From dawn to dusk, we rule o'er the day.
But then what is when our heads we lay?
What beasts come out when all are asleep?
What rules the night when no man dare peep!
What horrors await you down below!
No mercy, just terror, scares, and woe.
For what comes out in the witching hour
Now comes out cause you to cower!
You have been warned of this tale of fright-
The tale of creatures that rule the night!
For what you thought came out while you lay
Now comes out to rule over the day!
But then what is when our heads we lay?
What beasts come out when all are asleep?
What rules the night when no man dare peep!
What horrors await you down below!
No mercy, just terror, scares, and woe.
For what comes out in the witching hour
Now comes out cause you to cower!
You have been warned of this tale of fright-
The tale of creatures that rule the night!
For what you thought came out while you lay
Now comes out to rule over the day!
The Terror of the Night
(A Halloween Tale)
The sun rose above the horizon, spreading light into the land, but it did not end the fears of the night. As Jack looked around at his sleeping companions and the empty ground around them, he wondered if it had been all a dream, but as he looked down at his cuts, bites, and bruises and felt the soreness of his muscles, he knew that it was most certainly not a dream.
He wondered if he would even be able to face his sleeping friends. If only he hadn't woken! But then what might have happened? Would they even be alive if Jack hadn't stopped the beasts? What were those things, those creatures, doing? He would never get the images out of his head.
The sleeping companions lay in a semi circle in the center of a four-way intersection of pavement. They had no fear of cars as the road showed signs of decay and abandonment. The few houses nearby were locked up tight with chains, boards, and just about everything else that said, "Keep away! No one is welcome here." Scraggly pines and aspens lay scattered among the dead grass and bushes that grew in between what little landmarks lay about.
The sun rose slightly above the distant mountains. Something was wrong with it. It was colored red. Jack began to feel uneasy. He had only seen it once before, when there was a large fire where he used to live. The smoke was so thick it even blocked out the sun's rays. The sun's reaching light did not touch them yet, but soon it would.
Jack's companions began to stir. Jack quickly put on the jacket he had discarded last night during the fight to cover his wounds. He couldn't let his companions know what had happened, about the beasts that snuck into the camp at night. The creatures that had began to suck his friends souls from their face. He had woke just before they began their dreadful work. He had stared in silence at the inhuman happenings before he sprang into action. So much blood. So much pain. The fear and terror of the unearthly faces and bodies.
The sun's red light began to stretch into camp. As the sun rose further, the red hue began to darken, producing even less light except for a blood-red glare. Jack looked at the sun without it burning his eyes. It seemed like the sun itself was an eye as it stared back at him with malevolence and hatred.
The red light hit Jack first. He jumped as the light burned his skin. The light bore into his skin and burned it, a slow, vicious burn that intensified slowly and then burned with a vengeance!
Jack quickly ran behind a tree nearby. The sun hit his companions, and a few covered their heads, but none reacted as he had. Was he cursed from what happened last night? Why didn't it burn them?
One of his friends, a girl by the name of Alice, did react as he had, but for a different reason.
"Jack!" she exclaimed as she jumped up. "Where's Jack?"
Jack almost called out to them, hesitated, and then said, "I'm over here."
Alice looked at his, smiled her goofy grin, and said, "Whatcha doin' all the way over there, silly? Man, look at that sunrise. I never did see anything like it."
Above, the sky remained cloudless and turned slightly purple as the sun rose even higher. The rest of Jack's friends, six in all, turned to look at Jack.
Another one of them by the name of Kyle, asked, "Why don't you come over here?"
Jack shook his head, reconsidered, and said, "No, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'll stay over here."
"But aren't you hungry?" asked another, Elizabeth.
"No, I kinda lost my appetite," replied Jack with a lopsided smile. It was true. The images of those creatures...
Alice grabbed some food and ran over to Jack.
"Hey, buddy. What's wrong?" she asked sincerely. Jack sighed.
"I just don't like that sunrise. It doesn't seem right." Jack realized that he was indeed hungry and ate the food that Alice had given him.
