I Goes to Halloween [Short Horror Story]

[Merci]

I was bored, so I wrote this. It didn't take very long, and to be honest, I hadn't really worked out a proper story at all at the beginning of the plot. That's why it kinda twists around between smiling and loneliness instead of focusing on either one. MSWord says it's 3000+ words.

[spoiler=I Goes To Halloween]

[font=georgia,serif]I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

I keep a calender so I know what day it is, but I don’t know much else. I don’t know about the outside world nowadays. The last time I had left this forest was a year ago, where I had renewed my calender to match the next year, which may possibly be the year the world ends. Today is October the 31st, the only day of the year I dare to come out from my home and enter the nearby town.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

People found me scary due to my power, which is why I’ve been hiding from them for so many years now that I don’t know how much time has passed. Now I’m nothing more than a legend to them, a myth. Sometimes, someone either brave or foolish ventures into the forest. These are the kind of people I like, because they’re potential friends.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

I take a glance at the table by me, a table set nicely near the door. It appeared to be painted a bloody red. I had decorated it with skulls to fit the occasion today, which is Halloween, the only day of the year I dare to come out from my home and enter the nearby town. This is because everyone pretends to be someone like me, and they’re really good at it too. They surprise me with their creativity, so much that I tend to be afraid of them even though they’re all just ordinary humans.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

But I like it when other people are around me. I don’t like it when I feel alone, it’s like feeling that your existence doesn’t matter at all to the universe. Loneliness is like darkness, only worse, mixed with the fires of hell and ice of death, stabbing at you constantly every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month up until someone appears and remedies my despairing loneliness.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

One day, a brave male teenager ventured into my forest. He had a confident look on his face, and he’s the only ordinary human I’ve ever known to knock on my door. I had opened it for him, and we came face-to-face. When he saw me, he laughed a bit.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

“Hey, I didn’t know it was Halloween yet!” he joked. “What’s with the costume?”

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

“What’s Halloween?” I asked him.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

“Oh?” The expression of the teenager faltered a bit, fear apparent on parts of his face, but he laughed it off. Perhaps he had been insane, but I liked that about him. He was a cool guy. “Well, it’s this day on the last day of October, where everyone dresses as something scary.”

“Why?” I asked him, tilting my head.

“I dunno. To scare other people, I guess.”

He took a step back at that point, shaking a bit, his mind finally realizing – or confirming – the strangeness that was I. But although his body manners clearly showed his terror, he kept the laughing smile on his face. Yes, he was the kind of guy I really liked. It would be nice if he had kept smiling, for if he had, he might’ve left the forest alright.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, but that day I felt like I was not alone.

It was only when his smile faltered that I grew annoyed, and after my change of expression, his whole face had distorted into the rawest form of fear.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, but that day I felt like I was not alone.

“Please smile,” I requested him. He had already put between us a distance of around ten meters, and was getting ready to dash off into the forest. “Please?”

Whether he had just been obeying my request, or whether he had been amused by my strange request, a faint smile formed itself on his face for but a split second. A split second that felt like forever, his blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, shaking body, everything. And in response, a large grin shot up on my own. The first time I had ever smiled.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, but I didn’t let the split second go to waste, and a single metallic coil immortalized his smile.

I stood in front of him and held his head in my hands. That faint smile will now forever be on his face. His standing body had transformed into a kind of fountain for some reason, sprouting covering everything near in blood, but it was all okay. Even though my clothes got stained, it was all okay. The head had decomposed over multiple years, but I still keep it in my home preciously, having attached it onto an angel statue whom I had also decapitated. Oddly, they fit, like an orange would fit on top of a pole. You just had to push it down a little, you know?

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, but that day I found out about Halloween, and had attended it every year since.

All those smiles. All those lovely smiles, and I can walk amongst them. Going to Halloween is the greatest feeling ever, I love it, I love it, I do so love it, I do.[/font]

[font=georgia,serif]I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone. So today I‘m venturing out for company.

