1 Don't Speak

Halloween has always been a time of tricks, treats, and sweet scares, but sometimes there are just plain creepy stories that come from this most exciting night. The stars shine bright behind the clouds and the moon casts its glow along the road lighting a way for trick or treaters, going house to house for their yearly treats. Houses with porch lights a glow are the place to go for candy or toys, but homes that are completely dark are not. Costumes of all varieties can be found on this mysterious night. Ghosts and ghouls or cute and funny costumes are worn. Now imagine if you were to go around town and find that these 'costumes' were not all fake. If there was to be real ghosts, monsters, shape shifters, and things walking around your street late at night. If you were to be followed by the creature of death or a creepy clown with a spinning head, where would you run and who would you turn to that would not just say it was only children having their fun? If one of these souls was to take a liking to you, would they leave and only see you on Halloween or would they continue to follow, frighten, and or torture your restless soul until your untimely demise? There are many stories that follow this night, but we only have time for one or two. Now only one question remains, are you ready to play?

~Everdale High school~

It is a tradition at Everdale, to have only one day of school for each grade, the week before Halloween. With the Freshmen on campus Monday, the Sophomores on Tuesday, the Juniors on Wednesday, the Seniors on Thursday, and the Friday of that week there would be a masquerade dance. Each day the students would dress up in full costumes and walk the halls, there was even a prize in each classroom for the best costume. This week would always be busy and all the students would be bustling with excitement. Lessons would be short and after they would be finished in each class there was either games or free time for the students. On Monday there were lots of kids dressed up from head to toe, they were so dressed up that they weren't recognizable. Like every Halloween there was bound to be some pranks on teachers and students alike. Usually they were the lower knob just I gotcha pranks like candy bugs in coffee or food and toilet paper monsters and such. However like in most things there are some more daring and creative people. Some of the higher scale pranks were things disappearing only to reappear in weird places, cryptic messages or puzzles, and the fair share of fake blood. Students and teachers alike had fun playing all sorts of fun games and watching Halloween animated shorts on the internet. Tuesday was much the same and so was Wednesday. Friday however was a tad more eventful. There was one costume that stuck out from the crowd. They had on a dark blue hoodie, a pair of regular blue jeans, and a white mask with black painted lips, and a small red checker pattern around the edges. Not the most creative, but still quite unique. Their gender was distinguishable and they barely spoke. When they did their voice was slow and scratchy, like the human version of a chalk board. Everyone thought that their odd behavior was just a part of their costume, to further make themselves unidentifiable and make them selves seem scarier. As the end of the school day drew nearer, still no one knew who was behind the mask. It seemed that the masked figure had not gone to any classes that day. There was a small group of students that was determined to find out who was behind the mask. After school they followed the masked and hooded person away from the school into a quiet alley way.

Once half way down the alley the unknown person stopped and just stood there. The group thought this was a good opportunity to find out who the person was. They walked calmly to the person. Getting closer and closer until they were only arms length away from the person. The group stopped and one of the three tapped the hooded figure in front of them on the shoulder. The figure turned around with their hand on their mask. "Take off the mask," One of the more impatient boys said. The only girl in the group corrected him, "He means please take off the mask," she said politely. The other boy then said," Yes please do, we would like to know who you are." The second boy smiled warmly at the masked person and the girl watched very interested having a sweet and wondering air about her. The masked person began to lift their mask gently off their face. The first boy fell to his knees holding his face crying in pain as burns spread across his face. The other two had a white glaze across their eyes. They stared at the boy in pain without actually being able to see him. Soon the polite boy and girl started to walk back to the school leaving the one boy on his knees the burns now spreading across his whole body. Silent whimpers were all he was capable of making. His lip quivering as tears ran down his face making the burns sting even more. Not long after his burns had started to spread he started having a coughing fit, small spurts of blood coming up and dusting the ground with little hints of red. This goes on for about a minute before the hooded person places the mask back on its face. The boy's body becomes still and no breath escapes his lips. His eyes are wide and the veins around the base of his eyeballs glowed a bright red, the iris becoming white, and the pupil fading to a light grey. Where there had been burns was now the perfect smooth skin he had before his unfortunate encounter with the masked figure.

Turning on its heels the hooded figure, mask put neatly back in place, calmly began to walk once more as if nothing had happened.