Writing Back to Short Stories, Enjoy The Latest One!
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RE: Muddy's Short Stories- New Story: Lost Chance
The Midnight Man- Prologue
Halloween night, four friends shall gather at the old house on the hill in an attempt to survive the night. Now, one must be clear on this: the house was not haunted, however it was a tad frightening in the late evening and early morning hours. Bats fly from the rafters in the attic, and there is always a scratching sound in the basement, perhaps a raccoon or a stray cat, but most are too afraid to investigate. These four friends wanted to prove that it was possible to survive a night in the house without running out in a panic.
However, simply wandering the corridors of the house did not interest them, they wanted a more thrilling experience. This was found in a game one friend found known as the “Midnight Man Game.” Most of the ones who found out about the game and tried it labeled it a part of the urban fiction. They wanted to prove everyone wrong. They wanted to be the ones to summon the Midnight Man.
Now, in order for the rest of the story, something must be made perfectly clear. The Midnight Man can only be summoned by following the steps that I shall provide for you below. However, I want you to realize that if you so choose to attempt this, I take no responsibility for what fate you may befall if the Midnight Man should find you. I strongly warn against trying to summon him, for like these four friends and even I found out, once he has been summoned, there is no going back, no way to reverse the potential cruelness you have unleashed upon yourself. Keep in mind, you have been warned.
Here are the steps that the four friends performed that Halloween night: first, each person wishing to partake in the game must write their names on a slip of paper. Once that is done, a needle is used to prick one's thumb so that a single drop of crimson blood may fall onto the slip of paper. Do not let a second drop touch the paper, one drop alone is all that is needed.
Next, collect the slips of paper and align them in a straight line in front of the front door of the house that is being used. For best results, the door should be made of wood, like it is in the story you shall soon hear. Distribute candles to all who intend on playing. Strike a match and light each one, cautiously so that no one is harmed, but if one should accidentally burn themselves, do not fret for the Midnight Man will make sure no one escapes unscathed.
The next step tends to be the trickiest of them all, and messing it up can ruin the entire summoning process. Have one of the members playing the game knock on the front door exactly twenty-two times, no more, no less, with the last knock being precisely at midnight. The best way I have found for this step, if you are both brave and insane enough to want to summon him, is to knock with each second starting with 11:59:38 and so that you end exactly at 12:00:00.
Open the door, and quickly shut it so no more entities except for the Midnight Man enter the house. If you are afraid of more than him entering, hold a silver coin out toward the door to deter them. For the few seconds that the door is open, each player must blow out their candle. Once the door is shut and total darkness ensues, relight it quick! The Midnight Man is now among you.
Here is where the game becomes interesting. Your goal for the next three hours and thirty-three minutes is simple: survive. Each player will through the house holding their candle, salt, and spare matches, for if the candle goes out, the Midnight Man is near. Quickly relight your candle, you have ten seconds. If you should fail in this endeavor, sprinkle a circle of salt around yourself and sit down, you now have to wait until 3:33 when he leaves.
If you can create this circle in ten seconds or less, than you have nothing to fear, but if you cannot, then the rest of the game will become a living nightmare. The Midnight Man will attack you and take control of your thoughts, creating hallucinations of what you fear most for the rest of the game. This has been known to cause even the bravest and unfeeling players to desire death; be weary of attempted suicide, for once the game is over, those possessed will return to normal. If not, then you have a more serious issue on your hands and you should schedule an exorcism with a priest immediately.
As with any game like this, there are signs that the Midnight Man is near other than the extinction of your candle. You will be chilled to the bone, a cold colder than anything you have ever felt, you will see your breath and your teeth will chatter as if you are in the middle of an intense blizzard. You may also hear a low whisper. What is said is not known, most players who hear this can expect their own demise in the next several minutes. Finally, you might be able to see a black, humanoid figure in the darkness directly in front of you. Turn around and begin to walk the other way while reciting the Lord's Prayer. If you should see more than just one figure, then something else has been let into the house. Proceed with the utmost caution, while the Midnight Man cannot kill you, his other demonic cronies are not bound by such rules.
Speaking of rules, there are some for this game. You may not use another's blood on your slip of paper, this removes the forces which prevent the Midnight Man from directly killing. You may not stand in the same spot until 3:33 unless you have a circle of salt around you, for he will continue to blow out your candle until you exhaust your matches and have no defense left except for the salt. Do not under any circumstances fall asleep, you will be plagued by nightmares beyond your wildest imagination. Do not leave the house until the game has concluded for while the other beings that arrive with the Midnight Man may not enter the house, they are outside for the duration of the game. They will attack and mercilessly slaughter you. Only a candle may be used. You may not turn on the lights at any point during the game, the Midnight Man will kill you for the binding powers of darkness which control his rage will be lifted.
The last of the rules should go without saying. DO NOT PROVOKE THE MIDNIGHT MAN!
Now that you understand how this game is played, I will proceed with the story, but I must warn you, do not play this life-threatening game, under any circumstances. It may just be the last game you ever play...
However, simply wandering the corridors of the house did not interest them, they wanted a more thrilling experience. This was found in a game one friend found known as the “Midnight Man Game.” Most of the ones who found out about the game and tried it labeled it a part of the urban fiction. They wanted to prove everyone wrong. They wanted to be the ones to summon the Midnight Man.
Now, in order for the rest of the story, something must be made perfectly clear. The Midnight Man can only be summoned by following the steps that I shall provide for you below. However, I want you to realize that if you so choose to attempt this, I take no responsibility for what fate you may befall if the Midnight Man should find you. I strongly warn against trying to summon him, for like these four friends and even I found out, once he has been summoned, there is no going back, no way to reverse the potential cruelness you have unleashed upon yourself. Keep in mind, you have been warned.
Here are the steps that the four friends performed that Halloween night: first, each person wishing to partake in the game must write their names on a slip of paper. Once that is done, a needle is used to prick one's thumb so that a single drop of crimson blood may fall onto the slip of paper. Do not let a second drop touch the paper, one drop alone is all that is needed.
Next, collect the slips of paper and align them in a straight line in front of the front door of the house that is being used. For best results, the door should be made of wood, like it is in the story you shall soon hear. Distribute candles to all who intend on playing. Strike a match and light each one, cautiously so that no one is harmed, but if one should accidentally burn themselves, do not fret for the Midnight Man will make sure no one escapes unscathed.
The next step tends to be the trickiest of them all, and messing it up can ruin the entire summoning process. Have one of the members playing the game knock on the front door exactly twenty-two times, no more, no less, with the last knock being precisely at midnight. The best way I have found for this step, if you are both brave and insane enough to want to summon him, is to knock with each second starting with 11:59:38 and so that you end exactly at 12:00:00.
Open the door, and quickly shut it so no more entities except for the Midnight Man enter the house. If you are afraid of more than him entering, hold a silver coin out toward the door to deter them. For the few seconds that the door is open, each player must blow out their candle. Once the door is shut and total darkness ensues, relight it quick! The Midnight Man is now among you.
Here is where the game becomes interesting. Your goal for the next three hours and thirty-three minutes is simple: survive. Each player will through the house holding their candle, salt, and spare matches, for if the candle goes out, the Midnight Man is near. Quickly relight your candle, you have ten seconds. If you should fail in this endeavor, sprinkle a circle of salt around yourself and sit down, you now have to wait until 3:33 when he leaves.
If you can create this circle in ten seconds or less, than you have nothing to fear, but if you cannot, then the rest of the game will become a living nightmare. The Midnight Man will attack you and take control of your thoughts, creating hallucinations of what you fear most for the rest of the game. This has been known to cause even the bravest and unfeeling players to desire death; be weary of attempted suicide, for once the game is over, those possessed will return to normal. If not, then you have a more serious issue on your hands and you should schedule an exorcism with a priest immediately.
