Mizuko and Charmy's story competition., :P Fun. Options

[Mizuko]

(IMG:http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc331/princess_of_melody/Graphics/By%20Me/Story_Competition_Banner.jpg)
Hosted by Mizuko and Charmy

This is a new competition to test your skills at writing!
And too add a twist, make it scary. ;D Because, well, you know, it's Halloween. >.>

Guidelines;

- It's a short story competition. So don't go overboard with how much you write! Keep in mind that your story can be no longer than approximately 7000 words.
- Title your short story! If you forget to it will not be accepted until you do. And also when submitting, please list the number of words used in the story.
- Make sure the story won't scare the pants off of us. Meaning, don't go overboard with images that might be gruesome ect.
- PM your story to Charmy, so she can approve of it. If it's a-Okay the story will appear in this post. They'll be posted up anonymously! So don't spoil who's is who!
- When the deadline for submitting is over (We we'll announce when it's over. It depends on how many entries we receive), again, PM Charmy with your votes.
- When the voting is over the results will be posted in this topic, also stating which story was written by who.
- Have funz. Or you'll make Mizu-Cookie sad.
- No being a sore loser!
- No being a sore winner either!
- Don't forget the theme; Halloween.;) Just don't make it too frightening. D':

Voting form;

Their are a few categories in which you can vote in for. Similar to the graphic contest, eh? SHH. Enter the title of the story for voting (You see now why you need a title, don't you?). :P

CODE

[b]Scariest Story[/b]:
[b]Funniest Story[/b]:
[b]Story with Best Grammar[/b]:
[b]Best Story Overall[/b]:

And as a specialty of winning the overall prize, the winner may request a scene from their story for the wonderful Harvest Sprite to make a awesome GFX out of. Or you may let him choose, which ever. This is your prize for writing such a cool story. ^-^

Entries;

Entry # 1
Babysitting, A Man, and His Dog

“Ok, the kids are in bed, so there shouldn’t be any problems,” the short and bubbly Mrs. Anderson said.
“Of course.” Samantha nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
“Oh and once again, thank you,” Mrs. Anderson began, “You know, Henry obviously can’t do anything right, calling me back to the office at 11:30 at night, ridiculous! Sorry for calling you on such a short notice. It’s just that with Henry out of town, and with this case at work, and…”
Samantha placed her finger on Mrs. Anderson’s lip so she would stop rambling.
“Everything will be fine.” She took the keys from the shelf next to the front door and handed them to her. Mrs. Anderson nodded and walked out the door.
The house was small. It had two floors. The first floor contained the master bedroom, the living room, a small bathroom also connected to the master bedroom, and the kitchen to the far back of the house. The second floor contained Cooper’s and Ella’s bedrooms, and a single bathroom. Samantha currently was in the living room.
Samantha sat down on the old country styled couch that sat across from the small television. Right now the 16 year old wore her glasses, and old pair of pink pajamas (the pants containing fluffy white rabbits), and her hair was pulled back into a very undone ponytail.
In the dimness of the room, Samantha turned on the television. She flipped through the many channels, and finally paused on one. She did not realize that Halloween was what was currently playing on this channel. After watching about 10 minutes, she quickly flipped off the television. Samantha didn’t do good when it came to scary movies.
She needed someone to talk to, someone who could get her mind off of the scary movie. She pulled out her cell phone and was about to text Kristen, her best friend, when she realized that she wouldn’t answer because it was so late at night. She looked up from her phone and in the corner of her eye she noticed something move through the window in the reflection of television.
She blinked, and shook her head. Darn scary movies, She thought to herself. She flipped on the television again, this time quickly changing the channel to something else. At that moment the power went out. Samantha cursed under her breath, hoping for the power to flip back on, yet it didn’t.
She walked out of the room and into the small, country styled kitchen. She flipped open the cabinet under the sink, sadly finding no flashlight. After searching for about 5 minutes, she paused. She felt a sudden jeer of someone standing in the doorway behind her. She could hear a slight breathing, and a quiet panting.
She flipped around to see nobody. She went to the drawer next to the refrigerator, and pulled out a small knife. There was no way she was going to walk around a dark, lightless house defenseless. She walked down the hall and turned into the bathroom. She got down on her knees and opened the cabinet below the sink. She felt her hand and around.
She grabbed it, a flashlight. Immediately, she flicked up the switch and the light shot out of the bulb. She got up. And standing there, in the doorway, was a man. He had a black beard. He wore a long trench coat, and had big boots on. On top of his head he wore a wool cap. In his right hand he was holding a leash, attached to the neck of a large black hound dog.
Samantha flipped around. There was no one in the doorway. Samantha flew like a hummingbird into the master bedroom. She pulled the blankets down, hopped onto the bed, and pulled the blankets over her, covering up her whole body head to toe. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911.
“911, what is your emergency?” The operator’s voice was monotone.
Samantha opened up her mouth when suddenly, a force landed right on her. Samantha dropped the phone. Whatever it was sat on her. It felt like it had its hands and feet on her. The dog popped into her head as she heard the soft purr of the dog.
“Now is that really necessary,” a deep voice said.
She realized that the phone hadn’t hung up and was still in connection with 911.
Samantha screamed as loud as she could into the phone: “14534 DeCourt Road!”
The address went through and the operator picked it up perfectly. Squads were sent out immediately. The squads pulled up to the front of the house. 3 cops ran up to the front door, and 2 ran around to the back. On the way to the backyard, the cops found the side window going into the living room open. They went through the window and let the other cops in through the front door. The cops explored the house. They found two empty children’s beds upstairs, and a messed up tossed around master bed set in the master bedroom. The only thing they could find was a shattered pair of glasses, and a cell phone still in connection with a 911 call.





Entry # 2
Chocolate

The metal sign sung back in forth in the wind, whistling a private tune no one would soon hear. Rust crept along its words, “Chocolatier,” surrounding their bevel and inching on to the black paint. Tiles on the roof were worn and the plastered wall had begun to peel and break, though the scent of chocolate from inside continued to waft outwards, warm and inviting. A display case was set in the window, decorated with gold leaves of porcelain and small figurines that were often placed in storefronts during the Fall Festival. The story was closed, and empty. Yet far above the streets, a plume of gray smoke rose from the chimeney.

It was late fall now, and Teresé walked with a bounce in her step. A young woman, she often walked through the streets of Giverny to enjoy the brisk, fresh air. Many a person would wave to her bright, smiling face. Her crimson hair curled and fell down her shoulders and back, her pale face made rosy by her affable smile and blushing cheeks. Teresé held a small rose in her hand as she walked through the villager, hoping to give it to her lover Marcel. Instead, she saw a man walking out of his home carrying a small slip of paper and stopped to greet him.

“Bonjour Mr. Bufonte! How are you doing on this fine day?” said Teresé, practically bouncing with happiness.

The man turned to her, an apprehensive look in his eye. As he glowered, he slowly backed up and ran away. This caught Teresé by surprise. Mr. Bufonte was the local banker, and though he was an honest man, he was stubborn and was often plagued by the worries of his wife. She had ran away earlier that week. Deciding that he was still in a state of depression, Teresé continued her walk, unknowing that Mr. Bufonte had crossed the wheat fields into the forest behind them.

Teresé went home, unable to find Marcel, to instead find her brother, Gaspard, waiting anxiously. He held a packet in his hands.

“Soeur! Sister! We are going to be late for the festivities!” cried Gaspard. He twirled his finger in his hair and proceeded to run around his sister over and over again. Teresé laughed and placed her rose in a vase on a maple table in the center of the room.

“Gaspard, we have a few good hours! Do not be so impatient!” said Teresé. The siblings’ mother had died long ago, and the father often worked in Paris to accommodate the family’s needs. Teresé was left to care for her brother, working as a librarian.

Teresé patted Gaspard on the head and walked into the back room. She combed her hair in front of the mirror and admired it. She peered outside of her window and breathed, long and hard, and whiffed the flowers in full bloom on her windowsill. They glowed in the sunshine, a marvel of nature.

Just then, a young girl, Clarice, waltzed on by carrying a piece of paper similar to that of Mr. Bufonte’s. Teresé waved to her.

“Clarice, where are you going with that piece of paper?” asked Teresé, smiling. Clarice turned to Teresé and frowned. She stopped and Teresé eyed a tear falling down her face. She then backed away from Teresé, similar to Mr. Bufonte’s actions and then ran away, towards the fields and the forest, just behind the chocolate shop.

Teresé felt puzzled. She tried to ignore her thoughts, but could not focus on anything more. What did Mr. Bufonte and Clarice have in common? Perhaps Clarice was the illegitimate daughter of Mr. Bufonte’s secret lover? No, that didn’t make any sense. Teresé felt even stranger coming up with such odd conclusions. Just then, she heard a knock on the door and went to answer it.

Standing there was Marcel. He had short blonde hair, and large blue eyes. Those eyes, to Teresé, were the water in her favorite stream. The clear sky on a warm day. Those eyes pierced her heart. Marcel and Teresé kissed and then walked inside. They talked for a while, and Gaspard played in another side room with his toy horse. Then Teresé mentioned Clarice and Mr. Bufonte.

“Don’t make up silly stories Clarice. That part of the festival isn’t until late at night!” laughed Gaspard. Teresé gave him a serious face and continued to describe what happened. What she had failed to mention were the slips of paper.

“But you don’t think anything is wrong,” asked Teresé again. She twirled her hair with her finger. “They both seemed so sad… oh! They were holding small slips of paper.”

Gaspard’s face exploded in laughter. “You haven’t heard of the tale have you? Apparently some “witch” is giving the villagers pieces of paper to become her meals! I wouldn’t believe half of it. Rumor has it Madame Drusilla is hosting some sort of event for the festival. I would just believe it was her. You know Mr. Bufonte, after his wife left him anything would scare him. And poor Clarice, she would think it as real as her hands in front of her face.” Gaspard looked at this clock in the room and jumped to his feet. “I must be off. I have to finish baking the loaves of bread with Baker Brian for the festival. I will see you then, my love.” He kissed Teresé lightly on the lips and ran out of the door.

Teresé went back to her back room, the bed room, and spied a small piece of paper that had fallen on the flowers in her windowsill. She picked it up and brought it to the wastebin, but saw their was something written upon it.

“Chocolate for sale, Chocolate for sale! Enjoy Madame Drusilla’s new chocolatier facility next to the stream in the forest glade. Stop by before tonight’s festival for a free treat!”

Teresé smiled. She decided she would walk to the forest clearing to fetch a treat for Gaspard. She picked up her coat, and forewarned Gaspard not to leave the house.

“I’ll be back before sundown, just in time for the festival. I promise!” Teresé smiled at Gaspard and rustled his hair, though he simply groaned and ran to his room. Teresé looked at the paper. There was a strange purple residue, almost a kind of dust that lay upon it. She ignored it and folded the paper into her pocket.

