Halloween: Darkness

2

Three days until Halloween.

As she sat in class, she thought back on her dream. She had been gasping for breath when she woke up earlier, and she could feel sweat building up on her forehead. She was scared of him, but only for the brief moment in her dream. In real life, she wasn't scared of him.

Arabella's school day went by pretty fast, she was walking to the library to study. She put her bag down on one of the seats, and grabbed a few books. She put them down on the table and sat down. She flipped through the pages, occasionally writing some notes in her notebook.

Then she felt something. Like she was being watched. Maybe it was just paranoia... she glanced around, the library was almost empty, there was a couple other people at different tables, and the librarian. She almost thought she was just imagining things and was going back to her book before her eyes landed on the white masked man.

He was standing outside the window, he was mostly hidden by the tall shrubs outside, which is why no one noticed him, but she could see him. She could always sense him staring, no matter the distance.

By this point she already knew this person was following her everywhere, almost like an observer... or a stalker, whichever one fits.

He hadn't ever gotten close to her, just watched from afar. She wondered if maybe he was part of her imagination. He couldn't be. Maybe if she made the first move he would do something.

She stood up, the chair sliding behind her. A sharp creaking sound erupted from the object that usually would've made her cringe, but she was focused. She walked over to the window, slowly, as if he was a wild animal that she didn't want to scare off. The dark shadows in the eye part of the white mask slowly appeared as black irises as she came closer.

She put her hand on the glass, looking up at the man. His masked head tilted down, and he was looking right at her. Arabella stared at him, curiosity in her eyes. Why was he following her so often, but he had never approached her? Or even speak to her? Of course now he couldn't, because he was outside and she wasn't, but what about all of the other times?

He put his hand on the window, directly across from hers. The corners of her mouth curved up only partially, finding his action interesting. So he could do things besides stand and stare, good to know. She turned her head to look back when she heard the library door open, a guy entered. He scanned the room with his eyes before he spotted her, he walked over. "Whatcha doin'?" he wondered.

"I'm..." She turned her head back to where the masked man had been, but he wasn't there anymore. He was gone. She put her hand down and faced this stranger. "...watching the birds."

"Weird. Anyway, just wanted to make sure all you library people got your invites to my Halloween party!" he says in a louder tone, looking around at the few people who were present. Most gave mumbled replies, one of them didn't even pay attention, focused on their book. "Did you?" He shoves a poster towards her, she takes it and nods.

"Great! Alright, bye." He turns and walks out of the room. She scoffed, he really just waltzed in here to talk about his dumb party? Ara looked back at where the masked man had been standing only two minutes ago.

Oh well, she knew she would see him again.

And she was right.

☆

Two days until Halloween.

She was hanging out in the living room with Lucas, watching TV. It got pretty boring after a while, so she told him she was going to go outside on the porch for a bit. She put on a jacket and sat on the swing on their porch.

She looked at the trees, watching as a few of the leaves fall. It was a form of entertainment as she began to guess when a leaf would fall. Arabella had that feeling again.

She turned to look to her left, where it was mostly trees in between her and her neighbor's house. The man was standing there in his usual attire. "Hey." she says, standing up. She glanced over inside the house, seeing her brother was still watching TV. She walks over to the masked man.

She puts her hands in her pockets as she approached him, he didn't move. She stood right in front of him now. "What do you want?" she questioned, not in a rude way, but with a genuinely curious tone.

She tilted her head, as if that would make him want to respond. He tilted his head almost immediately after. Arabella smirked. "Do you not want to talk? That's okay."

She takes a step back. "I'm going to head inside." When she turns around, he grabs her wrist firmly, pulling her back to face him. She almost stumbles, but catches her balance. She looks up at him again. "Do you want to come inside?"

He shakes his head slowly.

"Okay. You can stay out here. It's a bit too cold for me today." she comments, his eyes shifted slightly, and his hand reached out to finish zipping up her hoodie, which she had only half zipped.

"Hey, Ara! Where are you?" Her brother called out, stepping onto the porch. The masked man looked up, and walked away before her brother could see him. She walked over to Lucas. "Right here."