As with any game like this, there are signs that the Midnight Man is near other than the extinction of your candle. You will be chilled to the bone, a cold colder than anything you have ever felt, you will see your breath and your teeth will chatter as if you are in the middle of an intense blizzard. You may also hear a low whisper. What is said is not known, most players who hear this can expect their own demise in the next several minutes. Finally, you might be able to see a black, humanoid figure in the darkness directly in front of you. Turn around and begin to walk the other way while reciting the Lord's Prayer. If you should see more than just one figure, then something else has been let into the house. Proceed with the utmost caution, while the Midnight Man cannot kill you, his other demonic cronies are not bound by such rules.
Speaking of rules, there are some for this game. You may not use another's blood on your slip of paper, this removes the forces which prevent the Midnight Man from directly killing. You may not stand in the same spot until 3:33 unless you have a circle of salt around you, for he will continue to blow out your candle until you exhaust your matches and have no defense left except for the salt. Do not under any circumstances fall asleep, you will be plagued by nightmares beyond your wildest imagination. Do not leave the house until the game has concluded for while the other beings that arrive with the Midnight Man may not enter the house, they are outside for the duration of the game. They will attack and mercilessly slaughter you. Only a candle may be used. You may not turn on the lights at any point during the game, the Midnight Man will kill you for the binding powers of darkness which control his rage will be lifted.
The last of the rules should go without saying. DO NOT PROVOKE THE MIDNIGHT MAN!
Now that you understand how this game is played, I will proceed with the story, but I must warn you, do not play this life-threatening game, under any circumstances. It may just be the last game you ever play...
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Prologue of the Midnight Man Up!
YAYAYAYAYAY more stories to read all day
I'm kinda busy ATM but it looks great at a surface level read through, I'll get a better read tonight though.
EDIT:
Since my stupid computer won't load my homework fast enough I read it...
Just one question.... Why 3:33..
YAYAYAYAYAY more stories to read all day
I'm kinda busy ATM but it looks great at a surface level read through, I'll get a better read tonight though.
EDIT:
Since my stupid computer won't load my homework fast enough I read it...
Just one question.... Why 3:33..
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Prologue of the Midnight Man Up!
FINALLY, I got Chapter One done. And it is 3:33 AM because that is what the actual urban legend says, this story is based off of it. And the hole in the vampire's cloak was there just to represent that he had been buried and his clothing had started to decay, but his body was still very much alive.
Thanks for all the great feedback guys!
Chapter One- October 30th
They did not believe me. They did not think the game dangerous, in fact, they found it humorous that I was scared even discussing it. They wanted to prove me wrong, prove that the Midnight Man was a hoax and that my acting was all part of some elaborate prank. Regardless, the day before Halloween, I was confronted by the four of them, my own friends, at my locker at the end of school. They had found the game online and knew that I had tried it.
Ethan, a skinny kid with brown hair, who we all called Gopp since his stepfather was Mr. Gopp, our math teacher in middle school, asked “Baker, do you really think we're gonna believe you? It just seems so far-fetched.”
Josh Froats, a tall and somewhat fit teen, known simply as Froats, chimed in “We are gonna need some proof that this actually happened, Nick.”
Luke, who was the shortest of the five of us and had light brown hair, said, “I don't know guys, Nick seems like a pretty trustworthy guy, I'm not sure it's a good idea to try this.”
He was immediately shushed by the fourth, Paul, a thin blond, “Shh! Luke, we're doing this, besides, it'll give us a good laugh on Halloween.”
“Guys,” I started, “You are all smart guys, I don't understand why you would ever want to play this game. You don't know what you're getting into.”
“I think we all know what we're getting into,” mocked Froats. “Look, just write down what we need to do and we'll do it, whether you wanna be there or not.”
Gopp looked at me. “Baker, there's not stopping us, we want to do this!”
I looked at him for a moment, and then said “What does your girlfriend think of all of this? I would ask about your family, but it's obvious they've been told that each of you is spending the night at one another's house.”
“You of all people should know that she's fine with me hanging out with my friends,” he retorted.
I sighed, and looked at all of them. “Well, I guess I really have no choice in the matter. You wanna try it, there's no stopping you.” I reached into my locker, found a binder and took out a sheet of paper. I then grabbed my worn, black pencil pouch and pulled out a mechanical pencil. I began to write. It took me a few minutes. “Here,” I said, when I was done writing. I glared angrily and handed them the sheet of paper. “Just be careful.”
“Don't worry Nick, we'll see you on Monday, November 2st,” said Paul.
They then turned and walked away. I sighed, they had coerced me into giving them the instructions which would lead to their doom. Over the years, I have been criticized for telling them how to summon him with no effort in stopping them. But, you have to realize, I have known these guys for years, once their mind is set on something, there's no stopping them.
Was made things worse was that I would not see them until next week. It was a Friday and Halloween was on a Saturday. I needed to do something, so I ran after them.
“If you're gonna do the game, then I want in,” I told them.
They stared at me for a moment, and then Luke said, “Okay, that's fine with me.”
Everyone else nodded in agreement. “Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow night. What time are we meeting and where are we going?”
Froats smiled. “Meet us at the old house on the hill behind the highway. We'll get there around nine, and just tell your folks you're spending the night at someone's house.”
“Alright,” I responded.
At this point, the five of us split up and each went to our respective mode of transportation. As I walked to my silver car, I could only help but wonder what would happen the next night. I took out the keys and clicked the unlock button twice. I got in the car and after starting it immediately turned on the stereo, I needed some 80's music after that. I had actually agreed to join them Halloween night, what was I thinking?!
As I drove home, through the autumn colored leaves that still remained on their trees, I could make out the house that I would spend my Halloween night in. Maybe I could just not show up, fake being sick or something, but then what would that say about me? That I was a liar and a chicken, no, I was not going to let that happen. I had no choice but to actually go through with it. But I had to do something to stop Gopp, my best friend, from being harmed.
Now, I know that this sounds selfish; I only wanted to save one friend. However, you do not know these teenagers like I do, they are stubborn and needed to be taught a lesson. Gopp was the only one who was not completely like that, and I knew that it would be easy to prevent him from going. My other best friend was his girlfriend, Paige, and I knew that I could talk some sense into her. She was my ticket to saving him.
When I opened the garage door when I got home, I realize no one was home. I shut it and went inside, only to find a note on the counter top in the kitchen. My parents were out running errands when I arrived home, so I grabbed a box of Cheezits, filled up a cup with water, and flopped onto the couch.
I reached behind me and found the TV remote on the coffee table and turned on the TV. I looked around the my family room; Halloween decorations were in every corner of the room. A witch that said Halloweenie Queenie sat on the fire place, it's eyes staring at me. Outside, the woods behind my house was a fall paradise. The colors of the leaves on the trees were beautiful. A gentle breeze blew a few of them off every minute or so.
I took out my phone and texted her. She immediately responded, knowing something was wrong; I normally don't text her until after 8 P.M.
Whats up?
I typed: So, Gopp is gonna go with me, Froats, Luke, and Paul to the old house tmrrw.
Kk, and whats the problem with that?
My reply: They want to summon the midnight man, have you heard of him?
No. What is that?
Well its hard to explain. I ran to my computer, leaving the TV on and passing my cat who tossed and turned in her sleep, obviously dreaming about chasing a mouse or something. I googled the midnight man and found a website which I sent to her.
After five minutes (Paige is a slow reader), I received a reply: What the heck?! That sounds so dumb!
Angrily I texted: Its true though. I summoned him this past summer, and I got caught around 3 AM, I saw you dying so many time in so many ways! I wanted to kill myself!
Nick, I usually believe you, but you sound so stupid right now.
Paige, you need to stop him from going, do this for me, please! When was the last time you have ever done something for me. U, my best friend, dating my best friend, certainly wasnt the greatest thing for me!
FINE! I will. Dont expect me to talk to u for a very long time!
Thats fine with me, youll just be glad your bf's still alive.