Teresé ran down different streets to reach the forest the fastest way she knew how- past the chocolate shop, behind the watermill, and down the stream through the wheat fields. She ran, and saw friends carrying pieces of paper far ahead of her. They had almost entered the forest. She yelled to them, but they did not respond.

Instead, she walked in front of the chocolate shop and saw that the window was now empty. She knocked on the door, hoping that someone could help her. She didn’t feel like going into the forest at the time.

There was no answer. Only gray smoke.

Teresé ran down the river and saw the sun was setting. She decided she would just have to go into the forest faster. Drusilla’s chocolate sweets were simply too tempting. She crossed the bridge from the bend in the stream to the forest and ran in past the brush. There were no paths in the forest, so one had to inch their way through bramble to discover their destination. Teresé was well traveled in the forest, yet today was different.

Minutes flew by. Teresé was lost. She worried for Gaspard and herself even more. She decided to flee the forest and return to the festival in time. If one stayed in the forest for too long, fog would begin to build.

And so it did.

Teresé began to panic- it was cold, she was tired. She wanted chocolate more than anything now. Her fingers, where she had touched the slip of paper ached. She wanted to rest. She wanted chocolate. She ran, faster and faster, dazed and confused. Sweat began to form on her brow. The branches reached at her from low bushes and scratched her legs. She wanted chocolate. Her legs began to give way from fatigue. She had a limp now. Where were her friends from before? Were they in the forest as well? She was hungry, thirsty. She wanted chocolate. She took out the piece of paper, hoping to find some form of direction. The paper smelt of chocolate, Drusilla’s chocolate. Each year Drusilla hosted a small booth in the festival, where everyone could sample her prize winning chocolate.

Sure enough, there were now directions written on the other side of the sheet. She was to walk…

24 paces forward. Then 85 paces to the right. Chocolate treats are waiting for you dear Teresé! - Drusilla de la Cour


Teresé ran. She needed help. She needed a friend. She needed chocolate. Sweet, dark, chocolate. Filled with a raspberry sauce. She needed it.

Her fingers began to burn where she had touched the paper even more.

The wind caressed her face as she ran, though she did not heed it. She saw the clearing ahead of her and ran even faster. She fell flat on her face, but stood up and continued to run. A large cut now ran from her right ear to her chin. She didn’t care.

There was chocolate.

Sure enough, there was a small hut in the forest clearing beside the stream. She ran inside, and the lights were on.

Candles flickered beneath a candelabra that was turned upside-down and hung from the ceiling. The light bounced around the room and reflected off of bronze bowls and spoons that were hugn in every which way around the room. And in the center, was Drusilla.

“Hurry dearie, we will be late! It’s all downstairs. All of it.” moaned Drusilla.

Teresé didn’t even hear the nonsensical madness Drusilla, old feeble Drusilla, was saying. She suddenly found herself walking down stairs that weren’t there before. She was now in a basement. There was chocolate here. Chocolate, everywhere. She filled her hands with it, but was struck from behind by a sharp hand.

“Not so fast! We must prepare you!” Drusilla cried. Teresé was incredibly confused. She blinked, and now saw where she was. What was she doing? She was in a basement somewhere, cut, bleeding, and fatigued. Drusilla began to tear at her clothes, but she could not move. She was paralyzed, immobilized. Beside her were her friends that had walked into the forest before her, in the same state of shock. Drusilla laughed and talked to herself. All the victims could do was stare. Stare blankly at each other’s faces, and guess what was going to happen next. Guess what each other were thinking. Guess why they had found themselves in a stone basement at the bottom of a forest.

The iron door opened quickly. It was dark inside, though smelled horrible. The ground was unusually soft, and moist, it felt as though there were shreds of something. Drusilla pushed the three of the girls in. Now Teresé was sane. There had been no chocolate, she was eating dirt. Why was she even looking for chocolate in the beginning? She spied the slip of paper she had once held. It was being folded by Drusilla. Drusilla. Drusilla, Drusilla, Drusilla. Teresé wondered, just who on Earth was Drusilla? What was she doing at a basement in the forest? Why was she not at the harvest festival? Teresé was overcome with confusion. She had realized now she was also nude. In a dark room.

The door shut behind her. She began to panic.

She was granted movement. As were the other girls. They ran in circles, squealing like pigs. It was hopeless.

The motors began.

The grinders started.

----------------------------------------

The festival was in full swing! Laterns flickered everywhere as the villagers danced and cheered. Gaspard had been taken to the festival by Marcel, for his sister was home late from the forest. He approached the chocolate stand, all he ever wanted at the festival, and there smiling was Drusilla.

“Drusilla, your chocolate is amazing! I simply must know your secret!” said Gaspard. Drusilla laughed and simply shook her finger at him.

“The best secrets hold the best rewards! I could never tell you young one!” said Drusilla as she poked Gaspard lightly on the nose. “Here, try this new bon bon. It’s fresh from today.

Gaspard ate the entire delicacy with one bite. “Its delicious Drusilla! What do you call it?”

Drusilla smiled at Gaspard and gently patted him on the head and walked away. Into the back of her booth.



There were shavings of meat. She laughed.

“I call it Teresé.”





Entry # 3
The Cats Meow

“It's finally here!!” I screamed to myself. “Now, now Paco, don't go making a big deal out of this, it's only Halloween,” my mom said while cleaning the kitchen. I knew Mom didn't quite understand why Halloween was such a special day for me, but as long as I knew why, I was happy. It was the best time of the year, free candy, dressing up, getting to see the Halloween Parade, it was all too much. Oh and of course I can't forget about the Cats Meow.

The Cats Meow was a special treat that only Mr. Smith, one of our neighbors, would give out on Halloween. It was a big piece of chocolate in the shape of a fat cat sitting down and holding its belly and wrapped in the shiniest gold foil I had ever seen. The actual name of it was unknown. Everyone just called it the Cats Meow, but nobody ever really knew much about it. Not even if it had nuts or not. This year I was going to get it, I just knew it.

There was something great about living downtown in an apartment, well, at least for Halloween it was great. You could get three pillow sacks full of candy on just one floor. All the kids would form themselves in a line around the entire floor and it would move at a sluggish pace, as the tenants handed out loads of candy to each kid.

This was my last year trick-or-treating. I was already fifteen and wanted to end it at that age. For the first time ever, I didn't care about my costume. I was a hobo. I figured it was the easiest costume to make. All I had to do was rip some pair of old jeans, wear some dirty t-shirt, and top it off with a long coat and a beanie. I was all set to go out and trick-or-treat. I rushed out of our apartment and went straight to my neighbor, Mr. Smith.

He opened the door immediately and looked at me. I could tell Mr. Smith was at least seventy years old. His face was full of wrinkles, his hair was a cloud of white, he could barely see, which I figured was because he had the tiniest glasses I had ever seen. Mr. Smith whispered, “Oh, hello son. I have a lot of candy this year.” I opened up my pillow sack and waited for him to drop in the golden fat cat, but it was not so. All I got were some candy corn, suckers and a measly chocolate bar. “Have a goodnight son,” Mr. Smith said as he scratched his back and shut the door.

I had spent the entire night hoarding candy, it was great. I was getting ready to empty my pillow sack back at my apartment, when I saw my two friends, Charmy and Mizuko. They were at Mr. Smith's door. Then I saw it. I dropped my candy all over the floor, my jaw nearly falling with it. “Mizuko!” I screamed as I ran towards her. Nearly out of breath I asked,“Di-did I just see you get the Cats Meow, Mizuko?!” She looked up at me and I could see her big grin behind her witch makeup. “Yes, I did! Now I'm going to eat it and enjoy it like there's no tomorrow!” Charmy laughed and her bumble bee costume seemed to laugh with her too. “I cannot believe that you got this lucky, Miz!” Charmy said.

“You have to share it with us, Mizuko, it's huge! Just look at it.” I looked straight at the chocolate and my mouth began to water.

“Well, maybe I can, but maybe I won't!” Mizuko then began to run as fast as she could, but she had been too confident, thinking she was free from us now, she did not see the little boy standing near the stairs and she tripped right on him. The Cats Meow flew up into the air, its foil dancing with the lights; it came down, but not onto the floor, it fell down through the middle of the stairs all the way down. Charmy and I ran to the stairs, ignoring the mother of the boy that Mizuko had tripped over which was now shouting at Mizuko with fury.

“Do you think the cat is okay, Paco?”

“I don't know, Charmy. It fell down quite a lot of levels”

We looked down and to our surprise, we saw the Cats Meow. It had fallen in a recycling bin, which had tons of newspapers in it. “Man, I love news!” Charmy said as we ran down the stairs. Along the way we met Alicia. Alicia was a good friend of mine, she was dressed all in black, I assumed she was going for a goth look, but she had pink socks on and it threw me off. We explained what happened to Alicia and her eyes suddenly began to get very big. “Let's go get that cat!” Alicia shouted sprinting down the stairs.
We reached the cat, well, Charmy did. She hugged it and blurted out “it's obvious that I get to eat it. Finders keepers, remember?”

“Well, why don't we go see the parade first and then we can see who should eat the candy bar,” Alice modestly said. She had always loved the Halloween parade and hated missing it.

We ran outside and were amazed by all the colors and lights, by the huge inflatable pumpkins that soared the sky. Confetti was being thrown everywhere by the dancers, who were in front of everyone. Mizuko quickly joined us and began to dance as if she were one of the parade dancers. There were people dressed up as skeletons, werewolves, vampires, super heroes and even some dressed as bears juggling fire balls. It was a sight to see, my dad always felt that if one did not see the Halloween parade at least once, then there was no point in living downtown.

Suddenly, Charmy bolted out of the group and across the street, dodging floats as she crossed. We all looked at each other and thought what on earth was going on. So, we ran to the other side too, avoiding some clowns on a unicycle.

“Charmy! Where are you? Don't tell me you ran away to eat the Cats Meow?!” Mizuko yelled as she furiously stomped the ground. After looking around for Charmy for nearly thirty minutes, we had finally found her. She was at the dust field, as we called it. It was a huge abandoned area, full of sandy looking dirt. It had a small house in the corner, but that too was abandoned and there were no signs of anything living in the area, not even weeds.

“Uncool!” Charmy said out of breath. “I want this chocolate for myself!”

“No! That chocolate is mine, Mr. Smith gave it to me!” Mizuko said while running to Charmy.

“Now, now guys. It's just candy, no reason to fight about it.” Alicia calmly said.

“Wait! Did you guys hear that?” I said in a quivery voice.

“All I hear is some so called friend about to murder my choco-” Mizuko couldn't finish her sentence, because at that moment a sudden ring of dust began forming around the entire area. It grew bigger and bigger, until it was as high as the eye could see.

“Aaaaaaeee!” Alicia screamed, “what is going on, why is it so windy?!”

