Halloween Decorations

Warning: Grammar might not be the best and it might be weirdly spaced since it used to be an essay.

I was as upset as I ever would be. It was somewhere near Halloween day but, I never thought that something like this would happen to me of all people. I became a new person in one day. I learnt to value everything in my life and treasure my friends and family. Just a few months ago, I was a normal high school student planting pumpkin seeds happily with my family. Now I feel like a gloomy high schooler that has seen what life is actually like. As I was mourning for my former friend with my new found friend, at that moment, I wished I had not been such a curious person yesterday. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Today is October 30th and I'm so excited. I'm still kind of sleepy by forget all about that as I remember the pumpkin carving contest I'm having with my mom. I'm having a pumpkin carving contest with my mom today. My favorite elective in school has always been art, I have a huge passion in art. It is 8:48 as I hear my mom's voice booming through the house, "Jace, go get the pumpkins for our contest! I'm definitely not getting it for you. "

    "Ok, I'm coming!" I replied excitedly. I sprinted down the stairs and out the door at full speed. This is the first time I ran so fast in the morning. I was still in my pajamas and the only thing I brought along was a scissor to cut off the stem of the pumpkins. I'm still running through the many rows of houses until I see the forest. I instantly dash towards the right side of the forest as that was where the pumpkins were planted according to my memory.

    I come to a halt when I see a brightly colored house. It is painted in a bright red color and looks old. It looks really welcoming with a white door. On the doorstep, there is a mat that says trick or treat and on the wall, the dark gloomy windows stand out. There is also a big sign that reads "Free Halloween Decorations!"

    I thought, nothing will happen if I go in. I need some decorations for my pumpkin anyways. The people here seem like nice old people considering how old the house looks. Smoke is also consistently coming out of the house, so someone would be inside. Because of those thoughts, I went in, hoping to receive some Halloween decorations by the time I come back out.

    Opening the door, I was so surprised by what I saw inside that nothing could describe how shocked I was. I froze in my spot when I saw the stunning contrast between the interior and the exterior of the house. My hands also naturally dropped the scissors I was holding. The exterior was like a homey grandmother's house, beckoning people to go in. The interior was the definition of a horror movie and it made people want to leave. Skeletons were walking, spiders were crawling, food was being thrown, glass shards were sprinkled across the ground, and blood was dripping everywhere.

    By the time I came back to my senses, I realized that the door had closed by itself. My scissors that I dropped and could be used to defend myself also disappeared. I tried banging on the door like a mad man but nothing was working, the door would not budge. I sighed in defeat. Then, I hear footsteps coming. It is from the far right. Then I see the door present two people, one boy, one girl. They had similar face structure, hair color, and eye color which made me think they might be related.

    The boy has dark skin, messy blond hair and blue eyes. He seemed quite quiet despite his handsome features. He looked to be about 6 feet 4, 2 inches taller than me. He was wearing slippers, shorts, and a t-shirt clearly having just gotten out of the bed. The girl also had dark skin but it was lighter than the boy's. She had waist length, straight, blond hair and could probably pass as a supermodel. She was tall for a girl, standing at about 5 ft 10. She was clearly way more dressed up than any of us, in a nice dress. It was a nice green color that really stands out. She looked friendly with the bright smile on her face.

    "Who are you?" I asked, cautiously, in case they were dangerous. 

    "I'm Jane and this is my twin younger brother Jack." Jane explained. "My brother and I were going to collect pumpkins we planted until we came across this mysterious house." The friendly smile still maintained on her face.

    "What a coincidence!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry I suspected you. I was also looking around for pumpkins until I randomly came across this house and decide to come in. I've been super wary of everything ever since I came into this house. This house is so creepy and it's giving me the creeps. Oh, and I'm Jace, by the way. Nice to meet you." I told the twins truthfully.

    As we talked more and more, I realized we had a lot in common. We were all out collecting pumpkins for Halloween for a contest. We also found a common interest in art. We were also top students in school and had Straight A's. We were all in the junior year of high school. And, as I previously thought, Jack was quiet most of the time and Jane was mostly the one talking for him, as if they could read each other's mind.