Squish goes my feet, sinking into mud formed by the rain earlier. Whoosh goes my hair, blowed by the heavy winds. A few giggles come from my mouth, as I’m excited at the prospect of once again seeing people smile. Nothing goes the dark sky, vast yet empty as it is. It must be lonely being nothing, because it doesn’t even have itself to keep it company. When one is alone, the only thing that is of comfort to them is themselves. So if one is nothing, that must be so horrible. That’s why I sympathize with the dark sky.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone. That's why I‘m venturing out for company.

I like skulls. They always look like they have a happy expression on their face. That’s why I collect them. Whoever ventures into the forest, I collect them. It’s a little difficult getting to and cleaning their skull though. The brain is the hardest part, which is why I put worms into the empty eyesockets to chew it until it’s gone. Then I kill the worms. Skulls always look like they’re smiling.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

Everyone I meet in the forest always has a horrified expression on their face, but once I scrape and chew all that away, it reveals a wonderful white smile underneath. This is proof that beneath the surface, everyone has good in them. Look, they always smile underneath that expression of horror. It’s great, but I prefer it when they smile on the outside too. All skulls look the same, but when a person smiles with everything still intact, they all look unique and different from each other. I wish I could collect them all, but it’s so difficult.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, so I hope nobody minds if I join Halloween out of loneliness.

I arrive in a town, emerging out of a forest. My feet are covered in mud, my hair sways by me, and I smile, imagining the smiles of all those other people who look even scarier than I do, who will treat me as an equal, as one of them, and remedy my painful loneliness. In but a few minutes. See, right now I’m already on a street.

I’m just someone who-

“I apologize, missus, but Halloween has been canceled today,” the voice of a man tells me.

I look up to see an odd man with a moustache. He’s wearing a stylized dark-blue uniform that I vaguely recognize. Oh right, a friend of mine who had ventured into the forest had once worn something like that, I think. I had kept his clothes because I thought they were cool, so maybe next year I can show them off to him.

But I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, and I wonder if he’s joking. My smile drops.

“Why?” I ask him.

“Well, uhh...” He looked at me in the eyes, appearing afraid of me, but a faint smile appeared on his face anyway. I liked that, but it wasn’t enough to make me smile. “See, there was a heavy storm this morning, and since then the weather’s been acting strangely. There are concerns about safety, so the mayor’s strictly forbidden trick-or-treating to protect the people.”

“And?”

“Huh?” He tilted his head, as if in confusion. I knew that he had more to say. “And um...well, the mayor actually doesn’t like Halloween, and has been planning a ban for a while now. He’s worried about the mental health of children, and he thinks it’s a pagan ritual that shouldn’t be practiced. I’m sorry, but maybe next year you should find another place.”

His faint smile grew wider.

“It’s a shame, missus. Your costume really is scary. You surely would’ve won the competition for the scariest.”

“Oh?” I say, and examine my surroundings.

He wasn’t alone, as there were others wearing the same uniform as him standing here and there. Some were close, some were far. All were armed with something I knew to be a gun, and now that I think about it, they all seem to wear heavy equipment that looked to be designed for hurricanes. So that was their worry? Mere heavy winds?

“Seriously. I mean, you did a really good job at the makeup, your skin looks pretty shiny like there's metal underneath your skin, and your dress even looks like it’s permanently stained with blood...”

So who did this stupid mayor think he is? Safety? Did he know safety? Did he think winds ripped apart children like some sort of invisible monsters? Did he think that if he cancelled Halloween, no, if he BANNED Halloween, that they would cease or something? And if they really were some sort of hurricane, did he think that keeping them in their homes was a good thing?

“Your eyes look like they’re made of metal, and your wig reminds a bit of that character, Sadako, was it...?”

I have no idea who Sadako is, but this is my precious day. This was my precious day. I waited three hundred and sixty-four days for this day. I count every single day. I wait calmly, without complaint, without protest. It’s all worth it if I can see those smiles, those precious smiles that I will not ever dare to collect. That’s because I know that if I do try, everyone will disappear. No more smiling, only eternal loneliness. I will be like the dark sky, empty, zero.

“Jeez, you never cut your nails either. Looks as though you’ve been seriously planning for this day.”