"I know, creepy right? Although, since it IS Halloween, so I guess it fits!" She smiled, completely oblivious to the terrors of the night before. Jack just shook his head.
"Something bad is going to happen, mark my words!" Alice looked at him funny, gave him a lopsided smile, and then ran back over to the group. Jack put on his hood, stuck his hands in his pockets, and walked over to the group, trying hard not to let the sun touch his bare skin.
"So, now what?" asked Frank. The group looked at each other in a loss. It appeared that none could remember what their purpose was. Jack looked at them in confusion. Couldn't they remember why they were here? Why were they acting like they didn't know the plan?
"Don't you guys remember?" asked Jack. "We were going to go see if that cave up in the hills was really haunted by spending the night in it, but then our car broke down. It was getting dark, so we grabbed our sleeping bags and started walking. We wanted to find a mechanic or something, remember?" The group began to nod their heads, as if their memories began to return.
"Where is our car, anyway?" asked Sue. All at once, each person pointed a different direction.
"Okay then, what do you guys remember about what we saw as we were walking?" questioned Luke.
Sue spoke out and said, "I remember passing an old cabin on our right side."
"No, I'm sure it was on our left. And it wasn't a cabin. It was a shack. It smelt like something died," said Frank.
"We didn't pass a shack or a cabin, guys. We passed an old, Victorian mansion. Remember, it was falling apart?" said Alice.
"No, you're all wrong!" Kyle said. "We passed through a forest. It was full of creepy, dead trees. That owl spooked us."
Elizabeth shook her head and said, "Nu-uh! We were walking through a field, corn, I think it was. I thought it was weird that the people just allowed the corn to wither away instead of harvesting it. There was that old scarecrow. We picked some corn, remember?"
"No, we didn't do any of those things," Luke argued. "The road just ran through a grass field. The only creepy thing was the scurrying rodents. Man, there must have been hundreds of those little buggers!"
Jack didn't agree with any of these. He remembered that they had walked down a hill, past a tree that was struck by lightning, and then to this intersection, where they decided to sleep. He didn't remember why sleeping in the middle of the road was such a good idea at the time. Maybe they were just too tired to care.
However, Jack's thoughts were interrupted as he looked down one side of the intersection. He saw the cabin Sue described. It was old, wooden, and dark. It seemed to ooze vileness. It gave him an unsettled feeling. He turned to his left and saw the shack. It was as big as a tool shed, but an awful smell came from it. The smell of rotting meat. The smell of death. He quickly turned again. He saw the old Victorian mansion. It was large and falling apart, the windows were cracked, and the house creaked in the wind. Small red eyes began to peep through the windows. Leathery wings began to flap as Jack turned left again.
In front of him was the forest. The trees' dead branches hung low over the path. They swayed in the wind and looked like hands, reaching to grab you, to catch you and tear you to shreds. An owl hooed and made Jack jump. He turned again only to see the dead corn field. A lone scarecrow peered out from above the dead stalks. The wind began to blow and the scarecrow turned to face Jack. Its eyes were red, the face turned in an evil grin, and dark laughter seemed to resonate from inside its chest. Jack's body seemed to be pulled again as he turned around to face the open field. The grass was constantly moving. Suddenly, it all stopped. The movement began to go towards him. The rodents started to squeak, an awful squeak that came from a thousand possessed rats as they scurried towards him to devour his flesh.
"Jack, what's wrong?" Jack turned to the left again to face Alice's concerned face. "Your face is pale! You turned away and started to whimper. What happened?" Jack began aware that his arm felt like it was burning and gasped in pain. He saw that was in the sun's rays. He quickly covered the spot.
"Nothing. Sorry, I was just-the directions became confusing. I guess I got worried for a sec." Jack gave a smile, but it seemed to falter. Alice gave him a concerned stare and then turned around.
"Well, since we have no idea where we came from, let's try to find directions. Which one of these houses do you think is inhabited?" As the group looked around at the abandoned houses, none could say which was inhabited and which was not.