I leaned back on the couch and turned on the television. There was no reply from Paige, it appeared as though our friendship was over, but it was a necessary sacrifice. She would thank me in the future. Now to deal with Gopp, I thought just ask my phone vibrated. I muted the TV and opened my phone.
I answered it, “Hello?”
“Baker, what is wrong with you, man?! You go behind my back and get my girlfriend to not let me go!” yelled Gopp.
I cringed, more from the volume of his voice than remorse. “Look, you may not thank me now, but I can guarantee that you will later.”
“This is bull crap. I don't know what your problem is, you should have just told me if you were unhappy with us dating!”
My mind was racing, he thought this was about my unhappiness regarding my two best friends dating, not that he would be putting his life on the line Halloween night. I answered, “You found me out. I've been discontent with it for weeks, I just didn't wanna say anything. It's your life and I shouldn't have any influence over who you date.”
“And it all comes out! Finally, I've been waiting for you to say that since we first got together. But it was pretty low of you to go behind my back like that. I thought you were my best friend.”
“I am-”
“Look,” Gopp interrupted. “Just don't expect to hear much from me over the next week or two. I'm not going tomorrow night, more because Paige doesn't want me to. Don't even think that it's because of what you said.”
“Fine, whatever prevents you from going.”
“Cya man,” Gopp finished. There was click on the other end of the phone, he had hung up.
I sighed. Well, I had probably just lost my two best friends, or at least one of them for sure. Oh well, the less they talk to me, the less I had to see them being infatuated with each other. That's me thinking on the bright side.
I unmuted the TV and flipped it to a news station. On the channel, there was a report about schools no longer being allowed to give out prizes for winning games at Halloween. It had a “concerned” mother on there who was saying that it was not fair if one kid got a bigger piece of candy for winning than the others.
I sighed again, oh kids nowadays. They are given everything, what will they do when confronted with real decisions and problems that no one can help them through? What would they do if they came face to face with the Midnight Man?
Then, my phone vibrated again, it was Froats, just fantastic. I answered it: “Hey Josh.”
“What's up Nick? Hey listen, Gopp called, his parents have something going tomorrow night and he has to stay home to watch his baby brother. So, Popson's coming. That fine?”
“Yeah, that fine. Talk to ya tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Fantastic, now Popson was involved. Popson is his last name, his first name is Brendan. He's taller and has light brown hair, and there was no way of preventing him from going. His girlfriend, Katy, would never stop him and I know that he would never believe me if I tried to stop him.
I muted the television once again and started scrolling down my list of contacts on my cell phone. I desperately needed someone to talk to, and with Gopp and Paige not wanting to, this was going to be difficult. I stopped when I saw the name of the one person who would listen to me: Paige Jogan.
I immediately opened her contact and clicked send. She picked up after a few rings, my heart was pounding a little (yes, I had a thing for her). “Hey Paige.”
“Hey Nick, what's up?” Paige asked.
“Oh, just watching TV, needing someone to talk to. Listen, are you free this evening?”
“Yeah, I think so, why?”
“Great, can you meet me by the Subway in the food court at the mall? I really need to talk to you about some stuff. I ticked off Gopp and Paige, they aren't going to want to talk to me for a long time.”
“What did you do?”
“Um, well, it's hard to explain over the phone.”
There was a moment of silence. “Um, okay Nick, I can meet you there. What time?”
“Five. I'll pay too-”
“No, Nick,” she interrupted. “That really isn't necessary.”
“Nah, it's fine, I'm the one who invited you. Cya then.”
“Okay Nick. Bye.” There was a click and then silence.
Well, I had pretty much just asked her on a date. I smiled and felt happy for the first time in weeks. My life had been a bit of a living hell recently, and this Midnight Man business was just the icing on the cake. I looked at the clock on the mantle above the fire place; it read 3:15 P.M. I turned off the TV and went up to my room.
I took a quick shower and put some clean clothes on, making sure that the shirt was a Nicholas Baker original, striped. I've worn stripes for as long as I can remember, maybe that is why I do not have a lot of dates. Regardless, I went back down stairs and threw on my jacket. I grabbed my iPod out of my pocket, put my headphones into my ears, and proceeded to put the garage door up.
The cool autumn breeze was blowing and leaves of all shades of red, orange, and yellow blew through the air and settled in the grass surrounding the driveway that I was walking up. I needed to go for a walk, needed to clear my head with the music of Journey, my favorite band. I admit, I have a slight obsession with them, and could write paragraphs on them right now, but that bore whomever is reading this.
Anyways, after a half-hour walk, I got home and realized it was about 4:30. I needed to get going to beat the rush hour traffic up by the mall. I ran inside, left a note to my parents as to where I was going, grabbed my car keys, and drove away from my house. While driving, I had tunnel vision. I really was not paying attention to my surrounds, I was nervous for tomorrow and that I would be unloading on Paige tonight. I really liked her, and did not want to scare her off by doing something stupid.
Well, luckily I make it to the mall without pulling out in front of someone due to being preoccupied. I parked in front of the Macy's, even though the food court was on the other end of the mall. However, I was a little early, so I could burn time by walking there. I passed very few people; most were probably at places like Wal-Mart and Target buying trick-or-treat candy for tomorrow. Several of the stores had fall and Halloween decorations out in an attempt to entice customers inside. The Apple Store was busy as usual, all seemed right with the world. Right as I got to the Subway, Paige was coming through the revolving door.
“Hey Paige! What are ya feelin' for your sub?”
She smiled. “Hey Nick, I'll take a turkey.”
We got in line and got our sandwiches. I only got a six inch sub as I did not want to seem like a pig. We sat at a table in front of one of the big screen TVs that played music videos. “Don't Stop Believin'” was finishing being played. I smiled as I watched Steve Perry bop around stage in his cheetah top and tight jeans.
“What are you looking at?” Paige asked.
“Oh, sorry, just watching a Journey music video.”
She laughed. “Oh you and your Journey. You really are obsessed.”
“Just a tad. You know, something's been bothering me regarding my slight obsession.”
She laughed again. “Slight?”
“Okay, fine, huge obsession,” I admitted. “But anyways, at the last home game, two Fridays ago, I heard someone say, and I don't know who, that maybe I'd have a girlfriend if I didn't like Journey so much.”
“That's terrible!” Paige frowned, and looked at me seriously. “No one is worth dating if you have to change yourself for them.”
I smiled. “You're right, thanks. Anyways, um...”
“The reason you called me?”
“Oh yeah, that.” Paige giggled when I said that, I looked directly at her. Her curly brown was especially pretty tonight. “Well, there's this game where at midnight, you summon something known as the Midnight Man.”
“What?” She asked with a look of curiosity in her brown eyes.
“Well, it's heard to explain, and it's really strange, but I summoned him, and bad things happened. And just today, Paul, Luke, Froats, and Gopp told me that they wanted to summon him. And I didn't want that to happen, so I texted Paige, and well here are the texts.”
I reached into my pocket and handed her my phone. “Oh Nick, that probably wasn't the best way to get Gopp out of going.”
“I know, and now both are mad at me and Popson's going instead of Gopp. I can't win!”
We finished our subs in silence, she was unsure how to react. When we were finished, I got up and threw both of our trash away. “You wanna walk around a little bit, Paige?”
“Sure. Hey listen, for what it's worth, I believe something must have happened to you, and that it's probably a bad idea for them to do it too.”
“Yeah, and I agreed to go.”
“Nick, why would you do that?!”
“Because regardless of how they acted, they are my friends and I couldn't bear to see them get hurt like I did.”
“That's sweet Nick.” She reached over and grabbed my hand. My heart practically leaped out of my chest. “Shall we go for a walk around the mall now?”
“Um, yeah, sounds good.” I smiled.
As we walked away from the food court, Paige asked, “Well, are you going to tell me what happened?”
“When I summoned him?”
“Yeah, when you summoned the Midnight Man.”
“Well, I may as well tell someone who won't judge me.”