    We wandered around the house, engaging in small talk. Then Jack brought up the question I avoided for so long, "What is this house and why are we even here? What is even the purpose of this house and why are we in here? Out of everyone in this world. we actually have a lot in common. Do you think it's our fate to meet in here."

    "Let's just try our best to get out of here." Jane chimed wanting to ignore the topic.

    I was shaking at their interaction as we walked past yet another door. Then, a smell hit me. It was the heavy aroma of freshly baked apple pies. This was my ultimate weakness. I love the apple pies my grandmother bakes and she would bake one every month to satisfy my cravings.

    I was naturally drifting towards the room before I knew it. That was naturally attracting me. I clenched the doorknob wanting to go in, but, hearing distant shouting from what seemed like Jack, telling me not to go in broke me from my apple pie hungry state. I probably shouldn't explore an unknown room without looking in at first but that Apple Pie smile was just so tempting.

    "It's okay," I retorted. "Nothing could possibly go wrong." Then, ignoring Jack's complaints, about how everything went wrong when we came inside this house. I turned the doorknob to reveal what was inside.

    "Eww!"

    "Disgusting!" Groaned the twins simultaneously as they followed after me.

    I think we walked into what I would consider the library part of the house. This room was filled with many bookcases full of thick textbook like books. This led me to think that this was a library. The books look so old, almost to the point of ancient. But, what caused the twins to groan in unison was the horrid smell.

It seems like I was wrong, something could actually go wrong from coming inside this room. If it was horrible when we got inside this house it was even more horrible in here.

    This library was the definition of a trash can. The smell was exactly that of a dumpster. There was a heavy smell of garlic and rotten fish which is not a good combination. It even looked like a trash can with rotten fish lying around everywhere at the floor next to the bookcases. A slimy, thick, yellow green liquid was also continuously dripping down the bookcase, on the books itself. Surprisingly, despite the thick scent of garlic, there wasn't any visible to the eye. It made me wonder where the delicious apple pie smell came from because I thought it was from this room. Apparently not though.

    "Hello, fellow humans. I feel like I haven't seen real people for over a hundred years." A voice came from one of the many bookcases. A young boy came from a bookcase from the back of the far left.  he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans that were covered and whatever was in this room.

He looks somewhat close to our age. So he should be about 14 to 18. Looks like he was about 16 years old but he could be a toss 14 year old. His face was completely scared. His original face was completely gone. He still looked well built and buff. It seems like he works out a lot. Even though his face it was filled with scars it was obvious that he used to be a handsome young men with a good face structure.

"Hi!" He shouted enthusiastically.

"Hi!"

"Hello to you too." Jane and I replied at the same time. Jack just nodded simply at the newcomer.

"I'm Jake! I was wondering when someone would come by. The door closed all by itself when I came in. Who controls this place? They have so much power to be able to close the door so far away. I see that it did the same to you. Nice to meet you guys! I don't think you guys have introduced yourselves yet. What are your names?" Jake asked.

I looked back just as he said that. The door was indeed shut tightly. I didn't even realize when the door closed. He really observes his surroundings I guess. I answered Jake, "Nice to meet you too! I'm Jace and the girl on my right is Jane and the guy on my left is Jack. Don't mind Jack if he's a little bit quiet. He tends to be like that."

"Are you guys smart, "Jake inquired, "because I need help getting out this haunted house. I've been stuck in this house for so long I've lost count of how many days have passed by. I think the books have might have some clues on how to get out. I've been busy studying the books and found some about the history of this house." Jake informed us.

"So what did you learn? Can you tell us all about it?" Jane asked, obviously happy at the chance of being able to escape this wicked and cursed house.

"First off, I read that this house was built in 1544, which is exactly 555 years before today since it's in 1999 right now at this moment. What a coincidence!" Jake exclaimed out loud. "The books also contain many random information like how to cook and how to build and have a stitch. There are also some information about skills they probably use back then such as fighting sword skills and escaping skills."

He seemed like a really bubbly person, still maintaining this cheerful attitude throughout the long time he probably stayed in this gloomy house.