The group began to debate what they should do. Some suggestions were knocking on some of the doors to see if anyone was home. Another suggestion was to just head down the road. As the group debated, Jack stepped away and looked up. What he saw worried him.
The sun had risen a few more feet and had grown in size. It was a deep, blood red, piercing gaze that penetrated every place. There were no shadows any more. That, however, wasn't the worst part. The sky itself had turned into blackness with red veins stretching out from the sun. These veins were constantly pusling, spreading smaller red veins that only lasted a few seconds before turning back to black. It seemed as if the sky itself was alive. Besides the distant thunder that began sounding and the arguing group, there were no other noises. No birds singing. No crickets chirping. Not even a faint hint of wind.
All of Jack's body felt as if it was on fire. He grimaced, barely holding back a scream as he quickly turned back to the group, but they had turned as well. They were facing away from Jack.
The group began walking down the road. Jack yelled, paused, and then ran after them. Jack's friends walked in a trance down the road, turning neither left nor right. Jack walked behind them a ways. Slowly, the group left the housed area and kept walking.
For a few minutes, they continued to walk. The sun was about halfway to its apex by the time they stopped. Jack's felt like he was being roasted slowly over a fire.
As the group stopped, they slowly turned to look at Jack. He was glancing at his feet when he noticed movement from above. He looked up only to see the grotesque creatures from the night before. He screamed as he fell to the ground, covering his head.
Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his back. He looked up to see Alice's concerned face.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped," Jack said hurriedly, just wanting to get moving. "Where are we going, anyways?"
"We decided we are going to find someplace to spend the night," Sue said. The group nodded around her. They all turned simultaneously and began walking again, except for Alice, who stared confusedly at the group.
"That's a little creepy," Alice stated. She looked up at the sky and gasped. "That's creepy too!"
"Isn't it?" Jack said, relieved somebody was paying attention. He looked at the red sun and winced, the pain suddenly intensifying. Alice noticed it, but only acknowledged it with a raised eyebrow.
"We should catch up with the group," Jack said suddenly, hurrying along the way. Alice followed suit, the group ahead still walking as if in a trance. Alice, still a few feet behind Jack, smiled a cruel smile. Soon the time would be here. Time for Jack to face his fear. The beasts would come at laugh at him; touch his soul with a phantom limb.
Alice jogged a few more steps and walked right beside Jack. They walked in silence for a considerable amount of time, and the sun was about an hour way from its apex. The group ahead stopped suddenly and Alice and Jack almost ran into them. They looked up and Jack and Alice followed their gaze. Above them was a steep cliff with a small pathway carved into the rock. Near the top, a cavern gaped open, with stalactites and stalagmites hanging in the entrance like teeth.
Luke turned around and suddenly said, "You know what? I'm going to go look for the car again. There might be a town in the other direction."
"I'll go with you. You know, buddy system and all," Frank quickly said. They both rushed past Jack and Alice and ran off down the trail. Jack tried calling after them, but it was no use and soon they were out of sight. The remaining three began to climb the steep trail up the face of the cliff.
"Guys, it's probably not a good idea to so this!" Jack yelled behind them. The group paid him no attention and continues to climb.
"Jack, I'm afraid for them. We should climb after them, you know, to make sure they don't die or something," Alice said humorously, but without a smile. Jack nodded and began climbing the trail. It was slow going, and somehow the other group managed to climb it in minutes.
For what seemed like hours, Jack and Alice trudged up along the trail. Using rock and weed alike for handholds and footholds, several times they almost slipped. The others had already gotten to the top and had disappeared out of sight into the foreboding cave.
When they had finally reached the top, the sun had reached the highest point in the sky and no shadow was to be seen anywhere. It seemed to reach an incredible size and its veins were dancing in the sky. That, however, wasn't the worst of Jack's worries. The cave stretched out and the cave formations were looking all the more like fangs. Not only that, but the entire cave was as cold as ice, and a chilling breeze wafted out. However, it was something else that gave Jack a feeling of unease. Something in that cave wasn't right.
