It was a cool beautiful night but being fourteen there was no way I was going to be caught dead trick or treating. I had caught up with my best friend and we were just plodding through town when we met up with Terri. He was just the person we wanted to see, nothing like a great guy to slice away at the boredom.
"Hey, are you all going over to Crazy Joe's? I dare you to." Terri asked as he dropped into pace beside us.
"Well, if you come with us, we have no reason to say no. We dare you to." Kathy sweetly smiled. None of us really knew where her flirtatious spirit would lead us.
We turned left at the ivy covered shack that stood on the familiar outskirts of town. Soon enough our feet dropped off the pavement and onto the gravel. Once are feet were crunching the rock we began to have second doubts. I looked around and wondered if anyone else was too. If they were, no one admitted it. Off in the distance lightening flashed and the thunder rolled over the exposed empty fields. With each flash of light we caught a brief glimpse of one another, with each clap of thunder the hair on my neck rose and I jumped. I felt Kathy's hand on my arm as the cold rain started falling. The wind gusting mercilessly at our faces as the eeriness of the night continued to grow. The chill in the air was setting in then we heard a blood curdling scream. Kathy's hand tightened, I screamed, and Terri whimpered. Then with a flash of light we saw a puddle in the road. We stopped, not one of us willing to move any closer. With the next flash of light we noticed something very strange; the puddle wasn't right, it wasn't clear. Terri gulped in air and took a step closer to the puddle, then another, and another. Soon he was standing above it. He dipped his finger in and brought i back up to his face. We couldn't see his reaction because the lightning had momentarily ceased. If he tried to say something we'll never know, and when the next flash of lightning lit the sky, he was gone.
"Kris! Where did he go?!" Kathy gasped as she clutched onto my arm, frantic.
"Um...he's probably just trying to scare us. You know how Terri is. Let's go this way." I pulled Kathy into the ditch, away from the mysterious puddle. Every now and then we heard noises and are skin would crawl; we never mentioned them. Across the feild spanning before us, there was a flicker of light. But before it could be identified it disapeared. I thought to myself that this must be the light of a house, so I pulled Kathy off into the general direction of the suspicious house.
The rain was coming down harder and we were soaked through to the bone. The wind was snapping us around like rag dolls. My body began to ache from constantly trying to stay on my feet. As we neared the house I could see a single candle burning, but no other sign of life. I stepped closer and the leaves cracked, Kathy and I stopped. I twig snapped somewhere nearby, the house looked creepy but it looked safer than whatever was lurking out here. So, I stepped onto the porch, the steps creaked with each step we took. I forced myself to the door, my cold fingers reached up for the metal knocker. As the metal touched my skin, I shivered. It was cold. But before i could even bring the knocker down the door opened. I looked at Kathy, knowing our faces both showed the same thing: fear. I stepped into the house.
It smelled of decaying flesh but I needed a deep breath, I took it through my mouth. Kathy was coughing. I thought about her asthma and how dead I would be if her mom knew whatI had dragged her into. But I really couldn't just leave her standing shivering in the door. We took a few steps further into the door. Her coughing became worse, and she began gasping. I turned her around to face the door, and made the decision to get her out. The door slammed shut in our faces. I grabbed the handle and pulled but it wouldn't budge, I cursed myself for never working out in gym. Finally I threw my hands up. An ominious laugh shook the house, my spine tingle.
I tried to talk but my voice had fled. Kathy was coughing so horribly, i thought she was going to die. We had to get out, but how? I grabbed Kathy's arm beneath the elbow and lead her toward the rickety stairs, I had been avoiding. A slowly ascended the stairs, but looking up I saw no stairs, and looking down I saw none. Each stair was appearing as I reached for it and the one below was disappearing. I got half way up the stairs and turned to look at Kathy. She hadn't climbed one. She was just standing there trying to breath, cold, wet, and shivering. Her lips were beginning to turn a little blue. The candle I had seen from the outside was sitting in the window sill by the door. It was our only source of light. A thin ray shone on the steps and to the beginning of the second floor. Then in a instant, it was gone. There was no light, and no way for me to see Kathy, or the stairs. I knew there were about four left, I just held my breath and lept. I landed with a thud on the second floor.
My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I looked down at Kathy. She was urging me to go on. I slowly stood up and looked around. I was standing in a hall, not so dimly lit. There was light coming from somewhere. My eyes scanned the walls and then i found it. Beneath a closed door light seeped into the hall. I began to walk towards the door. In the back of my mind I heard Kathy yelling for me to stop and wait for her, then collapse into a fit of coughing. I told myself I should wait for her, but I couldn't. The closed door was calling my name, pulling me to it. I had no control over my own body. I walked into the room, behind the door. It was a small room, with small chairs, and toys strewn around the floor. The chairs were lined up around the walls, I sat down. I tried to force myself to stand up but I couldn't. There was a body next to me, he was wearing a blue baseball cap. He turned to look into my face. He had pale sunken eyes, staring right into mine, boring a whole through my face. They looked just like...No! I tore my eyes away from his, I wasn't going to think that. I screamed. I looked around, frantic to get out, but all the doors were shut. There was no way to get out! Wait, in the corner of the room was a reflection, i looked closer. It was a window! I felt a bony hand of the boy next to me on my jeans. I smacked it off and jumped out of the chair. I sprinted to the window and jumped out.
The glass shattered around me and tore my skin open. I lfell through a tree below the window. The arms of the tree grabbed at my clothes ripping them, pulling me. I heard the boy fall through the window too. It had only been a year since...my body hit the ground, my thoughts stopped. The windo gushed from me. I climbed to my feet and started to run. I felt limbs, and thorns ripping and digging through my skin. My clothes were in shambles my skin mostly gone. As I ran my foot hit a rock, i tumbled feet over head. The ground was welcoming, but I knew I had to get up. I knew the boy was behind me. He was coming, those eyes were coming. Those eyes had to be Brad's, my big brother Brad's. He had only been gone a year ago, a year ago tonight. What was he doing here? Were Charlie and Denise here too? Had they taken the dare Terri, Kathy and I had taken? I got up and kept running, I had to keep running. I couldn't feel a muscle or a bone in my body. I couldn't stop, and then I was falling, falling and getting warmer and warmer. There was nothing for me to grab for, nothing to hold onto. I hit the ground, the wet musty dirty smelled good.
I sat there for sometime, trying to regain composure and stop my thoughts. I felt a drop of something on my skin, I looked up. There dangling from an outstretched tree branch was a body. The eyes were wide open, the mouth too. The blood was dripping out of her mouth. She had been screaming just as I was screaming.
I don't know how long it's been since I looked up but she has become my best friend. I've grown accustom to the stench and the bugs. I talk to her, sometimes she talks back. I tell her that I'm praying. I'm praying that next year my baby sister does take the dare.