Hallow One Shot Challenge

Halloween was one of Holly's favorite holidays, it was a night where everyone dressed up in costume and she could scare them all that she wanted. This year, she'd gone the extra mile and set up a haunted house. Knowing what scared her closest friends the most, she'd gone ahead and made sure that she'd put in elements that would freak them out more than anything else. Of course, it helped that she had some theater friends that were more than willing to help out with such a prank and scare the daylights out of people for her with only the promise of dinner before hand.

The house was the cherry on top of her Halloween party - which people never could deny were always much better than anyone else's. She just was able to get into the spirit without problem, always. This year she'd dressed up as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, a look fitting with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Sure, the costume was a little on the 'naughty' side of the line, but her boyfriend hadn't been complaining when she'd put it on and she didn't really care about what other people thought.

Catching sight of her favorite cousin, she made her way over toward the other girl and smiled. "So, head into the haunted house, yet?"

"I told you, there's no way that I'm going in there," Ayla replied, crossing her arms over her chest after pushing back part of the long, dark wig that she was wearing to complete her Mortica costume. "And I haven't heard from a single person that's come out yet, so I bet it was too scary and they aren't telling me."

"You know I don't take no for an answer," the older girl said, grabbing onto her arm and starting to drag the other girl toward the house.

"Holly! Come on, don't make me do this!"

Hearing the pleading tone that her cousin used, Holly simply shook her head. "It's for your own good, come on," she insisted, continuing to drag the other girl up the stairs and finally into the house.

Immediately the doors slammed shut, darkness overtaking them in a way that Holly hadn't originally intended. A strobe light flashed in the distance as Thriller started playing outside at the party, filling the silence in the house. Neither one of them moved for a moment, an eerie feeling setting in around them.

"Well come on then, the sooner we get moving, the sooner this is over and I can get back to Ty." The blonde stood a bit taller and started walking toward the light, anticipating the falling spiders that made her cousin scream and curse her, as well as the zombie head that swung right in their path. They were halfway across the living room when Holly suddenly came a stop, looking around and frowning.

"What? What's going on?" Ayla asked, suddenly more panicked as she tried to look around for whatever it was that Holly saw.

"Shh!" she waved her hand into the other girl's face as she leaned forward slightly, listening for something that her cousin couldn't hear. "They should have-"

"No! I'm not spending more time here than I have to! I'm finishing this stupid house without you. You only dragged me in here for your amusement anyway!"

Holly shook her head as she watched her cousin storm forward into the house, apparently determined to get out already. But she stayed still for a few moments more and looked around to see if, in the few flashes of light that came from the strobe light still ahead, she could spot any of the actors that were supposed to be there. Where were they? She hadn't seen a single one yet and they should have been here, should have scared her already. Or, more like, scared Ayla already. Something wasn't right about this. A creak in the floor behind her had her turning to look, glancing into the shadows.

"What the-" she started, taking a step closer toward the direction she'd heard the noise in before her cousin's blood curtling scream came, sending goosebumps up her spine. This scream was different than the ones from earlier. "Ayla?"

And then she was running, running in the direction that her cousin had gone. She knew the other girl could be over dramatic most of the time, but right now she felt like this was something different. Her stomach twisted in despair as she made her way closer to where her cousin should have been, but she didn't see her anywhere. "Ayla?" she called again, looking around as best she could in the broken flashes of light and not seeing her. Her heart pounded all the faster.

"Don't be stupid, Holly. She probably just ran out the back door." The lie she told herself was calm and rational, trying to make this into something better than it was because deep down she knew that it wasn't true. There was no way that was what had happened. Still, she bolted toward the back door, which should have been open.

It wasn't. Why wasn't it open? The blonde pulled at the door handle, trying to open it up, but it wasn't budging. And suddenly it hit her. This had to be a joke, someone pulling it over on her. Changing the house to try and make her scared. "Ha ha guys, very funny. You had me going there for a moment," she clapped as she spoke toward the open air, turning around to face the people who were surely hiding and watching her. "It was all very funny. You almost got me good."