We all looked around, but what caught our attention was a floating Charmy.

“Charmy!! How, what!?” I yelled at her.

Charmy then threw the Cats Meow at Alicia's face and said “Don't just stand there! Help me!”

But it wasn't necessary, because Charmy immediately fell to the ground. We ran to her, helped her up and looked at each other with frightened eyes.

“Let's make a run for it! It's only wind.” Mizuko said in a joking manner.

Suddenly, a foot stepped out of the ring of dust. “Look! Someone is here to help!” I excitedly said and ran towards the foot. But then the entire body came out. I stopped and looked with fear. The person in front of me was missing a head, blood was dripping from his neck and was spread all over his already red t-shirt.

“Aaaaa!!! Everyone...run!” Charmy yelled at the top of her lungs and we all began to run.

Charmy and Mizuko were way ahead, while Alicia and I were straggling behind. I looked back and could see the headless man's hands, which had very long nails, arms covered in bloody hair and filled with warts. It was disgusting. I couldn't see Charmy or Mizuko, but I could still hear Mizuko yelling “Holy bananas, holy bananas! There is a headless dead person going to kill us! Why does this happen to me?!”

After a while, the dust was so thick that we couldn't see a thing. “Look! The house! Let's hide there!” Alicia said, nearly falling from exhaustion. We ran to it and we saw that it had a small greenhouse. Fortunately, the door was opened and we ran in, locking the door behind us. Quickly, we hid behind a couple of old flower pots that were big enough for us to go behind without ducking down.

“I'm so scared...how about if we don't make it, Paco?” Alicia whispered to me.

“We're going to be fine, don't worry,” I smiled at her, but even I didn't believe my own words.

Our worst fear had came true, the headless man was at the door. He smashed the glass with his hand, cutting his wrist and letting even more blood pour down his body. He unlocked the door. Alicia and I were stuck, in order to get out, we would need to pass by the headless monster. “Dogs! Look!” Alicia said and pointed behind us. It was true, there were two dogs on the other side of the glass. They both were missing their left eye, their black bodies were full of scratches and when they opened their mouth to bark, blood would spit out from their tongues and onto the glass.

Everything stopped. The dogs were no longer barking and the only sound you could hear was the faint foot steps of the headless man and the quiet hum of the wind. It was all over, and I surely believed that. Until, I saw an old dusty axe in the corner. This was our only hope! I grabbed it and told Alicia to follow behind me. I ran to the headless monster and threw the axe as hard as I could, it hit him right on his left shoulder. He fell down and a puddle of blood formed around him.

“...He's dead. Let's go now, Alicia!” I grabbed Alicia by her hand and walked past the puddle of blood. Then I felt it, Alicia's hand had let go. I looked back and she was on the floor. The headless man had grabbed her leg and made her fall to the ground.

“Nooo! Alicia!” I was about to pull her back when the dogs broke through the glass, sending shards flying everywhere. They were running towards me, I jumped out of the way just in time as they leaped for me. The roar of the wind got louder and smashed every single window in the greenhouse. The sound was terrifying, it was like being inside of the heart of a tornado. I barely managed to look up and I saw the entire room sparkling from the glass shards, the moonlight illuminated each piece with intensity. I would say it was a beautiful sight, but that just wasn't the case.

When things quieted down, I looked up and I saw Alicia and the axe. The axe had been forcefully thrusted into her heart. The blood, there was so much. I couldn't believe it. Then I noticed something, Alicia had never let go of the Cats Meow. Now its shiny gold foil that amazed me, was covered in deep red blood.

“Alicia...why...” I quietly said to myself.
The world was quiet.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next day I met with Charmy and Mizuko. All three of us were speechless, we had just been through one of the craziest nights of our lives. The police didn't believe the headless monster part, they figured it was some murderer playing a trick. We walked by the greenhouse, which was now broken apart and full of bits and pieces of glass. We were about to leave when Mizuko saw something.

“Look! Is that, no it can't be!” Mizuko was pointing to the top of the greenhouse. It was a bloody head, barely even recognizable. And next to it was the Cats Meow. Finally, we understood the rare piece of chocolate. Why nobody ever really knew where the Cats Meow came from, why there were so many rumors. The people who did come to know it, never told anybody about it, either because they shared the same fate as Alicia or because it was a depressing topic to even mention.

“Let's go guys, I don't think there is any point in staying here anymore.” I said to the tear filled Charmy and Mizuko. We laid a pink rose in the spot where Alicia had died and then we left, never to return, never to forget.





Entry # 4
Silver-Tinged Nightmares
Jenny hummed lowly as she kerchunked the key into Room 173, the aging tumblers groaning as she flicked her wrist. With a lumbering creak, the door swung inward and with it Jenny sauntered inside. Pausing at the separated powder room, she reached out and flicked on the lights of the bed chamber. Sighing out through her nostrils, the young woman clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, eyeing the clump of sheets on the single bed, the soggy towels left on the dresser, the funk of a full trashcan seeping out from the bathroom.

Nobody ever said working at a bed and breakfast was glamorous. Stuffing her skeleton key beside her ID card in her back pocket, Jenny went about her duties of cleaning out the room, cringing at the molding room-service leftovers in the wastebasket clearly marked for paper goods only. Early spring in Maine could still be considered Winter in other parts of the country, and this year had been particularly wet and dreary, making everything age quicker–and die faster. Using a paper towel to sweep off a couple of fly corpses from the windowsill, the cloudy skies did no good to lighten the room or make it any warmer.

The reeeek of rubber wheels hitting the hardwood floor caused Jenny to jump, cursing audibly through clenched teeth.

“Oh, Miss Fallon, I no mean to frighten you! Very sorry.” Marta the Inn’s sole laundress squeaked this softly as she looked over her cart to meet Jenny’s eye. Her throaty Puerto Rican accent coarsed through her voice like a flooded river, and while Jenny caught her breath and untensed, she spoke again. “I take sheets and towels now, Miss?”

“Yes, yes, Marta. They’re all in on the bathroom counter. Thanks,” Jenny sputtered, crumpling the paper towel and tossing it into a large trashcan on wheels for two points. Swish, she thought without a grin. While Marta rustled around in the bathroom, Jenny gathered up her Windex bottle and was heading out of the room to hit the next when Marta halted her by speaking her name abruptly. Craning her neck over one shoulder, she saw the middle-aged woman leaning out from the bathroom, hand clenched around some small object.

“Miss Jenny, this is yours?” Jenny’s syrup colored eyes drifted down to Marta’s thick fingers to see a thin, tarnished silver ring with a delicate diamond setting held between two of her fingertips. Tilting her head to one side, then turning her body to face Marta, Jenny shook her head, confused. Where did that come from? It wasn’t in there when I was in there cleaning… Looking up into Marta’s sunken black eyes, she asked, “Marta, where was that?” Maybe she had just missed it before, or it was hidden behind the tissue box or some other explanation.

“It not yours? Oh… was right on top of the towels. I thought you had left there by mistake. Maybe I should take to front desk; someone must have lost, yes?" Jenny eyed the ring carefully, feeling a sudden excitement welling up in her stomach. Shifting her feet on the brown, matted carpet, she couldn’t help but notice the creeping of an idea slowly crawling its way into her mind. Take it, take it, a voice whispered. Jenny, take the ring. Snapping her head up, eyes wide with a set frown, Jenny shook her head and outstretched her hand.

“No, that’s alright, Marta. I’ll take it down; I’m heading there anyway to drop off my jacket now anyway.” The young woman shrugged, the lie coming surprisingly easily. She had had no real intention of ridding herself of the jacket since the entire Ellsworth Inn was without a proper heating system, even in the deepest of winters. Forcing a grim smile at Marta, Jenny waited for the woman to hand over the ring, but Marta hesitated for some seconds. However, Jenny’s piercing eyes finally bore their way into her brain, making her nervous and uncomfortable. Marta slipped the ring into Jenny’s hand and swung around to gather up the towels she had before left unattended.

Silently, Jenny slipped out of the room and strutted down the hall at a fast pace. Without so much as a grunt, she found a room at the opposite end of the floor and slunk inside, the heavy door clicking into its lock in a muffled whisper. In the hazy dark of the unoccupied bedroom, Jenny found herself out of breath and perspiring. Her knuckles had turned bone white from clutching the ring in her palm so tightly, and only now alone in the Inn did she feel she could unclench her fist.

Looking down into her palm with the glassy eyes of a child in a toy store, Jenny fingered the ring gently as if stroking the cheek of a lover. Its hoary flesh glistened softly to her, hissing in her ear, Jenny, Jenny, wear me, Jenny. I’m yours now. Put me on, Jenny, Jenny, dear. Rushing, the young woman complied to the voice and began to fit the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand, but found it too small for her fingers. Grunting with the effort, she only struggled more forcefully for the jewelry piece the fit, clenched her jaw, and pushed harder. Being so desperate to have the ring on her finger, Jenny might have broken her finger in two had it not suddenly slipped below her lower inter-phalangeal joint. Jenny collapsed to the floor, the breath going out of her lungs as if she had been holding it for minutes on end. The impending dread that had overcome her the moment she had seen the ring left her now, the throbbing that had inhabited her skull now dulled to a soft pounding.

Jenny sat for some time on the floor of the room, head resting on the wooden door, eyes complacently boring holes into the popcorn ceiling. But not too long afterwards, that voice was whispering to her again, calling her name. Jen, Jen, Jen, Jenny! She looked down at her hand, the one that now bore the ring, then realized that it had to have been some sort of engagement ring years ago, left behind at this Inn by some patron or worker. Good girl. Jenny, Jenny, love, aren’t I pretty? As if in some trance, Jenny nodded to the ring, and was then bombarded by a piercing headache and throbbing pain inside her forehead, causing her to cry out and clutch her scalp.

A hissing sound permeated her ears, and now the voice was screeching in her brain, scraping at her cerebral lobes with sharp claws, eyes burning with a fiery fury as they stared at nothing. Everything went from an screaming of gibberish to words, clear cut and slicing tears in Jenny’s subconscious. Get out, get out! Harlot, concubine, hussy! With the energy of a lion leaping for prey, Jenny reached out for the doorknob, panting and unable to keep her eyes open. Her eyes, her head, her hands, all on fire! Tramp! Get out, you filthy trollop! The door gave way when Jenny turned to beating at scratching at the brass turn-lock, tumbling out into the hallway in tears and in more agony than before. Crawling like a desperate infant, Jenny escaped from the room, feet barely out of the way of the door before it slammed shut, shaking the floor in anger.

And just so, the pain, the searing furies snatching at her sanity took wing, leaving her broken and panting on the floor, a dog reprimanded by its master. The Inn around her was silent, dark, darker than it should have been, even with the overcast skies. Jenny heard no ringing of call bells, no rustling of clothes or closing of doors, not a voice to be heard. Though frightened out of her wits, Jenny managed to lift her eyes to look down the hallway and saw the door to Room 173 wide open, Marta’s cart of cleaning supplies tipped over in the hallway, the scent of Pinesol and Clorox bleeding into the musty odor of the Inn.

