. Suddenly, I realize then that I haven’t been paying attention to anything the two of them have been saying. 

“What?” I sound much more hoarse than I had intended to. 

“We’re going to the school pool tonight.” Missy says, like it’s obvious. 

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of,” I spit out. “I’m not going.” 

“God, you can’t hide away in your house on Halloween forever,” Missy exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air. 

“Everybody is going to be there, Mel,” Ivy adds.

“What am I supposed to tell my mom?” I ask.   

“You tell Carrie that you’re going trick or treating and that you’ll be home by ten,”  Ivy suggests.

“I’ll see,” I say doubtfully.

“No, you’re going,” Missy insists, and that’s that. Whenever Missy says something, I almost never have it in me to contradict her. It’s not that I’m terrified of her, because I’m not. She’s just not the type of person that you can say no to. You’ll get on her bad side that way.    

She waves goodbye as she walks down her driveway and to her door. 

“See you at seven!” she yells.  

Then Ivy turns right on Pinegrove where I turn left on Daffodil. As soon as I’m alone, I feel the agonizing pain on the back of my neck once again. Looking to my right, I spot the same car pass by again. Whoever is driving is wearing a hat that covers half of his face and a heavy coat even though it’s unusually humid for late October. I see him turn his head and that’s enough to convince me that something is wrong. I can’t see his eyes, but I feel them glaring maliciously into my soul. 

When I walk in I see a note on the kitchen counter. That means my mom’s working late tonight. “Home by six, dinner’s in the fridge,” is what it reads. Usually, notes like this make me glad. Watching movies while eating snacks in complete silence without my mother demanding me to finish homework is my idea of a good afternoon. Now, though, the stillness in this house irks me. I am more paranoid than anything. Paranoid that someone is watching me through our transparent curtains.

The phone rings and I nearly jump out of my socks. I walk slowly to the phone, as my breath returns to his normal pace and reluctantly, I answer. 

“H-hello?” 

I hate the way my voice quivers. 

“Hey Melanie! It’s Teresa. Did we have any geometry homework?”

Waves of relief flood me, and I grin with reassurance.

“I don’t think so.” I answer with a confidence that hides the insecurities of the last moments.

“Thanks! You’re the sweetest!” 

“‘Course, anytime!” 

I hang up and make myself a snack, knowing that there’s nothing to worry about. It’s Halloween, and people like to make sick jokes on Halloween, right? It’s normal. It’s completely, totally normal. 

I’m the first out of Missy and Ivy to arrive outside of the high school. My mom had never showed up at home, but I figured that she was working late and would probably be okay with me going out. As long as she never found out where we were going and what we were doing. 

Ivy and Missy showed up together on bikes fifteen minutes late. Sometimes I feel so different from them and I can’t even believe that we’re friends in the first place.  

“Follow me,” Missy said, getting off her bike. 

I wonder how she knew how to get into the school, but that’s Missy, and her abilities to get the things she wants never ceases to amaze me. We go around the back and climb down some creepy looking stairs. Once we reach the bottom, Missy unlocks the door.

“How’d you get the keys?” I ask in awe. 

“Swiped them from Ms. Willow’s desk. Duh,” she answers, rolling her eyes. 

Walking into school while it was all dim and deserted felt like entering another country. I knew we were breaking a thousand rules at once, but neither Missy nor Ivy seemed to care. We traveled through many dark hallways and finally I could smell the chlorine as we  reached the pool.  The water looked breathtaking and glassy. I could see my reflection, even in the unilluminated room. 

Curious, I explored the empty space. The staircase off to the side had a small window. Gazing out of it, I could see that the moonlit night looked almost alluring instead of eerie. I looked at the parking lot and immediately felt the sharp pain return. I nearly shrieked when I saw that car again. That stupid vintage Volkswagen in the dead center of the parking lot. It was the only car in sight. 

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” I remarked, gagging. Missy looked at me with her hands on her hips. 

“What now, Melanie?” 

“I can’t stay here anymore. I have to go.”

“We just got here!” Missy yelled, but I was already dashing back towards the door.

Keep going. Keep going, I repeat, nearly unable to breathe. 

The chills return and I can taste blood, but I don’t know why. My vision becomes hazy. 

While I’m sprinting out of the school, reaching my front door is all I can think of. I hear the engine from the car accelerate. My heart thunders in my chest and my legs grow weary but I keep running. 

It turns out I was right all along about Halloween. Maybe I’m right to be so naive… 

But the car drives past my weak body so quickly that I almost believe it has dissipated into thin air. It turns a corner at lightning fast speed and then I am left alone again. Like I expected, the pain disappears. This time, however, I refuse to believe all is well again. Walking home, I take every step as if it is my last. Every corner I turn, I turn cautiously, in case someone is lingering in the shadows. 

My mom’s car is in the driveway when I get home, I sigh with relief at the sight, until I notice the engine’s still on. I walk over to the car, with a notion of suspicion. Someone’s still in the car, waiting. I creep closer and closer but then-

I gasp. Her eyes… her eyes are gone. Blood is everywhere and the smell of it floods my nose. Her limbs are mangled and her lips are dry and cracked, as if she hasn’t tasted water in weeks. The sight of her makes me petrified, but for some reason, I can’t seem to look away. My mother. The mother that raised me and taught me how to walk and talk now sits alone in her car without eyes and without a soul. Why can’t I cry? I should be crying right now. I should be sobbing to death, unable to think or speak or function, but right now, I stand as still as stone, stupefied. 

At that exact second, I hear slow footsteps behind me. This is too much at once. I feel a tap on my shoulder, but this time, it’s only Missy. Her face is colored with bright red fury and her hands are in fists. 

“Melanie! What the hell is your problem!? Why do you always have to be so scared of-” her voice is shrill, but she pauses at the sight of the car.

“Oh my god!?” Missy exclaims. “You’re mom… I’m so sorry, Mel. What happened…?” she says sympathetically, drawing one word out after another. I don’t answer, not only because I’m shocked, but because I really have no idea what is going on. 

I am too stunned to speak. Hot tears stream down my face. 

“We have to call 911,” Ivy remarks, pulling out her phone quickly. “That’s all we can do.”

“Something seriously messed up is going on,” Missy says, her focus concentrated on my mom’s gouged-out eyes. A sickening feeling takes over me. I am faint and weak and weary. I can barely make out what Missy is saying as she calls the police. 

“Mel… your door…” Ivy says slowly, motioning towards the side door which I now notice is open. I walk over there and see a message written in thick blood, just for me. Two words. Nine letters. 

You’re next.