A Harrowing Halloween Night by Mel Dawn
“Trick or treating is for kids,” said my best friend, Tony.
“That’s me,” I replied. “Besides, we get free candy. And it’s fun.”
“Well, I’ll go with you, but I’m not dressing up. And I’m not going to the doors.”
My teen friend was a jerk sometimes but I just ran with it.
This year I was going as a witch. Kind of a boring Halloween costume, but on the other hand, I enjoyed doing traditional Halloween rather than being a princess or super hero.
“Let’s go!” he said, heading to the door.
I just shook my head. For someone not inspired by Halloween, he was eager to head out.
We headed out, near the end of the kids’ trick or treating time. This was the time that the young adults headed out for fun, before they went to their parties.
I felt kind of silly standing at strangers’ doors, asking for candy. It was just like being a kid!
I’d done the last house on the block and walked back to where Tony was standing, eating some of the candy I had collected.
And that’s when I heard screaming from the middle of the road.
We turned and watched as a group of people dressed up as werewolves chased after some random humans. But then they were tripped and fell to the ground. The zombies soon swooped in and started chowing down.
“We need to get out of here,” said my friend.
We ran down the street, past a vampire drinking the blood of a princess, except she seemed to be enjoying it.
“It’s as if people are being changed into their costume characters,” I called out to him.
“You’re right,” he said. “I’m glad I don’t go for that costume nonsense. I knew that nothing good would ever come of it.”
We hid behind some bushes and watched the chaos on the street.
A dragon breathed real fire. It ran down the street, setting every car on fire. At least not people.
We saw a little girl run around meowing like a cat. It sure sounded real.
Super heroes were running around, trying to help.
It wasn’t long before the streets cleared of normal humans. The smart ones had headed indoors. The ones who had been wearing costumes were now unwillingly acting out their roles.
There was a snake rolling down the street. A man was trying to fight it off.
A small fairy was floating through the air, causing mischief. It giggled as some pumpkins barrelled through the bushes where the teenagers were hiding.
“I think we need to go home,” I said.
Tony laughed. “Aww, but this is the most fun I’ve ever had.”
But we never made it back home. It was a mess outside. As if nothing could get worse than that quarantine we’d had, or that crazy election, or all those forest fires. And then no power or utilities for months.
I felt bad for the kids. All they wanted was to finally get out and have some fun this month.
“At least it’s our common creatures. It’s a fair fight,” I said to Tony, as we had moved ten feet and huddled behind a laurel bush.
“I hear sirens, so help is coming.”
And then we saw it. It was coming down the street. What could possibly be the worst thing from horror movies?
This creature was ten feet tall and from any of several science fiction movies. It was black all over and had ten arms and legs. It hissed at a bird in a tree, opening its mouth wide. And inside its mouth was another mouth, that opened wide and displayed some extremely sharp teeth.
Venom dripped out of its mouth. It trickled down to the ground.
The ground sizzled, and a big hole opened up.
“What did you say again?” Tony said to me.
“What can we do?” I whispered to him.
“We need to just get out of here, go home. Let the cops handle it,” he whispered back.
We crawled past the bushes and over to the next house.
I cautiously peered out. The alien was walking in the opposite direction to us. But then, a big gap in its backside opened up. Suddenly, about ten more little aliens dropped down to the ground. They scattered every which way,
I heard screaming as they gobbled up their victims.
And then there was rustling coming from under the bushes.
One of the creatures ran out.
I held my magic wand in my hand. Somehow I felt that hitting it would not do much.
But I tried away. “From creature to cat,” I proclaimed in a smug voice. Might as well try a magic spell while I was here.
And the alien baby turned immediately into a cat.
“Wow!” said Tony. “Can you restore things back to normal?”
I stood up and walked confidently out into the middle of the street.
“Every creature, be restored back to human!” I commanded. “Every dead human, come back to life.”
And then a bright neon green flash flew through the air.
What was chaos got restored back to normal.
Tony came out, amazed. “Super!”
I laughed. “Let’s go home. The police will be here soon, but I have no intention of talking to them.”
“Yah, don’t want to be questioned. I’m getting kind of tired. And my stomach is upset from eating all that candy.”
The streets were a mess as we carefully walked down the sidewalk. The former vampire was tending to his girlfriend, stopping the blood from oozing, while they waited for the ambulance.
The former fairy lay in the street, her leg broken.
The former dragon was using a fire extinguisher, trying to put out the flames of their own car.
I nodded. Things were going back to normal.
Well, except for the zombies. There were still zombies. The people who had been killed or eaten by the creatures. I guess my magic could only go so far.
The End.
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