Halloween

• Chris Kocx, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2010

An old woman named Gladys trudged up the creaky old stairwell, which was elaborately decorated with sculls and spider webs for Halloween, to her top floor apartment. Gladys was 73 and the stairs were getting tougher with every day. She had short silky grey hair and a black oak walking stick which clunked down on the floor with every second step. Panting she climbed the final step. She thought to herself “I’m getting too old for this”. Gasping as she glimpsed a puddle of blood. She laughed and thought “these Halloween decorations are getting better every year”. She trudged towards her front door, however something was wrong. There was what looked like real blood pooling under her front door.
She glanced around to check that the corridor was deserted, no-one was there and it was silent. Although as Gladys approached the door she heard some rustling coming from inside. She was baffled; her Husband should have left over an hour ago. How could something or someone be inside her apartment?
She was on edge as she creaked open the old wooden door, first she silently put the key in the lock, then she turned twice clockwise and as she pushed it open she saw someone. Standing there in the darkness, it was at least 6 feet tall or more, it stood completely still with a hoodie on his torso and some sort of mask on his face. Also something was dripping from his mask, it was a dark colour, was it? Could it be?
As Gladys flicked on the light her horrid suspicions were true! Blood was dripping from the things mask, his face was a dark red mess and it looked like it wasn’t any of his own blood!
As Gladys glanced around the room she saw blood spattered all along the walls and in the corner what looked like, a horribly mutilated human body! However before Gladys could make any sound whatsoever the madman was upon her. He whispered to Gladys the moment before death, “I’ve been watching you, and your pretty Granddaughter!” and that was the last thing Gladys ever heard.
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The next day, Gladys’s Granddaughter Mary was walking along the path towards her Grandmothers apartment. She was whistling a merry tune and was joyful because the weekend had just begun. She was in year 11 and had other things on her mind than studying for the HSC. She already worked on weekends and 3 school days and partly cared for her Grandmother. However she didn’t mind she loved her Grandmother dearly and if anything happened to her she would be utterly devastated. She walked past her grandma’s neighbour Gary. Gary lived on his own and he wore a musty grey singlet tucked into his three quarter black pants. Usually he lived cut off from everyone and the only person he talked to nowadays was Gladys and her lovely granddaughter Mary. Mary waved and said hello was she walked past.
Mary got to the entrance to the apartment complex. She climbed the creaky old stairs with ease and walked her way along the corridor to her Grandmothers apartment. She was shocked when she got to the door and found a red liquid that was leaking out through the gap under the door. She gasped as she realised It was blood; she began frantically knocking on the door. No answer, she knocked again for about ten minutes, still no answer.
ENDING 1
As Mary turned and trudged over to the balcony that overlooked the unit complex, she was taking deeps breaths. She was knackered after school, the walk to her grandmother’s, the stairs and now non-stop knocking on the door for at least 20 minutes. She had a headache and her eyes were glazed over with tiredness. Unfortunately she didn’t notice the door behind her slowly creak open and a man emerge. She was looking out over the picturesque sky and did not notice the hunched madman creeping towards her. She was completely unaware that her death was rapidly approaching. As the madman was upon her, she heard his deep rasping breath right next to her right ear; she gasped silently and was overcome with fear. The man whispered into her ear and said “Hello Pretty”. Her body went limp and she fell into the waiting arms of the Madman, who then pulled her into the dark depths of his new abode.
ENDING 2
As Mary turned and trudged over to the balcony that overlooked the unit complex, she was taking deeps breaths. She was knackered after school, the walk to her grandmother’s, the stairs and now non-stop knocking on the door for at least 20 minutes. As a result of her tired body, her awareness of the things around her was dampened. This caused her to not notice the door behind her slowly creak open. Fortunately for Mary she was not alone in that corridor. Gary had just appeared at the stairs and he trudged along the corridor to his apartment until he saw a peculiar sight, he saw Mary leaning over the balcony almost absent mindedly and he saw an odd man creeping out of Gladys’s front door. He was walking purposely towards Mary with what looked like a, knife! He shouted out to Mary who jolted upright and looked at Gary at exactly the right moment, she dodged out of the way of the madman whose sight frightened the life out of Mary, but she didn’t falter she ran all the way to the police station. However Gary had not thought about the aftermath of his words, the Madman obviously enraged by the escaping of his second victim staggered towards Gary. He was frozen in shock and could not believe his frightened eyes. He ran as fast as his old legs would take him but he would never outrun this man. He quickened his pace and caught Gary with a blow to the back of the head. His final thought as he fell to the ground was, “it was my time, not hers”.

The End.