Happy Halloween everyone!
I love when a month has five Mondays. This month is even better because of Halloween. Who doesn’t like to be scared?
Please feel free to write a flash of no more than 1,000 words in the comments. I’d love to read them. Any genre welcome. Erotica writers please mark yours as adult before the story begins. Example: This is an adult erotica story.
I’ll start the ball rolling with a story.
Careful what you wish for whispered through my brain just before everything went dark.
October 31st. The evening of my death.
I wanted to be a part of the cool crowd, have friends who called me up on a Friday night. People who wanted to hang out with me and invite me to their parties. I had no idea why no one wanted to be my friend, they just didn’t. No one sat with me at lunch. I was always picked last for a team. No one ever asked to study with me.
The loneliness is the hardest part.
When the phone rang and the most popular girl in school was the caller, I didn’t stop to think, I just accepted the invitation to a party in the park. “The whole school will be there,” she’d said. She had sounded so earnest, “We’re not dressing up. It’s casual. Everyone wants you there. It’s going to be fun.”
I emptied my closet in a desperate search to wear just the right thing, every nerve in my body bouncing from ecstatic joy to raw terror. Finally being invited to a party was the most exciting thing to happen to me, and I was terrified I would blow it.
“Mom? Is it going to be cold tonight?”
My mother stuck her head inside my room. “Are you sure you want to go?”
I knew exactly what she meant. Why all of a sudden would I get invited to the biggest Halloween party with the cool kids? That very question had churned in my gut since the phone call. “Mom. Please. I want to go.”
“Take a sweater. It’s already dark. And please be careful.”
“It’s only two blocks away in a hickville town, Mom. Nothing’s going to happen.”
Our eyes caught, hers were filled with apprehension. A tickle of hesitation shot down my spine, but I shook it off and grabbed the boots that matched my brown sweater from the closet. “Mom, I just want to be normal and have friends.” It hurt to admit that out loud, and my heart lost a little joy.
Dressed in my tightest jeans and low-cut purple top, I snatched my sweater off the bed and hurried out of the house. Excitement and giddy joy left me breathless, and I forced myself not to run the whole way.
The park was deserted. Small circles of light from the streetlamps did little to chase away the shadows of darkness. A gust of wind blew fall leaves across the grass, tumbling and rolling around the slide. The swings squeaked with each sway of the seats.
“Over here! We’re over here!” a voice called from across the park. I squinted, making out two silhouettes next to the tunnel. Hurrying to meet the group, I took a deep breath and put a big smile on my face, waving at them.
I didn’t see the girl who had called me, but I recognized two of the boys from school. Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, my smile faltered at the way they looked at each other. “Hey.” I glanced around the area, then down the tunnel. “Where is everyone?”
One of the boys took my arm. “Back here. Come on.” He tugged, pulling me forward into the flickering light of the tunnel.
My feet didn’t want to go, but I wasn’t missing out on the chance to be a part of the biggest party of the year. The graffiti painted on cement walls rushed by as I was hurried along. We stepped out of light into the darkness on the other side. Dead leaves and twigs crunched under our feet. I stumbled on a rock.
An owl hooted from somewhere up ahead.
The boy holding my arm whirled me around to face him. His snarling face and the tire iron raised above his head said it all.
Careful what you wish for.
Very Sherry Terry 