Halloween Night

I wrote this story around 1983, when I was 10 years old. I would have been in fourth grade. Paragraph breaks have been added to ease reading.

Beware, for tomorrow is October 31st. Halloween night, the worst night of the year! Halloween is a time of zombies, ghosts, and last, but not least, the living dead. Now that you know what to watch out for, let's zap to October 31st. There now, here we are. Sit back, get comfortable, and keep calm, if you can! Ohhhhha-ha-ha-ha!

***

It was October 31st, 1983. It was about 9:04 p.m. My mother had just told me to go to bed. But, I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed and walked towards my closet. I opened it, and stepped in. I turned around and shut the closet door. I sat down on the closet floor and closed my eyes. In a few minutes, I was asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a room unlike any other room I'd seen but quite familiar. The room had one window, one door, one closet, and a table with a lamp, pad of paper and a pen. I walked over toward the window and tried to open it. It opened easily enough, but, when the window was open fully, the room lit up so bright I had to close my eyes. I slammed the window shut, and the light began to dim. I started to walk toward the door. As I heard a loud click, I started running toward the door. It had locked.

I ran toward the table and turned on the lamp. I wrote on the pad, "Help! I am being held prisoner in a room with one window." I put the pen down and picked up the letter. I folded it over as I walked towards the window. I opened it just enough to slip the paper through and shut it before the light got too bright.

I walked over to the corner of the room and waited for something to happen. In a few minutes nothing had happened so I sat down to rest awhile. As I was falling asleep, I was awakened by the sound of wood splintering or splitting. I looked toward the closet to see a bald man with a pale face, bloodshot eyes, and clothing torn to shreds. The zombie was walking toward me with his arms outstretched, ready to strangle me.

I ran to the other side of the room while the zombie said, "You try to escape your fate. You don't like me." The zombie turned around and started walking toward me again. It got closer and closer. Just as it grabbed at my throat, I ducked and ran through his legs toward the window. I stood, back to the window as the zombie screamed and started running toward me. Just as it reached my throat, I ducked and the zombie flew through the window.

After a few minutes of silence the door swung open. I walked slowly toward the door suspecting a trick. As I got to the door, I looked cautiously out and around. Outside the door was a hall that looked like it went on forever. At the end of the hall was a door. I stood looking at the door, wondering how long it would take me to walk down the hall.

I started to run down the hall. I got to the other door in at least a few seconds. I leaned against the door and thought about the hall for a few seconds. Before I turned around the door swung open, and I fell into the room. As I hit the floor, the door slammed shut and clicked loudly. I got up, dusted myself off and looked around the room.

Again there was 1 window, 1 door, 1 closet, but instead of a table in the center there was a bed with a pillow, a sheet, and a blanket on it. I walked over to the closet and opened it hoping not to find a zombie ready to strangle me.

Relieved that I hadn't found anything, I locked and shut the closet door. As I walked over to the bed, I took off my shirt and threw it across the room. When I got to the bed, I took off a candle out of my pocket and placed it on the bed board in case I needed some light. Then I got in bed and dosed off.

I was awakened by the squeak of a door opening. I struck a match and lit the candle. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and looked around the room again. The window slowly opened by itself. A gust of wind blew through the window and snuffed my candle out. I jumped up and stood on the bed looking around frantically.

At the foot of the bed I saw someone or something materialize out of nothing. The thing had a face badly burned and it was swinging an ax at the air. "Wh-who are you? Wh-what are you doing here?" I asked it frantically. The thing groaned back, "I-i am h-here to k-kill you dor the p-p-pain you have c-caused me."

The thing swung its ax at me. I jumped and placed a drop kick at the thing's chin. The thing materialized and laughed like a maniac. I felt the ax singe a few of my hairs. I jumped from the bed and ran towards the closet. I opened the closet and waited. I felt the thing run at me. I dodged and shut the closet door. Then I locked it. I ran over to the door as the creature screamed, "Noooooooooo!" I opened the door and ran down the hall.

This time the hall looked short but was very long. The hall was very damp as if it were underground. At the end of the hall was a spiral staircase. Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, I saw a bookcase. I walked up to the bookcase and took out a book. The bookcase swung open like a door. Behind the bookcase was a dimly lit staircase. I dropped the book and started to walk down the staircase.

About halfway down the staircase, there was a twelve foot gap, and then more stairs. I backed up a few stairs, then I started to run down the stairs. At the bottom of the first section of stairs, I jumped, hoping to hurdle the great chasm. But, to my surprise I didn't even make it halfway across.

I fell round and down, round and down. Then I hit something. Soon, I blacked out. When I regained consciousness, I saw that I had fallen in a mud puddle. I stood up and looked around. I looked like I was in a cemetary. It was raining and it was very foggy. The fog, rain, and shadows made the gravestones look like monsters. I heard a noise like leaves rustling under someone's feet. I turned around to see a man in torn clothing walking towards me.

He looked alive, but yet quite dead. I turned around and ran into another. I fell down, but I got back up and ran to the side. I ran into another, fell backwards, bumped into another, and fell forwards into a mud puddle. They looked at me with eyes full of hatred and moaned. I sat there and covered my eyes with my hands waiting for them to get it over with.

The next thing I knew I was in my closet screaming. I got up, walked out of my closet and turned on a light. In my hand was a piece of paper folded over saying, "Help! I am being held prisoner in a room with one window." It was all a dream, or was it?

***

Pretty scary story, eh? Oh, before you leave, Happy Halloween! Ohhhhha-ha-ha-ha!