“You know I won't.”
“I know Paige, and I appreciate it. Well, it was a month or two ago, and I was hanging out with one of my friends from my theatre summer camp, Zack. And he had found this thing on Facebook about something called the Midnight Man. Being stupid, we both decided to give it a try, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
“Now, right when that thought crossed my mind, I should have know that something would go wrong, but regardless, we did the stuff necessary to summon him. And we walked around the house with the candles. You see Paige, you carry a candle for protection and if he's near, it will go out. You then have ten seconds to relight it, and if you can't, then you make a circle of salt around you. If you don't do that, he will attack you and cause hallucinations until he leaves and 3:33 A.M.
“And, guess who ran out of salt and matches? This guy. I think he assumed that I was the weaker of the two of us. But anyways, he attacked and I repeatedly saw everyone that I cared about, including you, dying, multiple times. It was awful.”
We walked in silence. While I was talking, Paige had pulled my hand closer, as if sensing the distress I was in when I was attacked. After a minute or two, she finally spoke. “That's terrible. I'm not sure how to respond, I've never been through anything like that before.”
“Good, and I pray to God that you never will. Do you at least believe me?”
“Yeah, I really do,” she said, “And I hope that nothing like that will happen tomorrow.”
“Me too.”
Her phone rang. And let go of my hand and answered. “What, but mom! Okay, fine, I'm on my way.” She hung up. “Well, I forgot I have to babysit my brother in half an hour. I'll see you later.”
“Yeah, I hope we can do this again sometime.”
“I'd like that, good luck tomorrow night Nick, and please, for everyone's sake, don't let anything happen.”
“Don't worry, I won't, I'll try my hardest.”
“Bye Nick.” I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. And then we hugged.
“Cya on Monday, Paige.”
And we went our separate ways, she was parked on the other side of the mall. I quietly walked to my car, passing all the clothes and perfume in Macy's. I had just had my first date in months, and tomorrow I was going to put my life on the line. I hoped that I could live to at least go on another date with Paige, I hoped...
Ethan, a skinny kid with brown hair, who we all called Gopp since his stepfather was Mr. Gopp, our math teacher in middle school, asked “Baker, do you really think we're gonna believe you? It just seems so far-fetched.”
Josh Froats, a tall and somewhat fit teen, known simply as Froats, chimed in “We are gonna need some proof that this actually happened, Nick.”
Luke, who was the shortest of the five of us and had light brown hair, said, “I don't know guys, Nick seems like a pretty trustworthy guy, I'm not sure it's a good idea to try this.”
He was immediately shushed by the fourth, Paul, a thin blond, “Shh! Luke, we're doing this, besides, it'll give us a good laugh on Halloween.”
“Guys,” I started, “You are all smart guys, I don't understand why you would ever want to play this game. You don't know what you're getting into.”
“I think we all know what we're getting into,” mocked Froats. “Look, just write down what we need to do and we'll do it, whether you wanna be there or not.”
Gopp looked at me. “Baker, there's not stopping us, we want to do this!”
I looked at him for a moment, and then said “What does your girlfriend think of all of this? I would ask about your family, but it's obvious they've been told that each of you is spending the night at one another's house.”
“You of all people should know that she's fine with me hanging out with my friends,” he retorted.
I sighed, and looked at all of them. “Well, I guess I really have no choice in the matter. You wanna try it, there's no stopping you.” I reached into my locker, found a binder and took out a sheet of paper. I then grabbed my worn, black pencil pouch and pulled out a mechanical pencil. I began to write. It took me a few minutes. “Here,” I said, when I was done writing. I glared angrily and handed them the sheet of paper. “Just be careful.”
“Don't worry Nick, we'll see you on Monday, November 2st,” said Paul.
They then turned and walked away. I sighed, they had coerced me into giving them the instructions which would lead to their doom. Over the years, I have been criticized for telling them how to summon him with no effort in stopping them. But, you have to realize, I have known these guys for years, once their mind is set on something, there's no stopping them.
Was made things worse was that I would not see them until next week. It was a Friday and Halloween was on a Saturday. I needed to do something, so I ran after them.
“If you're gonna do the game, then I want in,” I told them.
They stared at me for a moment, and then Luke said, “Okay, that's fine with me.”
Everyone else nodded in agreement. “Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow night. What time are we meeting and where are we going?”
Froats smiled. “Meet us at the old house on the hill behind the highway. We'll get there around nine, and just tell your folks you're spending the night at someone's house.”
“Alright,” I responded.
At this point, the five of us split up and each went to our respective mode of transportation. As I walked to my silver car, I could only help but wonder what would happen the next night. I took out the keys and clicked the unlock button twice. I got in the car and after starting it immediately turned on the stereo, I needed some 80's music after that. I had actually agreed to join them Halloween night, what was I thinking?!
As I drove home, through the autumn colored leaves that still remained on their trees, I could make out the house that I would spend my Halloween night in. Maybe I could just not show up, fake being sick or something, but then what would that say about me? That I was a liar and a chicken, no, I was not going to let that happen. I had no choice but to actually go through with it. But I had to do something to stop Gopp, my best friend, from being harmed.
Now, I know that this sounds selfish; I only wanted to save one friend. However, you do not know these teenagers like I do, they are stubborn and needed to be taught a lesson. Gopp was the only one who was not completely like that, and I knew that it would be easy to prevent him from going. My other best friend was his girlfriend, Paige, and I knew that I could talk some sense into her. She was my ticket to saving him.
When I opened the garage door when I got home, I realize no one was home. I shut it and went inside, only to find a note on the counter top in the kitchen. My parents were out running errands when I arrived home, so I grabbed a box of Cheezits, filled up a cup with water, and flopped onto the couch.
I reached behind me and found the TV remote on the coffee table and turned on the TV. I looked around the my family room; Halloween decorations were in every corner of the room. A witch that said Halloweenie Queenie sat on the fire place, it's eyes staring at me. Outside, the woods behind my house was a fall paradise. The colors of the leaves on the trees were beautiful. A gentle breeze blew a few of them off every minute or so.
I took out my phone and texted her. She immediately responded, knowing something was wrong; I normally don't text her until after 8 P.M.
Whats up?
I typed: So, Gopp is gonna go with me, Froats, Luke, and Paul to the old house tmrrw.
Kk, and whats the problem with that?
My reply: They want to summon the midnight man, have you heard of him?
No. What is that?
Well its hard to explain. I ran to my computer, leaving the TV on and passing my cat who tossed and turned in her sleep, obviously dreaming about chasing a mouse or something. I googled the midnight man and found a website which I sent to her.
After five minutes (Paige is a slow reader), I received a reply: What the heck?! That sounds so dumb!
Angrily I texted: Its true though. I summoned him this past summer, and I got caught around 3 AM, I saw you dying so many time in so many ways! I wanted to kill myself!
Nick, I usually believe you, but you sound so stupid right now.
Paige, you need to stop him from going, do this for me, please! When was the last time you have ever done something for me. U, my best friend, dating my best friend, certainly wasnt the greatest thing for me!
FINE! I will. Dont expect me to talk to u for a very long time!
Thats fine with me, youll just be glad your bf's still alive.
I leaned back on the couch and turned on the television. There was no reply from Paige, it appeared as though our friendship was over, but it was a necessary sacrifice. She would thank me in the future. Now to deal with Gopp, I thought just ask my phone vibrated. I muted the TV and opened my phone.
I answered it, “Hello?”
“Baker, what is wrong with you, man?! You go behind my back and get my girlfriend to not let me go!” yelled Gopp.
I cringed, more from the volume of his voice than remorse. “Look, you may not thank me now, but I can guarantee that you will later.”
“This is bull crap. I don't know what your problem is, you should have just told me if you were unhappy with us dating!”
