The Halloween Nightmare

A costume party? I’m not going.”

 

Monish Shah

Som’s friend Wayne was throwing a Halloween-themed birthday party at his mansion. He had heard legends about Wayne’s house. It had a long tormented history of suicides and murders. He agreed when he learned that all his friends were going, but refused to dress up in a costume.

Som entered the mansion’s gates. He shivered, not from cold but out of fear. The grounds were decorated with classic Halloween stuff. The lawn had Jack-o’lanterns put up, and as he walked past the pumpkins, he felt as if each one was staring at him. It was so eerie that he failed to see the coffin beside the main door.

Som rang the doorbell. A shrill scream echoed all through the house. And then, suddenly, someone grabbed his arm.

“Welcome to the party!” laughed Mrs. Lobo. Dressed as a witch, she had specially installed the screaming doorbell for the night.

“More children are coming in. Go inside. I’ve got to scare them too,” she said shoving a dazed Som into the hall.

The Lobos had put in a lot of effort to decorate the place and the dim lights in the hall added to the spookiness.

“Belcome Som! Fow aaar you? “ said Mr. Lobo, removing his fake teeth. He had dressed as a vampire. “I just can’t talk with these on. Have you wished Wayne?”

Som looked around for Wayne but he wasn’t there. Most of their friends had cosplayed as goblins, zombies and demons. He felt slightly out of place until he saw Raj, who like him, was not wearing a costume.

Som went upstairs to look for Wayne but he wasn’t in his room either. As he was about to go downstairs, he heard a thud behind a door. Thinking that Wayne was playing a trick on him, he slowly opened the door. It was a storeroom. A red switch with warning signs caught his eye. He flipped the switch, expecting a box of fake spiders to fall on him or someone to grab his foot. But nothing happened.

Som left the room.The passageway was now painted red by the setting sun. All of a sudden, it became very cold. His spine felt frozen. He ran downstairs. There was no one in the hall except for a boy dressed like a zombie, who was sitting with his back to him.

“Where’s everyone?” he asked.