Halloween Returns

The Darkest of Nights

How could one of the darkest nights I have ever seen turn even darker? It found a way. A horrifying, impossible way.

Earlier that night, when my parents told me that I couldn't attend my friend's Halloween party, I thought my world was about to end. Only now do I realize how overdramatic I was when I compare it with everything that awaited me later that night.

As Alma always made the best, creepiest, the most exciting parties, I didn't even think twice about sneaking out. I was way too excited to see what she came up with to think about the possible repercussions if my parents found out.

However, as I walked down a rather dark street, barely able to see anything, I started to question my decision. Because although I didn't believe in vampires, werewolves, and all that supernatural nonsense, I was aware that the worst of creeps and psychos loved to come out and play on Halloween night.

When I turned the next corner, my heart was pounding like crazy because it was one of the most terrifying things I had ever seen, my kryptonite, if you will. And even though I tried to convince myself that the figure in a black hoodie with a scythe was just an overly enthusiastic teenager, emo, or something, my erratic heartbeat knew better.

Slowly, like in one of the tensest scenes in horror movies, the person turned around and what faced me was worse than any of my nightmares. Even more terrifying was that I knew it was real because my mind wasn't imaginative enough to conjure up something as horrifying as that.

"Mom?" I asked, looking at the two-faced creature whose left side was my mother's face while the other side seemed to belong to a demon skeleton from hell.

As the creature's, my mother's, eyes focused on me, they narrowed down in anger, the anger that I was so familiar with, but that had never been more alarming than in that moment. The fury that was known to every mother and child; the one directed towards a disobedient child.

However, this time, I was scared for my life because the skeleton side of her face looked terrifying. As the anger spread from her human to her utterly inhuman side, the eye on that side turned completely red. It burned as brightly as I imagined the fires of hell would have.

"Mary Elizabeth Michaels, what in the world are you doing here?" Kritanta, my mother, asked, her hand gripping the scythe so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "Didn't I warn you not to come out tonight? Do you ever listen to what you are told?"

There was a buildup of electricity in the air as my terror rose, and I was unsure what the right thing to do would be. If we are being honest, whatever it was, I couldn't do it. So, it didn't seem to matter much.

"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" mom said in one of her strictest mom voices.

However, all I could do was stare at the skeleton side of her face. Looking at the bones and that terrifying eye, trying to make sense of it all. At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder when the scythe would fall on my head and end it all with one swift beheading.

Don't get me wrong, I was never afraid of my mother, or at least not more than most children are scared of their strict parents. But, at that moment, I wasn't sure if I was talking to the same woman who told me bedtime stories and kissed my finger to make it better when I hurt it. She seemed to be both my mother and something else, something wicked.

"Are you...Are you a demon?" I managed to ask shakily.

"A demon?" mother said indignantly. "Don't be ridiculous! Children these days! They know so little about the world they live in. Still, I would've expected at least you to get it right. After all, I taught you more than once about what goes on during Halloween."