“… Marta?” No answer, no movement. The only thing that moved was the mist of bleak fear, anxiety and dread that had before flown as it rested around Jenny’s shoulders once more. Shutting her eyes tightly, she told herself, Jenny, breath, you just have to breath! None of this is real–you must have bumped your head on a piece of furniture, or dozed off. None of this is–

Thud.

Jenny’s eyelids shot open, whipped her neck to the side to stare at the door she had just tumbled out of, but found it the same as it had been before. But she was positive she had heard a heavy footfall from just beyond the doorjamb. Jenny screeched, for the door handle suddenly jiggled wildly, as if some entity was inside, trying frantically to get out. Scrambling to her feet, shouting and grabbing at her hand, for it had begun to sear in pain once again. Thud thud, rattle, rrrattle, chink.

The door had opened, Jenny knew, but she was halfway down the hall, tripping over her own feet, the floor turning to sand underneath her as she screamed for help. The voice in her cranium squealed in her ear, mocking her screams, moaning her name. Now the footsteps came from the hallway just behind her, pursuing her in wide struts, the heavy thud thud thud of a man’s boots on hardwood, even though the floor was most certainly carpeted, or sand, now, as it were to Jenny.

Faster and faster came the footfalls, and the slower Jenny was able to move as her screams became mourning calls, like some beast mortally wounded and crying out for salvation. The pain was indescribable, shooting up from her fingers and into her arm, her brainstem struck like a harp’s strings and shocked with an electric current. Now the thud thud was right behind her, a heavy, hot breath hitting her neck, a deep drawl, groaning,Jeeeennyyyy.

“Aaaaiiigh!” Using all her weight, Jenny struck down the door directly to her left, leaping inside and slamming the door behind her. Just as she had closed the door, she had seen in the hallway a thick black fog, glistening with shreds of light, a buzzing and screeching muffled by the voice. As soon as the door was closed, a thousand fists beat at its outside while Jenny deadbolted it, thrust a chair blindly under the handle that rattled like a specter’s chains.
Lethargically, like molasses from a jar, the beating and screams trickled away. All that remained for a long while was a dull scratching, a kitten begging to be let inside. Jenny lay collapsed on the floor, a puddle of emotions. She cried profusely, hysterical, unable to awaken from this nightmare of life. No logical thought could save her from this phantom. Then she saw it: that ring upon her finger, so vainly placed and glinting up at her. Aren’t I lovely, Jenny?

With just as much desperation as when she had put it on, Jenny grunted and hunched over, pulling and tugging at the haunted thing, but found it immovable, stuck, as if glued there for all time. Giving up and sobbing in frustration, Jenny realized the scratching had died away, finally, leaving the room… in deep, utter, dead.

Silence.

Jenny’s breathing came short, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as well as every one on her arms and head. In that silence she had heard the faintest of breathing, now growing louder, slow and calm. Swallowing dry dust in her throat, Jenny knew it was over the moment she turned around to face the window on the other side of the room.

All the light from the outdoors had faded to night, spilling into the room like a pool of fog, moving and filtering over every surface, creeping towards her. The mist was taking shape within the window, forming the silhouette of a massive human figure, features indeterminable. All that Jenny could see was a curling Cheshire grin where the thing’s face might be, full of gleaming stark white teeth, just grinning at her, stretching the realms of the imagination with its crescent moon of snide satisfaction.

Jenny, dearest. Nowhere to run now, love. The thing was speaking without speaking, its voice a cacophony of metal slide against metal, a sound that made her ears bleed and eyes twitch. Her body was frozen in absolute terror, mouth gaping without a sound to be made. Jenny, Jenny, Jenny.

The fog rolled over Jenny’s body as the being advanced and she jolted out of her frozen state, screaming with her raw voice. Her legs propelled backwards, her head hitting the door before the rest of her body with so much force she was dizzy. No, no, Jenny, come now. I didn’t mean what I said before. All Jenny could see was black with threads of silver thread woven in, white, gleaming teeth burning holes in her skin like acidic stars. You know we were supposed to be Jenny, I knew it was you as soon as you put on my ring, darling. I knew… Jenny, Jenny, love.

Jenny couldn’t find the voice, the energy to scream anymore, and all power had left her body. All was numb as darkness enfolded around her, her eyes rolling back in her head to escape the terror, but was followed by the beast and its menacing smile. This isn’t the end Jenny, no, no. Jenny, love, this is just the beginning.





Entry # 5
Could Halloween get any Weirder?
Akurei drove home on his motorcycle, thoughts swirling around in his mind. This was it. This was the year he was going to scare those dang kids off his lawn for good. He had come up with the perfect idea a week ago...
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Akurei slammed the door to his house so hard, that it flew off the hinges. Well, that sucked, but he'd fix it later. He could hear his son Ashbel's horror movies from the other room. Dang, what was wrong with that kid? Was he not afraid of anything? Akurei stormed through the living room, expecting to see Ashbel smiling while watching the films. What greeted him, however, was something totally different. His son was cowering behind the pillows while watching a pink bunny carrying a butcher knife covered in blood. It was when he heard his son whispering "That's so dang scary..." that Akurei knew. He had found the perfect costume.
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So the question is, just where in the heck do you get such a costume? You can't just storm into Wally World and say "Excuse me sir, but where do you keep your blood covered pink bunny costumes? Are they in the back?" Akurei knew this, because he had tried such things. Humans, they thought you were crazy when you stumbled in and demanded that you "Give me all your chicken flavored ice cream, now." Akurei thought for a moment, and then it struck him. The Fairy Godmother Aya would know just the answer to this solution! Akurei stopped in the middle of the road and turned his motorcycle around. Man, Aya was so inconvenient, putting his house on the other side of the world. No matter. Akurei would get there eventually.
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A few hours later, Akurei had arrived outside of Aya's house. Because he got kidnapped by a princess a year ago, his living establishments had changed. His normally dreary house was now covered in polka dots and shiny stickers. Ah, but good old Aya. His moldy sign that said "Solicitors and pretty much everyone else who steps on this doorstep will be shot." was still there. Akurei knocked on the door, already knowing what was going to happen. "Go away! I'm busy!" Aya's old voice crackled through the door. "Fairy Godmother Aya, If you don't open this door, I might let some spiders out to eat you." Rushed footsteps sounded from behind the door, and a hunched old man with long white hair opened the door. "Oh fine. Come in. But don't stay too long, or I'll...I'll cut an old man fart on you or something..." Akurei chuckled, wondering how this old fart was still alive, and went inside.
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Aya led Akurei into the living room and pointing to the T.V. "Good. Now that you are here, fix my T.V." Akurei frowned at Aya and hit the T.V. "I'm not a repairman. You've gotten really old. Surprised God hasn't gone lightning on your butt yet." Aya looked at him critically, then put on some ancient, cracked glasses. "Oh. Dang. You're that idiot demon. Get out of my house." Akurei light his hand up with fire and put it under Aya's hair. "Now now, fairy Godmother. If you like your hair, you will help me find a pink bunny costume covered in blood." Aya looked at him like he was an idiot-which he is-and said "Why did you come to me for one?" Akurei stared past him to a family picture on the wall, picking out a girly looking boy. "Because. I figure Paine has one. He's weird like that." Aya sighed, and looked at the other room quickly. "If you hurry, I can sneak out. To the carriage!"
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Aya's carriage was an onion. No. It seriously was. It was shaped like an onion, and it smelled like one too. "Look boy, I didn't have time to clean it." Akurei covered his nose and said "What, is a pumpkin too majestic for you? Or do you just not like to follow fairy tales?" Aya spit in the carriage floor and said "Can't follow too much of a fairy tale, or you get your butt copyrighted." He revved up the carriage's engine, and they shot off for Paine's house.
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Arriving at Paine's house, you could see that it was on fire. Huh. Akurei didn't remember doing that. Wait. He didn't get here till just now. It couldn't have been him. He stepped out of the onion carriage- thankful because now he could actually breathe- and went into the house. Paine was standing above the oven, staring at it blankly. "The fridge isn't working again..." He said, still staring at it. Akurei clapped him on the shoulder and said "Someone got old." Handing him a pair of glasses. Paine looked at the oven again, then back at Akurei. "That's not a fridge. No wonder it burned when I put my hand inside of it...I should probably take Thyme out of there..." He took a baby doll out of the oven and threw it on the floor. "Okay...I take that back. You've gone insane. Do you have a pink bunny suit covered in blood?" Paine smiled and pointed to a hallway. "Down there...the first right..." With that, Paine drifted away and left Akurei alone.
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Akurei riffled through the closet. This was Paine's underwear closet, and had nothing to do with what he was looking for. He tried the next closet, but that had dead bunnies in it. "I think I'm getting warmer..." Akurei mumbled. He looked up and saw a heater. "Oh. That's why." He went into another closet and found what he was looking for. A bright pink bunny suit, complete with blood. Ah, Akurei could see light shining down from the ceiling onto it. Perhaps that was the sun roof, or perhaps Akurei had found true costume love. One problem though. There was a dead body still in it.
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No problem, right? Akurei had dealt with dead bodies before. What was so different about this one? Nothing, you big baby. Just march up there and go get it. Akurei did so, and started to pull the costume off the body. Rather, he had started, but the body's eyes opened and revealed empty eye sockets, shocking Akurei. "Who dares remove this bunny costume off my corpse?" Akurei stumbled back, surprised that it spoke. "It is I. Akurei. I need it for something." The corpse gave him a critical eye-er, what WOULD have been a critical eye if he HAD eyes-and spoke once more. "To gain this bunny suit, you must beat me in a dancing competition!"
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A dancing competition. That corpse must have lost it's brain. Perhaps, Akurei wouldn't even have to do this. He could just grab the costume and run. Before he could, however, the door shut and his surroundings turned into a dance floor. "You are required to do ballet...now!" Akurei had no clue how to do ballet, so he figured that he should just flap his arms like a chicken and do his best. Surprisingly, once the timer went off, the corpse clapped. "That was awesome! My feet even wanted to dance with you!" The corpse took off the costume and showed Akurei his feet. Right now! That's when he should take the costume and run! Unfortunately, he could not. The stank of the corpse's feet was so overwhelming, that he passed out, crumpling on the floor.
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Akurei woke up, what seemed like hours later. He was suspended upside down, above something boiling. He looked around, his vision still blurry, and spotted Aya hanging upside down next to him. "You idiot! You fell prey to a EwwwwStinkyGrossUberStankyFeetCorpseMonster! Also known as ESGUSFCM!" Akurei's head hurt already, so he didn't even bother listening to Aya. Instead, he concentrated down below him. How to get out... Just then, you could hear a boy yelling from outside the windows. Said windows crashed, and a boy with short blond hair with a leaf covering his tenders burst through on a vine. "Hani?" Akurei yelled over the sound of the shattered glass hitting the floor. "Of course! My older brother senses were tingling!" He untied them, and kept them away from the acid. "What's with the getup?" Akurei asked. "Lucifer is giving away free costumes to people that ask, come on!" Hani tugged on Akurei's hand, taking him to an unknown land.
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They arrived outside a cancer prevention center. Akurei looked at all the sick people, wondering why they were here, when Hani pulled him inside the building. Lucifer was chatting up some random male doctor, until Hani tapped him on the shoulder. "Luciferalla, we need a costume for Akurei!" Lucifer smiled, and held his finger to his lips. "Ssh. This is a hospital. I'll get to it right away~!"
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Within moments, Lucifer had completed the most beautiful pink bunny costume Akurei had ever seen. He held it up to his face, and discovered it was soft. Lucifer hugged him, and told him to come back any time. "Sure thing, Luciferalla! Thanks!" With that, Akurei drove home to go try on his new pink bunny costume.
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With all frights
On a dark eve's night.
One should be keen
For it is Halloween.
Akurei slipped on his pink bunny suit. This was the day. Those dang kid's would finally be too scared to step on his lawn. As he went outside, he felt like he was forgetting something. After a while of not figuring out what it was, Akurei just shrugged and went outside. The kid's from down the street came, and Akurei felt like he could already hear their shrieks in his ears. Oh yes. They were shrieks alright. They were shrieks of laughter, and they were directed at him. Akurei looked down, and noticed that he forget the blood. Not only that, but his fly was down. "Haha, you gay old man rabbit!" one of the kid's shouted. Akurei got ready to throw a flaming torch at him, but he decided not to. After all, Halloween is just another fun holiday, and he did have fun this past week. Besides. There was always next year to get those kid's...