Silence was all that greeted her and at first it wasn't a big deal, in fact, it was expected. But then the silence drew on, uncomfortably. Glancing around, no one seemed to be coming out. And then the creak in the floor came, somewhere off to the side during the flash of darkness and it kept coming closer. Someone was coming for her, dressed in all black. Standing tall, she tried to convince herself that it was still just a joke, but the adrenaline pumped too fast in her system and she felt herself twitching with every step.

Finally, the person was close enough to see as the light flashed and he was carrying a knife. A bloody knife, raised in the air as the slow deliberate steps came closer and closer, the flashing of the strobe light making everything worse. Brief flashes of the person moving in and she knew it wasn't a joke. Turning, she banged on the door, screaming for someone to open up but no one could hear over the blaring music. The last sounds she heard were the steps coming to a stop behind her and the far off laughter that ended Thriller.


Word Count: 1,141

Bennie and her friends laughed and chatted as they waited in line for the Haunted Trails. It was a town tradition to make the hiking paths into a scaring extravaganza. It was open from sundown until two in the morning, and Bennie always waited as close to the end as possible; everything was always scarier the darker and colder it got. Tonight they’d gotten lucky and there were even wisps of mist biting at their faces as the hopped in place to keep warm.

When it was finally their turn, the zombie at the entrance equipped them with a small flashlight, but Bennie knew they wouldn’t use it; they never did. They hurried off down the trails in a tight group, looking nervously from side to side, waiting for the first scare. Just as anticipated, a teenage boy dressed with an old fashioned hockey mask jumped out from the side with a chain saw. Screaming and laughing at the same time, the girls took off running down the path. Bennie saw Sarah trip and go sprawling in her flight for freedom. Chuckling, Bennie went back to help her off the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” said Sarah, embarrassed. “Just lost my footing. Let’s go, they’re getting ahead.”

Bennie peered into the distance and saw that Sarah was right. Their friends hadn’t noticed them fall behind and they were already too far away to see properly.

“Hey, wait up!” Bennie shouted, but there was no response.

“Guess it’s just you and me,” Sarah said with a grin.

They started off down the path again, holding hands and jumping around with every whistle of the wind and crack of branches. And yet nothing jumped out. Bennie frowned and looked around; they should have caught up to their friends by now, as they’d been walking at a nice, fast pace. She took out the flashlight and turned it on, sweeping it around the forest.
“I thought we don't use flashlights,” joked Sarah.

“I think we might have gotten turned around or taken a wrong turn at a fork somewhere along the path. Does any of this look familiar to you?”

They looked around the path, but nothing looked even remotely recognizable, and they’d been walking the Haunted Trails since they were in first grade.

“Maybe it’s too dark for us to see any landmarks. Let’s just keep going for a bit, and if there’s still nothing we’ll turn back.”
Sarah nodded in agreement and they started off the path again, talking about the latest gossip from the school. Suddenly Sarah stopped talking, eyes blank, staring straight ahead.

“Is everything alright?” Bennie asked, nervously glancing around. Sarah gave no response, just continued staring. A distant howl of a wolf rang through the forest sending shivers up Bennie’s spine; she could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing straight.

“Sarah, come on, let’s just turn back.”

There was no response.

Bennie looked around, suddenly realizing where they were. The Dead Man’s Bluff. The line of trees suddenly stopped ahead, dropping off into a deep ravine filled with rocks below. Stories were constantly told of those who left their house in perfect condition and headed down this trail and then never came back. Bennie shook her head. She knew they were just ghost stories, told to go along with the frightening name. She turned around to pull Sarah back down the path. Obviously she was too petrified by the stories to go any closer, and Bennie certainly didn't want to get nearer anyway; it was too dark to be wandering this close to a cliff edge like that. Right as she took Sarah’s hand however, Sarah opened her mouth and began screaming a high-pitched, keening noise, unending, not even to take a breath. Sarah’s hand clamped Bennie’s as she started to drag her towards the edge.

