Last Halloween

Just after dark on the last day of October there was a knock at my door. I knew what the caller’s business would be. It was Halloween. Outside the street would be full of children dressed in all kinds of spooky costumes. Witches, wizards, ghosts and ghouls would be parading the neighbourhood on this one night of the year. Smiling, I grabbed the large tub of sweets and opened the front door.

The small child on my doorstep called out trick or treat from behind their thick plastic skull mask. The mother looked on from a few feet up the path. I offered the tub and the child grabbed sweets in their small hands and tossed the loot into their bag. The mother told the child to say thank you. The kid called out thanks as they moved on to the next house.

As I was closing the front door I noticed the figure standing in the dark shadows, just outside the glow of the streetlight. The image was light something from a horror film. The axe-wielding monster lurking in the shadows, waiting for their next victim. I quickly closed the door and made sure to locking, trying the handle twice. Telling myself I was being paranoid because of the ghostly time of year, I went back through to the living room and continued watching the horror film on television.

As the onscreen tension mounted, and the victim neared their demise, I couldn’t get the shadow figure out of my head. Why would a person loiter just out of the light? Surely a parent escorting their child on Halloween would stand in the light where they could see and be seen? But that’s all it could have been, I told myself. There was no other explanation. Maybe it was a shy, embarrassed parent, reluctantly taking their child out trick or treating.

When the next knock came, I once again, offered my bucket of treats to the caller. The young lad gave a growl under his werewolf mask, and waved a hairy paw at me. I laughed and handed over the sweets. Again the figure stalked outside, hanging out in the darkness. I quickly closed the door and, heart pounding, retreated to the living room.

On my TV screen, the latest victim, a guy in his twenties, was being chased through his house by a crazed, knife wielding killer. I shook my head and turned the television off. After a moment of pacing my living room, stressing about who or what was lurking outside my house on this Halloween evening, I was drawn to the window. Taking a deep breath, I slowly pulled back the tick curtains, so they opened slightly. I peered out, looking for the shadow hovering at the edge of darkness.

I sighed, almost laughing, in relief. There was nobody in the shadows. It must have been a parent waiting for the child, or maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I scolded myself for letting the spooky season get under my skin. Before closing the curtain, I glanced up and down the street. I groaned in despair, as I saw the shadowy figure. The person was now standing at the bottom of the path. I felt sick. The path lead right up to my front door. Somehow the figure was still cloaked in thick darkness, despite the light spilling from the glow of street and house lighting. I turned away, letting the curtain fall shut.

There was a loud rapping on my door. What could this wicked creature want with me? Like the next victim in a predictable horror film, I was drawn to the dreaded visitor on the other side of my front door. I was like the on-screen prey who go outside to investigate suspicious noises. I always used to yell at the saps on TV to stay inside, yet now I found myself drawn to my own destruction.

Trying to prepare myself for the utter horror that lay in wait on the other side, I ripped open the door.

Trick or treat called the little girl dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. Sure, I nodded, and doled out the sweets. She skipped away down the path, on to the next house. I looked around. Nobody was lurking ominously in the shadows.

I went to close the door, but saw quick dark movement outside, like a large black cat leaping across my peripheral vision. The shadow person was moving up the path towards me. Before I could move, the creature stepped out of the darkness and into the glow of light spilling from the hallway behind me.

The woman looked to be around thirty years old but had an ageless grace about her. Her pale white skin had a hard cold sheen. She wore a dark lacy gown that was tight and yet flowing. She stared at me, a curious smile on her lips, as she floated towards me. I stood, unable to move. I noticed the dark street behind her was empty of people. The Halloween reveller, given the hour, had now returned home to munch a few treats before bed.

‘Trick or treat?’ she purred.

I half-turned, trying to close the door on the strange apparition. She clattered heaving against the wood, with speed that was almost too quick to be seen. I felt her icy fingers against my cheek, and then sharp pain as fangs tore at my neck.

That was last Halloween. This year, I suggest you be are the long dark shadows. That knock at the door, could be me.

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom