Halloween

• Chanel Van Der Lugt, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

This morning, I woke up in my bed as usual and got ready for school as usual but something seemed different and honestly, quite strange. Generally, when I walk around the house calling for my parents, I get some sort of response but not today. My parents were missing! I dropped my bag and ran out the door, searching for some explanation that might justify the disappearance of my parents.
As soon as I walked outside, a massive storm rolled in, followed by a loud crash of thunder. This storm did not make me feel any better. Scared I bolted to my friend’s house. I didn’t know where else to go. I banged on the door as hard as I could but nobody answered. Suddenly the door handle turned, but nobody was on the other side. The door slowly creaked open.
I walked in and heard a wicked laugh echoing through the house. I slowly walked up the stairs not knowing if I was welcome here. I opened the door. There sat my friend’s mum strapped to a chair. She was screaming next to two men dressed in full black with dark shades on. I froze, petrified, they looked at me and growled. Suddenly they started moving towards me, I realised they were getting closer and forced my legs to move. I ran as fast as my legs would let me. I got outside, I saw a taxi and put my hand up. The taxi stopped. I took the moment to look back. The men in black were still chasing me and quickly closing the gap between us, I jumped into the taxi and screamed for him to go!
I was safe. I don’t really know what those things were but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. Sitting back in the taxi, I could finally relax. Turning to thank the driver I soon realised that he was not quite human. Instead of skin he was covered in putrefying sores with something yellow seeping out of them. He was a zombie! I screamed. The zombie looked at me and shrieked “You’re dead”. I got out of the taxi and ran. The zombie limped after me, dragging his leg behind him.
I ran inside my house and found a note it said: “Just going to the shops, I’ll be home soon. P.S You’re a zombie. Don’t worry, love you.” I sat on my bed thinking of what I was just informed of, the day had taken it out of me. I was exhausted so I laid down on my bed. The next thing I know, I had fallen off my bed. I checked for the note, wanting an explanation from my parents. The note was gone. Suddenly Mum opened the door to my bedroom with my breakfast. I babbled through questions I had for her, so many questions. She calmed me down and said “Wow, that sounds like a crazy dream.” Thank goodness for that.