All Hallows Eve

CW: This story contains explicit language, graphic horror imagery, and violence.

The streets were scattered with curled brown and orange leaves that fell like snow, only less frequent, even gentler somehow. A smooth wind teased its way through the treetops, making them sway like waves viewed from beneath the depths of an autumn tide. Halloween. I'm too old to trick or treat now, but the feeling I get still fills me with warmth. A collective sense of wonder, the unknown, spookiness. Childish I know. I smile as I watch my little brother go off down the street with his friends, an excited Frankenstein flanked by Dracula and a risen mummy. Classic.

I would take the short way home this evening, through a lesser known street with less kids seeking candy and pumpkins that glowed a warm orange, lining the streets. The houses down here seemed derelict almost, abandoned, but it was quiet. The sounds of children's laughter and parents reluctantly acting scared as monsters knocked on their doors faded away as I rounded the corner of Gray Street. Here the winds seem to whisper instead of sing softly. The shimmer of the street lights reflected softly off of the now slightly wet floor as a light rain began to fall. I sigh, finding a sense of peace in the fact that I have no real plans for the evening - a third of a bottle of whisky, some classic horror movies and the company of my slightly overweight, ancient cat. Perfect. My footsteps thud against the road floors as my eyes flit at the old houses, dark windows, the occasional dimly glowing pumpkin the only signs of life. Something about the houses here makes me avert my gaze and I plug in my headphones. The tune of someone's watching me by Rockwell aptly starts to play before I hear a faint meow.

I pause, unplugging my headphones and stand for a second waiting for a chilled breeze to die down, checking if the sound is in my overactive imagination or real. Meow. The sound instinctively brings my gaze upwards and I spot another cat perched in a tree, this one somehow even fatter and more helpless looking than my own, a real furry ball of dough. The meows are pleas for a way out and I laugh as I wrap my headphones up and put them back in my pocket.

"You stuck chubby?" I say half under my breath as I look at the tree; there's several branches that the once nimble being should be able to hop onto but for some reason it seems reluctant. I sigh and begin trying to find a foothold, reaching up to two branches and scraping the front of my boot on the green dusty part of the tree, leaving a mark I know will be hard to scrub out. The cat still meows as I curse and then finally gain enough leverage to pull myself up onto the branches - it's about the height of the house near it up into the canopy and I begin to laugh.

"I'm on my way don't you worry"

After a few moments I draw level with the cat and put my hands under its front legs. It goes deadweight and begins purring immediately, too domesticated to have any survival instincts. As I turn to take a step down, the cat hisses, breaking free from my arms and moving with speed as it hops to a nearby branch, takes a massive leap down and rushes off down the street in a brown blur. My heartrate quickens as I almost slip and then catch myself, clutching my chest. I laugh finally.

"Jesus fuck" I say as I get my breath back. I'm quite high now and too old to fall without caring.

"What got into you"

My head scans around and I do a double take in the window that's now slightly below me. I can see right into it. The only problem is I have no idea what I'm looking at. The window is dark, seemingly pitch dark aside from the face of a woman. She cries, her expression coated in a strange blue light, some ethereal hue. She bangs forwards with the palms of her hands - they seem to meet some kind of invisible force, as though she is trapped within a cage only she can see. Her movements seem slowed, as though she's underwater. Is this some strange, ultra-realistic Halloween decoration? There seems to be no need, no one from the street can see this window. I squint as my vision begins to blur and then scoff. I've spooked myself out, I decide, but then something happens. From behind her, a looming, ashen white figure appears in the darkness. A face twisted in an impossible, demonic smile emerges, and the figure wraps his hands around the woman's mouth, drawing her back into the shadows with an unnatural smoothness. They disappear, leaving what now only looks like an empty window of an empty house. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, my mouth wide open. Did I just hallucinate? I descend the tree in a blind rush, almost slipping at least three times and then crash down onto the wet street below, slipping anyway right onto my backside. The fear I am feeling is real, but what I just saw has to be some kind of Halloween prank, right? The house is just in front of me now, I will have to walk past it to get home. Nothing but blackness from the once horrific scene in the window. I take a light run past the house, stop. Do I call the police? Crap. I'm pacing outside the house now. I at least have to make sure everything is okay.

The path up to the house is overgrown, the stones of the patio outside it assaulted by weeds. The door is covered in chipped, black paint. Not a single sign of life within. I finally make it up to the door and press my ear against it. Nothing. I knock hard, the adrenaline overcoming me and turning into impatience. I must've hit my head and actually spooked myself out enough on Halloween, enough to see a vampire in the window of an empty house. Idiot. I knock again, harder as I slowly begin to leave but on the third knock the door creaks open slowly, cold wind rushing past me into the crack as a pale hand comes around it, pushing it open to reveal a hooded face. The man within the hood has sunken, dark eyes, a gaunt face and an uneasy smile. I recoil slightly, lost for words. The man is also incredibly tall. I cannot see anything except his head, poking around the corner of his old decrepit door.

"Excuse me... erm... sorry to bother you but I was walking past and thought I heard a scream from inside, was just checking everything is okay" I say, my voice shaking now, the excuse of knocking on the man's door seeming like even more of a lie than it already is. The strange pale man laughs, revealing long, slender yellow teeth. I can't hide my expression.

"You must speak up my son, I cannot hear you" the man says through a broken raspy voice, the voice of dust if it was sentient. He ushers me forwards slightly as he sticks out the side of his head. I take a careful step forward.

