Halloween

 This is a story I wrote a while ago. So far, it hasn't been redone or edited sufficiently enough. If anything is needed, feel free to leave a comment. 

"Are you sure about this, Jane?" Mary asked the girl standing next to her, uncertain of going into the old house. Jane smiled evilly as she looked at the creaking door and window boards. The two girls were total opposites. Mary hated anything scary while Jane loved everything scary. Jane and Mary looked at each other.

"Duh! This is supposed to be the most scary house in this town and you know that I can't resist the feeling of watching people being scared!" Jane exclaimed. She and Mary were on a small Halloween vacation. Jane dragged Mary towards the house until they got onto the porch and in front of the door. "Now help me open this door." Jane didn't care that the door was boarded up. She wanted in.

As Jane broke the boards off of the door frame, Mary stood back and set up the camera on her phone. The two girls went in with one flashlight for the both of them. The door slammed behind them and the girls turned around quickly. "See! I told you we shouldn't have came!" Mary squeaked, frightened. Jane rolled her eyes and turned back around.

"Come on. It's not even like the House of Torment. That was much scarier than this," Jane sighed. She had gone through the big place, wondering what she would see, and came out smiling. Mary hadn't gone through because of the fright she had. As they kept walking through the house, Mary could help but feel like there was someone watching them.

Then she saw movement from the corner of her eye. "Jane? We should go. I think there's-" She got cut off.

"BOO!" A voice shouted as someone jumped in front of them. Mary screamed a short scream while Jane just looked at who was in front of them. It was a couple of friends of theirs, Elliot and Zack.

The two boys laughed while the two girls rolled their eyes. "Idiots," Jane mumbled as she walked on. The boys followed the two as they climbed the stairs. "If you want to help me prove there is something here, help." Jane got out her phone and turned the flashlight on. She climbed the steps carefully as the boards creaked under her feet.

"Come on, Jane. Not just one little scream?" Elliot asked. Jane turned around to look at them and shook her head.

Mary stood at the back of the group, watching. "Jane can't be scared. It's not possible," she said and with that, they kept climbing the stairs. Then they heard a small scream. It was faint but they heard it. "Did-Did you guys hear that?" Mary stuttered as she looked around. She looked at the others. The two boys nodded.

Jane scoffed. "Oh come on, Zack. You really think that I'm gonna fall for that? I know it's-" Jane was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream.

"If you think that's me, then you're out of your mind!" Zack said, looking around. The four were scared but they kept going. Partly because they wanted to find out what was going on, and partly because Jane wanted to. They kept walking until they reached a door.

Mary opened it with ease and looked inside. There was nothing inside. "Um... I really think we should-" she screamed as she was pulled inside the room by bony claws. The door slammed shut and she was gone.

"Mary!" Jane exclaimed, alarmed. She tried to open the door but it was no use. The door was stuck and wouldn't get free.

Elliot and Zack tried to help Jane but they couldn't. None of them could get the door free. "It's no use! The door's stuck!" Zack shouted. The three ran downstairs and tried opening the front door. That door was stuck too. Jane turned around but saw nothing.

'Why am I feeling like this?!' she thought. Now she knew what fear felt like. She started running to where the kitchen was with Zach and Eliot following. "I'm I the only one feeling like Mary is still alive?" Elliot asked. Zach and Jane shook their heads. Elliot nodded. "Great, I'm the only one."

"I say we should look for her though," Zach piped up. Jane shook her head but Elliot nodded, sitting in one of the chairs.

"I agree but we need to stay together if we-"

"Splitting up it is!" Zach exclaimed, completely unaware of what Elliot was about to say, even though he was about to warn them splitting up would end up with someone dead.

~-~

A short while later, Elliot and Jane were in one of the upstairs bedrooms while Zack was down stairs, looking around. "Why in scary situations do people always, always, split up?" Elliot wondered aloud. Jane shrugged, hearing him, as she shone her flashlight around the dim room.