My mind was racing, he thought this was about my unhappiness regarding my two best friends dating, not that he would be putting his life on the line Halloween night. I answered, “You found me out. I've been discontent with it for weeks, I just didn't wanna say anything. It's your life and I shouldn't have any influence over who you date.”
“And it all comes out! Finally, I've been waiting for you to say that since we first got together. But it was pretty low of you to go behind my back like that. I thought you were my best friend.”
“I am-”
“Look,” Gopp interrupted. “Just don't expect to hear much from me over the next week or two. I'm not going tomorrow night, more because Paige doesn't want me to. Don't even think that it's because of what you said.”
“Fine, whatever prevents you from going.”
“Cya man,” Gopp finished. There was click on the other end of the phone, he had hung up.
I sighed. Well, I had probably just lost my two best friends, or at least one of them for sure. Oh well, the less they talk to me, the less I had to see them being infatuated with each other. That's me thinking on the bright side.
I unmuted the TV and flipped it to a news station. On the channel, there was a report about schools no longer being allowed to give out prizes for winning games at Halloween. It had a “concerned” mother on there who was saying that it was not fair if one kid got a bigger piece of candy for winning than the others.
I sighed again, oh kids nowadays. They are given everything, what will they do when confronted with real decisions and problems that no one can help them through? What would they do if they came face to face with the Midnight Man?
Then, my phone vibrated again, it was Froats, just fantastic. I answered it: “Hey Josh.”
“What's up Nick? Hey listen, Gopp called, his parents have something going tomorrow night and he has to stay home to watch his baby brother. So, Popson's coming. That fine?”
“Yeah, that fine. Talk to ya tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Fantastic, now Popson was involved. Popson is his last name, his first name is Brendan. He's taller and has light brown hair, and there was no way of preventing him from going. His girlfriend, Katy, would never stop him and I know that he would never believe me if I tried to stop him.
I muted the television once again and started scrolling down my list of contacts on my cell phone. I desperately needed someone to talk to, and with Gopp and Paige not wanting to, this was going to be difficult. I stopped when I saw the name of the one person who would listen to me: Paige Jogan.
I immediately opened her contact and clicked send. She picked up after a few rings, my heart was pounding a little (yes, I had a thing for her). “Hey Paige.”
“Hey Nick, what's up?” Paige asked.
“Oh, just watching TV, needing someone to talk to. Listen, are you free this evening?”
“Yeah, I think so, why?”
“Great, can you meet me by the Subway in the food court at the mall? I really need to talk to you about some stuff. I ticked off Gopp and Paige, they aren't going to want to talk to me for a long time.”
“What did you do?”
“Um, well, it's hard to explain over the phone.”
There was a moment of silence. “Um, okay Nick, I can meet you there. What time?”
“Five. I'll pay too-”
“No, Nick,” she interrupted. “That really isn't necessary.”
“Nah, it's fine, I'm the one who invited you. Cya then.”
“Okay Nick. Bye.” There was a click and then silence.
Well, I had pretty much just asked her on a date. I smiled and felt happy for the first time in weeks. My life had been a bit of a living hell recently, and this Midnight Man business was just the icing on the cake. I looked at the clock on the mantle above the fire place; it read 3:15 P.M. I turned off the TV and went up to my room.
I took a quick shower and put some clean clothes on, making sure that the shirt was a Nicholas Baker original, striped. I've worn stripes for as long as I can remember, maybe that is why I do not have a lot of dates. Regardless, I went back down stairs and threw on my jacket. I grabbed my iPod out of my pocket, put my headphones into my ears, and proceeded to put the garage door up.
The cool autumn breeze was blowing and leaves of all shades of red, orange, and yellow blew through the air and settled in the grass surrounding the driveway that I was walking up. I needed to go for a walk, needed to clear my head with the music of Journey, my favorite band. I admit, I have a slight obsession with them, and could write paragraphs on them right now, but that bore whomever is reading this.
Anyways, after a half-hour walk, I got home and realized it was about 4:30. I needed to get going to beat the rush hour traffic up by the mall. I ran inside, left a note to my parents as to where I was going, grabbed my car keys, and drove away from my house. While driving, I had tunnel vision. I really was not paying attention to my surrounds, I was nervous for tomorrow and that I would be unloading on Paige tonight. I really liked her, and did not want to scare her off by doing something stupid.
Well, luckily I make it to the mall without pulling out in front of someone due to being preoccupied. I parked in front of the Macy's, even though the food court was on the other end of the mall. However, I was a little early, so I could burn time by walking there. I passed very few people; most were probably at places like Wal-Mart and Target buying trick-or-treat candy for tomorrow. Several of the stores had fall and Halloween decorations out in an attempt to entice customers inside. The Apple Store was busy as usual, all seemed right with the world. Right as I got to the Subway, Paige was coming through the revolving door.
“Hey Paige! What are ya feelin' for your sub?”
She smiled. “Hey Nick, I'll take a turkey.”
We got in line and got our sandwiches. I only got a six inch sub as I did not want to seem like a pig. We sat at a table in front of one of the big screen TVs that played music videos. “Don't Stop Believin'” was finishing being played. I smiled as I watched Steve Perry bop around stage in his cheetah top and tight jeans.
“What are you looking at?” Paige asked.
“Oh, sorry, just watching a Journey music video.”
She laughed. “Oh you and your Journey. You really are obsessed.”
“Just a tad. You know, something's been bothering me regarding my slight obsession.”
She laughed again. “Slight?”
“Okay, fine, huge obsession,” I admitted. “But anyways, at the last home game, two Fridays ago, I heard someone say, and I don't know who, that maybe I'd have a girlfriend if I didn't like Journey so much.”
“That's terrible!” Paige frowned, and looked at me seriously. “No one is worth dating if you have to change yourself for them.”
I smiled. “You're right, thanks. Anyways, um...”
“The reason you called me?”
“Oh yeah, that.” Paige giggled when I said that, I looked directly at her. Her curly brown was especially pretty tonight. “Well, there's this game where at midnight, you summon something known as the Midnight Man.”
“What?” She asked with a look of curiosity in her brown eyes.
“Well, it's heard to explain, and it's really strange, but I summoned him, and bad things happened. And just today, Paul, Luke, Froats, and Gopp told me that they wanted to summon him. And I didn't want that to happen, so I texted Paige, and well here are the texts.”
I reached into my pocket and handed her my phone. “Oh Nick, that probably wasn't the best way to get Gopp out of going.”
“I know, and now both are mad at me and Popson's going instead of Gopp. I can't win!”
We finished our subs in silence, she was unsure how to react. When we were finished, I got up and threw both of our trash away. “You wanna walk around a little bit, Paige?”
“Sure. Hey listen, for what it's worth, I believe something must have happened to you, and that it's probably a bad idea for them to do it too.”
“Yeah, and I agreed to go.”
“Nick, why would you do that?!”
“Because regardless of how they acted, they are my friends and I couldn't bear to see them get hurt like I did.”
“That's sweet Nick.” She reached over and grabbed my hand. My heart practically leaped out of my chest. “Shall we go for a walk around the mall now?”
“Um, yeah, sounds good.” I smiled.
As we walked away from the food court, Paige asked, “Well, are you going to tell me what happened?”
“When I summoned him?”
“Yeah, when you summoned the Midnight Man.”
“Well, I may as well tell someone who won't judge me.”
“You know I won't.”
“I know Paige, and I appreciate it. Well, it was a month or two ago, and I was hanging out with one of my friends from my theatre summer camp, Zack. And he had found this thing on Facebook about something called the Midnight Man. Being stupid, we both decided to give it a try, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
“Now, right when that thought crossed my mind, I should have know that something would go wrong, but regardless, we did the stuff necessary to summon him. And we walked around the house with the candles. You see Paige, you carry a candle for protection and if he's near, it will go out. You then have ten seconds to relight it, and if you can't, then you make a circle of salt around you. If you don't do that, he will attack you and cause hallucinations until he leaves and 3:33 A.M.
“And, guess who ran out of salt and matches? This guy. I think he assumed that I was the weaker of the two of us. But anyways, he attacked and I repeatedly saw everyone that I cared about, including you, dying, multiple times. It was awful.”
We walked in silence. While I was talking, Paige had pulled my hand closer, as if sensing the distress I was in when I was attacked. After a minute or two, she finally spoke. “That's terrible. I'm not sure how to respond, I've never been through anything like that before.”
“Good, and I pray to God that you never will. Do you at least believe me?”
“Yeah, I really do,” she said, “And I hope that nothing like that will happen tomorrow.”
“Me too.”
Her phone rang. And let go of my hand and answered. “What, but mom! Okay, fine, I'm on my way.” She hung up. “Well, I forgot I have to babysit my brother in half an hour. I'll see you later.”
“Yeah, I hope we can do this again sometime.”
“I'd like that, good luck tomorrow night Nick, and please, for everyone's sake, don't let anything happen.”
“Don't worry, I won't, I'll try my hardest.”
“Bye Nick.” I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. And then we hugged.
“Cya on Monday, Paige.”
And we went our separate ways, she was parked on the other side of the mall. I quietly walked to my car, passing all the clothes and perfume in Macy's. I had just had my first date in months, and tomorrow I was going to put my life on the line. I hoped that I could live to at least go on another date with Paige, I hoped...
FINALLY, I got Chapter One done. And it is 3:33 AM because that is what the actual urban legend says, this story is based off of it. And the hole in the vampire's cloak was there just to represent that he had been buried and his clothing had started to decay, but his body was still very much alive.
Thanks for all the great feedback guys!
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Chapter One of the Midnight Man Up!
Hope everyone is enjoying this, I'm 2 pages into Chapter 2, and hope to have it finished by the end of the weekend. It appears my deadline of Halloween cannot be met as I have too much schoolwork, sorry for any inconveniences.
Hope everyone is enjoying this, I'm 2 pages into Chapter 2, and hope to have it finished by the end of the weekend. It appears my deadline of Halloween cannot be met as I have too much schoolwork, sorry for any inconveniences.
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Chapter One of the Midnight Man Up!
Quite an interesting twist you've implemented in your stories. I'm intrigued at the Midnight Man concept of the series and I am currently wondering whether this concept has been inspired by a game you used to play when you were once young or if it's simply a fragment of your own imagination. Either way, the process the 'game' undergoes should hold my interest and curiosity as you write the upcoming chapters. Pick up the pen and keep going, it is always worthwhile to read whatever a person has written, be it a veteran or a rookie.
Looking forward to reading the future installments!
- D-G
Quite an interesting twist you've implemented in your stories. I'm intrigued at the Midnight Man concept of the series and I am currently wondering whether this concept has been inspired by a game you used to play when you were once young or if it's simply a fragment of your own imagination. Either way, the process the 'game' undergoes should hold my interest and curiosity as you write the upcoming chapters. Pick up the pen and keep going, it is always worthwhile to read whatever a person has written, be it a veteran or a rookie.
Looking forward to reading the future installments!
- D-G
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Chapter One of the Midnight Man Up!
Well, just finished this, so hot off the presses:
And thanks for all the encouragement everyone!
DG- This is actually inspired by an urban legend I heard about last spring and was intrigued enough to research it further. All the people in this story are my real life friends, and I am really the narrator (Nicholas). This chapter was hard to write, and I think you'll see why...
Well, just finished this, so hot off the presses:
Chapter 2- Halloween
Samhain, the festival of the dead. An old Pagan tradition from medieval Europe that caused All Saint's Day to be moved from May 13th to November 1st in 835 A.D. All Hallows' Eve, October 31st, the day that mixed with Samhain to form the modern day Halloween.
Samhain celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It began at sunset on October 31st and at that time, passage ways to the other world were opened, doors that nightmares came from, the spirit realm was mixed with reality. During this time, men and women would walk between two bonfires along with their livestock as a cleansing ritual. The bones of slaughtered cattle were even thrown into the fire as a way of appeasing the spirits. The people dressed in costumes to disguise themselves from or scare away evil spirits.
Tonight, the Midnight Man would be joining the spirits that walk the Earth again, and it would take more than bonfires and costumes to guard oneself from it.
I clasped my candle close as I walked up the old staircase. The glow of the small flame cast shadows across the each stair as I carefully climbed them. With every movement, the shadows seemed to follow me, dancing in the candlelight, as if to mock or attempt to frighten me. It had been quiet for some time now, I had not heard anyone moving around or seen any light from the others' candles. I was becoming increasingly worried.
As I reached the second floor, I heard a creak from the other end of the hallway where there was a staircase leading to the attic. In the distance, I could make out Froats descending it, his candle gripped close to his chest. He appeared to be rushing down the stair, I knew that something was wrong.
I rushed down the hallway, careful not to trip over anything as to risk dropping my candle. As he approached, I could see the sweat dripping off of him. It was a cold night. Something had to have frightened him.
“Josh, where is everyone? I haven't seen anyone for at least a half hour,” I said.
“Quiet! He'll hear us,” Froats hissed.
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“He's been picking us off one by one over the past hour. Luke, Popson, Paul, they're all dead. He's trying to get me now, and I'm out of matches and I think I dropped my salt.”
“Froats, I-” His candle went out.
I quickly jammed my hands into my pockets, trying to find the salt, it was not there! I started throwing things out of my pockets, in a last attempt to find matches for him. Then, he shot backwards into the darkness. My candle went out. There was silence.
“J-Josh? You there?” I asked, timidly.
I felt a bitter cold, and then he was on me. “It's time I took what got away last time,” said the Midnight Man in a raspy voice.
His breath was like a freezing mist; it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt a hand grab me, and then I fell backwards into darkness, nothingness. I only felt pain and cold. And then, fire, so much fire. I was being pulled into the depths of hell! I struggled, tried to free myself from his iron grasp.
Then, he let go. I fell into the flames and darkness. I screamed for help, for someone, anyone, but no one heard me. No one came to my rescue. There was a flash of white light.
I fell out of my bed. A pillow in a light blue case broke the fall of my head. All my blankets and pillows were either strewn across my bed or lying on the floor. I stood up, getting a feel for my surroundings. It had been a dream, it had all been a dream. Could yesterday have been a dream too? I turned to my nightstand, which I had barely missed hitting with my head. I picked up my phone. It was Saturday, October 31st, Halloween. All the messages from yesterday were still on it.
Well, looks like I would have to face tonight with the fear of what happened in my dream happening to me. There was a new text from Froats asking if I could give him a ride tonight. I replied saying: No problem.
I opened my bedroom door and walked out into the upstairs hallway. No sunlight was streaming through the large window in my house's foyer, all I could see were clouds and blowing leaves. A dismal day to fit my dismal mood. But then, I remembered last night with Paige. Feeling a little bit better, I made my way down the stairs.
The wood floor in the foyer felt cold underneath my bare feet. “Morning, Nicholas,” said my mom who was dusting something in the kitchen.
“Morning, Happy Halloween. By the way, how was breakfast?” I asked, grinning.
“Well, that rubber spider I found in my cereal box certainly didn't make it any better. It made me jump,” she said, trying to fake a stern look on her face.
My mom and I have a running string of pranks every October leading up to Halloween. It usually is pretty tame, just some rubber spiders or body parts, and this year some eye balls were added. It is entertaining for the two of us. I always win though since she is so easily scared.
“Hey, after you eat breakfast, could you run to the store?” she asked, handing me a list, some money, and of course a few coupons.
“No problem,” I said opening a cupboard to get a bowl for my cereal.
After a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, no milk, I ran back upstairs to my room and quickly got dressed. I then returned back downstairs, listened to my mom thank me, and ran out to my car. As I was backing out of my driveway, my car registered that my cell phone was ringing. The car connects to my cell phone via Bluetooth and I can talk through the stereo system. It said it was Paige Jogan.
