Halloween 2012 short story by EA Bundy (done for my critique group contest)
Hopefully, none of them will visit my website before the 24th, because we have to guess who wrote the different 1,000 word stories. This one is 989 words : )
Special Report: HALLOWEEN, October 31, 2012
Jennifer Slaughterly’s home is the subject of our special report. In her Bloodbath County living room, she and her friend were trying to contact the spirit world via Ouija Board. In Jennifer’s own words, the following account is what actually happened:
“We figured Halloween was the best time to use our Ouija board to make contact with ghosts. We got the idea after what happened last year when we decorated big-time for that holiday. My brother Seth did the same thing again this year: the inflatable coffin, all the spider webs in our front trees and on the porch—stuff like that. Also, a lot of bats, fake blood…you name it…and Seth makes real cool Jack O’Lanterns. It's a tradition that was started in Ireland by Stingy Jack. But Stingy used big turnips, not pumpkins. Of course, you probably already knew that, right?
“Anyways, we go all-out for Halloween. Last year, Seth was under the coffin like always, grabbing people’s legs as they went by…but then the creepy stuff started. Someone smeared slime on his face. He thought it was me, but it wasn’t. Then, someone put ice cubes down the back of my witch’s costume, except when I turned, no one was there. Strange stuff happened to everybody, and it was the next day before we figured out it had to be a ghost.
“This year, we decided to make contact with the other side, the spirit world. The house lights were all off, and we just used candles. My best friend Emily and I held hands over the Ouija Board and recited words we got off the Internet to call the spirits.
“Then, we put our hands on the planchette, the little wooden pointer that slides around to letters and numbers. Only, Seth kept opening the front door to get candy for Trick-or-Treaters, and letting in the wind. The candles flickered and some died. Seth’s nerdy friend Jared was out under the coffin making people scream.
“So, we yelled at Seth to take the candy outside and leave the door closed, only it turned out he wasn’t the problem. This weird guy started bringing strange things right into our living room. I asked what he was doing, but he just handed me his business card and went outside to get even more stuff.
“He set up a video camera on a tripod while Emily was making faces at him, but he didn’t notice her. Then he pushed our Ouija Board over to the end of the coffee table and set up this old-fashioned tape recorder with an external mic attached to an adjustable boom.
“‘What the heck?’ I asked him, but he didn’t answer—again. Instead, he set up a big fancy digital camera on another tripod across the room. That’s when I got to looking at his card. It said PRIVATE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS at the top. Below, in tiny print, it listed the equipment he used, including an electro-magnetic field monitor. That must have been the big black box with the detachable disc antenna, which he brought in at the last.
“Anyway, he was setting everything up, not saying a word to us, when the candles all flickered, and most went out. The big black box started making these weird Geiger-counter-type sounds, and Emily and I screeched, and knocked the Ouija Board on the floor while clinging to each other.
“The guy got all excited when this weird mist started coming into the room. Then the overhead light flashed on and went off again, but nobody was by the wall switch. The video camera started turning round and round on the tripod, and finally stopped, focused on mom’s bookcase.
“That’s when things turned real creepy. The books started flying off the shelves. A lot of them at the paranormal guy, but he didn’t yell or anything. Instead, he took out a little notebook and started writing in it. The black box began floating in the air and its disc antenna pointed right at the investigator.
“He dug a little electronic gizmo about the size of a cell phone out of his pocket, and pointed it at the disc antenna. The thing in his hand lit up and started whining, plus the black disc moved closer to him. He held his sensor right up to it, just before the sensor exploded.
“Emily grabbed me even tighter, and we heard Seth and Jared screaming outside. The rest of our candles went out and in the total darkness we heard popping sounds from inside the walls, and it seemed as if someone was tromping around upstairs, but I knew there wasn’t anyone up there.
“The investigator turned on a little flashlight, which he shined in our eyes. That’s when I noticed Emily’s hair was floating upward, like from static electricity, and I felt mine doing the same. She looked at me and screamed. Emily can scream really loud, but someone else was shrieking louder, and it took a moment to realize that was me!
“The ceiling light turned on and off so fast, it was like a strobe. The mists swirled around real eerie-like, so each time the light was on, the patterns in the air were different, and awful sinister.
“That’s when the scariest, ugliest monster you could ever imagine showed up in the middle of our living room, right behind the investigator guy. But I was too petrified to warn him. Emily was braver; she pointed behind him and yelled, ‘Look out!’
“But the ghost hunter guy didn’t hear her. The ghoul’s fangs were dripping blood. It looked totally repulsive—too nasty for words. The recorder beside us stopped, and then played awful whispering noises. The monster grabbed for the investigator, and Emily tried to push the man out of harm’s way, but her hand went right through him, and he disappeared. That hasn’t stopped us, though.
“Next year, we’ll be ready!
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