Fear of the Frozen

"It was a dark and stormy night," Brian said as he wiggled his fingers eerily at me.

"Oh come on! That is so cliché! I know you can do better than that." I retorted. It was just like any other Halloween lock-in at Spring Creek Baptist Church. People were spread out between the gym and youth room, munching on candy, playing games, listening to music, or just relaxing and enjoying the company of those around them. Brian and I were sitting at one of the taller café style tables in the youth room, playing with Legos. He had been trying multiple different ways to spook me all night, from sneaking up on me, to jump scares, and now he was trying ghost stories. Nothing had worked so far.

"Ok, ok, ok." Brian rolled his eyes and laughed. "You want scary? I'll give you scary."

"I never said that I-" I went silent mid sentence as the power suddenly went out. The lights and music turned off abruptly, the sound of basketballs bouncing went silent, and conversations hushed. "Really, Brian? Turning the lights off?"

"It wasn't me," he whispered.

Emily's shaky voice called out into the darkness. "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny guys, now turn the lights back on." The nervousness in her voice was clear. Everyone knew she was not a fan of spooky pranks.

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the lights came back on. "It was probably Mr. Danny playing tricks again." I said as we went back to our building. Our youth director, Danny Leavell, was a well-known jokester.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He replied. "It definitely seems like something he would do."

Everything went back to normal again, but only for a little while. Out of nowhere a shrill scream rang out from the gym. Brian and I exchanged panicked glances before joining the crowd of people rushing to see what was wrong. When we reached the gym, it was like a scene from a horror movie. Everyone who had been playing games was now frozen in what seemed to be the exact position they had been in when the lights went out. Will and Jeff were locked in a one-on-one basketball battle. Maddie, Jacob, Devyn, Makenzie, Sarah, and Josh were all reared and ready for volleyball. Even Jordan and Michael's soccer game was on pause, with Jordan's leg raised to kick that winning goal he was known for. I felt chills run down my spine as I looked around at all the familiar faces that seemed so alien in their statuesque state.

Mahaila, Mr. Danny's daughter and the source of the scream that brought everyone to this grisly scene was the first to recover from the shock enough to speak. "I-I-I came in here l-looking for m-m-my dad... but I found this..." She gestured around her. Sure enough, there was Mr. Danny next to the volleyball net, keeping score as he always did. His mouth was open in a silent scream as if he had been calling the score.

Emily broke away from the shocked mass of people with a derisive snort. "Oh, come on guys! Are you really falling for this? There is no way this is real." She scoffed as she walked to Jacob, the nearest frozen figure. "Wakey wakey!! She yelled. Emily waved her hands in front of his face, but he did not flinch. It didn't even seem like he was breathing. Emily kept trying to get some kind of reaction out of Jacob, snapping her fingers screaming at him, jumping up and down like a maniac, but to no avail. Finally she pretended to give up and started walking over to the next one before jumping back to Jacob and clapping her hand mere millimeters away from his nose.

The gym suddenly went dark and a blood curdling scream sounded through the building. When the lights came back on a moment later, the frozen figures had moved, but were once again stood stock still. All of them were now standing straight up staring directly at Emily and Jacob. Emily was on the floor screaming her lungs out, a growing puddle around surrounding her. Jacob was holding her hands, still together in front of his face, except the hands were no longer attached to Emily's arms. The lights flashed again and in the split second that it went dark the Frozen surrounded Emily and her screams went silent.

New shrieks of pure terror replaced the silence as all the non-frozen members of the youth group fled. I was stuck for a moment paralyzed by the fear coursing through my veins until a hand pulled me along towards the door. Brian dragged me to where everyone was desperately trying to bust down the doors. Mr.Danny was the only one with a key and he was one of the monstrous figures that could still be seen surrounding what was left of Emily. Wayde was trying to break the glass using a heavy chair, but it just kept bouncing off. I turned to Brian and whispered, "This isn't working. We need to find another way out."

"We would probably have the same problem with all the other doors and trying to get over there would mean having to go through the gym..." He trailed off as the implied threat was understood.

I nodded. "But what are we supposed to do? Sit here and pray that the lights don't turn off again?" I snapped. "I am not ok with just waiting to die."

"Hey calm down, I know its not a good situation, but don't take it out on me."

"I'm sorry," I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Suddenly a lightbulb went off in my head. "You know what? We could try the windows in the youth room. They aren't locked and even if we can't get them open, the glass is not nearly as thick and strong as the glass in here."

His eyes lit up as he realized that we might just have a chance to get out of here alive after all. "That's brilliant!" He picked me up and swung me around in a circle before turning to tell the others what we had come up with.

Before he could get the warning out, however the lights flashed again. They were only out for a split second, but when they came back on, we could see the blood covered faces of the frozen staring at us from just a few yards away. Everyone panicked and ran in all different directions. I screamed at them to go to the youth room but they were gone. Brian grabbed my hand again and pulled me to the youth room doors. We got in and Brian ran to the window while I locked the doors behind us. I ran to the door leading to the game room and locked those as well just in case they went around the long way.

The lights flashed off and back on again and the sound of screams echoed through the hallway. I stared with wide eyes at the doors where we heard a thump. One of the frozen, Maddie by the looks of it, was trying to open the door but the lock was holding her where she was for now. I ran over to the window to help Brian.

"It not opening!" He cried, struggling desperately. I handed him a stool from a nearby table. The lights turned off again and this time they didn't come back on. The sound of screams rang through the church as more of our friends found themselves victims to the deadly frozen. Thumps pounded against the door as the frozen started throwing themselves against it trying to break it down. Brian swung the stool at the window with all he had, but it only cracked. He swung again, shattering it this time. At the same time the frozen broke through the door. Brian shoved me towards the window before I could blink. He was gone, surrounded by the frozen and screaming my name. "Rhiannon! Rhiannon, run!". I tried to climb through but one of them grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. Their grip was strong, unbreakable, and ice cold. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping for it to be over quickly.

"Rhiannon, Rhiannon!" At the sound of Brian's voice I opened my eyes, confused. I was still in the youth room, but all the lights were on and Brian was sitting across from me, shaking my shoulder with one hand and holding a small lego statue with the other. I looked around and breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the calm and happy faces of those around me. It had been just a dream.

"Oh, thank god." I said to myself.

"What?" Brian asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just a really weird dream." I replied.

Brian laughed and said "Wow, I knew my stories were not that good but I didn't realize they were bad enough to put you to sleep." I laughed along with him, still somewhat stunned from the terrifying nightmare. All I knew is that I was glad it was over. Then the power went out.