Halloween at Midnight | 31 Days of Halloween (2020)

Day 1 - Hide or Die.

"The game is hide and seek."

I laugh thinking she was joking. She was not.

The group of girls I had hoped to befriend stared at me like the odd girl out. And indeed I was.

"Isn't hide and seek a kids game? All of us are almost done with high school?" I asked embarrassed.

The girl I considered the ring leader smiled at me.

"Not the way we play it. It's technically hide and seek with a little twist if you get caught within the first three minutes."

One of the other girls looked at me with a wife's eyes stare, "Don't get caught."

It almost sounded like a warning than advice. I nod awkwardly.

"Okay!" The leader clasped her hands together, "As usual, I'll seek." She covered her eyes and began to count down from 60.

We all shot up and began frantically searching for hiding spots. More so them than me. The girl who warned me grabbed my arm and pulled me with her.

"Are we supposed to hide together?"

"No, but to save you in breaking the rules." She pulled me into a cupboard in the kitchen and began to block the doorway.

"Umm, why are you doing that? You act like she hunting us. It's just a game."

"She is hunting us and it's most definitely not just a game." Her face was pale and fragile. "You shouldn't have accepted her invitation to come over."

"Well, I'm new here. I wanted to make some friends—why are you acting like this? You're kind of freaking me out!"

She shushed me. "Once she finds you, you're stuck. If you last three minutes, she lets you go. It's a part of the game."

"What?"

"We are all stuck in this house. She's the only one who can come and go as she pleases. I don't know what the hell she is... but she's not human. I honestly don't know how long I've been here. Neither of us do. It just keeps repeating over and over. We never eat, we never sleep. The only time we get a break is when she leaves and comes back with another. Like you. We have no choice. We just keep playing, until she gets bored of us."

"W—what happens then?" I stutter.

The doors fly open as do the things that barricaded it. The leader smiled down meticulously at us. She held up a butcher knife like her last name was Myers. "Now, who's in here breaking the rules?!? No hiding with another!" She points the knife at me, "I'm sorry, I should've explain the rules to you before we started. That's my fault." She shifts the knife to the other girl, "But you, you've been here for 6 years. You should know better."

She stands with her feet firmly to the floor, "Do it!" She yells. "Kill me like you killed my sister. I... am no longer afraid of you."

The leader laughed in her face, "You think I killed your sister?" She mocks her by pouting. "I have some news that may be a bit more harder to swallow. You see, your sister won the game. It rarely happens cause I'm a master at it, but she indeed won. She figure out a loophole in my game." She got closer to her, inches away from her face. "There's a spot I never check. And it's the only way to win. Your sister found it, she won, and she left you. Alone."

The pale girl shook her head, "No, you're lying! You killed her!"

"Am I?" She pulled out her phone and showed her a picture. This is your sister celebrating her 18th birthday just one month ago. With a few friends oh and your parents."

She turned away from the picture with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It's sad that you've turned this defiant, you were one of my favorites." She jammed the knife into her stomach as blood pooled out of her mouth. When the leader pulled it away, she felled to the ground. She didn't move again.

I shriek in terror. With no thought at all, I ran to the front door. I couldn't unlock it, I couldn't do anything but scream.

"No can hear you."

I turn to see the rest of the girls gathered around me.

"No one ever hears us."

With blood sprayed all over her, the leader joins us. "Okay! Who's ready to play again?"