I clicked the answer button on my steering wheel. “Hey, give me one sec to back out of my driveway and then we're good,” I said.
“Okay, Nick,” she answered.
I backed out, and started driving down the road leading out of my neighborhood. “What's up?”
“Listen, Nick. I like you a lot, and think you're a really great guy-”
“Oh, here we go,” I interrupted.
“Yeah, you know what this is about. I had a great time last night, but I think I may have made a mistake. I guess I just think of you more of a friend than something more.”
“Oh,” I said quietly, not really knowing how to respond. My face contorted into a look of pain as my heart shattered and the pieces settled.
“I'm really sorry that I led you on,” she added.
I sighed and began acting like everything was okay. “It's all good, I don't mind.”
“You alright?”
“Yeah, I'll be find, have a Happy Halloween.”
“You sure?” she asked, checking one last time.
“Yeah, I'm alright, just need a little music, that's all.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Cya on Monday,” I said, clicking the button on the steering wheel to end the call.
I leaned back in my seat as I began to break for stop sign. I changed the stereo from the radio to my Journey CD that was currently in the car. As I turned, I could feel the tunnel vision once again overtaking me. I quickly shook myself out of it, I needed to be completely paying attention, downtown was busy on Saturday mornings, especially Halloween.
As I listened to Steve Perry singing “Don't Stop Believin'” and Neal Schon's great guitar playing in the background, I could only wonder, how could I have been so stupid. What ever possessed me to think that a girl might take any interest in me? I mean, I am Nicholas Baker, I only wear striped shirts except for on odd occasions, I have an obsession with Journey and Pokemon, and my nickname is Dick Shaker. Granted the last one was meant to be a joke, it is a turn-off to girls.
Anyways, I pulled into Wal-Mart and parked my car a little bit farther away from the store than necessary. I would have parked closer, but I just wanted to walk and to think a little bit. I zipped up my jacket as a cold gust of wind hit me in the side, making sure that my Obama 2012 button was visible. I smiled as I thought how I had found the 47% Romney had been talking about at Wal-Mart.
The closer I got to the entrance, the more I was overcome by the feeling that I was being watched. I could feel someone's eyes boring into the back of my skull, recognizing the haircut and my green striped jacket. I turned around, it was Paige, but not Paige Jogan, the one I had had a fight with via text messages yesterday. Just the person I did not want to see. She was only four and a half feet tall, but she looked intimidating with her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
I winced when she scowled at me. “Well good morning to you too,” I said to her.
“I don't even wanna talk to you, Nick,” she said coldly. The words hit me like a block of ice.
“Fine, you can like that if you want, but think back, when's the last time you ever talked to me, checked how I was? I haven't seen or heard from you in over a week until yesterday,” I said, not even caring about what I had just started.
“It's not worth it to talk to you because whenever I try to, you just ignore me!”
“Because I'm talking to other people! Has it ever occurred to you that I actually more friends than just you and Gopp, who a lot of the time I'd rather spend time with instead of watching you two be all over each other!”
“We are not 'all over each other,' we simply show our affection,” she retorted.
“If you can call it that.”
“What was that?!”
“You two are infatuated, and it's pretty damn annoying if you ask me.”
“We have a relationship, I mean we text at least five hours a day.”
“Oh, wow, so you communicate through the phone for five hours a day and not face to face. Maybe that's why I don't have anyone, because I'd rather talk face to face instead of through a screen so that I can react, show emotion, actually respond with feeling!”
“Or because you're just a really low person,” she said, and that hurt. “Ignoring me isn't a very nice thing to do, remember when you were nice?”
“Remember when you cared about me? Didn't give me a chance when we dated?”
“Hey, that's diff-”
“Don't even respond, I don't wanna hear it! Look, the reason I didn't answer when you bumped me is because it was done rudely when I was trying to talk to other people, ask for help on my math homework. You picked the worst possible times to try to talk to me.”
“Oh, well then maybe you'd rather just not have me talk at all.”
“Fine, I'll chalk it up to my ruined friendships along with Gopp's, which you ruined, and Paige Jogan.”
“Wait, what happened with Paige?” she asked.
“It's not really something I'd like people who aren't my friends to know, seeing as we pretty much ended our friendship,” I said, looking sad.
Paige sighed. “I think we can both be a little hard to deal with at times. I'm sorry.”
I nodded. “I'm sorry too.”
We finally walked into the store. We had just been standing outside it, arguing. “Well, we had a date last night, and we kissed.”
Paige raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Wow, I didn't know you still liked her. Nice job, Nick!”
“Um, Paige, it didn't go so well.”
Paige's facial expression became concerned. She frowned. “What happened? It sounds like it went fine.”
“It did, until she called me on my way to the store and told me that it was a mistake and we should just be friends.”
“Well, you can still be friends-”
“Paige, probably not, do you know how awkward it's gonna be?”
“Yeah, you're right.”
There was silence, we walked further into the store for a bit. “So, what do you need to get?” I asked her.
“Nothing really, just some Halloween candy, it's a good price. You?”
“Oh, I have a list my mom gave me of stuff to buy.”
“Nice, let's shop together. Hey, listen, Gopp's still mad at you.”
I walked over to the health and beauty section and picked up a bottle of Motrin. “I figured, and I probably deserve it.”
Paige reached around me to grab some Tylenol and turned to walk the other way. I followed. “You want me to talk to him?”
I turned down the next aisle to grab a box of Air Borne. “Nah, it's fine. I'll figure it out on my own.”
We continued walking until we got to the shampoo aisle. We went down it. “Okay then. You know, I was actually going to go the the Wal-Mart in Medina since it's closer to my house, but I figured I needed the drive, so I drove here, to Montrose.”
I laughed. “Oh, you're sooo bad!”
She smiled. She grabbed some shampoo and a bottle of mouth rinse. “Well that's it for me. You?”
I double checked my list, grabbed some toothpaste and a bottle of Head and Shoulders. “I'm good.”
We went to the check-out line and paid. I walked her to her car, and hugged her. She teared up a little bit. “Nick, you've brought me through a lot, and I'm grateful. I hope it can continue in the future.”
“Of course, bye.” I walked back to my car.
It was beginning to mist a little bit. I looked around at all the Halloween decorations in store windows and the jack-o-lantern banners on the light posts in the parking lot.
“Nick!” I heard Paige yell at me from behind. I turned around just as she pulled her car into the space beside mine. “I may not believe what ya told me about the Midnight Man, but I hope nothing bad happens tonight.”
I sighed. “Me too.”
“Bye,” she said, and then drove away.
I got into my car and drove home.
Then, I remembered I had forgotten to buy my candle, matches, and salt for this evening. I took out my phone while waiting at a red light and called Froats.
He answered, “Hey Nick, what's up?”
“I can give you a ride tonight if you bring me a candle, matches, and salt. I forgot about it and can't get to the store anytime today,” I lied. I just did not want to go back, I had schoolwork to do.
“Sure thing Nick, pick me up around eight or eight-thirty.”
“No prob, bye,” I finished, pressing the button on my steering wheel to hang up.
Trick-or-treating began at five o'clock in my neighborhood and lasted until seven. My parents were going out that evening since they had not been able to celebrate Sweetest Day yet. I had to laugh at that, it was just a stupid American Greeting holiday developed from something once good. In the 1920's, the day was dedicated to giving candy to orphans and other underprivileged persons. Where did it go wrong?
After I ate some cheese and crackers for dinner, I went to my house's pantry and dug out the Halloween candy and poured it into a bowl. I then turned on the porch light so that the kids would know I was passing out candy, and went and got dressed as Michael Myers. It is strange, here I wanted to avoid evil tonight but yet I was dressed up as one of the most evil things on Halloween, a man who had not only murdered his sister when he was six, but several more teenagers fifteen years later.
