Horror Stories for Halloween

The Purple Hallway

"Put the disc in and grab your controller!" Sid, an excitable young man, cheered at his best friend.

Tom put his hands up in a joking way of saying 'alright, alright'. He grabbed the game and inserted it into his PS4 that cost him more than he wished to admit. Sid always ragged on Tom for not playing his system, but by the time he had purchased it he basically had no money left for any games.

Tom planted himself on the couch next to Sid. They had their drinks, chips and a large, plastic bowl of candy ready for when the trick or treaters arrived at the door. Sid considered just leaving the bowl outside his house so their game playing wouldn't be interrupted but he knew how that went. In kid language 'Take One' meant 'How much of this can I fit into my hands?'

"Mortal Kombat," Tom sighed, cracking open his Sprite, "people can't complain that this game is too gory now that it's Halloween."

"People will still complain," Sid joked. He knew that this game was unnecessarily brutal, but what teenager didn't love that? It pushed the boundaries and that was exciting.

They were brought to the player select. Sid chose Kitana, which Tom felt the need to call him fruity for, to which he defended that Kitana was one of the best characters. Tom picked Reptile, like he always did.

Laughter was heard from outside the house, high-pitched and giggly. The kids were here. Sid sighed.

"Here comes the monsters in 3...2..."

"Ding dong!"

Tom laughed as Sid gave him a look, before picking up the plastic bowl and heading to the door.

"I'm heading to the bathroom!" Tom called.

"Don't miss me too much, sexy!" Sid laughed, making his friend do the same.

Tom, having to pee more than he thought, shuffled down Sid's long hallway. Purple light from the Halloween decorations outside poured in through the windows in the hallway, making Tom giddy. He loved Halloween, but he thought he was too old to really go do anything for the holiday. He couldn't trick-or-treat because he was too old, and he couldn't party because he was too young.

He entered the bathroom that was filled with the same purple light as the hallway. After flicking the light switch up and down a few times, he realized it wasn't working. He chuckled, thinking it was perfectly cliche for Halloween. The purple light would have to do. While relieving himself, his stomach felt kind of hollow. Not in a hungry way or anything, but almost like a paranoia, or a sense. He dismissed it as his brain getting to him as it was Halloween night.

When Tom was done, he buckled his pants back up and washed his hands. He wrung his hands in the dry towel, but stopped slowly. The lights had been off the whole time, but the lights felt like they were really off. Literally and not literally. The bathroom felt darker, even though the purple light still covered the space.

"Occidere."

Tom looked at the bathtub. Empty. At first, he thought he heard nothing. Whatever it was, was so quiet, but made him stop. He stopped his breath, he stopped his body, and he stopped his eyes from blinking. Tom wasn't sure why. Whatever emotion he was feeling was so abundant, he wasn't sure what it was.

"Occidere sus humani."

Louder.

The laughter from outside was gone. The thought this could have been a Halloween joke pulled by Sid didn't even occur to him. Tom didn't even remember that he was still at Sid's. All he knew at the moment was that emotion he felt in abundance was..... fear. Not the same fear you felt as you watched a horror movie and felt your stomach drop as the music stopped and a jump scare was about to happen. Not the same fear as being on the top of a roller coaster. Not even the same fear as you watched a loved one take their last breath and wonder what will happen after that moment. Tom felt the fear of humanity. A fear worse than losing your own life.