"Com'on! We need to find the group before they get attacked by a bear or something. Here, I have a few flashlights for us to use," Alice said. It hadn't even crossed Jack's mind that Alice wasn't in a trance. She ushered Jack in with a flashlight, looked behind her, winked at the blood-red sun, and then followed Jack.
They found the group lying in a circle, much like the one from last night. They laid completely still as Jack and Alice prodded them. Then, from behind then, an unearthly howl came rolling forth from the darkness. A lone, shadowy figure, shaped almost like a hound, but mutated in some demonic way, stood in the distance. It was shortly joined by more creatures, each more gruesome than the last. Jack knew what was coming next.
He turned to Alice to tell her to run, but she was no longer there. He spun around to try to see her, but she was no where in sight. The creatures had now formed a large circle, making a sound as if they were laughing, closing in on Jack and his friends. His flashlight began to flicker. He cursed and slapped it, hoping desperately that it wouldn't go out. One of the creatures began to howl ,and the others joined in to create a chorus from Hell. Jack's light flickered once, and then went out completely.
It turned back on, just as the creatures were within touching distance. They stopped at the sight of the light. They all stared at him, and then began to shift. Slowly, a figure came forward. It was Alice, but she was dressed in a straight black dress.
"Oh, come on Jack. You aren't scared, are you?" She bent down, held his chin up with her finger, and then said, "What fun is it unless there's a little fright?" Jack's light burst in his hand, blinding him momentarily with light, and then plunging to darkness. He dropped it as he heard his friends being ripped. Wet sounds of bone cracking, flesh being torn, and the worst of all, his friends' screams echoed through the cave. His flashlight flickered on the floor, lighting the graphic scene only for a second, but each one was imprinted in Jack's mind.
He suddenly lunged forward, the flashlight in his hand, still working. He was lying on a rock, the cave empty. No blood, no bodies, and no beasts. Perhaps in the back of his head, or a distant echo of the cave, he heard the screams of his friends fade away.
Alice's taunting voice rose from the darkness. "Oh, come on Jack. What fun it is unless there is a little fright?" Her maniacal laughter echoed through the cave. From each shadow, a beast suddenly moved. Jack sprinted in the first direction he faced, Alice's words and laughter repeating and echoing through the cave. The sound of running followed him. He felt something grab his leg in its jaw just as he stumbled into the open, out of the cave.
He looked behind him, and saw only rock-shaped teeth clenched shut, no cave in sight. His clothes were tattered and his heart was racing. He turned back around and Alice was standing in front of him with her black clothes on.
"Jack, Jack, Jack. That was just the beginning. Do you really think I'd let you walk away without some more fun? Oh, just wait until what is coming next." She smiled. "Jack, you're going to die. And I'm going to watch and laugh and enjoy it." She leaned closer until he could smell death on her breath. "Jack, I'm going to kill you!"
She burst into a wisp of black smoke with the wail of a banshee that ripped through Jack's ears. The smoke curled around Jack and he could hear Alice laughing and saying, "It's time Jack. Time to die!"
A car pulled up a voice said, "Hey Jack, we're back. We found another car. There's also a town about 30 miles up the road. If we hurry, we can reach it be nightfall." It was Frank and Luke. The rest of the group, including Alice, peered out the windows.
"What's taking you so long Jack? Get in the car!" said Alice. Jack's eyes almost popped out of his head in surprise. Was it just a dream? He turned around. There was no cave, no rock-like-teeth, no hill, just an empty road.
"I still don't know why you walked off on your own. You wouldn't let anyone help you. You said something about 'I don't feel right' and then just walked off. We went and looked for a car and spent the last ten minutes looking for you. Hop on in. I still think we can make it to town before All Hallow's Eve!" Jack looked up and realized that the sun was setting, but not the sun that he saw just a few minuted earlier. It was a regular sun, regular sky, and regular friends. Jack walked over to the car and took a seat. He almost instantly fell asleep, drained from his experiences.