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

“Sorry about that... But see, I can’t change the mayor’s mind.”

This is not fair.

“...Hello?”

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

“...You okay, missus? Your skin's turning paler...”

So die.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone after all.

I’m a good girl.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone after all.

I’m good, right?

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone after all.

So it isn’t fair.

I’m just a little girl who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone, who wants company.

[i]So die.[/i]

With that, I scream. Shiny metal coils erupt out of my sleeves, bursting out of my skin cover. With my hands, I rip off the policeman’s head. I think he’s a policeman, but I don’t care anymore. His expression was that of terror, but once I scrape it all off, I should see that smile everyone has. So I start scraping off his skin with my hands.

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.

Gunshots are fired, and two bullets are successfully landed on me, denting my skin a bit. It hurts a bit, but I ignore the pain. Within thirteen seconds, the coils had decimated all the policemen in my sight, who had been either strangled to death or pierced through their hearts. But they have no hearts so it’s all okay.

Then I drag them to me. I count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Nineteen in all, plus the one right in front of me. That one had become a fountain of blood, drenching the top of my head. I kick him down so he stops wetting me and his own head.

I’m just an innocent girl who lives in a forest, all alone, because this is who I am.

I’m done. Though my hands have gooey skin and blood stuck to them, I can see the smile underneath his surface. It’s a little red though, would need a little washing. I also need to do the same with the other nineteen. This is a lot. So die. And they died. I hadn’t considered it at first, but it looks like I just got new unexpected friends.

A whimper, from one of the policemen. He’s currently suspended in the air, upside down, a metallic coil from my left cheek holding him up.

“What...are you....?”

“I am I,” I reply simply.

Intrigued that he’s still alive, I bring him closer to me, so close that we could almost kiss. Another cough. This time, blood comes out of his mouth, and it hits my left eye. But I don’t mind that, I can always wash my face later.

“Oh yeah...” I begin, and drop him onto the ground.

Right then, he scrambled away from me so fast that I think it might’ve taken me more than a millisecond to catch up with him. I also note how similar he looks to that teenager guy with that weird smile on his face, from a few years back. This policeman is a little older, but they still look similar.

“Wha- wha- wha- what.......?”

Ah, he’s dazed. Lack of oxygen to his brain, maybe, seeing as though he had been strangled by my extensions. I sympathize with him. He knows the danger, but he doesn’t know the potential danger. I could kill all life in this town within ten minutes if I so wanted, but I’m a good girl, so I don’t do that. I like smiles, and I don’t like loneliness.

“Last year, I came. The year before that, I came. I like Halloween. I like the smiles. I like fitting in.”

He has a confused expression on his face, that cutely mixes in with his absolute horrified expression, all his comrades murdered before him by something out of a story book.

“And I will come back next year,” I conclude[/font].

[font=georgia,serif]Then I turned and walked away, dragging along the bodies of nineteen policemen with nineteen steel coils, the extensions of myself, the very reason I had separated myself from humanity. The winds were getting heavier, and as I entered the forest, I could see the trees violently shaking. But I didn’t care. Nothing is as important as happiness, not even natural forces.

That’s why I spared the man, so that next year I will see him again and his smile. But if he’s not there, then I will find him and rip his head off, because he deserves it.

Next year, I’m sure, there will be a Halloween. If there isn’t, then the mayor will have to prepare himself for my coming.

The next time I come back, I know in my existing heart, people scarier than me will be there, smiling, and accept me for who I am. If they don’t smile though, they will all die and I’ll scrape away their skin so I can see it.

I’m a good girl who secludes myself from the world every day for three hundred and sixty-four days, so I deserve it. I do.

Why?

Because...

I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone.[/font]

[/spoiler]

Is it scary enough? I'd appreciate comments and reviews. I'd like to improve this story as much as possible before I show it to my friends on Halloween.

[.Rai]

Note that around 1000 of those words are either "I love it" or "I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone." I really don't like that use of the endless repetition. Within about 5 sentences, I just started skipping out the whole "I’m just someone who lives in a forest, a dark one at that, all alone." because it just got really boring. It lost its impact.