"So if we can find how this house is built 555 years ago, we might be able to find a secret passage to escape. The people who used to live here even had books on how to escape so they probably built secret escape route so they can escape in difficult situations. They wouldn't have books about escaping if they don't have a secret exit. If we go through a secret exit we might be able to get out of this house. We just need to find the layout of this house." Jack reasoned aloud.

I never thought about it in this way. It seems that Jack is really smart and quick witted despite his cold and quiet exterior. 

"That's a wonderful thought!" I exclaimed while thinking of the possibility of escaping this stupid house. I really can't stand it much longer in this house I'm starting to get dizzy and hungry.

"So how do we go about looking for books based on how the house is made? Are all of the books even in English?" Jane asked reasonably. 

"We could divide and conquer," Jake suggested, "because the books aren't titled like what we are used to seeing. They're too old. Apparently they didn't put titles on books back then. Most of the books are in Old English so it is not that hard to read. It might be a little bit weird but it is understandable. Only a few books are written in some weird characters that seem to be representing words. Those are the oldest looking books though so we probably won't need to read them. I wonder who decide to put titles on books. Actually, I wonder a lot of things about stuff in life, like who was the first person and how did they get the brains. The biggest question being why didn't the ancestors think of what we are thinking about now, it's not like we have evolved that much since we still have the same brain."

"How about we all start from the corners since there is exactly four of us and four corners." I suggested. I just completely ignored Jake's last questions. I wonder if he has ADHD though because he seems very distracted all the time.

    "That's a good idea." Jane told me.

    We started looking everywhere for a book on how the house was built. We each picked a corner. I started with the corner in the front right, next to the door. Jack is at the other side of the door at the front left. Jake is at the far right, also a spot directly across from me. Jane is diagonally across from my spot, at the far left.

    I started skimming through all the books. The books gave off an unsettling smell when it opened. It was also sticky and all the pages were sticking together in addition to the slimy liquid. Paired with the already repulsive smell of the room, I barfed a little bit inside my mouth. 

    "Ahh!!!!" Jane's voice echoed through the quiet library.

    I immediately started sprinting diagonally towards her. Here I see that both of the boys have already arrived, panting slightly from their short exercise. Then I see her, lying motionless on the ground. Blood was dripping from her mouth. There were deep cuts on her body from what seemed like a knife. Her head was detached from her body.

    I became suspicious of the other two boys. Though they were probably suspicious at me too. I guess I could also be suspicious since I arrived last. They both arrived at the scene before me. I know I saw blood on my way into this room, but I never thought seeing someone I know alive just a minute ago and then dead the next second would hit me so hard. Seeing so much blood on the ground a fan scare me that much. I became wary of all my surroundings.

    Even though I wanted to stay suspicious at Jack and Jake, I couldn't. The former was sobbing silently for his twin sister. Tears were streaming down his face. There was no way he would kill his own twin sister he grew up with. She probably meant everything to him being twins and all. There was no way he would kill his twin sister he was so fond of, right? The latter was on his knees, taking off his jacket to cover Jane's head. It seems like he was trying to protect Jack from the horror of his dead sister's face. He had a sorrowful look as he tried to give Jack looks of comfort even though he didn't know they were twins. He also gave us a lot of information and seemed loyal so he couldn't possibly betray us, right?

    Jane was a nice girl. She was a bit bubbly but, she meant no harm to anyone. It could have been a little bit annoying but who would kill her for that? Seeing her death really shocked me. She was really sweet. Who would want to murder her like that? And in such a cruel way.

    I was sad about her death, but seeing Jack in this state, I went to comfort him first. "Jack, I'm sure she would want you to continue the quest to get out of this house. I'm not going to tell you that it's okay or you should stop being sad because I'm sad too and I know it's not okay." I attempted to comfort him, patting him lightly on the back. 

"Let's stick together this time." I suggested. "We wouldn't want that to happen again."

"Yeah." Jack agreed solemnly.