"Don't get too relaxed yet. There's still so much more in store. Don't forget Jack, you're going to die tonight. You're going to die on All Hallow's Eve. So sleep for now, but just remember, you're going to rest for eternity after this night. Sleep well Jack. You're going to need it!" Alice's whispers found their way into Jack's dreams, and they wound around his mind, poisoning every bit with their foul message. Jack then realized that he was going to die. There was no escaping it. But Jack was going to fight back. Somehow, he would beat the darkness. His dreams were filled ideas, thoughts, and most importantly hope.
Alice whispered into his ear, "Oh, but Jack, you can't fight me. You can't fight what isn't real. You can't fight fate. You will die Jack. You will die by my hand. And I will drink your blood."
He wondered if he would even be able to face his sleeping friends. If only he hadn't woken! But then what might have happened? Would they even be alive if Jack hadn't stopped the beasts? What were those things, those creatures, doing? He would never get the images out of his head.
The sleeping companions lay in a semi circle in the center of a four-way intersection of pavement. They had no fear of cars as the road showed signs of decay and abandonment. The few houses nearby were locked up tight with chains, boards, and just about everything else that said, "Keep away! No one is welcome here." Scraggly pines and aspens lay scattered among the dead grass and bushes that grew in between what little landmarks lay about.
The sun rose slightly above the distant mountains. Something was wrong with it. It was colored red. Jack began to feel uneasy. He had only seen it once before, when there was a large fire where he used to live. The smoke was so thick it even blocked out the sun's rays. The sun's reaching light did not touch them yet, but soon it would.
Jack's companions began to stir. Jack quickly put on the jacket he had discarded last night during the fight to cover his wounds. He couldn't let his companions know what had happened, about the beasts that snuck into the camp at night. The creatures that had began to suck his friends souls from their face. He had woke just before they began their dreadful work. He had stared in silence at the inhuman happenings before he sprang into action. So much blood. So much pain. The fear and terror of the unearthly faces and bodies.
The sun's red light began to stretch into camp. As the sun rose further, the red hue began to darken, producing even less light except for a blood-red glare. Jack looked at the sun without it burning his eyes. It seemed like the sun itself was an eye as it stared back at him with malevolence and hatred.
The red light hit Jack first. He jumped as the light burned his skin. The light bore into his skin and burned it, a slow, vicious burn that intensified slowly and then burned with a vengeance!
Jack quickly ran behind a tree nearby. The sun hit his companions, and a few covered their heads, but none reacted as he had. Was he cursed from what happened last night? Why didn't it burn them?
One of his friends, a girl by the name of Alice, did react as he had, but for a different reason.
"Jack!" she exclaimed as she jumped up. "Where's Jack?"
Jack almost called out to them, hesitated, and then said, "I'm over here."
Alice looked at his, smiled her goofy grin, and said, "Whatcha doin' all the way over there, silly? Man, look at that sunrise. I never did see anything like it."
Above, the sky remained cloudless and turned slightly purple as the sun rose even higher. The rest of Jack's friends, six in all, turned to look at Jack.
Another one of them by the name of Kyle, asked, "Why don't you come over here?"
Jack shook his head, reconsidered, and said, "No, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'll stay over here."
"But aren't you hungry?" asked another, Elizabeth.
"No, I kinda lost my appetite," replied Jack with a lopsided smile. It was true. The images of those creatures...
Alice grabbed some food and ran over to Jack.
"Hey, buddy. What's wrong?" she asked sincerely. Jack sighed.
"I just don't like that sunrise. It doesn't seem right." Jack realized that he was indeed hungry and ate the food that Alice had given him.
"I know, creepy right? Although, since it IS Halloween, so I guess it fits!" She smiled, completely oblivious to the terrors of the night before. Jack just shook his head.
"Something bad is going to happen, mark my words!" Alice looked at him funny, gave him a lopsided smile, and then ran back over to the group. Jack put on his hood, stuck his hands in his pockets, and walked over to the group, trying hard not to let the sun touch his bare skin.
"So, now what?" asked Frank. The group looked at each other in a loss. It appeared that none could remember what their purpose was. Jack looked at them in confusion. Couldn't they remember why they were here? Why were they acting like they didn't know the plan?