I'm really not sure. It's quite disjointed.

[quote]I take a glance at the table by me, a table set conveniently by the door. It was of a red color that made it look like blood, and I had decorated it with skulls to fit the ocassion today. That is Halloween, the only day of the year I dare to come out from my home and enter the nearby town, because everyone pretends to be someone like me, and they’re really good at it too. They surprise me with their creativity, so much that I tend to be afraid of them even though they’re all just ordinary humans.[/quote]

I'm sure I like the repetition. Also, 'conveniently' is a pretty futile adjective here. No use for it, since I can only assume it was there because the subject put it there. 'It was of a red color that made it look like blood'. I'd suggest changing that to something more simple: "It was painted a blood red" accomplishes it in much less words. Unnecessary comma after creativity is unnecessary.

[quote] I don’t like it when I feel alone, it’s like existing without a purpose, it’s like feeling nonexistent, that your existence doesn’t matter at all to the universe and you cannot and will not ever make a difference.[/quote]

'Existing without a purpose' and 'feeling nonexistent' and 'your existence doesn't matter at all' are the exact same thing. Repeating it three times is excessive use.

[quote]I stood in front of him and held his head in my hands. That faint smile will now forever be on his face. His standing body had transformed into a kind of fountain for some reason, sprouting covering everything near in red liquids, but it was all okay. Even though my clothes got stained, it was all okay. Even though the head had decomposed over multiple years, I still keep it in my home preciously, putting it on top of my decapitated statue angel. Oddly, they fit, like an orange would fit on top of a pole. You just had to push it down a little, you know?[/quote]

'Red liquids' is weird here. 'Blood' is fine, considering you've already established the figure knows what blood is. Reading it through, you did start two sentences with 'even though'. Quick fix should be fine. And 'decapitated statue angel' is so horrendously strange, it just sounds awkward.

It's an interesting plot, but there's something awkward about finally seeing 'metal coils' erupt from this girl, since three-quarters of the writing don't describe her. I genuinely would have rather skipped all the action involving the policemen, because it's so abrupt. Not a fan of the occasional references to 2012 Apocalypse either. A person who lives in a forest for 364 days a year shouldn't know about pop culture.

It is quite a haunting read though.

[Merci]

Thanks, a lot I added the constant repetition to give it a more spooky-insane feel, to tell the reader 'this girl is insane' before it becomes blatant within the text.

[quote]I'd suggest changing that to something more simple: "It was painted a blood red" accomplishes it in much less words.[/quote]

It was worded like that intentionally, [i]because it hadn't in fact been painted at all.[/i]

[quote]'Red liquids' is weird here. 'Blood' is fine, considering you've already established the figure knows what blood is. Reading it through, you did start two sentences with 'even though'. Quick fix should be fine. And 'decapitated statue angel' is so horrendously strange, it just sounds awkward.[/quote]

....I did? Alright, I guess I'll just have to change it then. Valid points here. And I had a little bit of trouble trying to describe the headless statue angel. How do I say this...it wasn't originally headless, but she cut off its head so she could attach the guy's smiling head.

[quote]
It's an interesting plot, but there's something awkward about finally seeing 'metal coils' erupt from this girl, since three-quarters of the writing don't describe her. I genuinely would have rather skipped all the action involving the policemen, because it's so abrupt. Not a fan of the occasional references to 2012 Apocalypse either. A person who lives in a forest for 364 days a year shouldn't know about pop culture.[/quote]

Well, it wasn't that abrupt. The term '[font=georgia,serif]metallic paper immortalized his smile' [/font]appears when she decapitates the teenager, which is supposed to imply her powers beforehand, not to mention the policeman's curious remark about her metallic eyes. I should probably add something about the skin too. And I only added those references to fit the year, to imply to the reader that she actually believes in that stuff and doesn't mind, she could've found out from last year's Halloween.

[quote]
It is quite a haunting read though.[/quote]

AWESOME!!! I think. I'll edit accordingly.

[Yatamoto32]

Wow! I love this! It's beautifully written and has nice structure.

[Merci]

Thanks