Entry # 6
Paranoia
I opened the door, its eerie creak reverberating throughout the suburban neighborhood. The cardboard witch flapped weakly in the harsh wind. I crept in, and flicked on the light. The orange incandescence shining dimly, though bright, compared to the constant darkness of the party I had just arrived back from.
"Mom?" I half whispered, half yelled.
There was no reply. I figured she was still out at the restaurant, by now used to her working late. I dropped my purse, and kicked off my pleather platforms, and pushed them to the side of the shoe-rack. The house was dark. It was around 1:00AM, by this time, no one was still trick-or-treating, and the only noise was from the refrigerator. I grabbed a chocolate bar from my pocket, they handed them out at the party. I unwrapped it, half-melted, I took a careful bite, and wiped my mouth on my wrist.
Something didn't feel right. Not the chocolate, it was amazing. I flipped open my cell phone. "No New Messages. 1:16AM, Sunday Nov. 1/09" It read. "Strange," I said aloud, usually my mom would have texted me, or at least a missed call, something. I brushed it off, walked into the living room, flopped down on the couch and clicked on the TV.
"Tonight, on Letterman!" said the announcer enthusiastically. "Beep-beep-beep!" My phone alarmed, I opened it and read the message.
"sarah, I'll b home late. c u tmrw. - mom" I was confused. My mother never talked in 'text talk', she was a firm believer in proper punctuation and spelling. By now, a tad paranoid, I texted her back, saying: "okay, what time do you think you'll be home? I have piano tomorrow at 10." I clicked send. I didn't actually have piano lessons tomorrow, and my mom would know this. I waited anxiously, staring blankly at my cell phone until it once again emitted the high pitched beeps.
"k. u shud go 2 sleep soon then. :)" My heart dropped. I began to get worried. I pressed call on my mothers number, hoping just to hear her voice. It rang, and it rang again. It did so about five times, before I heard a knock on the door. Somewhat paranoid, I grabbed a kitchen knife and stuck it in my back pocket. Just in case. The phone continued to ring as I held it up to my face, and my hand reached for the doorknob. My heart began pounding violently, and I turned the doorknob, the knife in my pocket emnating as a flimsy last resort, the ringing seeming to get piercingly loud. I opened the door.
"Trick-or-treat!" cheered a short child wearing a slightly frightening ghoulish mask, holding the hand of a very tired looking father.
"Oh... Oh, okay." I discretely took the knife from my pocket and placed it on the side table, and finally, the ringing stopped. I turned around to to get the candy bowl.
"Here you go, sweetie." I took a handful of candy from the bowl and dropped it in his almost bursting at the seams pillowcase.
"Thanks lady!" The satisfied child happily pranced off, tugging at the wrist of his exhausted father.
I closed the door, and locked it quickly. My paranoia somewhat fading away, as I looked to logic for the answers. My mother was obviously tired, who would want to use their extra energy on grammar? And besides, it's not like my piano lessons are her first priority, it's perfectly normal to forget. I tried to reassure myself.
The TV suddenly caught my attention in the midst of the reasoning.
"Breaking news, a man believed to have killed up to three women has escaped from Toronto Central Prison tonight, police are out on the search, and any late-night trick or treaters are advised to call it a night for safety reasons. He is described as tall, dark, with shaggy black hair and a scar on his left cheek. He was last seen by guards at 8:00PM tonight, wearing regulation prison clothes. Though a source may have seen him wearing dark blue blazer, a white t-shirt and sweat pants. He is extremely dangerous and mentally unstable, if you have any information please call-" I shut off the TV. My hands were shaking, my head feeling light and my stomach turning inside out. I had a terrible feeling, as though someone had just hit me in the gut with a sledge-hammer. I began crying uncontrollably, and I picked up my phone once again, calling my mothers number.
It continued to ring, as I paced around the room, wiping my tears on my brand new sweater. The insufferable ringing persisted.
"Pick up, darn it!" I cried out in anger, slamming my fist on the island counter top.
It stopped. I dialed again.
"We're sorry, but the number you requested cannot be completed as dialed. Please try again."
I threw my phone to the floor in animosity. All the paranoia, the denying and the fear burst inside of me like a supernova. I fell to the floor, my body collapsing in panic.
"Okay, get yourself together. You're jumping to conclusions, just go to bed." I said in a flimsy regain of sanity.
I picked myself up, and turned off the kitchen lights. I walked dizzily up the staircase, not able to see much of what was in front of me. I was able to see, passing my mothers room, that her door was slightly open. It was closed when I had left the house.
It was silent. The rush of the realization, the utter fear welling up inside of me, someone had been in the house. I pushed open the door.
Crimson stained the white bedsheets, perfume bottles and makeup bags were scattered on the floor, the window open and the ruffled satin curtains swayed in the wind like twin tides. My mother, motionless and bloodied, was on the ground. Her pink nightgown flushed scarlet. My mom.
The image slowly processed through my head, the information being analyzed through my mind. The sheer inconceivability of the scene didn't work. I didn't want to believe it. It hit me like a bag of bricks, like that. My mother is dead. She was killed. I managed to utter out a blood curdling scream in sudden consciousness. The tears began to fall again, this time not in apprehension, but utter terror, desperation. I fell to the floor like a slab of meat, gravity seemed to intensify as the images replayed over and over in my head.
"I was waiting for you!" boomed the man. He appeared out of nowhere like a blitz of wind, carrying a large knife, a demented smirk on his face, a malevolent seeming in his eyes. The scar on his left cheek, wearing the blazer, t-shirt, and sweat pants covered in my mothers blood.
The feeling. We all know it, when you have a life-changing epiphany, when you witness a flat out ghastly sight, the feeling we get in the nightmare we can't wait to wake up from. It was real. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter than a vice grip, hoping that everything would just disappear, this whole psychotic nightmare.
I woke up.
"Oh my god... That was the most messed up dream ever." I whispered.
I was in my room, never before had I been so relieved, never had I felt so lucky to be alive. I grabbed my cell phone flipped it open.
'11:59PM/October 31st, 2009. 1 Unread Message.'
I opened the message.
"I'll be home late, Sarah. Be careful, lock the door. Love you. - Mom"




Entry # 7
No Face. The beginning of tradition.

Everyone knows that the day of Halloween is celebrated for some silly little harvest but has anyone told you why people wear masks to hide there faces? I will tell what I think but first I should teach you what a No face is. No faced people are people who did horrible crimes in the town of Mystery. They were given cloaks to cover their entire bodies and all their information about any past life get’s destroyed while they give up their identity. They would be kicked out of town and told never to return. This practice happened so many times that eventually there was a small community of no faces that clung onto their past lives as best as they could. Now that you know that I can tell you the story in a town of Mystery.

It was a late October night, The wind was giving the town a chill to tell them that winter was on it’s way and to start preparing for snow. The only business open that night was a bar and restaurant with pretty girls singing the songs they had been working on while the men stared and in one mans case, Drool over the pretty girls. When the last girl was about to come onto the stage a figure with a old worn out cloak covering his entire body. The people in the bar saw that this man was clearly a no face and proceeded to kick him out of the club. The no face refused to leave until he was served a drink. He stayed in his seat despite nearly everyone telling the masked man to leave and never come back. After the people continued to yell at him to leave, The no face stood up to speak. “Is this how you treat the people who ask for drinks? If so then it saddens me to say but if you don’t think I am worthy of your drink then you are not worthy of my sight.” From the inside of his cloak was a small but sharp knife which he used to punish everyone innocent and perhaps not so innocent people at the bar. As soon as the local Sergeants of law appeared the no face practically vanished from the building as if he was never there. When he returned to his home of no faces he told them his story and they all called him a hero. The next year more people would mask their faces to do the crimes they would commit. The number grew each year until it became what it is. However now a days it is children who take on the tradition by robbing homes of their candy instead of the lives inside it. Although there may be people carrying on the tradition of the no faces. You just don’t know it till it’s to late.





Entry # 8
The Ultimate Party
Mizuko placed a green top hat on her head and a bright red rain coat over her shoulders. She ran around her room dancing and singing "If your happy and you know it clap your hands, Doing doing".
She noticed some people coming up her long eerie driveway.
"Ah it's a bunch of kids coming to ask me for candy." She said staring down at them from her window. She got a mega phone out and opened her window, "You have ten minutes to get out of here or I will set my pony onto you!" She screeched at them.
"Hey Mizuko it's us." Charmy yelled in Mizuko's direction. In surprise Mizuko ran down the staircase and opened the front door.
"Welcome my friends,” She told them. “ to my domain." She propelled her arms around. Staring at them from the stairs. They stepped inside with immense caution. "Allow me to.......Show you around" Mizuko said her tongue hanging out. She pushed it back in and walked down to her guests. Who were Charmy, Oscar, Harvest Sprite, Twilight Wanderer and Zen Clarke. "Come now, I have a feast ready for us ALL!" She said opening a large door.
They all walked through the door to see a large feast set out on a long table.
"Please take your seat and I will be...." She took a deep breath before finishing, "Right with you, Ohaahahahahaha." She ran through the hallway but soon appeared again with a tray in her hand. "Tea anyone?" She asked in a cheesy voice, giving out tea to her guests.

