This is my submission for the Halloween Writer's Jam, I hope you guys enjoy :)
Gildas’ Halloween
Gildas leapt awake. Turning his head slightly, he saw the source of the noise that woke him, and noticed his clock radio alarm was still playing. That was it. He turned off the alarm and checked the time; 10AM. That would be fine. He got up, put on a blue t-shirt and some old jeans (noticing as he did so that he was getting some muscle on his forearms) and walked downstairs for some breakfast. He made himself some wholemeal toast, poured himself a glass of orange juice, and turned to head back into the living room when something caught his eye. He turned back around, noticing the rain plummeting hard against the window’s surface, thinking calmly. Was it raining when he woke?
Never mind. He walked back into the living room, and turned on the over-large television. Saturday morning cartoons always were the best. He didn’t have any homework to be done, or any need to rush, so he reflected on the night before. He and Haru had gone trick-or-treating, it being Halloween and all. He'd gone as L from Death Note, eyeliner streaming down his face, and Haru had gone as Misa, with the best dress (black and purple, with scratch marks all over it) she had ever worn. He had to say, if he were to date Haru, that would have been when he asked her.
They’d gone trick-or-treating around her estate, them and a few friends spending their final childish Halloween out having fun. Jokes were made, laughs were had and everyone went home smiling. He and Haru had watched some horror movies to try and scare each other, but it didn’t work. They watched ‘The Ring’ and laughed the whole way through. ‘The Strangers’ fared no better, with Haru saying “Oh come on, that’s so predictable!” at least thirty times the whole way through. Eventually, he’d gone home, locked up the house (his parents were away in Spain, on one of their “Parent Holidays”) and went to sleep. That was a fun night.
Now something jerked him back to reality. The TV was messing up, the message “No Signal” flashing on the screen. Odd. Gildas’ house always had signal. But then, there was a first time for everything wasn’t there, and you can’t expect perfection out of a television screen. He turned off the TV, and headed upstairs. Maybe Haru would be on MSN Messenger by now. He walked into his room, turning on the lights once more, and noticed his bedroom window was ajar. He hadn’t opened it, or had he left it open yesterday? Did it even matter? Of course not. He closed the window to avoid rain falling inside the room, and turned on his computer. A few minutes later, he was signed in and ready to check his Messenger when… his friends list had been wiped clean. Now that was unusual, totally wiped clean, none there at all, when there had been at least forty the day before. Must be a system problem. Yeah, that was it.
After re-entering his friends into the list, he noted that Haru’s messenger status was “Away”. She wasn’t usually away, but that didn’t bother him. Surfing the internet, he checked his accounts (theOtaku.com, myyearbook.com, all the usual suspects) and decided that if Haru wasn’t back in five minutes, he’d find something else to do.
He checked his watch anxiously. Four minutes had gone, she was probably just busy with homework of her own. Five minutes, still not back, maybe he’d play a Final Fantasy game. Seven minutes, it was getting a bit too late. He shut off his messenger. Turned the computer off. Walked slowly downstairs. Walking calmly into the living room, he stepped back slightly. What was going on? The TV was back on again, playing that same “No Signal” screen it had before. He turned it off, didn’t he? Obviously not. Switch OFF, thank you, and walk into the kitchen again.
The fridge was wide open. This was getting weird. The rain had stopped, too, and the window was totally dry. Gildas’ immediate thoughts jumped to the horror movies he’d seen the night before but that couldn’t be. No way. Not real. He took a chocolate bar from the fridge and closed it firmly, checking it by opening it again and re-closing it. Deep breaths. Okay. He turned back to the living room, opening the chocolate bar and stopped mid-step. The front door was open. He turned again, the fridge open and the window wet with rain. The TV switched itself on as he entered the room, and the curtains flew wide open with lightning flashing in the (night?) sky. Something was definitely wrong, something was definitely not right.
Thunder crashed in the darkened sky. Gildas turned in the hallway to open the cupboard to find it already open, so he grabbed a heavy, warm coat and his keys and headed out the front door. He’d ask his neighbours what was happening. No sooner had he left the driveway to his house had the door slammed shut. He walked back, putting his hand on the handle to open it. It was locked. Putting his hands in his pockets, he found…nothing. His keys had gone. He had definitely put them in…
He walked back to the driveway, heading out to the right to his neighbour's house. Crash! “Woah, I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to run into you like that!” The man, fully cloaked, continued walking. “That’s all right.” Returned a rough, gravely voice. Shaking his head, Gildas turned into his neighbour's driveway and gasped. No way. This was too far. From the gravel on the sidewalk to the tiles on the roof, this wasn’t the neighbour’s house. This was his.
Gildas shook his head vigorously. “No… No way…” he said, rubbing his eyes before looking again. His house. He turned, running to the right again, and entered the next driveway. His house. He turned again, running left. Driveway. His house. This couldn’t be happening, this was impossible! This defied the laws of nature! He pinched himself. Pain shot across his arm. No dream, certainly awake. He walked unsteadily forwards, and stopped at the front door. Rung the doorbell. A loud, low chuckle came from inside the house. The hallway light turned on, and a man in a cloak opened the door. “Good of you to join us.” Came a rough, gravely voice Gildas recognized, and he followed the man inside.
The interior of his house was totally changed. Gone were the cream-coloured walls, the soft, plush furnishings. In their place were walls of solid wooden planks, and chairs made of mahogany. In the living room sat four more men, in a circle, surrounded by lit black candles. The man who opened the door sat at the head of the four, cross-legged, and Gildas had a strange desire to sit in the centre. His body moved of its own accord, his mind screaming for him to stop but failing as he sat inside the star made by the men. They chuckled at him, or with him, as for some reason his throat tickled with laughter. As the men joined hands, he felt a wave of peace wash over him. Then, as they began to chant, everything that had happened reinstated itself in his mind and he screamed.
They all say, in the small town of Clovershack, that the house down Catterby street is haunted. The children make up stories about it, and the adults talk in hushed tones about a boy who went mad whilst living there, and shot himself. No-one would go there, no-one would buy that house even if their lives depended on it. Apart from one young family, that is. They moved in, not two weeks past. I don’t know why they bought the house. Maybe they don’t know that sad tale of the young boy. I see them on the street sometimes, on their way to the supermarket to buy their daily bread. The boy is adventurous, runs ahead a lot. I nod, smiling to his mother as she tries to catch up with him. “Come on now, Gildas, not again!”