"I found some information about the house. Apparently, it was built by a family called the Canis family. It took over 10 years to finish. The construction was overlook by Tony Canis is. If books mention anything about him, we might be able to find a way out." I volunteered. "Let's keep looking." I said this even though I was already kind of giving up. The hope inside me was diminishing. We couldn't find anything about this house and we've been looking so long, someone even died.

"I think I saw something about the family getting attacked in this house in 1876, but the house miraculously survived. It probably has been renovated since then because it shows no signs of war or damage." Jake said, deep in thought. 

After a while Jack finally told us, "I think I saw some books about how the house was built near where Jane was when I was running here." It looked like he was really reluctant to tell us this. I would be too if I was him because one of us could have possibly killed his twin sister he's been with his whole life.

"Then let's look around here more." I suggested. What Jack said really relit the hope inside of me. I use the newfound hope to power myself to read more books. I was actually getting tired of reading books.

"Ok." Jake replied standardly. It seemed like he was getting so tired. I wonder how he slept the days before or if he even slept.

We started looking around more in this area. We kept keep some small talk to make sure we were all around here. I could also both of them. We were making sure we can all see the other two people in case something happens. 

In what felt like the next hour, we were exploring the area around Jane. Whenever I looked at Jack, he was very slow at reading the 600 page long books. He was constantly stealing glances at his sister, his eyes shifting and unfocused. 

Jake also seemed weird. He was focused on reading the books, a little too focused. But, despite his concentration, he was reading very slowly, as if his concentration was just a facade. I just brushed it off as him having a slow reading speed. Some people naturally read slow. It also might be his ADHD that I think he has that causes him not to focus. His focus is actually very bad on everything.

I was also reading at a pretty slow speed after seeing Jane's dead body but I started needing to go to the restroom. This increased my reading rate at about 175%. I needed to get out of this place and use the restroom. If I just peed somewhere in here, then I would make this already smelly place even more stinkier. It probably wouldn't make that much of a difference but it's better to be safe than sorry. I was already very lucky that I used the restroom before I left the house.

"I found something! There is a secret exit!" Jack yelled suddenly.

Then, unexpectedly, out of nowhere, Jake lunged at Jack. "No, you can't!" He exclaimed. "My master said to kill everyone who came inside this house. I purposefully lured you here with the delicious apple pie smell that my master said one of you liked so much. I can't fail him. He has trusted me this test and I will not fail. But how could you guys be so lucky to come in a group!? Why didn't you let the guy who loved apple pie come by himself? Why would you come with the stranger to an unknown room without even knowing what is inside. You haven't even known him for that long it's not like he's your best friend or something." Jake looked crazy. His face was contorted into a scowl. He was still mildly handsome before, but now he just looked crazy like a monster. His face turned ugly and it was unrecognizable.

Luckily, Jack was fast on his feet. He dodged Jake and looked at me, as if signalling me to do something. He was constantly running around the library, careful not to slip on the slippery liquids, yet still avoiding Jake. He was also whisper yelling " Hit him with something! Use anything you can find, hurry up!" He seemed to be getting out of breath. They both started getting out of breath and slowed down. It seems like at least Jake is still human and not some monster.

I was stumped though. I never thought that Jake would betray us. He seemed like a genuinely good person. Jake was the last person I would suspect was kidnapping us. He was so kind accepting of us when we came inside the room. He also gave us information about this house and told us to look in the books. We even found how to get out from one of the books.

It looked to me as if Jack already expected someone to go for him after he yelled that. He dodged Jake like an expert. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I just did what I saw fit. 

I threw the heavy textbook I was reading at Jake. I was never really good as sports like basketball so I never really expected to hit Jake. Hitting him really surprised me. The book hit him square in the face. I think he got a concussion from that because he just fainted. The book must have hit him pretty hard because blood was dripping down the side of his head. The good thing is it seems like he won't be waking up anytime soon if he's even alive.

We took a little break until Jack said, " I really hoped he wasn't a traitor but it turns out he was. So I found that one of the bookcases on the wall will move to open up a secret exit in the wall if we pull the right book. The book was supposed to be in the color pink but we can't tell which color is which anymore anyways. The bookcase is the one right behind Jane. I think that's why she died; because she accidentally found the right bookcase." Jack told me.