Ding dong!
Mizuko stood in horror after the ring of the front door.
"M...Mizuko are you alright?" Oscar asked nervously. Without any further hesitation she tipped the table up so it was facing the front door.
"Quick everyone hide!" Mizuko announced as she retrieved her hat from her head. "I will handle this." She tip-toed towards the door with her hat ready to attack whom ever ring upon her door bell.
She opened the door a little and peeped through. Finding some children in cotsumes.
“Trick-or-Treat!” They cheered with large grins, holding bags up to Mizuko's eyes. She screamed in horror at the sight and ran to hide behind the table with the others.
"Mizuko what's happening?" Harvest Sprite asked as he was poking he's head around the table's legs, trying to see what's happening.
"They have come for us. The little kids are here." She whispered to them, grabbing a gun and aiming it at the front door.
"No stupid. You can't do that! There just little kids, it's not that scary." Zen yelled ripping the gun from Mizuko's shaking hands.
"Oh look there gone!" Mizuko realised as she got up and had another peep through the door. She jumped with a cheery smile.

"GAME TIME!!!" Mizuko sung, suddenly taking out a Twister game out of no where. "You, you, you and yooou~" she sneered pointing at Oscar, Twilight Wanderer, Charmy and herself. "We all going to go on and play a little game named TWISTER!"
“Harvest Sprite you get to do the spinny thing” Charmy nudged his shoulder. About half way into the game they where all tangled and complaining.
"I have had enough of this. ….I think it's time." Mizuko said. It was as if a shadow were covering her eyes. She stood up making everyone else fall on top of each other and ran off again. This time she came back with some candy. "Everyone likes candy so have some!" she said with a massive grin, eyes tight shut.
They all took one single bite of the food.
"Oh yuck! that's horrible!" Charmy commented. Scraping at her tongue.
"WHAT? You don't like Mizuko's laxative filled candy?” Mizuko tutted, shaking her head. Then looked at Charmy in fury. She ran up the stairs in a burst. "I am going to have to end this party now." She snapped her fingers and all the Halloween decorations hanging around came to life. Their were monsters, life-sucking streamers, manically laughing pumpkins, and dead bats. Everyone jumped at what Mizuko had caused. They all cursed under their breath.

"Hey Lucky Charms?” Mizuko asked in a mysterious tone. Head down. Charmy grabbed her hands and held them in front of her mouth and trembled. “ Have you ever seen the movie.... Dodge ball...?" She whispered, picking up and axe from behind her back. Where did that come from?
Two pumpkins nibbled on Charmy's arms so she was enable to run. "I do believe in that movie they say that if you can dodge an.... axe you can dodge a ball. Correct?" She grabbed the axe with both hands a held it high above her head. "Lets test it!" She said throwing the axe towards Charmy. Mizuko held one arm in the air, waiting for the spinning results.
"And its a whole in one."Mizuko mumbled to herself after the axe split Charmy.
"Charmy!" The others yelled at once.
The Halloween monsters all grabbed the prisoners, making them stay all night. Suffering them with the dead bat smell. Oh noes! Mizuko left them. She ventured to her bedroom to sleep for the night.

The next day Mizuko slept in. But when she finally woke up she opened the door from her bedroom. She walked slowly to the foyer she left her so called friends in last night. When she came upon the foyer's contents, the Halloween decorations had disappeared and there were 5 dead bodies on the floor.
"Perfect" She squealed with another large grin on her face. She did the happy kick with hands in the air. “Whoohoo!”
"MY, MY, MY. WHO'S THE CRAZY ONE NOW!?" A familiar voice yelled. Mizuko stopped jumping and squeeling. She opened her eyes. Only to find LenyoSpock staring savagely at her. With bazooka in hands. "It's time to go Mizu-cookies." He said getting ready to bazooka her. "Finally, the end has come." She said happily, jumping and squealing again. “I can go home now.” She said laughing like a maniac. Suddenly Mizuko put her hands on her head in a trance. "AHHHHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" She screamed as she fell to the floor.
Spock looked surprised. “I haven't done anything yet.” His pointy ears flicked.
“Haha, just kidding.” Mizuko waved her arm up and down poking her tongue out. Then changing her attitude and grabbing a gun from behind here. How does she keep on doing that? Oh, anyway. Mizuko's eyes were sharp and keen. “It's time to avenge my best friend Charmy.”
“You killed Charmy yourself stupid.” Mizuko placed her finger under her chin thinking for a moment.
“Oh yeah! I did too, didn't I? It was a great kill, don't you agree?” She threw a peace sign at his face. Spock rolled his eyes. Then they were almost filling up with tears.
“Wait, I though I was your best friend.” He said in a heartfelt voice, triggering the bazooka.
“MEH.” Mizuko shrugged triggering her gun. "If I die your going down with me Spock." She said staring at him with anger. Spock shrugged the thought off and shook his tears of off his cheeks.

They both shot at the same time.

There was a silence for a moment.
Then a thud followed. They were the bodies of Mizuko and Lenyo I mean Spock. They laid still on the ground.

They were all dead. Har har har. *Gets shot*





Entry # 9
Atonement
Lavinia had made it through another day of school, another day of getting in fights, another day of being surrounded by people that hated her. She didn’t care to go home. All that offered was more confrontations. Why didn’t she get a job to help with the bills like her brother? Why didn’t she do something around the house instead of spending all afternoon reading and daydreaming? No, she didn’t want to go home to that yet. Not today. Not after what had happened this morning. She hadn’t meant to knock over that coffee mug and spill coffee all over her mother’s clothes and paperwork. Her mother had been having a hard enough time at her job, she didn’t need to show up late and without the documents her boss needed that day. What if I’ve gotten her fired? Lavinia’s lip trembled as she considered that possibility. No, she wouldn’t cry. She wasn’t so weak as to do that. Biting her lip she walked towards the sparse woods behind the bus stop. No one came here, it was a dreary place full of stunted trees only crows seemed to abide in. As she passed into the grotesque shade the forest caste the air rang with harsh caws from crows, having had already spotted the intrusion on their domain, ruining what little mystique this place held. Paying no heed to the irritation caused by her presence, Lavinia trudged into the heart of the woods, her eyes blind to all but her own thoughts. As she was thus occupied a voice broke through to her troubled mind.
“What’s a pretty lady like you doing all the way out here?”
Startled by the voice Lavinia turned to face it’s source. Standing by what looked to be the remains of an old stone house was a young man not much older looking then herself. Not liking that she was alone and that no one knew where she was, Lavinia answered him rudely as she glanced around for the best escape route.
“I could ask you the same thing. You must be some kind of a psycho hanging out here in the woods like this.”
The young man let out a loud laugh at this. “Is that so? That must mean you are too, then. Tell me, have you come to kidnap a crow? No? Perhaps you wish to dismember a tree? Yeah, didn’t think so. This isn’t exactly the best spot for lurking about preying on people.”
Lavinia stopped scanning the landscape long enough to leer at him and say, “Well, if you’re so innocent, what are you doing here?”
Shaking his head the young man sighed, “My dear, not only was I the first to be here, but I was also the first to ask that question. You really need to learn to be less suspicious of people. You came tramping onto my land like some sort of water buffalo and, upon my making a simple inquiry as to why you were here, you begin to act as though I’m some sort of psychotic delinquent. If anyone should be getting answers it’s me.”
Lavinia was rather taken aback by this. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware that this land actually belonged to anyone. I thought the town owned it. I won’t trespass on your property again.” So saying she turned to leave.
“That’s it? No asking if I really own this land or anything?” The young man seemed disappointed at her sudden retreat.
“Uh, no.” She said, as she again turned to look at this strange fellow. “You’ve made a fair case as to why you’re here, and it’s really none of my concern anyway. There’s no reason for me to keep bothering you. Besides, I don’t like being called ‘dear’ by anyone. Especially not by some weirdo like you.”
Not wasting a moment he retorted with a smile playing about his lips, “Tell me your name and I won’t call you that again, my dear.”
He added the last bit in such a sickeningly sweet way Lavinia couldn’t help but snap back a reply, “My name’s Vin alright!? Just don’t call me ‘dear’ again!”
The young man frowned slightly, “Vin? What sort of name is that for a girl? It must be short for something. Vinnette? Vin...ola? Oh! I know! Vinilla! That must be it. Yes.” He seemed very pleased with this idea all Lavinia could do for a few moments was stare blankly at him.
Finally she managed to stammer, “My name’s not Vinilla, you, weirdo. If you must know Vin’s short for Lavinia. It’s such an old fashioned name I don’t like to go by it.”
“Lavinia huh? It’s a pretty name. A little long though. I’ll keep Vinilla if it’s all the same to you.” Lavinia’s eyes widened in disbelief, but before she could protest the young man again spoke. “Well, now that that’s decided we really must meet again sometime, Vinilla. You’re really quite fun to have around even if it’s just for those faces you make.”
Seeing it was impossible to gain any headway Lavinia decided to play along and act as though she’d be coming back in hopes he wouldn’t be tempted to follow her. “You’d better tell me your name before I go then. Otherwise I’ll have to keep calling you psycho during these lovely chats.”
For some reason he balked at this. “W-what? My name? Er... You can call me D.”
“D? That’s it?” Lavinia asked, rasing an eyebrow.
“Yes. Well. No. That’s the first letter of my name.” D looked a bit pale as he spoke, but Lavinia didn’t seem to notice. Instead she went on with another question.
“Uh-huh. And I don’t get your real name why?”
“Because it’s a hideous name.” D replied.
“I see. All we need now’s someone called Da and we can make a band and call ourselves Laladeda.” She said drily.
“Was that a joke?” D inquired, a blank look on his face. “I don’t see what was funny about it.”
Lavinia shock her head, “Don’t worry about it. Not many would. I’ll see you later.”
D smiled. “I know you will, and I look forward to it. Only next time please try not to stomp all the way here, the crows value their peace as much as humans do. Besides, you never know who, or what, might be lurking around in the woods.”
Lavinia smirked to herself as she turned and walked back the way she’d come, she wasn’t coming back here ever again, that much she knew. After getting back out of the woods she made her way home. It was dark by the time she got back and the rest of the family was eating dinner in their various spots. Her dad in front of the TV watching the news, her brother by the computer, and her mother at the kitchen counter going through the mail as she ate. Lavinia assumed, from the normalcy of the household, her mother hadn’t lost her job, so she went quietly to the stove and was just putting some peas on her plate when her mother looked up from the magazine she was thumbing though.
“You’re late today. You didn’t have a detention did you?” Lavinia wasn’t surprised her by her mother’s assumption, she’d gotten quite a few detentions lately.
“No mom. I got sidetracked on the way home. That’s all.” Her mother continued to gaze at her for a few moments before returning to her magazine shaking her head and mumbling something about Lavinia daydreaming too much. As there was no more to say Lavinia finished helping her plate and went to eat in her room. As she ate her mind wandered to her afternoon’s strangeness. She couldn’t quite get D’s face out of her mind. She was glad tomorrow was Saturday, she didn’t want to have to get too close to the woods for a couple of days.

