When Night Arrives

Part 1: The Letter

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October finally arrived, bringing along the promises of the cooler breezes, the smell of pumpkin pie, the lines of trees filled with bright oranges and yellows, the falling leaves. Fall is beautiful and always has been.

All if the beauty was on the other side of the window while I was here in school, learning about the invention of who-knows-what. I dazed out a while ago, not really paying attention to class. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm one of those people who don't really pay attention to things that don't interest me.

When the bell rings, I am snapped out of my gaze. The sounds of chairs scraping against the ground simultaneously tells me it's time to go home. I get up, throw my backpack over my shoulder and head out of the class without even paying Mrs. Retters any attention. If you looked at her, you had to make conversation.

I went straight through the crowded hallway, pushing past backpacks and the slow-walkers. The hallway is pretty quiet for some odd reason.

When I reach my locker, I twist in the codes and open it. On the bottom of my locker is a piece of paper, folded in half.

"What's this?" I whisper to myself. I pick up the piece of paper and lean my head back to see if anyone else has the same thing. I can't see through the crowd of backpacks and absurdly tall freshman.

I open up the letter and skim through it a bit before actually reading it:

"Dear Sondra Jenkins,

You have been invited to the first ever Cobber Lake High School overnight haunted house trip for seniors at the Duske Myers Asylum. Here, you will spend three days and two nights in a haunted asylum. You have been chosen because you have shown great behavior and your academics have been excellent. More information will be held in a mandatory assembly for those who have received this ticket. Please report to the auditorium at 3:05.

Yours sincerely,
Principal Hanks"

"This sounds exciting," I whisper to myself. My school was known for having overnight trips to very strange places, but they were always fun and somehow educational.

"Oh my gosh, did you get his?" Jade runs up to me, a gust of air blasting in my face along with her. Jade has been my best friend since middle school. It seems like longer, though. She knows everything about me and vice versa. Liz was also my best friend, although we met her in freshman year. She is still one of us and we love her. She's very quiet, though. I've never heard her even raise her voice before.

"Yeah, I did," I smile. Honestly, I've been dying to go to a haunted house for the longest time, and going to an overnight one just tops everything I've planned on doing.

"I got one as well," Liz steps from behind Jade. "I've never heard of this place before, it's new. An overnight haunted house? Yeah, we should go."

Behind Jade and Liz, I see a group of kids walking toward the auditorium, and among those kids is Jason Barrett. Although he's the cutest guy in our school, in my opinion, I don't drool over him. I don't drool over any guy really. It's just not something I do, but with Jason and his spiked, jet black hair and his million dollar smile and tall stature. Sometimes it was hard not to drool, but I compose myself when he's around.

I walk through the doors of the auditorium and there isn't as many people as thought there'd be, but there is a bit of a crowd. Jade, Liz and I found seats right in the middle of everyone. I spot Jason as I walk sideways through the seats. He smiles at me and I smile back before sitting down.