"Do you think Jake killed her?" I questioned for the first time, nervously.

"Yeah." Jack replied. "He somehow got to her before me even though I'm a track sprinter and I ran all the way here when I heard her scream. I may not seem athletic but I have the fastest hundred meter run time from my old school." It looked like he got over Jane's death before even I did. He didn't even look one-fourth as sad as before. But, from what I have experienced about going through other people's death, he might just be hiding all his pain inside

Then, we started pulling at all the books in the bookcase randomly until the bookcase suddenly shook. Then it moved backwards and to the side to reveal a long passage.

Jack and I came to a silent agreement. We worked together to lift Jane's body up and out of this haunted house. We traveled through the dimly lit walkway lit by some almost burned torches. It was pretty narrow but enough to fit both of us to walk side by side. The walkway was going ever so slowly downhill. This was a steep contrast to the house. The walkway was dull but calm and peaceful. On the other hand, the house was chaotic, smelly and scary.

I can see light. This means it's either already the next morning or it's still the same day and not even 12 hours have passed by. I have waited so long for this moment. 

I gently set down Jane and yell to Jack, "I need to use the restroom! Meet you back here in 5!" as I take off.

The first thing I do is run some distance into the forest to pee. I can finally relieve myself after so long. Typically, I would wait until I get home to use the restroom but I really couldn't hold it in anymore.

As I run back towards the house, I realize it is really well hidden. Even with the bright red walls, the house is buried deep within the forest. It also didn't help that a thick layer of fog surrounded the house. I had to look hard to find the house again.

The house came into sight a few seconds later, with Jack off to the side, waiting for me. A sense of relief flooded me. No one else suddenly disappeared. I quickly  jogged back to Jack.  I see that we came through a door from one of the sides of the house. It seems like it was camouflage into the painted house so I could not even notice it when I first came. I silently scolded myself for not noticing the exit earlier.

"We should bury her here." I told Jack. "We might not be able to find this house again after we leave. I had a hard time locating this house even though I didn't stray that far away from it." I informed him.  "I think it's good to bury her here where she died." I whispered.

"Ok." He replied simply. 

We started digging out a hole in the soil. The dirt was nice and soft so it was pretty easy to do it. Only a few hours passed judging from how much the sun moved. If the soil was much harder we would not even be able to do this. A few hours is pretty short to be able to bury a huge hole. And I'm not even that physically capable. We then lowered Jane's body into the large hole we dug. Then we payed our respects to her and left, weeping.

I remembered that I came from the right side of the house but, Jack came opposite. So, we had to seperate.

"Bye, see you when I see you. Just know that I live in 576 Southgate avenue if you want to visit me. We could catch up sometime." I waved.

"Bye, I don't think our meeting will be that far away. You could also visit me, we actually don't live that far away. I live in 787 West Street Avenue. It's like 10 blocks away from your place, not that far. I'm new here in this neighborhood so I will probably go to the school here. I'm assuming you go to the same school so see you at school. " Jack waved back.

Now I have to explain all this to my parents and I am not looking forward to it. They might not even believe me. Who would believe three kids getting trapped in a haunted house together with another guy actually trapping us? Definitely not me! I don't even know what day it is! And I even drop my mom's most prized scissors. I'm looking in trouble for sure.

Jack is going to have to explain it to his parents too and he is going to have it worse than I am. Maybe if we meet up together and explain it to our parents at the same time it would be better and they would believe us more. They probably will believe us more since we were strangers before and just met.

But it's okay I'm not going to get stressed out about this problem now I'll figure out later. Right now it's time to go home! Nothing is better than getting home. I need to change all of these stinky and slimy pajamas!

I don't know how to use author's note so I'm just going to put all my thoughts here. I used to be a reader but I was doing haunted house essay at school and I thought it would be cool to post this here. I'm probably not going to write any more though since I'm a noon who doesn't even know how author's notes works. I saw the writing prompt so I thought it would be good to post this. I don't even know how to enter the contest though. I'm probably not going to post anything will else in my lifetime so don't look forward to it. But still give me Power Stones because I'm desperate.