Mysteries // Ralph Macchio short story

Halloween Night

So, this is my contest entree for Radical80ss and sorry it sucks, but its something.
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"I can't wait to get tons of candy tonight!" Ralph exclaimed and we drive to my Moms house for Halloween. She lived two towns over from where my boyfriend, Ralph, and I lived, so we were going to go visit.

"Don't eat too much, you know how chocolate upsets your stomach." I teased him. "I'll eat all I want, thank you very much, mother."

"You're luck I don't slap you." I jokingly threatened Ralph. It was nearly eight-thirty in the evening and the sun had already gone down. "You wouldn't slap me, we both wouldn't want my perfect face to be ruined." He flipped his hair like a prissy girl.

"So, what do you remember of this town?" He asked as he drove by rows of houses. "Not much, since I went to live with my dad when I was younger, I have little to no memories of this place." "Do you even know where she lives?"

I looked at Ralph as if he were stupid. "Of course I know where she lives! I used to live with her!" I laughed. "Okay then, where does she live?" He took his eyes off the road and gave me a smug look.

"Um, I think on Laken street." I thought. "You think?" He chuckled. "Shut up, keep your eyes on the road." I playfully slapped his arm.

"Nah, I don't really want too." He said and closed his eyes, shutting them tightly. "Ralph! Stop it you're gonna make us crash!" I frantically looked at the vacant road ahead of us. "Shit! Ralph, look out there's a cat in the road!" I yelled, causing him to quickly open his eyes and slam on the breaks.

I fly forward as he questioned where the cat had gone. "Where is it?" He asked, looking around. I started to laugh and he gave me a confused look.

"There's wasn't a cat, I just wanted you to open your eyes." I continued to laugh. "Oh, come on Cassandra. You could've gotten us killed!" He shot me a look.

"Oh, and you closing your eyes wasn't going to get us killed?" I asked. Ralph didn't respond, he just stared behind me, out the window. I turned behind me and saw that the car had stopped in front of an old barn.

"Come on, let's go inside." Ralph smiled. "What? No way! Come on, let's just go to my moms house." I whined, not wanting to go inside.

"But it's Halloween! It makes it more creepy." He stated. "All the more reason to not go." I stood my ground. I was definitely not going in there.

Ralph looked at me for a solid second before unbuckling his seatbelt and running out of the car to the creepy, old barn. I looked at the dark road ahead of me that was lined with trees, before I threw off the seatbelt that was trapping me in the car, and I walked inside to go find Ralph.

The door creaked open as I slowly pushed it, it was actually kind of heavy. The barn was dark inside, the only light was coming through the cracks in the cheap wood that it was built of. "Ralph?" I yelled, looking around in the darkness. After getting no response in return, I started to walk forward. Surprisingly, the barn was big inside.

"Ralph? Come on, it's not funny." I yelled again. I heard a banging sound coming from above me. I whipped around and saw that there was a small stair case that lead up. I smiled to myself and ascended upwards to find Ralph.

As I reached the last step, I looked at the small room, attic as you could say. It was full of items that you would find in a bedroom. I saw his figure outlined through the darkness. "Ralphie?" I called his nickname. No answer. "I know you're there, I'm looking right at you. Let's go." Again, no answer.

"Okay, whatever. I'm leaving." I said, getting irritated. I walked back down the stairs and towards the door when something grabbed my arm. "Boo!" Ralph said, causing me to scream in terror. He hysterically laughed while I tried to get my heart rate back to normal again.

"Don't do that!" I hit him. "Calm down." He continued to chuckle. "You scared me half to death! Why didn't you come down when I told you too, upstairs." I scolded him.

"What are you talking about? I was down here the whole time." His laughter stopped. "No you weren't, I saw your outline by the dresser." I call him out.

"Cass, that wasn't me." He slowly said. "Stop joking." I whispered. "Cassandra, I swear, I'm not kidding. I was by that box the whole time." He pointed to the corner where a tall box stood.

"But if that wasn't you-" "-Then who was it?" Ralph finished my sentence. We looked at each other for a few moments before we heard footsteps creaking the roof above us.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Ralph grabbed my hand and we ran outside to the car. As Ralph sped off down the street.

I can't tell you exactly what we saw and heard that night. But we did happen to find my Moms house. When we told her the story, she didn't believe us. Go figure. So, the next morning, we took her to the location of the barn. But somehow it had disappeared.

"I know it was here." Ralph said. "Me too." I confirmed. "Maybe you guys were just imagining things." My Mom logically said. "How could we both be imagining the same thing?" I questioned. "I don't know hun, it happens though." And with that we left.

No one knows what happened to that barn, but Ralph and I vowed to go back next Halloween and see.