Be Careful on Halloween All I have left of that memory started with me running. I didn’t know why. At first, I just thought someone was coming for me from behind. It was Halloween night, after all. I was running so hard that, before I knew it, I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Nobody was outside except for a few highschool kids horse-playing on the streets. When I got up, I realized my friend, June, lived a couple blocks from where I fell. I groaned as a sharp sense of pain went through me. And, as I looked down, there were globs of blood all over my knees. The pain grew worse the more I stood there, but I had to keep going. But, as I was walking, I noticed that my bag of candy was gone. I must have dropped it when I started running earlier. My costume, now dirty from the trip, was a typical witch costume. . . . Knock, knock, knock. Trying to ignore the burning pain from my palms and knees, June’s door finally opened. “Annah? Why are you here? And why so late at night?” June’s questions hit

me like arrows. As June let me in the house, I noticed a clock hung on the nearby wall. 10:34. Have I really been walking through my neighborhood for that long? “My parents will be home tomorrow morning, so I’ve just been home alone.” June explained. This isn’t a surprise, considering the fact that her parents are both business workers, both working for the governor, so they go on a lot of extensive business trips. A pretty lucky job, I would say. Half awake, weak, and hungry, I finally responded to June, “I don’t know how, but I somehow was trick or treating for four and a half hours. My candy bag is gone, though, sadly, if you’re wondering.” Ever since I became friends with June in the 2nd grade, I always knew that she had a desire for sweets. Everytime she had the chance to, June would eat something sugary. “Well, you must be tired. It’s late, anyways, and your house is all the way on the other side of the neighborhood. There’s no way we won’t run into trouble by walking.” June replied, a worried expr

ession on her face. It’s true. Our neighborhood is known across town as the longest neighborhood anyone has ever seen. You could say it’s like a famous attraction. But, because of this, lots of criminal activity tends to happen, especially near my house. Suddenly, her face lit up. “I know! You can sleep over! It’s Halloween night, after all, and if we wake up at the right time tomorrow morning, my parents wouldn’t have a clue about it!” “Nice, we could stay up watching horror movies. Good idea.” I say, trying not to sound sarcastic and tired. I was still exhausted from running all the way over here, especially with bloody knee caps. June must have noticed me looking down, and saw my injuries. “Oh, crap!” And, just like that, she told me to tag along with her to the nearest bathroom inside. . . . “And. . .it looks all better!” June exclaimed. “All you need to do now is wash your hands. The look dirty, and it looks like you scraped them a bit. No problem.” June thankfully had extra-large bandaids made for

large injuries and whatnot. At least the pain from washing the blood was finally over. I felt a lot better. Washing my hands, I realized I was still wearing my witch costume. With my hands still drying, I told June to call my parents quickly to tell them the sleepover at her place. A tiny white lie wouldn’t hurt, either, since June’s parents weren’t home. Beep. June stopped the call with my parents. “They said it was fine. Hey, by the way, I have some extra shirts you can wear tonight. They’re really big because they were Kaylee’s old ones, but sometimes I wear them as pj’s.” Kaylee is her sophomore older cousin, and is actually pretty cool. It’s like she read my mind. . . . It was like time whizzed past me. Jude gave me a shirt three times my size, with yellow and green stripes, but I didn’t mind. We decided to pop some popcorn, so after pouring a big bowl of the stuff, I put on Netflix on the television in Jude’s living room. “Hm. . .what horror movie should we watch?” She asked me after I plopped myse

lf on the couch. I grabbed a handful of popcorn, and stuffed it in my mouth carelessly. After finally swallowing, I responded, “Oh, there’s a horror movie my dad had watched with me. It’s actually really good.” . . . Bump. “What was that. . .?” I quickly said. “Dunno. Maybe it’s one of those stupid high school kids throwing objects at our windows again.” June replied. She didn’t seem to care. “Again?” “Yea. You know those guys who tricked Kaylee into telling them my family’s location?” June said, still looking at the TV screen blankly. “Mhm. I remember.” I was still looking at the window with caution. “Yup, those are probably the guys. . .” I look more closely at the kitchen window, now. A shadow? No, it’s so dark outside. how is that even possible? Without speaking, I get up from my seat. “Annah. . .?” June says. “Something wrong?” “Yea, y-yea. . . I’m good. . .” I barely heard June. I’m now completely focused on the window. With the kitchen light still on, I walked closer towards the comp

letely blackened window. It’s like I was hypnotized. Like I couldn’t break out of my movements. Ahhh! I turn around to see June shrilling and pointing at something out the front door window. Running over, I take a glance at it and recognize the features. A black cloak. Pitch-black eyes. A wrinkled and bloody face. This was the creature chasing me earlier. The monster looked like an old hag, bent down and staring at us with those soulless eyes. The thing must’ve been at least 6 feet tall, because it had to crouch even lower to look through the window. At that moment, I wish there were curtains at Judy’s house. Still screaming, Judy frantically scooted herself to the edge of the couch, eventually falling, got up, and grabbed my arm. “W-what the heck is that thing?!” Judy exclaimed. This must be a prank. Yeah. A prank by those lousy highschoolers. The hag was still crouched, glaring at us. I stood there, almost forgetting how to breath! “Run,” That was all I could choke out. I suddenly broke out of m

y hypnosis-like state, “we have to hide. In the closet, in the laundry room. Somewhere! Get your phone, we have to call my parents!” “Your parents?! What about the police!” Judy replied, still raising her voice. Went and huddled behind the kitchen island, hyperventilating. . . . “Your parents can’t help, and they won’t get here fast enough.” Judy whispered. I glanced at the time. 11:41. “Fine, take out your phone if it makes you feel better” Jude frantically put her hand in her pocket after I said that. At that moment, I’ve never seen her face turn so white. “I-I-It’s not h-here!” She exclaimed. “Where did I-” Both of us looked back at the living room from the island. “No, no, no, no, no!” I’ve never seen Judy this freaked-out before, but in that instant I was shaking uncontrollably. “Judy, go peek at the window from the door, and I’ll book it to the phone, got it?” “O-ok. . .” Judy looked around the corner of the island to look at the front door’s window.” An instant sigh of relief hit her.

