{"id":538,"date":"2011-10-14T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/2011\/10\/14\/a-loose-halloween-story\/"},"modified":"2011-10-14T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-14T12:05:00","slug":"a-loose-halloween-story-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/2011\/10\/14\/a-loose-halloween-story-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Loose Halloween Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Halloween muse struck me yesterday. I realized at least five years have passed since I celebrated Halloween beyond purchasing candy for others. I’m craving Halloween this year, and I remembered that some of my earliest writing came from attempts to write Halloween stories. I stumbled upon one of my more “recent” ones just a few minutes ago. Wow! My writing style has changed a lot. I’m posting the story as I wrote it with just very minor edits; it’s not the most horrific or Halloweenic story out there, but I intend to post a few Halloween stories over the next two weeks that will likely increase in the Halloween mood from one to the next. Enjoy!<\/i><\/div>\n
______________________________________<\/span>_<\/span>____________<\/span>_<\/span><\/div>\n
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            It\u2019s cold. It\u2019s dark. I\u2019m going to bed and there\u2019s a party going on in the other room. The guys \u2013 Ryan, Evan, Marisa, Griffin and all the others \u2013 don\u2019t mind. If they did, I would just have to end the party anyways. I close my door almost all the way, leaving a slight crack of light to peer through just for the heck of it. I jump into bed still in my clothes for no reason at all. I wake up later and it\u2019s dark and quiet.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I look at the clock, which reads 12:00 \u2013 midnight to the very second.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I get out of bed and walk down the hall, wondering why the others left without waking me. I know they\u2019re respectful and all, but I would still have expected some kind of good-bye.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            Bowls with food remains sit on the living room table. The music collection is mostly still in one corner, with a few CDs scattered around the room. All of this I can pass off as regular teenage peers at work.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            But then I spot the shoes. They\u2019re all still lined up along the wall where everyone left them. Well<\/i>, I decide, either they\u2019re playing some silly sort of a prank or they\u2019re off somewhere on the property<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I hear a thud out front of the house and open the door. Evan falls in on me.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cHa. Ha. Ha. Very funny,\u201d I say. Even so, I wonder how this is supposed to scare me. I\u2019m not very gullible, and they know it \u2013 most of all Evan.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cSure thing Evan. The joke\u2019s quite lame though.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I stand there for a while, the top of his body at my feet. The slight feeling that maybe, just maybe this is not a joke comes into my head \u2013 if it turns out to be one, I\u2019ll always be ready to turn it back on them.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            Finally I bend down just to verify that this actually is a joke. But when I do so, I see Evan\u2019s bare back more clearly. It\u2019s all cut up and bleeding. I touch it, clearing up any thoughts of a prank when Evan groans out of pain.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cEv, you okay?\u201d I ask him. No response.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I\u2019m not sure what to think. This looks like the real thing, and I decide to play it\u2019s the real deal. But what caused it?<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            As I turn him on his side to check out his front, I hear a weird noise from outside. I\u2019m not sure what it is, but if I was a fool I\u2019m sure I\u2019d think it was some sort of howl. Nothing to worry about, but I decide to bring Evan all the way into the room anyway.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            He\u2019s taller than me and of a slightly awkward build, so the only way to move him is to slip my hands under his arms and drag him headfirst in. As a gust of wind blows into it, the cheap screen door bangs shut behind us.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            Another howl comes from outside. I\u2019m definite it is a howl now and not something else. I\u2019m curious as to what the howl\u2019s coming from, but I decide it\u2019s more important to take care of Evan first. Just to be careful, or maybe out of paranoia, I close the solid door behind me.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I leave Evan backside up, parallel to the couch, and place a pillow under his head. I head to the bathroom. Opening the medicine cabinet, I pause and realize I\u2019m not sure what to do. Finally I just grab the rubbing alcohol and a rag.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I pour a little bit of the alcohol onto Evan\u2019s back, just enough that he groans again. I see he might be coming to.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            His eyelids quiver and finally open up a little. \u201cJackie?\u201d he asks me, then pauses for a while so that I almost think he\u2019s out again. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I tell him.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWhere\u2019s everybody else?\u201d he asks in a weak voice.