"Don't you guys remember?" asked Jack. "We were going to go see if that cave up in the hills was really haunted by spending the night in it, but then our car broke down. It was getting dark, so we grabbed our sleeping bags and started walking. We wanted to find a mechanic or something, remember?" The group began to nod their heads, as if their memories began to return.
"Where is our car, anyway?" asked Sue. All at once, each person pointed a different direction.
"Okay then, what do you guys remember about what we saw as we were walking?" questioned Luke.
Sue spoke out and said, "I remember passing an old cabin on our right side."
"No, I'm sure it was on our left. And it wasn't a cabin. It was a shack. It smelt like something died," said Frank.
"We didn't pass a shack or a cabin, guys. We passed an old, Victorian mansion. Remember, it was falling apart?" said Alice.
"No, you're all wrong!" Kyle said. "We passed through a forest. It was full of creepy, dead trees. That owl spooked us."
Elizabeth shook her head and said, "Nu-uh! We were walking through a field, corn, I think it was. I thought it was weird that the people just allowed the corn to wither away instead of harvesting it. There was that old scarecrow. We picked some corn, remember?"
"No, we didn't do any of those things," Luke argued. "The road just ran through a grass field. The only creepy thing was the scurrying rodents. Man, there must have been hundreds of those little buggers!"
Jack didn't agree with any of these. He remembered that they had walked down a hill, past a tree that was struck by lightning, and then to this intersection, where they decided to sleep. He didn't remember why sleeping in the middle of the road was such a good idea at the time. Maybe they were just too tired to care.
However, Jack's thoughts were interrupted as he looked down one side of the intersection. He saw the cabin Sue described. It was old, wooden, and dark. It seemed to ooze vileness. It gave him an unsettled feeling. He turned to his left and saw the shack. It was as big as a tool shed, but an awful smell came from it. The smell of rotting meat. The smell of death. He quickly turned again. He saw the old Victorian mansion. It was large and falling apart, the windows were cracked, and the house creaked in the wind. Small red eyes began to peep through the windows. Leathery wings began to flap as Jack turned left again.
In front of him was the forest. The trees' dead branches hung low over the path. They swayed in the wind and looked like hands, reaching to grab you, to catch you and tear you to shreds. An owl hooed and made Jack jump. He turned again only to see the dead corn field. A lone scarecrow peered out from above the dead stalks. The wind began to blow and the scarecrow turned to face Jack. Its eyes were red, the face turned in an evil grin, and dark laughter seemed to resonate from inside its chest. Jack's body seemed to be pulled again as he turned around to face the open field. The grass was constantly moving. Suddenly, it all stopped. The movement began to go towards him. The rodents started to squeak, an awful squeak that came from a thousand possessed rats as they scurried towards him to devour his flesh.
"Jack, what's wrong?" Jack turned to the left again to face Alice's concerned face. "Your face is pale! You turned away and started to whimper. What happened?" Jack began aware that his arm felt like it was burning and gasped in pain. He saw that was in the sun's rays. He quickly covered the spot.
"Nothing. Sorry, I was just-the directions became confusing. I guess I got worried for a sec." Jack gave a smile, but it seemed to falter. Alice gave him a concerned stare and then turned around.
"Well, since we have no idea where we came from, let's try to find directions. Which one of these houses do you think is inhabited?" As the group looked around at the abandoned houses, none could say which was inhabited and which was not.
The group began to debate what they should do. Some suggestions were knocking on some of the doors to see if anyone was home. Another suggestion was to just head down the road. As the group debated, Jack stepped away and looked up. What he saw worried him.
The sun had risen a few more feet and had grown in size. It was a deep, blood red, piercing gaze that penetrated every place. There were no shadows any more. That, however, wasn't the worst part. The sky itself had turned into blackness with red veins stretching out from the sun. These veins were constantly pusling, spreading smaller red veins that only lasted a few seconds before turning back to black. It seemed as if the sky itself was alive. Besides the distant thunder that began sounding and the arguing group, there were no other noises. No birds singing. No crickets chirping. Not even a faint hint of wind.