“Sarah, stop! What are you doing? We have to get out of here, it’s not safe!”

But it made no difference. Bennie tried to get her hand out of Sarah’s grip, but it was locked tight, surely tighter than any grip had any right to be. She could feel her bones being squeezed, like they were about to be crushed. They got closer and close to the edge, Bennie now fighting Sarah ferociously, attempting to kick her legs out beneath her, but it only resulted in her falling to the ground. Sarah screamed on, dragging her across the ground. They were only feet from the cliff now.
“Sarah, stop! This isn't funny. What’s wrong with you?”

Sarah stopped screaming. Silence rang, scarier even then sound she had been making in the sudden quiet, absence of any noise. She looked down. Bennie screamed, as she saw Sarah’s eyes were fire red, possessed by some demon or devil, blood streaming from her eyes and nose. It stared down at her, as Bennie struggled uselessly, before tossing her off the cliff. Bennie fumble for any hold on the cliffside but found none, falling helplessly towards the rocks below. She heard a cry of release from above as Sarah flung herself off the cliff after her. Bennie knew no more.

WC: 859

This is rushed and random but it's only for points, otherwise this would be more developed and better written as I originally envisioned it.
----

On the 31st of October of 2012 the doors to the Great Hall of the Hogwarts Experience opened to let in a parade of glorious members, all wearing their disguises, all ready for war. However, before we continue that story we need to tell you the events that led to it.

Thirty days before...

Tap. Tap. Tap. Raistlin looked away from the piece of parchment where he'd been outlining some surprises. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound was more insistent now. Looking at the window there was a poor owl battling the dreadful weather. Raistlin opened the window and let the animal in. Taking the note attached to the owl’s leg and reading it, the headmaster started changing colors, from a pale white to a furious red. Before he could express his rage the door to his office opened in a blast.

“Rai!”, shouted Amber, Head of Gryffindor.

The head of Slytherin was about to shout at however had busted into his office when once again his words were interrupted.

“Raiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”, screamed Katie, Head of Hufflepuff.

Both of them were holding letters in their hands which made Raistlin believe they too must have received the note…

“Calm down, both you, no need to panic. We’ll defeat them easily.”

“Yes, sir!” agreed Katie, but Amber was looking unconvinced.

“You shouldn’t be so callous, you better than anyone know who we’re dealing with, their capabilities, they’re skill, this will not be easy.”

“Fear not, they must be rusty and we’re well oiled machines. Now go get yourselves ready for the battle.”

“As you wish Headmaster,” said amber with a sneer on the last word and left the office.

“Are they really that good, Rai?” asked Katie in pleading tones.

“You’ll soon find out but don’t worry you’ve come a long way I believe you’re ready for this face-off. Now leave me, I need to make plans and arrangements.”

“Aye. See you later!” and with cheerful tones she too left the office.

Raistlin started to pace the place up and down.

“Who the hell do they think they are to threaten me like that and give me such an ultimatum! I will show them! Oh yes I will. I believe Amber too is ready, though I fear she’ll cower in the face of them, their authority might still have some influence on her… As for Katie… I’m afraid she’s not ready this yet… I fear we might lose her especially if she faces the one I think they’ll try to pair her with…”

While Raistlin pondered all of these questions, the note that lay on this desk said:

“You’re reign ends on Halloween. Meet us in the Great Hall. Costume face-off. The winner gets HE back. Choose two other persons to accompany you.
Elfie & Amy & Etta”

When the time came, the battle between old and new members were fierce. The walls of the virtual castle shook with the applause both teams got. But in the end could there be only one winner and the team with the most gory and scary costumes was… the new members team with a corpse, a mummy and a dalek against a werewolf a vampire and a banshee. The old members were kicked from the great hall ti dwell on a dark shadow so they could once again attack.

The end.

1st Place - 600: amortentia773
2nd Place - 500: amberg93
3rd Place - 425: Raistlin The Wizard