Horror 100 Volume 2

Hallow's Eve

This was the day, it was the day when young Jack would finally become a vampire or a werewolf or a zombie or any powerful creature which he could think of, for you see, Jack wanted power more than anything, he wanted to become immortal so no one could hurt him or tell him what to do. And this was it, Halloween morning had finally come, the day he had waited for the whole year, the one day when the veil between the world of men and that of monsters was at its weakest, and he was not alone in this, his best friend, Mike, wanted the same gift which the creatures of the night could offer. The two of them had been planning this night for months, they read ancient books and other writings which they found in the town library, they checked the internet and even asked around until they gathered enough information to know how to summon and subdue the terrible creatures of the old days and also how to protect themselves against these wrathful spirits. Today they were going to use everything they had learnt to obtain the godlike powers which they so desperately craved for.

'Wake up honey, it's 7:30 already and you have to get ready for school' said Jack's mother while thoroughly shaking his sleepy body.

'Alright, enough already mom, I'm up!' Jack slowly seated himself on the side of the bed and started the painful process of waking up.

Suddenly, upon realizing what day it was, his tired face lit up, his eyes opened wide and with a pounding heart, he found himself walking toward school in less than five minutes. He met up with Mike on his way and the two started talking about the night to follow. Both of them were so excited that the whole day seemed to have passed in just a matter of seconds and without even knowing it they were on their way home. The hardest thing to do at school was not telling anyone else about their plan because they did not want to share the gift of the dead with anybody. The boys rushed home, grabbed all the things they needed and left for the woods telling their parents that they were going trick or treating. They had to hurry because the road was long and arriving before night fall would have been preferable. While walking on the lonesome road, Mike started checking the equipment to see if anything was missing.

'Crosses and garlic to ward ourselves against vampires?'

'Check!' said Jack while carefully searching in his backpack.

'Your old silver necklace to harm and scare away werewolves ? '

'Check!'

'Rock salt for all the ghosts and an ouija board to bring forth spirits from the underworld?'

'Check and check!'

'Good, that's everything we are ready for anything that will come our way' said Mike bravely.

A long time passed until they finally entered the forest, with every step they went deeper in the woods and the light started to fade away, hardly finding its way to the boys through the thick sea of old trees which surrounded them. Both of them started walking slower and slower until stopping in the place which seemed most terrifying. Mike laid out their important monster-hunting items and Jack started to chant an old summoning ritual in latin. Then a cold breeze blew slowly and sent chills down their spines but nothing else happened so the boy started to speak louder and more gravely than before and the breeze blew faster and colder and the leaves started to shake but it wasn't enough for him so he went on even louder until he started to scream and the woods seemed to have turned alive, shaking and turning in every way with a wind so powerful it blew all their equipment away.

'I think it's enough Jack, please stop, this isn't funny anymore' said Mike trembling with fear.

'We didn't come here to have fun! ' said jack and kept on screaming those cursed words until fear took over Mike and he turned away and ran towards home without even glimpsing back at the wrathful forest.

'Fine, leave you coward, I won't share any of my powers with you' yelled jack furiously and with his final breath screamed 'Come forth and show yourself lurker of the night, lord of shadow and father of nightmares, show your wretched face!'

And that it did, dust started rising from the ground and a stench of death and festering filled his nostrils and shadow fell all around him until the only thing he could see was the abomination which lay in front of him. From the nothingness of air, rose a terrifying and god-forsaken human figure with a rotten face eaten by maggots, its hands and feet were the only thing which could be seen from underneath its filthy robe and they were nothing but bones covered in insects crawling and swirling freely, its lips were white and narrow and its eyes were hallow but inside them burnt a blue flame fueled by hurt and filled with pain.

He slowly opened his festering mouth and with a voice which pierced Jack's thin eardrums, spoke calmly and gravely.

'What is it that your small unimportant mortal heart wishes for so desperately that you dare disrupt my eternal slumber?'

Jack tried to speak but his lips were sealed by fear and nothing but a small whimper.

'Is it power you wish for? Or is it the gift of immortality? I can give you every drop of succulent power and might that you wish for, would that satisfy your hunger human?'

Jack nodded slowly without changing the frozen look of surprise and fear on his face.

'Very well mortal but you must know that noting is given for nothing, so in return for this godly gift you will have to give something in return. All I ask for is your most precious belonging' said the monster while rubbing his hands intensely.

With a puzzled look on his face, Jack turned his shaking hand slowly towards his pocket from which he pulled out his phone and holding it by the edge, handed it slowly to the spirit. The creature leaned towards the scared boy, grabbed the other edge of the phone staring him in the eyes with a piercing look which seemed to have covered the boy's soul in ice and said

'Do you accept my offer, boy?'

'I do.' whispered Jack softly.

Suddenly the only thing he could see was a blinding blue light. As the image in front of him started to clarify he was shocked to see his own body standing in front of him everything was exactly the same, except for the eyes, they were the same awful blue flames as before then he looked down and saw nothing but a small cluster of pale dust floating in the air. While trying to figure out what happened, his body started to talk.

'Foolish human, I had no need for that black rock you gave me, your most precious  belonging was your body and now it's all mine'

'But you promised me power and immortality!' cried out the boy.

And with a subtle smile on his new face the creature said 'Oh my friend, you are immortal but you have no life and your power has no limits but not in this realm.'

In that moment Jack saw two silhouettes that were approaching from far away screaming his name and after listening carefully he realized they were his parents. As they got closer, the flames in monster's eyes faded away making way for the boy's old, normal eyes and the monster from within his new body started speaking once more.

'Well it seems the time has come for us to part ways, thank you for everything and please, do enjoy the life of a spirit.'

Jack's parents arrived to the scene, his mother hugged the monster and his father exhaled happily.

'Hello mother and father, I got lost, I am sorry, it will never happen again, I would like to go home now please!' said the spirit with a still, emotionless face. His happy mother replied quickly 'Sure honey whatever you want !'

'No, that's not me mom, it's a monster, don't trust him!' cried out the boy but they couldn't hear him, nor see him, he just stayed there in the darkness of the forest helpless, watching his beloved mother and father walking away holding hands with a demon.