All of Jack's body felt as if it was on fire. He grimaced, barely holding back a scream as he quickly turned back to the group, but they had turned as well. They were facing away from Jack.
The group began walking down the road. Jack yelled, paused, and then ran after them. Jack's friends walked in a trance down the road, turning neither left nor right. Jack walked behind them a ways. Slowly, the group left the housed area and kept walking.
For a few minutes, they continued to walk. The sun was about halfway to its apex by the time they stopped. Jack's felt like he was being roasted slowly over a fire.
As the group stopped, they slowly turned to look at Jack. He was glancing at his feet when he noticed movement from above. He looked up only to see the grotesque creatures from the night before. He screamed as he fell to the ground, covering his head.
Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his back. He looked up to see Alice's concerned face.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped," Jack said hurriedly, just wanting to get moving. "Where are we going, anyways?"
"We decided we are going to find someplace to spend the night," Sue said. The group nodded around her. They all turned simultaneously and began walking again, except for Alice, who stared confusedly at the group.
"That's a little creepy," Alice stated. She looked up at the sky and gasped. "That's creepy too!"
"Isn't it?" Jack said, relieved somebody was paying attention. He looked at the red sun and winced, the pain suddenly intensifying. Alice noticed it, but only acknowledged it with a raised eyebrow.
"We should catch up with the group," Jack said suddenly, hurrying along the way. Alice followed suit, the group ahead still walking as if in a trance. Alice, still a few feet behind Jack, smiled a cruel smile. Soon the time would be here. Time for Jack to face his fear. The beasts would come at laugh at him; touch his soul with a phantom limb.
Alice jogged a few more steps and walked right beside Jack. They walked in silence for a considerable amount of time, and the sun was about an hour way from its apex. The group ahead stopped suddenly and Alice and Jack almost ran into them. They looked up and Jack and Alice followed their gaze. Above them was a steep cliff with a small pathway carved into the rock. Near the top, a cavern gaped open, with stalactites and stalagmites hanging in the entrance like teeth.
Luke turned around and suddenly said, "You know what? I'm going to go look for the car again. There might be a town in the other direction."
"I'll go with you. You know, buddy system and all," Frank quickly said. They both rushed past Jack and Alice and ran off down the trail. Jack tried calling after them, but it was no use and soon they were out of sight. The remaining three began to climb the steep trail up the face of the cliff.
"Guys, it's probably not a good idea to so this!" Jack yelled behind them. The group paid him no attention and continues to climb.
"Jack, I'm afraid for them. We should climb after them, you know, to make sure they don't die or something," Alice said humorously, but without a smile. Jack nodded and began climbing the trail. It was slow going, and somehow the other group managed to climb it in minutes.
For what seemed like hours, Jack and Alice trudged up along the trail. Using rock and weed alike for handholds and footholds, several times they almost slipped. The others had already gotten to the top and had disappeared out of sight into the foreboding cave.
When they had finally reached the top, the sun had reached the highest point in the sky and no shadow was to be seen anywhere. It seemed to reach an incredible size and its veins were dancing in the sky. That, however, wasn't the worst of Jack's worries. The cave stretched out and the cave formations were looking all the more like fangs. Not only that, but the entire cave was as cold as ice, and a chilling breeze wafted out. However, it was something else that gave Jack a feeling of unease. Something in that cave wasn't right.
"Com'on! We need to find the group before they get attacked by a bear or something. Here, I have a few flashlights for us to use," Alice said. It hadn't even crossed Jack's mind that Alice wasn't in a trance. She ushered Jack in with a flashlight, looked behind her, winked at the blood-red sun, and then followed Jack.
They found the group lying in a circle, much like the one from last night. They laid completely still as Jack and Alice prodded them. Then, from behind then, an unearthly howl came rolling forth from the darkness. A lone, shadowy figure, shaped almost like a hound, but mutated in some demonic way, stood in the distance. It was shortly joined by more creatures, each more gruesome than the last. Jack knew what was coming next.