"I was just saying, I heard the sound of-"

Just as I gain more confidence in the presence of this strange old man he lunges forwards, his once weak state falling away unnaturally. His hand clasps around my arm - it's ice cold and his grip is absolutely punishing. I look into his eyes pushing back with all my force and see black emptiness, the look of an animal within a human body. His grin widens, his teeth long, sharp. I pull back desperately as my feet skid over and over on the wet pathway but he pulls me in slowly, relishing his strength over me. I grip at his arm, the ring on my finger meeting his skin and he howls in pain. It burns him. I fall flat on my back and his door slams with shuddering force. For a second I cannot breath and then I finally regain sense and stand, sprinting all the way home.

The police are on their way and I pace the small space in front of the TV. My cat is at my feet, trying to thread himself in between my legs whilst purring, aware of my strange mood. I am sweating. Was that a vampire? Am I going crazy? The nightly news plays in the background as I twirl the silver ring on my finger in its place, and then the doorbell rings. I put the empty whisky bottle in my hand down, and rush over to it as my cat gives up and lays itself down in the corner. I wish I could be as unbothered about everything as he is.

“Good evening. Hugo?” the fresh faced officer says - he’s younger than me with a thin moustache and an examining frown on his face. I nod as he examines me still.

“You called about a disturbance Hugo?” He repeats in the silence. I am still lost for words.

“Yes. Uhm. Yes. The house on Gray street… something evil lives in there, someone is held captive” I say, sweat beading on my forehead despite the chill. The officer is chewing gum and looks back to his car, scratching his head.

“What do you mean something Hugo? Did you see someone in trouble?”

I snap out of my fear crazed stupor under the judgemental gaze of the officer who I can’t blame for thinking this is just another Halloween night pushed too far, and look him in the eyes for the first time.

“I’m sorry, yes. There was a woman, I saw her in the house up on the far corner of Gray street. She looked distressed, like she was being held captive. When I knocked a strange man came out, he tried to lure me in, trick me. He grabbed me by arm and tried to pull me into his house” I say, pulling down my sleeve to reveal several red marks, as long as the old man’s ice cold grip. The officer looks at the marks, and then back into my eyes.

“I’ll go check it out. Sit tight” he replies after a few beats of silence and more judgment. I sigh and close the door behind him, pacing still. My cat meows in confusion and I finally find the strength to sit down.

The policeman raps on the door once more and I awaken with a start, having had the adrenaline dump of a lifetime. The rain, once light is now lashing down brutally onto the window frame and I bolt up, images of a vampire gnashing maw filling my mind. I open the door.

“Yeah, Hugo. I think the occasion got to you my friend, the house is empty” The officer says through the winds, holding his coat up to his face to partially block the rain.

“Are you sure? The one by the big tree on the corner? There was someone in there I swear”

“The house is derelict, Hugo. I pushed in the front door, no lock. Doesn’t seem like anyone’s been there for a hundred years. Whatever you saw has gone. Must’ve been kids playing a prank or something, Halloween. Figures” The officer concludes as he makes his way back to his car, nodding at me as though this has been a job well done. Maybe he was right. I close the door slowly and feel a sense of relief. Back to the couch, and my old movies. But first Tommy needs to come home. I pull out my phone and slump down. No signal.

“Fucking phone one storm and it-” my words are cut off by a single bar of signal. Three rings and Tommy answers.

“Where are you?”

“Just by Temple Road, where you left us”

“Okay well the storm… it’s pretty bad, you guys wanna come here and watch a movie?”

“Yeah we’re about done anyways… we’ll take the shortcut and do a few more houses on the way, won't be long!” Tommy says - I almost tell him to come straight home but the line turns into static. No signal. Temple road. The only shortcut home is through Gray Street.

“Fuck”

I pick up my baseball bat and storm out the door into the Halloween tempest.

My booted feet pound against the sodden road, the silhouette of my little brother knocking on the strange man’s door coming into view around the corner. The Halloween gale is cold and seemingly coming from nowhere - no storm predicted, as if it's pushing against me from the will of something evil itself. He knocks, his friends run and a slender, dark arm pulls him into the abyss. The mummy and Dracula spot me - I tell them to run home as fast as they can.

The door swings open as I crash my boot into the handle, the metal from behind it coming loose in the rotten wood and clanging down the empty hallway of the derelict house. Everything is old here, dusty and forgotten but clearly lived in at one time. A grandfather clock that swings as though slowed in time, just like the woman’s movements. A hallway surrounded by ominous, dark doors into more dark corridors.

“Come out you old fuck or I’ll bash your head in!” I yell as loud as I can as I struggle to get my breath back. Tommy screams from upstairs - in the same moment the old man slides in front of me like the apparition of some twisted nightmare and I scream too, smashing the baseball bat across the side of his head with all my strength. It snaps in two and he laughs, smacking me with the back of his hand. I fly across the room and land flat on my back, seeing stars.

“You foolish western people. Making a joke out of all Hallows eve. The dark exists, you know. I can hide in plain sight on this night”

I can’t understand his words and am still holding the handle to my bat.

“Oh that’s not a costume? You are one ugly fucker”

The old man’s face twists in malice, revealing his slender yellow teeth and inhuman smile once more. As he advances with snake-like hunger appearing in his eyes a vase smashes into the back of his head, courtesy of Tommy from the balcony above.

“Yeah ugly as hell!” he screams. I stand, taking the momentary distraction and use the only weapon I have to hand - the handle of my old baseball bat and thrust it forwards with my charge. To my shock it crushes into the old man’s chest with a spray of blood that coats me, and he looks back at me wide eyed, withering. His once old looking, demonic face slowly fades into even more greyness, an ashen white before turning into nothing but smoke. His hooded cloak slams onto the floor, entangled with bones. I can barely breathe. Tommy looks down at me, taking off his Frankenstein mask, slapping it down onto the dust ridden floor.

“Let’s get out of here”

“Yeah lets go, now. Fuck Halloween”

“Yeah fuck Halloween”