How Festive (Discontinued)

Chapter 1: October 24th

Halloween was always your favorite of holidays. Whether it be the carved pumpkins or the looming scarecrows, the festivity of it all was so enjoyable you couldn't help but get carried away with it.

You had always enjoyed dressing up for the events that took place and watching movies with your friends after going out trick or treating. But for as much as you enjoyed the aesthetic, scary things really did have a tendency to freak you out.

To call you a scaredy cat would be a compliment. You could hear a strange noise in the middle of the night and be on edge till the morning. Paranoia was always a problem for you, but after seeing or hearing something even mildly strange or disturbing, it felt as if that paranoia struck you tenfold and you simply could not shake the feeling of fright that washed through your bones.

But Halloween wasn't all complete scares at least. Carving cat faces into pumpkins with your friend was definitely the highlight of today, even if your friend would probably argue against that, saying what occurred immediately after was far more worthy of being a highlight.

You had just finished scooping your pumpkin of its innards when you had heard some rustling in the immense amount of foliage behind where you sat on the side of the patio.

You were at your friend's house; they had invited you over to carve pumpkins for next week and bake the seeds into a snack for the following movie marathon that would occur after the party you both had planned. Although late in the day when they had invited you, at least 4 pm, you couldn't decline such a nice offer.

Immediately you were on edge after hearing the noises from behind you, feeling your chest tighten at the mere sounds. You saw your friend quirk their brow and all you could manage was to gesture behind you in your panicked state.

Their confusion did not cease, only intensifying as your gesturing grew more frantic. The rustling continued to grow louder, and you were stuck between bolting off screaming and staying there in pure paralyzed fear. Your body sided with the latter and all you could do was tense up and close your eyes as the rustling got severely close to where you sat.

And then-

Silence.

Absolute silence filled the area to the point it became far eerier than the rustling. The birds had silenced themselves, any kids down the block had gone quiet, no cars passed by the street.

It was as if the entire neighborhood had gone mute, just for this moment. And man did that scare you shitless. After all, a cease in rustling meant whatever was there had stopped moving, and that meant it was at its destination. Which was right behind you.

You opened your eyes, stood and whipped around, a shriek of sorts making its way through your lungs as you backed up and away from the overgrown bush. It wasn't until you knocked into something did you realize this was absolutely the worst course of action, especially with you realizing absolutely nothing was behind you aside from the shrubbery.

You felt your world slip below you as you came tumbling down onto your ass, screaming. Right onto the pumpkin guts.

It took you a moment to calm down after that, your friend cackling at your misfortune. They were near screaming from laughter, tears budding in their eyes.

"Please quit your hollering and maybe worry about what prompted me to act like an idiot? There's something in your fucking bushes!" You weren't nearly as angry as you sounded, in fact, you were far more scared than anything.

Their laughter didn't cease, though they did begin to stand. Something you felt grateful for amongst the fear.

"I don't think messing with the bushes would be a great idea, last time I did that I got stung by a bug of some sort. Besides, it's probably just a stray cat, I've seen them out and about around here lately." They said, looking down at you glaring at them. They ignored it and carried on.