He turned to Alice to tell her to run, but she was no longer there. He spun around to try to see her, but she was no where in sight. The creatures had now formed a large circle, making a sound as if they were laughing, closing in on Jack and his friends. His flashlight began to flicker. He cursed and slapped it, hoping desperately that it wouldn't go out. One of the creatures began to howl ,and the others joined in to create a chorus from Hell. Jack's light flickered once, and then went out completely.
It turned back on, just as the creatures were within touching distance. They stopped at the sight of the light. They all stared at him, and then began to shift. Slowly, a figure came forward. It was Alice, but she was dressed in a straight black dress.
"Oh, come on Jack. You aren't scared, are you?" She bent down, held his chin up with her finger, and then said, "What fun is it unless there's a little fright?" Jack's light burst in his hand, blinding him momentarily with light, and then plunging to darkness. He dropped it as he heard his friends being ripped. Wet sounds of bone cracking, flesh being torn, and the worst of all, his friends' screams echoed through the cave. His flashlight flickered on the floor, lighting the graphic scene only for a second, but each one was imprinted in Jack's mind.
He suddenly lunged forward, the flashlight in his hand, still working. He was lying on a rock, the cave empty. No blood, no bodies, and no beasts. Perhaps in the back of his head, or a distant echo of the cave, he heard the screams of his friends fade away.
Alice's taunting voice rose from the darkness. "Oh, come on Jack. What fun it is unless there is a little fright?" Her maniacal laughter echoed through the cave. From each shadow, a beast suddenly moved. Jack sprinted in the first direction he faced, Alice's words and laughter repeating and echoing through the cave. The sound of running followed him. He felt something grab his leg in its jaw just as he stumbled into the open, out of the cave.
He looked behind him, and saw only rock-shaped teeth clenched shut, no cave in sight. His clothes were tattered and his heart was racing. He turned back around and Alice was standing in front of him with her black clothes on.
"Jack, Jack, Jack. That was just the beginning. Do you really think I'd let you walk away without some more fun? Oh, just wait until what is coming next." She smiled. "Jack, you're going to die. And I'm going to watch and laugh and enjoy it." She leaned closer until he could smell death on her breath. "Jack, I'm going to kill you!"
She burst into a wisp of black smoke with the wail of a banshee that ripped through Jack's ears. The smoke curled around Jack and he could hear Alice laughing and saying, "It's time Jack. Time to die!"
A car pulled up a voice said, "Hey Jack, we're back. We found another car. There's also a town about 30 miles up the road. If we hurry, we can reach it be nightfall." It was Frank and Luke. The rest of the group, including Alice, peered out the windows.
"What's taking you so long Jack? Get in the car!" said Alice. Jack's eyes almost popped out of his head in surprise. Was it just a dream? He turned around. There was no cave, no rock-like-teeth, no hill, just an empty road.
"I still don't know why you walked off on your own. You wouldn't let anyone help you. You said something about 'I don't feel right' and then just walked off. We went and looked for a car and spent the last ten minutes looking for you. Hop on in. I still think we can make it to town before All Hallow's Eve!" Jack looked up and realized that the sun was setting, but not the sun that he saw just a few minuted earlier. It was a regular sun, regular sky, and regular friends. Jack walked over to the car and took a seat. He almost instantly fell asleep, drained from his experiences.
"Don't get too relaxed yet. There's still so much more in store. Don't forget Jack, you're going to die tonight. You're going to die on All Hallow's Eve. So sleep for now, but just remember, you're going to rest for eternity after this night. Sleep well Jack. You're going to need it!" Alice's whispers found their way into Jack's dreams, and they wound around his mind, poisoning every bit with their foul message. Jack then realized that he was going to die. There was no escaping it. But Jack was going to fight back. Somehow, he would beat the darkness. His dreams were filled ideas, thoughts, and most importantly hope.
Alice whispered into his ear, "Oh, but Jack, you can't fight me. You can't fight what isn't real. You can't fight fate. You will die Jack. You will die by my hand. And I will drink your blood."
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT HALLOWEEN
started 9/22/12