Shades of People

Steve sat in his chair at his desk, casually licking spoonfuls of Cookies & Cream ice cream while sipping milk. Outside the chaos of Halloween was in its prime, with kids running around dressed as the latest hit super hero or cartoon character, begging for the free brand name candy they so loved. Steve hated Halloween. All it came down to was wasting money to give to brats who would just puke it up anyways. Halloween was supposed to be scary, and yet each year haunted houses just kept focusing more and more on gore rather than the good old way of jumping out wearing disfigured creature faces or utilizing creepy music from a distance. He hated it all; none of it was what it was supposed to be. So he sat there eating ice cream and watching youtube videos, just another night really.

Steve was about to go to bed when there was a knock on the door. At first he was perplexed. His porch light was off, which had always worked every year since he could remember. Why was someone knocking? He didn't give it much thought as he opened the door. A small boy stood there, with no costume, just normal clothes. His eyes had dark circles under them as if he missed a great deal of sleep. Steve looked down at the boy, wondering what he might want. They stood there staring at each other.
"What do you want?" Steve asked after a minute. The boy opened his mouth then closed it. Steve looked around the street and realized it was empty. No one was around, even though it was only nine PM. He looked back at the boy.
"What?" he shouted. He wanted to go to bed and was about to shut the door but the kid suddenly spoke.
"You will be found dead on the third of November at exactly six fifty five AM." His face didn't change as he released this information. Steve looked down at him then laughed.
"What? Are you going to murder me? Are you threatening me? How old are you? You're probably only seven or six! Ha! Next time kid, try looking more deadly, you're not nearly dark enough to really scare anyone, let alone me. Now get off of my lawn before I call the cops and you cry as they take you away!" The kid didn't even blink and Steve breathed hard as he slammed the door.

Steve wasn't scared at all, a small kid like that could easily be knocked out, or beaten back. He usually never got scared, and this wasn't an exception. He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. For some reason he couldn't fall to sleep like he usually did. He was tired though so he leaned up to roll off the bed but something stopped him. A dark human shaped shadow rolled across his walled and disappeared into a shadow of his laundry. He had stopped and watched it, and now he stared at the pile of laundry's shadow, hardly even breathing. Finally he broke his gaze and looked around his room and came to a terrible realization. His windows were completely covered from any light source and the only thing that was generating light was his lamp. He moved his head, to make sure that it wasn't his shadow. Now he was afraid. Deep in his bones he felt a sense of dread, as if something was around him, watching, and waiting. He crawled to the ground and looked toward the window. There was nothing he could do to see out and check if anything was out there, but either way he didn't like the placement of his window suddenly. It left him open to observation, so he crawled under his bed.
Trembling with fear, Steve waited, sitting with no sense of time. All he felt was fear and all he could sense were ominous signs. The drip of his bathroom sink became the counting of various chemicals of death. The creak of his partially open door became the opening of windows in which a small boy could crawl through. A foot step became the accidental misstep of a boy sneaking up on him. He would have wept if he wasn't so scared that he feared an assailant would hear and find him. And so Steve sat there, too paranoid to do anything as he was tortured by his own mind, until he'd decided it would be okay to go check things out. As he stood up he felt faint, his head spinning before he blacked out.

Steve woke up in a shock, but the fall was bad so he couldn't move and he had to sit there. Sit there as another black shadow jumped off the wall and started moving towards him. He got up and turned to run when he was stopped. In the window he now faced he saw a small forehead poking a little bit above the bottom from the outside, as if a small child had been spying on him. He instantly darted towards the nearest door. He heard smashing glass and he quickly darted into another room, closing the door behind him. He locked it then scampered to a wall and pressed himself against it. All around him he heard glass shattering, a window each second. It seemed impossible to him, no small child could run that fast. But what if the kid had friends? He nearly wept when suddenly a rain of glass fell upon his hair and face. Cutting it up, for it wasn't safety glass. He cried out and ran towards the door, looking back at the window to see darkness coming in through his window.

He opened the door and ran to his kitchen, ducking behind the counter and grabbing a knife from the drawer. His breathing was hard and he fought to try and control it because it sounded like a tornado each time he exhaled. His eyes traveled across the kitchen until it rested on a partially open cabinet. He stared at it with full focus when suddenly it opened and a hand reached out, its tone a dull grey color. Wandering it finally grabbed hold of the ground which is used to pull out its head and half of its torso. The head was covered with a black ski mask, and its bloody red eyes stared at him with a sort of greedy need in them. Steve panicked and threw his knife at the creature. He didn't know what to do when it found its target but now blood or hint of pain came out. He cried out, leaped up and ran into his living room.

The most notable thing was that all the windows were still intact. He looked outside them then back and saw all that was coming towards him. The small boy, now in a child sized suit, walked slowly towards him. In tow were the black shadow, and the creature from the cabinet. He scream and back up against the walls with the intact windows. He looked back again and was suddenly mesmerized. Out in the distance was a barren tree, devoid of all leaves. It was perched on a rise and it was extremely visible. A full moon's light made its white wood shine against the black night. He turned towards it, the three terrors behind him all but forgotten. He felt as though he was getting closer and closer to it. He reached out his hand to feel its texture.