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cI don\u2019t know that either,\u201d I say, \u201cI just woke up about five minutes ago.\u201d Right at that second we hear the howling noise again.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d he asks.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cI don\u2019t know, but that\u2019s the third time I\u2019ve heard it. You think you\u2019d be okay if I went outside for a few minutes to check around? There\u2019s something about that sound I don\u2019t like with everybody missing and all.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cI\u2019ll be fine,\u201d says Evan.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            As I put my shoes on, I watch him slip back into unconsciousness again. All the more power to ya\u2019 kid<\/i>, I decide. Slipping on my jacket, I head outside.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            It\u2019s chilly, and there\u2019s a slight gust of wind. The edge of the horizon is slightly lit. I don\u2019 t pay much attention to this however. I\u2019m looking around when I see a bright flash come from the barn.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I rush over to see what it\u2019s all about. Opening the door, I realize something isn\u2019t quite right. Then I see the rest of my friends. They\u2019re trapped behind some sort of glowing rods for all I can tell. Where the pole-things came from, I have no clue.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d I ask them.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d says Caleb, \u201cotherwise we\u2019d say.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cSomething attacked Evan,\u201d says Griffin, \u201cAfter that, it kind of ran into here somewhere. We were looking around when these\u2026poles just surrounded us. I\u2019d be careful if I were you. That thing could still be in here.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            Looking in the cage-thing, I realize that somebody\u2019s missing.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWhere\u2019s Ryan?\u201d I ask.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cUm\u2026I don\u2019t know,\u201d says Tyler. \u201cDid you see him, Griffin?\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cNo,\u201d says Griffin, \u201cHow about you?\u201d he turns and asks Marisa.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            She nods \u201cno\u201d and asks, \u201cWhen did he disappear? From all I know, one minute he was here, and the next\u2026\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cWell, I saw Evan<\/i>,\u201d I say. \u201cDid you see what your attacker-thing looked like?\u201d<\/div>\n
            \u201cNo, it was too dark, and by the time we could see, the thing and Evan were both gone. That\u2019s a definite. We saw it prowling around here just a few minutes ago and decided to check things out.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cSmart move on our part, huh Jack?\u201d says Tyler.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cYeah, whatever,\u201d I say. \u201cLet\u2019s just see about getting you guys out of this thing first. We can worry about your prowler later. Maybe you can knock out the barn-wall side.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cTried that;\u201d Tyler says, \u201cIt didn\u2019t really work out so well.\u201d<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cHave you tried getting past these bars?\u201d I suggest.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cLet\u2019s at least test it for plausibility first, okay?\u201d Griffin advises.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            \u201cYou\u2019re not scared now, are you?\u201d I joke. I\u2019m sure we all are, somewhat at least.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I look for something to test the bars with, and am just about to try it out, when I am knocked hard into, and almost all the way through the bars. As I go through them I feel suddenly weak, as if they were draining my energy. A cutting sensation runs down my skin right along the bar intrusions \u2013 I\u2019m sure to have some deep scars for a long time. Something, some kind of beast-like thing turns around and comes back towards me. I know that if it gets me, I could be a goner.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I take off out the barn, running as fast as my mind will let me. The beast thing is right behind, closing our gap at a pace too fast for me to get to the possible shelter of my parent\u2019s house. If only they hadn\u2019t had to leave for the weekend, maybe this wouldn\u2019t be happening. But as it is, I race towards the road, hoping that maybe, just somehow, somebody will drive by and stop when they see a dead body by the side of the road.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            The beast tears into my back like crazy, and as I collapse to the ground losing consciousness, I am faintly aware of a gunshot in the distance. Something weighs down on me and then I am out cold.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
            I wake up to a flood of light above me \u2013 hospital light?<\/i> I wonder. Then something blocks the light, and I realize it\u2019s a badly beaten up Ryan standing over me.<\/o:p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Halloween muse struck me yesterday. I realized at least five years have passed since I celebrated Halloween beyond purchasing candy for others. I’m craving Halloween this year, and I remembered that some of my earliest writing came from attempts to write Halloween stories. I stumbled upon one of my more “recent” ones just a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-halloween","7":"category-holidays","8":"category-my-writing","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}