The weekend, like every weekend, passed all too swiftly, and it was soon Monday. Lavinia had all but forgotten about D what with all the homework she’d had to do and the extra chores she’d gotten for being late in coming home. It wasn’t until she’d reached the bus stop and saw the trees behind it that she remembered him again. Glancing around quickly she was relieved to find D no where in sight. Lavinia chided herself for worrying. I’m being silly thinking he’d follow me. I’m sure he’s not such a bad guy. The bus was soon there and she got on, mentally steadying herself for another day of high school. It passed without any major problems, and she’d even done fairly well on a test she’d been dreading.
All was going well until she was getting off the bus. Gavin, a boy a year behind her who was usually driven from school by one of his parents due to his having some problems with being bullied, was, for some reason, on the bus today and getting off at the same stop as Lavinia. The problem arose from the fact that one of the guys that Gavin had been having issues with, Leif, also got off here. As there weren’t any houses nearby and as Leif had three of his lackeys with him, he’d decided to get revenge on the kid that had gotten him suspended for a couple of weeks awhile back. Lavinia could see the fight, if four on one could be called a fight, that was coming, and she was prepared to do what she could. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d taken on school bullies, actually, most of the fights she got in were under similar conditions to this. Leif and his buddies let the bus pull away and go on down the road before they started to close in on their still unsuspecting victim. Lavinia stepped in their path, barring the way. Leif motioned for one of the other guys to get her out of the way saying,
“Don’t go getting involved in other people’s business or we’ll deal with you too.” Lavinia took a swing at the guy coming towards her, hitting him hard enough to make him stagger back a few steps. As she pivoted back around to go after the others while she had the chance a familiar voice came from nearby.
“What seems to be the problem here? Do you require assistance, my dear?” It was, of course, D. He was standing in the shade of the closest tree, a look of mild concern on his face.
“Nothing I can’t handle. Thanks anyway.” Lavinia replied, not wishing to accept help from him of all people.
D sadly shook his head, “So stubborn.” Then, locking eyes with Leif he preceded more loudly, “It seems to me that a storm’s coming. I’d advise you head home if you don’t want to get caught in it.”
To Lavinia’s surprise the sky did suddenly start to grow darker, almost as if D had willed it. No, it must be a coincidence. Whatever it was she didn’t seem to be the only one to notice it, Leif and his lackeys had paled and scattered like the cowards they were. Gavin hadn’t stuck around either, he had no desire to escape from school bullies just to run into someone who was apparently even worse, only Lavinia remained. Why she did so she couldn’t really say, all she knew was that had been the first time anyone had tried to protect her and it was a nice feeling. Still, what was with this guy? How had he known she would need help? How had he known the sky would darken?
As these thoughts raced though her mind D again spoke.
“I was here because I missed pestering you. Good thing I did too, you can’t go around taking on the whole world you know. Lucky those clouds were forming, I don’t think I could have saved you from all four of those boys. They looked more like gorillas then humans. What do they feed kids these days?”
Folding her arms Lavinia answered, “Same thing they fed them way back in your day I would imagine, grandpa. And I didn’t need your help anyway. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You yourself compared me to a water buffalo as I recall. I’m assuming that was some sort of extremely horrible attempt at a compliment of my strength rather then a critique on my manner of walking.”
D shrugged, “I was referring more to the walking but, as I see you have their sort of obstinate personality as well, it matters little what I think or mean.”
Lavinia smiled.“You’re really quite rude you know.”
“You don’t seem to mind. Unless of course you smile when you’re mad. Somehow it wouldn’t surprise me if you did. You really must work on that, it’s not good to make everyone guess what it is you’re feeling the way you do.” D sounded very solemn as he said the last few words.
Lavinia felt an awkward silence fall heavily over them. Unable to endure it she changed the subject. “If I don’t come visit you are you going to keep showing up like this?”
D stirred from his contemplation at this. “Not if it’s going to bother you so much. I can’t say why I missed you. Normally I try to keep everyone off my land. You’re different then most. I can’t help thinking you remind me of myself when I was your age and I want to help you not be like me. Well, that sounded a great deal more disturbing out loud then it did in my head.”
Lavinia tried her best not to laugh. With an almost straight face she consoled him as best she could. “At least you realized it did. If you hadn’t I would have had to see about catching the bus elsewhere.”
“Oh? Should I take that as you saying you’ll come visit me once in awhile?” D asked, obviously surprised.
“Eh, it’s probably the closest you’re gonna get to me saying that.” She replied.
D appeared pleased. “I think you mean it this time. Please feel free to stop by whenever you wish. I’ll be waiting for you.
Lavinia nodded. “Thank you, I will. Though I don’t know why. Ah well, I’ll see you later then.”
“Until next time” D said with a slight bow.
As she walked home Lavinia wondered at how quickly she’d come to trust him. One day I’m calling him a creepy and expecting him to kidnap me, the next I’m actually thinking about going to visit him... I must be losing my mind.
Despite her mixed feelings Lavinia often stopped by to see D over the next few months. In the Summer she spent almost everyday in the cooler air his forest provided. Being around D was nice, he didn’t have the same expectations for her everyone else did. He didn’t think her daydreams were a waste of time, instead he had suggested she try her hand at painting the things she imagined. It turned out she was a good artist. With this outlet she didn’t have to keep all her ideas to herself, and there was no need to explain what she thought, she just painted it for the world to see.
When Fall neared and school again started she joined an art class the school offered, her skills improved greatly, and through her activities in the art class she began to make a few friends at school for the first time. Even her family encouraged her, no longer did they criticize her for the time she spent idly, though not much of her time was spent that way any longer. What little time she did spend occupied that way was usually as she walked through the woods to visit D. His words had inspired her and she often went to tell him of her latest work. He seemed very happy for her and so life passed pleasantly for some time. It seemed as if it might never end, but all things end, and this was no exception.
It was towards the middle of October that Lavinia noticed a change in D. He often spoke of what she should do in the coming time as though he wouldn’t be there. Lavinia wondered at this but marked it down to his typical oddness. It wasn’t until the day before Halloween she learned the meaning behind his often cryptic words. She’d stopped by to show him the painting she’d done for the Halloween art festival she’d entered. She’d been so busy with it she hadn’t stopped buy to see him for almost a week and was anxious to get his opinion on it. When she arrived at the usual spot where he met her she found him sitting on a pile of collapsed stones from the old house.
Waving she called out to him.“Hey! I got the painting done. Tell me what you think.”
D stood up and came over to see the canvas she held proudly before her. “It’s lovely. You get better with every one you do.” Though his words were pleasant his voice was tinged with sorrow.
Unsure of what was the matter Lavinia questioned him. “Are you alright? You seem downcast for some reason.”
D sighed. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. I put it off so long I was a bit worried you might not come back in time for me to do so.”
“Hmm? What is it? You can always tell me anything.” Lavinia said, a troubled look on her face.
D shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I-I have to leave tomorrow evening.”
“Why!?” was all Lavinia could ask.
“Be here by sunset tomorrow and I’ll tell you the reason. You won’t believe me if you don’t see it for yourself.” He said nothing else and turning sharply he left.
Lavinia was beside herself, she didn’t know what could be going on. She returned home and spent a fitful night tossing and turning on her bed as she tried to come up with a reason for D’s sudden departure. The next day drug by slowly for her. It felt as though the art festival would never end. Even winning top prize gave her no joy. She left as soon as she was able to get away from the photographers and congratulations she headed for the woods, for her answer. It was only a few minutes till sunset when she arrived. She was relived to find D waiting for her.
“You gonna tell me what this is all about now?” She asked, her voice almost pleading.
D nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I wanted you to see it when it happens. I ask that you let me finish what I have to say without interrupting me.” Here he paused for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts before continuing. “You see, Lavinia, I’m a ghost. I’ve been trapped in this world because I had regrets, regrets I couldn’t let go. I was killed on Halloween many years ago when a fire broke out in this ruined house behind us. I had spent my entire life alone in that house. I never let anyone into my life. I never went beyond what I felt safe doing. I thought if I did that I wouldn’t disappoint anyone. I was wrong. I disappointed everyone. I let them all down through my fear of trying to be better then I was. When I died I vowed I wouldn’t rest until I’d prevented another from walking down my path. Long was the time I waited to find someone just like myself. To find you. Now that I have, and now that I have helped you to be far better then I ever was I can pass on. It won’t happen until the sunsets, that’s why I wanted you here now. I didn’t want you to think I made this up. Please, please stay and see it’s true.”
Lavinia said nothing. She stood looking at this man and his ravings. How could she believe him? It was madness. No, no it wasn’t. She could tell by the way he spoke he believed what he said. Her mind made up Lavinia went to D and put her arms around him, a tear falling down her cheek. “What sort of person would I be if I didn’t believe you after you believed in me?”
D hugged her back as tightly as he could. “Thank you. I didn’t want to be alone this time. I suppose that’s selfish of me.”
Lavinia choked back more tears and tired to be lighthearted. “Heh, no, not at all. What is selfish is not telling me your name all this time. You’re not going to take that with you forever are you?”
D looked down at her face. “You’re possibly the most persistent person I’ve ever met. Fine, I’ll tell you my name. You can’t laugh at it though.”
“I won’t” Lavinia promised.
“Alright then... My name’s Dedrick.” He shivered slightly as he said it.
“Dedrick? I don’t see anything wrong with that. I can’t believe you made me wait all this time for that.” Lavinia said, somewhat annoyed with him. Dedrick looked as though he were about to protest when they were cut short. The sun was just sinking below the horizon and Dedrick was beginning to fade before Lavinia’s very eyes. He could no longer speak, and she could feel as his body transformed into what she thought to be like a mist. His eyes stayed on her until he at last dissipated entirely as the sun’s last rays faded into nothingness leaving Lavinia alone in the woods she had grown to love.





