Outside the neighborhood haunted house, the kids lined up, and Mandy and Rosco moved into place at the end. Mandy still wasn't excited to go in, but who knew what might happen if she were left alone out there in the dark? She'd be better off going in.
"I think they must've set it up inside the garage," said James.
It looked as though visitors would enter through the kitchen in the house and make their way through the garage, then come out through a side door, so the main garage doors could be kept shut. To keep out the streetlights, the garage windows were covered in thick black butcher paper. Over the entrance was a large sign in scribbled letters that read BEWARE.
Half a dozen people waited in line ahead of them, but there was plenty to look at in the yard. Mandy straightened her dress nervously and glanced around.
Spooky piano music played from speakers, and an eerie fake cemetery had been constructed on the lawn, with gray foam headstones and plastic skeletons.
"So creepy!" said Trisha, laughing.
"So cool!" said Naomi.
The haunted house seemed like a popular stop for trick-or-treaters.
Mandy pulled her lab coat tighter. The whole place gave her the chills. But she smiled, remembering the way her Dad had created a bubbling cauldron to make their porch spooky. She had to admit this whole thing was pretty neat. She'd give it a chance.
Soon, it was their turn to enter the haunted house.
"Only two or three at a time, please," said a teenaged boy guarding the door.
"Boys first!" said Naomi, giving Ian a slight push. Naomi turned around to smile at Mandy and Mandy thought she looked just as worried as she felt, herself.
At least I'm not the only one, Mandy thought.
Trisha nodded to the boys. "Yep, go ahead, boys!"
The boys were happy to go first. James turned and gave Mandy a reassuring look. "We'll wait for you outside, after." Mandy nodded, and he followed Ian and Leo inside.
When a few more minutes had passed, the teenager motioned to the girls. "Next three."
Naomi and Trisha held hands and stepped through the door, giggling softly and looking around.
"Is it okay to bring my dog?" asked Mandy.
The boy looked Rosco up and down. "Sure, as long as he stays on the leash."
Mandy followed her friends inside, keeping Rosco's leash short so he'd stay close.
Inside the garage, only dim lights lit the way. Mandy followed the girls down a narrow hallway inside the garage. It looked like long white sheets had been hung from ropes to create the walls, and it felt like a maze had been constructed inside the garage. It was dark but strange, black lights gave an extra glow to the hallways that the family had created inside their garage.
Mandy looked around and spotted tall pieces of cardboard that had been painted to look like things in an old haunted mansion—pictures of black chandeliers, cracked mirrors, and spooky black-and-white portraits.
Fuzzy, fake spider webs clung to the corners of the ceiling with plastic spiders the size of Mandy's hands. Mandy stepped on a plastic rat and let out a shriek. Rosco stayed close.
Around the next bend, a tall figure appeared from the shadows. His face was painted all white. He opened his long black cape dramatically and smiled to reveal two long, sharp fangs over his teeth. "I am Dracula. Nice to meet you," he said with a funny accent. The girls squealed and hurried on. Mandy knew it was just somebody's dad dressed up in a costume.
Trisha and Naomi were moving ahead of Mandy quickly. They rounded another corner of the maze-like hallways and Mandy found herself alone with Rosco. She hurried to catch up to the girls, but there was a lot of neat stuff and she didn't want to miss anything.
Around the corner, she was amazed to see almost a dozen candles hanging from the ceiling. She stopped for a moment to study them. They seemed to be floating. "How are they doing that?" she said to Rosco. Were the candles real? They couldn't be, right? Maybe they were battery-powered?
Rosco stopped to look at the candles, too. Mandy brought her gaze back down just in time to see Trisha and Naomi round the next bend. "Come on, Rosco. We'd better hurry up."
Halfway down the hallway, Mandy froze as the sound of loud footsteps approached. She turned around to look—but there was nobody. What was that? she wondered, her heart beginning to race. Maybe it came from the loudspeakers, like the music? She turned and started down the hallway again, gripping Rosco's leash tightly, careful not to trip on anything in the dark. "Trisha, Naomi—wait up!" she called. But no answer came. They must be further ahead. Why did they leave me? A slight panic set in.
Reaching the end of the hallway, suddenly, a purplish light flashed and a ghostly figure appeared. Mandy stopped, eyes wide.
It was simple and white and seemed to be nothing more than two eyes cut out of several long, ragged white sheets layered over one another. It appeared to have two arms under the sheets, both of which it raised high in the air as if to threaten onlookers. But it looked so real!
The ghost floated gently down from the ceiling toward her. How is that thing moving?
Mandy pulled on Rosco's leash. This was exactly what she was afraid of—things that were meant to scare her! She didn't want to be scared! Halloween was supposed to be for fun, not for hearts to pound, hands to sweat, and muscles to freeze up in terror!
She screamed.
All photos and artwork courtesy of Pixabay
YOU ARE READING
Rosco the Rascal Trick-or-Treats - A Short Story for Halloween
Short Story"The tree was big enough to shade the whole front yard. Its long branches swayed in the soft wind like giant arms dancing in the sky. Mandy shivered and took Trisha by the arm. "It's kind of spooky here, isn't it?" An owl hooted somewhere nearby. Ma...