And suddenly he was there. Up against the tree on the hill, all around him was darkness, but the tree shone like a light house. He looked about in a fever, crazed at the phenomena. He looked and saw his house in the distance, and then he looked at the ground that lead towards it. It was pitch black, with nothing but unending darkness. He walked over to it, then picked up a nearby rock and threw it into the distance where it splashed, as if it hit water. Taking another rock hi dropped it into the water next to his feet. Instead of a splash of water a thousand black spiders shot into the air, covering Steve as he came to realize what happened. He rolled on to the grass and shook himself, batting at his chest and legs, trying to get them off. Each spider leg much have been barbed because his body flared up in pain as he rolled about.

He stopped. The pain had ceased and he couldn't see or feel anything on him. He looked about and saw no spiders. He crawled until his back was against the white tree and suddenly noted that the black water or spiders or whatever it was had followed him up. It had risen as he had gone back to the tree. He sputtered and tried to calm his nerves which were about to act up again. After he had composed himself he walked towards the black waters again and picked up another rock. He again threw it out into the distance and again heard a splash.
"No, this is a trick, I will not fall for this again." He said with conviction. His eyes trailed the water line and he relaxed. At least he was safe here. And then he dropped the rock in his hand. He watched in horror as it hit the ground and rolled into the darkness. He stood, frozen, waiting for spiders to leap at him, or a murder of crows to fly out or god knows what. But nothing happened. And he squinted while he leaned in close. He had no chance to jump back when a plethora of arms, formed of the dark waters, shot out and ensnared him then quickly swallowed him, taking his whole body under. Steve stared to breathe in water as he panicked. It filled his lungs and he felt as though he would die.

Steve woke up on the ground outside of his house. The lawn was wet, and the night was probably about to be over. He got up and nursed his head, which ached and pained. He looked about and saw no one on the streets. So he started towards his house when he froze at the sounds of a clacking stride. He looked over again and saw no one. He started to tremble again and he sped up towards his house. Again the steps rang about him and he sped up again. He reached his door and turned. No one was about. He looked back at the door as he tried to open it. The knob turned as he turned it. Someone else was turning the door. Steve grew angry; this wasn't a time for pranks. He pulled the door knob, despite the fact that its hinges didn't allow that. The door opened to his surprise and in it he saw what must have been a mirror for it was himself. Every thing he did was mirrored, every eye movement, every word or curse, every hand gesture. Then, when he was flipping off himself, the reflection stopped and pointed out towards Steve's back, then stumbled away.





Steve turned and then found himself stumbling, and gaining his balance inside of his house. He turned about and saw many of his friends about the place. Lying in what he thought was sleep. But upon further expectation he realized they were all dead. Blood stained the floors and furniture and all the bodies were cold. He walked and kept walking until he came to his room which he entered. Looking out of the window was a silhouette, wearing a Fedora Hat and trench coat. It turned and a knife gleamed in the light from the window. Steve turned and ran into his kitchen and hid. The man left, he heard the door close. So he got up and walked into his bedroom. He lay down in bed and fainted.

He woke in his door way. There was the silhouette of the man with the fedora hat and on the bed was himself, cut open with the man's knife. The man with the fedora hat turned again and again Steve ran into the kitchen and hid. This time though when the man with the fedora hat left he followed. As he turned the door knob it was turned from the outside. He pushed even though from his side the hinges wouldn't allow that, but the door opened and he saw a reflection of himself. . Every thing he did was mirrored, every eye movement, every word or curse, every hand gesture. Then, when he was flipping off himself, he saw the man with the fedora hat behind himself so he pointed. Steve then stumbled and turned around to see the man with the hat. He was smiling, his teeth resembling the Cheshire Cat's. Steve raised him arms as hat man flashed twice then was gone. Steve looked around. The streets were empty as they were previously. And his house was the same. He suddenly felt very tired. So Steve lay down to sleep, even if it was on his lawn.

Steve woke up in his bed. He was feeling great. He hardly remembered what had happened to him the night before, and he didn't care. His whole life was ahead of him. So he got up and enjoyed his breakfast while watching various news channel and skimming through the daily newspaper. He talked to a cute girl at the video rental store while he turned in his late movies. He ate pizza with a group of friends and watched more movies that Steve would turn in late just to start another conversation with the same girl. He ate ice cream and then went to bed. His life was grand.

"On November 3rd, at exactly 6:55 PM a man by the name of Steve Jacobsen was found dead in his yard. His body was cut from glass, throttled, stabbed multiple times, beaten, and cut in various places. He was buried in the Black Water cemetery, next to the White Tree on the hill. Information on his murder is still being sought…" is what the news channel said as Steve Jacobsen stared wide eyed at the television screen, he barely registered the knocking of his door and that it was still October 31st.
 

This won joint first place in the 2008 Halloween contest.

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