Entry # 10
She Should Have Known Better: A Random Beatles' Story
Yeah, she heard that the Beatles had all been sent to the hospital for mysterious reasons; did she care? Nope. She also didn't care that it was soon to be Halloween and that strange things always happen around that time. Olivia Todd just had to go see her dear friends.
That weekend, a day before Halloween, Olivia Todd burst through the metal hospital doors and asked the secretary for Paul McCartney and his friends. The secretary lady only gave her a strange look, "Are you sure...? The doctor's not quite done with the tests and whatnot," she told Olivia.
Olivia made a disinterested face, "I just want to see them, ok? I won't take long."
With a sigh, the secretary agreed to it and told her where the room was. Olivia made her way down the long, white hospital hallways and knocked on the door she was told they were in.
"Who is it? Doris?" A voice asked. She heard a chair roll on the tile floor and someone cough.
"No? It's me, the Beatles' friend? I'm here to see them?"
"Oh," someone opened the door. Olivia supposed that it was the doctor. "Don't touch anything," the doctor warned her. He walked back to a table and wrote something down.
Olivia looked around the room and spotted two beds that George Harrison and Paul McCartney were on. George was sitting up on his bed, reading a book; Paul seemed to be asleep. Olivia asked the doctor and he told her that the other two were in another room.
Liking Paul more, she walked over to him and looked at his face. He was sickly pale and his skin was hot to the touch. She tapped him on the chest with a quick glance at the doctor; Paul's eyes opened up wearily.
Paul looked at her unresponsively with half-closed eyes, ".... Lucy?" He mumbled after a while.
"No, Paulie. It's me, Olivia."
"Oh."
"What happened to you?" Olivia asked him.
"No idea. It's all pretty much a blur to me, you know?" He said, "Last thing I remember is that we were on our way back to the hotel from some secret meeting, moon was out, and then some guy with a big, black brief-case came up and then we ended up here until now....," he tried to sit up, but failed and settled for the position he was in.
Olivia pondered this for a moment as Paul stared at her, waiting. "So," she started slowly, "What did that man want? Did he say anything to you?"
"Nope.... well.... I can't really remember," he shrugged.
"I'll leave you alone then," Olivia smiled at him as he turned away toward the window.
She then walked over to the doctor and asked him what he knew.
"About what?" The doctor asked confusedly.
"Them?"
"Oh." He looked down at his clipboard, "We got a call that they were all terribly sick. We found bite marks on the other two, scratches as well," he said. "That's why we're keeping Harrison and McCartney here."
"What's wrong with them though? Paul looks so pale."
"Oh, I'm not sure yet," he gestured down to his clipboard.
Olivia nodded and skipped out the door, closing it behind her. She had no idea of what to think of this matter, so her mind remained quiet.
Olivia looked around the hospital and soon found a door labeled 'biohazard', becoming curious, Olivia looked through the small peep-hole on the door. She saw nothing that appeared dangerous, only John and Ringo. She knocked on the door and John immediately answered, giving her a grin.
"Olive! Fancy seeing you here," John pulled her inside the room with a hug and slammed the door behind her.
"Oi, John!" Ringo interrupted as he heard the door slam, "Best be not huggin' anyone; you heard the doctor."
John mumbled something underneath his breath and said, "C'mon, lad. You can't just not hug little Olive here." He turned Olivia around to face Ringo, his hands on her shoulders. They were hot as well.
Ringo gave John a disapproving look and only shot her a peace sign.
".... What'd the doctor tell you, Ringo?" Olivia asked him, after she returned him one.
"Oh." Ringo said, he sat down on one of the two beds, "He said not to touch anybody, lest whatever it is is contagious, right John?"
Olivia shrugged John's hands off of her, "Hm.... what else?"
"I don't really understand this one, but he said not to eat anything," he shrugged. John's stomach growled in agreement.
Olivia raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Really? These people are treating you guys as if you were animals. You'd think they'd be better with you being famous." She shook her head and noticed the time on her watch, "Oh, I should leave."
The two nodded at her as she waved goodbye to them and slipped out of the room. Once out of the smelly hospital, a strange looking man carrying a big, black brief-case stopped her and said.
"Hello there, Miss." The man tipped his hat; she saw that he had a rather wild look in his eye. "I must say, you look quite scrumptious today," he grinned.
Olivia looked around awkwardly, "Eh. Thank you?"
It seemed to Olivia that the man had more to say, and her mother always said that it was rude to walk off when anyone was talking to you, so she stood quietly as she stared up at him.
The man, though, didn't have any more to say. He laughed a deep chuckle and walked into the hospital. Olivia was rather confused and disturbed, so she just decided to head on home.
---
The next morning came slowly for Olivia as the night before she had immersed herself in that horror novel she was reading. Normally she doesn't read those types of genres, but with all the strangeness that had been going on lately, anything could happen.
Having nothing better to do, Olivia decided to go on down to see how the boys were doing. At the hospital doors, she ran into the man with the black brief-case once more. He didn't say anything, he seemed to be in a rush. Olivia didn't take much regard to it, she supposed he had some last minute Halloween preparations to tend to; it was later that day after all.
She made her way into the hospital and to John and Ringo's room; John, once again, immediately let her in. He didn't say anything at first, to be honest, he looked quite mad. His hair looked rather unruly and his eyes had a weird look in them; Ringo looked half as mad as John did. Olivia thought it was quite strange, but she didn't ask them about it.
"Got any plans for Halloween?" John asked Olivia as he paced the floor.
"No, I don't really like Halloween. It seems rather pointless to me," she shrugged.
"Ah." John stopped pacing and turned toward the door, a second later someone knocked. The doctor's voice called out to them.
"Lennon? Starr? Are you two in here....?"
"'Course we are," Ringo looked up from his bed and to the door. He was laying down. "Don't come in though, we're not decent." He said this as Olivia wasn't supposed to be in there.
"Oh, alright. I just wanted you two to know that Harrison and McCartney can leave, you two can go as well."
".... Thanks for letting us know," John said.
They could hear the doctor's footsteps leaving and another door slam. Ringo looked up at John.
"So," he started, "I don't care what you choose to do, but I'm going home." With that he got up and left the building.
John looked about the room for a moment, "So. Olivia. How 'bout you and I go out to the park later on? I hear the moon's supposed to be out and full again."
Olivia smiled, "That sounds nice."
Later that evening, Olivia found herself in the park; she wore a light blue dress. It was quite dark out, but the moon supplied just enough light for her to see where she was going. Soon after, John came striding up in a dark trench coat. He glanced up at the moon with a bit of nervousness showing in his eyes and then grinned at her.
"Took your time, eh?" He asked, still grinning.
She narrowed her eyes at him with a smile, "I got here first, John."
"Yeah. Right." John turned his back to her as he looked at the moon once more.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked curiously.
"Ah. I've just got this strange feeling, I think it's the moon."
"The moon?" She questioned, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah....," he turned around to her and shrugged.
"Um. John? What's with that....?" She asked. She pointed at his face and backed away slightly.
Strangely, John's eyes appeared to be glowing, his teeth appeared sharper and he had hair growing about his face. "Oh god," John whispered to himself as he slapped a hand to his fuzzy cheek, he then darted off to who-knows-where.
Olivia had completely no idea what to say, do or think. She stood there in silence. She then heard a deep rumbling, growling noise coming from behind her. She turned around.
From the bushes, there were a pair of yellow-orange eyes glowing out at her. They narrowed slightly and a large, brown-gray wolf slinked out, a trench coat draped over its back.
---
It was morning, John found himself to be on the hotel couch; he couldn't remember anything that happened last night. He sat up and looked at his shirt and hands.

They were stained with blood.





If you have any questions I think your better of asking Charmzter. ;) *Sparkly eyes* So many stories! Mizuko is so happy!

[Mizukithepanda]

Question, how many words do you consider "overboard"?

[Mizuko]

I think that I will let charmy answer that. CHARMY

[Oscar]

Ooo! I might join! When is the deadline? Even though I don't think I'm that good at writing.

[Mizuko]

ummm..................CHARMY anouther question for you. *is sick of holding shift down*

Edit: and I'm sure you will do a great story. mizuko wants to join but she can't. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalacry.gif) *SMASHES KEYBOARD ON HEAD* there we go all fixed now. But my head kinda hurts.

[Charmy]

The limit would approximately be around 7000 characters. But I guess if people want it lengthen I could make it a little longer. Mizuko, add that 7000 is limit in guidelines.

EDIT: *Pokes guidelines* It depends on how many entries we have. By whenever we get a good amount of entries we'll set a three day deadline or something for last minute submissions. :q

[Lenyo]

Question: Must we draw for it?

[Mizuko]

Shir yesh shir. I mean mam yesh mam.

No spock but I guess you can if you want.

EDIT: Mizuko has a question. Can mizuko enter?

[Mizukithepanda]

Wait, 7000 words or 7000 characters? I can rack up 7000 characters in the space of a few minutes and still not have a finished product. 7000 words, however, I can work with.

Oh, and on the line of what Spock said, it would be pretty interesting if, after all the stories were posted, some of the better artists/shop owners/banner makers/etc. would be willing to do banners/fanart based on the story of their choice. (Or just the winning stories, or whatever.)

^-^

[Charmy]

Yesh, Mizu-Cookies can enter. Mizu-Cookies can also vote. :q

EDIT: ....Umm..... Words I suppose. Mizuko, edit what I edited in the guidelines. And also add that when when submitting please list the number off words it contains. But I guess if the author doesn't have a word counter thing I could check quickly anyway. >.>

It would be neat if someone could make some GFX work.... I could PM someone and ask. ^-^ *Thinks of who to ask*

[Mizuko]

*Sparkly chibi eyes* Yay Mizu-cookies can join. Im so happy. *Tear drops*

Edit: Charmy........Not one word of that made it to my peanut brain

[Be Happy!]

I might enter, if I get the time to write. Since I have the perfect topic :3

[Katie]

Oh, I'ma def entering this bad boy. I'll be on that like combat this weekend. :D
But first I must brainstorm, which will most likely occur in Yearbook tomorrow.
Dahaha, I haven't creatively written anything since June. <3

[Mizuko]

Pwease join you will make a mizu-puppy very happy. Woof woof chases more mailman.

[Charmy]

Lawl, I just entered your account again and changed it for you. >.< You really need another password.

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Please keep the submissions as promising as those.
AND ENTER THE SPOCK-O MARIO KART TOURNAMENT!!! *Advertising for Oscar*

[Mizuko]

Oh yeah charmy am I wtill comeine over your gouse? AHHHH MY SLEEVES ARE TO LONG CAN"T TYPEU RONBALERZLTY

[Charmy]

Oddly enough I understood that. And you mean for the Spock-O tournament? Then yes, but we'll set a date for all the people we're versing.

And stop spamming a competition thread. :P *Runs away*

[Oscar]

Yeah, we should not advertise the SPOCK-O TOURNAMENT in the VIDEO GAMES SECTION.

Nice idea guys!

[Charmy]

Yeah, we should not advertise the SPOCK-O TOURNAMENT in the VIDEO GAMES SECTION.

Nice idea guys!

Indeed. You are learning young one.

And thanks, but it was originally Mizuko's idea. ^-^

[Mizuko]

It was mizuko's idea but she let charmy take control for reasons I'm sure you will all understand. :P And allot of it was charmy's idea to like the pm and all the rules except for that one rule.