"I dunno. People just do," she replied. She saw a closet door and opened it, not seeing anything. She heard no response. "Elliot?" she said, turning around. She didn't see anyone. Jane ran outside of the room and started running downstairs. "Zack!?" she screamed. Jane saw Zach a few feet away and ran towards him.

Zack looked at her confused. "What's wrong?" he asked. Jane told him what had happened and how Elliot was gone. "Crud," he muttered. The two looked around, hoping to find Elliot or Mary. With no such luck, the two decided to look for a way of escape.

"It's no use! There's no way of escape!" Jane said as they looked around for a window or other doors that lead outside. No matter how hard Jane tried to keep her fright and fear down, it still showed. Zack was frightened too, but he had better control over it.

"Yes there is! There has to be another way out that's not going to keep us trapped," Zack replied, running towards a door and slamming into it. The door wouldn't budge. "Oh, come on!" he yelled, trying a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth. It still wouldn't move one bit.

"Stop it! You'll hurt yourself!" Jane shouted, slightly more frightened than before. Jane tugged on Zack's arm trying to get him to stop. Finally, after about three more tugs, he stopped.

Zack looked around the room, hoping to find something that he could use to break the door down. There was nothing in the room that was of use. "Come on," he mumbled to Jane as he pulled her away from the room. As the two left, a dark shadow passed through the room, though there was nothing inside.

Jane and Zack wandered through the halls and came upon another door. It was slightly open with the words KEEP OUT on it. "Want to find out where this leads?" Zack asked, turning to face Jane. She shook her head no but Zach went inside and she followed.

What they saw stunned them. It was child's playroom. Rusty toys laid on the floor, old and cracked. A few dolls sat on a shelf, staring down at them. Jane went over to the dolls while Zack bent down near the toys. "Wow. These are beautiful," Jane marveled, touching one of the doll's old China faces.

Its' head tilted slightly to the left as she touch it. The face of the doll was snowy white and had blue eyes. It's ruby red lips were pulled into a sad smile. The doll's black ringlets of hair came to the middle of the doll's chest. The rest of the doll looked similar in every way except for the hair, the eyes and the gender. The male dolls had shorter hair.

"Yeah, but look at these toys. I haven't even seen some of them before in my life," Zack mumbled as he picked up a small rusty toy. It had been broken beyond repair. Jane turned and saw a quick movement from the corner of her eye, but Jane ignored it and walked over to where Zack was.

She bent next to him and picked up a broken block. It was made of a metal that hadn't had any rust on it one bit. "Your right. Look at this one," she said, putting the block down and picking up a small toy. The toy had a snake's body but a clown's head. The clown face looked evil. She put the snake thing down and looked over at the dolls.

The one she had touched was now gone. "Hey.. Where did that one go?.." Jane mumbled. She looked around the room and yelped as she saw the doll sitting in front of her and Zack.

"Whoa. That thing is creepy." Zach muttered, picking it up. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Jane stood up suddenly and ran out of the room. 'This is just a dream. Yeah, that's it! I'm dreaming!' she thought to herself. Jane started to slowly go mad as she stayed in the house longer. She laughed at something that wasn't there. The shadow that had been following her became a noticeable as Jane became insane. It laughed softly as the last human in the house finally lost it for good.

Jane laid on the floor, laughing like a madwoman. Then she began to shrink and turn doll-like. Jane had then become a marionette doll. The woman from the shadow bent next to the doll and picked her up.
"Beware the circus,
for there are no fun or games.
Beware the circus,
for you shall not escape." The woman sang as she carried the doll to the child's room.

The woman placed the doll next to the other dolls. The other three dolls she had collected resembled Mary, Elliot and Zack. They had been turned into the woman's marionettes.

~~~~~

"Come one, come all!" A female voice called from a small stand in the crowded streets. "Come see the Queen and her marionettes!" She says, smiling. Children and their parents crowded around as the woman began her show. She sang softly as she moved her puppets without strings, dark blue mist floating around her finger tips.

Beware the circus,
There are no fun or games.
Beware the circus,
You shall not escape.