“I-It’s gone,” She shook my arm right before I was going to run for the phone, “A-Annah. . .Annah it’s gone! Thank the lord!” Her hands were shaking just as much as mine. “Wait, what?” I looked at the front door in my crouched position. I sighed, but that suddenly ended when I went to stand up to look out of the little kitchen window that was past the island we were hiding behind. The same creature looked out of the window, but now had a smile on its face. I started panicking. My hands and legs shook like crazy, and I tried to quickly crouch down, but I fell backwards instead. Judy saw my pale-white face, and started to freak out again. “W-wait, is it there?! That t-thing moved?” I wasn’t even paying attention to Judy after she said that. I was clawing my way out of my position. My legs still shaking completely on their own, I struggled to drag myself to the coffee table, where Judy and I’s phones were. My body kept scraping against furniture along the way. “Hurry, Annah, hurry. P-please.” Judy was

whispering and shaking, but was still freaking out to where her whispers were loud enough for me to hear her. I tried to steady my balance as I picked up the phone, but my body still seemed to be in shock. I never knew that I shake this much when I’m terrified. I looked over at the kitchen window, but that was a mistake. I looked over at Judy and the kitchen window. The figure was gone, but there was something off. I quickly looked down at Judy’s phone, and the shaking started to die down. Judy screamed. I looked up. She was frantically pointing at the windows beside the living room. The ones right behind me. How did I not realize where I was standing? I quickly turn around, only to see the hunched figure look at me with an eerie smile through the blinds. At least those windows had something to cover them up with. Judy was hypervenelating even faster, now, and tried to stand from her position on the kitchen floor, only to hit her head against the countertop of the island. She fell to the floor. “Judy!” I

screamed. I could feel my face turning red and tears forming. I turned back around at the window, but the figure was gone. I quickly closed the blinds of the living room windows. Why the heck would Judy keep them open like that? I was about to run to Judy to help her when I realized that I needed to still call the police on her phone. I finally tapped on the call button. It rang for a split second until someone had picked up. “9-1-1, What’s your emergency?” Something loud had crashed somewhere in the house. It sounded like wood had fallen. I looked around, but I realized that Judy wasn’t anywhere. I started to panic. “Ah, m-my. . .my friend and I. . .t-there’s a. . .”, what could I even call the thing?, “a monster. . .or an i-intruder, o-or something. . .my friend is gone, but-” “Is there a person trying to break inside your house?” “Yes! Yes, please help! Plea-” I screamed. The figure had somehow gotten into the house! It stood right across from me from the darkness of a hallway on the other side

of the living room. All I saw was its face. Its awful, awful face. I froze in fear. I couldn’t move, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t run. How would I escape from the house? Where would I run to? Home? Would the creature catch up to me first? “What is your location, ma’am!” The woman sounded panicked as I gave her Judy’s address. Judy. . . I heard the phone hang up. Were they coming? Did they know I needed help? I tried to remember where the nearest police station was. It didn’t matter. I had to stay alive until the police arrived. I had to think. I need to stay alive. Stay alive, stay alive. Wait, that’s it! Maybe I keep staring at it. It’s only ever moved every time I look away, so. . . The monster was holding something. I saw it. It’s spiny hand had its neck on. . .a person? No. It was Judy. I could just barely make out blood from both the ground and all over her neck. That thing strangled Judy. How? I only looked away for a second before she was gone before. Judy would have screamed if the creature got he

r. How was this even possible? I realized that the creature was gone. It was gone. Oh, no. The thing had deliberately caused a distraction for me to look away. No, no, no, no. I heard a slight creak from behind me. A shiver ran up my spine, and I didn’t have the courage to look behind me. I knew it was behind me. It was going to kill me. I’m going to die here. I heard sirens. The police! They were here! I had to run. I had to. I needed to get to the front door. My legs sprung to life, and I booked it to the front door. I didn’t even get through the living room before blacking out. BREAKING NEWS Two girls had apparently gone missing in Shearwood. The police had reported that their distress call was told to be about an intruder attempting to enter the house, but their call had seemed off, according to Chief Hudson. . . Police Chief: “It was, uh, around 1 am when we got the call. A girl that sounded like she’d be in her, uh, early teens had told us that, um, there was an intruder. Of course, she told

us the address, but, um, we were told that there had seemed to be a crash in the background of the call. It sounded as if the intruder was already inside. But, um, once we got to the location, the lights were all out. It was like nobody even called in the first place. We went inside, but everything was normal. The lights were working, and we searched all over the place. No clues, no nothin’. The girl on, um, the call mentioned a ‘friend’ that was with her. The friend nor the girl was nowhere to be found. However, we can confirm that the girls were most likely inside the house, since, after finding the owners of the house, they did mention how their daughter was home alone. They could not confirm whether or not their daughter was the one who had called. We will update on this case soon, thank you.”

XD yeees