As each child came to the door, took candy, and left a little unsure as to whether or not they should trust the man in the mask handing them chocolate bars and gum balls, I began to wonder if any of them really know what this holiday is about. They probably do not know that we dress up to mimic the tradition of warding off evil spirits via scaring them with the costumes or just making it impossible to recognize the person behind the mask. Maybe I should wear my costume tonight so that the Midnight Man does not recognize me from last time. Then again, it probably would not work and I would just be made fun of.
Maybe the churches have it right in now celebrating Halloween. Maybe it is an evil holiday. But it is not anymore, it is just children dressing up and having a good time. I shook my head as to forget about that conservative idea. This was the 21st century, not medieval Europe, but whatever.
I also found myself thinking back to all the things that went on this month. Like that one week where I did not talk to either Paige and Gopp. They just hung out around Gopp's locker, which is not close to mine, and then they realized they missed me while being together and texting me. Here's a novel idea: talk to me in person!
Wow, I really sounded mean when I said that, but it is true. I do not understand why in today's society that people only feel the need to communicate through screens instead of spoken language. It remains a mystery.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It was seven o'clock, I guess that I should take off my costume and get ready to go pick up Froats. Time for a night of trying to avoid the Midnight Man. I can't wait...
Samhain celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It began at sunset on October 31st and at that time, passage ways to the other world were opened, doors that nightmares came from, the spirit realm was mixed with reality. During this time, men and women would walk between two bonfires along with their livestock as a cleansing ritual. The bones of slaughtered cattle were even thrown into the fire as a way of appeasing the spirits. The people dressed in costumes to disguise themselves from or scare away evil spirits.
Tonight, the Midnight Man would be joining the spirits that walk the Earth again, and it would take more than bonfires and costumes to guard oneself from it.
* * *
I clasped my candle close as I walked up the old staircase. The glow of the small flame cast shadows across the each stair as I carefully climbed them. With every movement, the shadows seemed to follow me, dancing in the candlelight, as if to mock or attempt to frighten me. It had been quiet for some time now, I had not heard anyone moving around or seen any light from the others' candles. I was becoming increasingly worried.
As I reached the second floor, I heard a creak from the other end of the hallway where there was a staircase leading to the attic. In the distance, I could make out Froats descending it, his candle gripped close to his chest. He appeared to be rushing down the stair, I knew that something was wrong.
I rushed down the hallway, careful not to trip over anything as to risk dropping my candle. As he approached, I could see the sweat dripping off of him. It was a cold night. Something had to have frightened him.
“Josh, where is everyone? I haven't seen anyone for at least a half hour,” I said.
“Quiet! He'll hear us,” Froats hissed.
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“He's been picking us off one by one over the past hour. Luke, Popson, Paul, they're all dead. He's trying to get me now, and I'm out of matches and I think I dropped my salt.”
“Froats, I-” His candle went out.
I quickly jammed my hands into my pockets, trying to find the salt, it was not there! I started throwing things out of my pockets, in a last attempt to find matches for him. Then, he shot backwards into the darkness. My candle went out. There was silence.
“J-Josh? You there?” I asked, timidly.
I felt a bitter cold, and then he was on me. “It's time I took what got away last time,” said the Midnight Man in a raspy voice.
His breath was like a freezing mist; it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt a hand grab me, and then I fell backwards into darkness, nothingness. I only felt pain and cold. And then, fire, so much fire. I was being pulled into the depths of hell! I struggled, tried to free myself from his iron grasp.
Then, he let go. I fell into the flames and darkness. I screamed for help, for someone, anyone, but no one heard me. No one came to my rescue. There was a flash of white light.
* * *
I fell out of my bed. A pillow in a light blue case broke the fall of my head. All my blankets and pillows were either strewn across my bed or lying on the floor. I stood up, getting a feel for my surroundings. It had been a dream, it had all been a dream. Could yesterday have been a dream too? I turned to my nightstand, which I had barely missed hitting with my head. I picked up my phone. It was Saturday, October 31st, Halloween. All the messages from yesterday were still on it.
Well, looks like I would have to face tonight with the fear of what happened in my dream happening to me. There was a new text from Froats asking if I could give him a ride tonight. I replied saying: No problem.
I opened my bedroom door and walked out into the upstairs hallway. No sunlight was streaming through the large window in my house's foyer, all I could see were clouds and blowing leaves. A dismal day to fit my dismal mood. But then, I remembered last night with Paige. Feeling a little bit better, I made my way down the stairs.
The wood floor in the foyer felt cold underneath my bare feet. “Morning, Nicholas,” said my mom who was dusting something in the kitchen.
“Morning, Happy Halloween. By the way, how was breakfast?” I asked, grinning.
“Well, that rubber spider I found in my cereal box certainly didn't make it any better. It made me jump,” she said, trying to fake a stern look on her face.
My mom and I have a running string of pranks every October leading up to Halloween. It usually is pretty tame, just some rubber spiders or body parts, and this year some eye balls were added. It is entertaining for the two of us. I always win though since she is so easily scared.
“Hey, after you eat breakfast, could you run to the store?” she asked, handing me a list, some money, and of course a few coupons.
“No problem,” I said opening a cupboard to get a bowl for my cereal.
After a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, no milk, I ran back upstairs to my room and quickly got dressed. I then returned back downstairs, listened to my mom thank me, and ran out to my car. As I was backing out of my driveway, my car registered that my cell phone was ringing. The car connects to my cell phone via Bluetooth and I can talk through the stereo system. It said it was Paige Jogan.
I clicked the answer button on my steering wheel. “Hey, give me one sec to back out of my driveway and then we're good,” I said.
“Okay, Nick,” she answered.
I backed out, and started driving down the road leading out of my neighborhood. “What's up?”
“Listen, Nick. I like you a lot, and think you're a really great guy-”
“Oh, here we go,” I interrupted.
“Yeah, you know what this is about. I had a great time last night, but I think I may have made a mistake. I guess I just think of you more of a friend than something more.”
“Oh,” I said quietly, not really knowing how to respond. My face contorted into a look of pain as my heart shattered and the pieces settled.
“I'm really sorry that I led you on,” she added.
I sighed and began acting like everything was okay. “It's all good, I don't mind.”
“You alright?”
“Yeah, I'll be find, have a Happy Halloween.”
“You sure?” she asked, checking one last time.
“Yeah, I'm alright, just need a little music, that's all.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Cya on Monday,” I said, clicking the button on the steering wheel to end the call.
I leaned back in my seat as I began to break for stop sign. I changed the stereo from the radio to my Journey CD that was currently in the car. As I turned, I could feel the tunnel vision once again overtaking me. I quickly shook myself out of it, I needed to be completely paying attention, downtown was busy on Saturday mornings, especially Halloween.
As I listened to Steve Perry singing “Don't Stop Believin'” and Neal Schon's great guitar playing in the background, I could only wonder, how could I have been so stupid. What ever possessed me to think that a girl might take any interest in me? I mean, I am Nicholas Baker, I only wear striped shirts except for on odd occasions, I have an obsession with Journey and Pokemon, and my nickname is Dick Shaker. Granted the last one was meant to be a joke, it is a turn-off to girls.
Anyways, I pulled into Wal-Mart and parked my car a little bit farther away from the store than necessary. I would have parked closer, but I just wanted to walk and to think a little bit. I zipped up my jacket as a cold gust of wind hit me in the side, making sure that my Obama 2012 button was visible. I smiled as I thought how I had found the 47% Romney had been talking about at Wal-Mart.
The closer I got to the entrance, the more I was overcome by the feeling that I was being watched. I could feel someone's eyes boring into the back of my skull, recognizing the haircut and my green striped jacket. I turned around, it was Paige, but not Paige Jogan, the one I had had a fight with via text messages yesterday. Just the person I did not want to see. She was only four and a half feet tall, but she looked intimidating with her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
I winced when she scowled at me. “Well good morning to you too,” I said to her.
“I don't even wanna talk to you, Nick,” she said coldly. The words hit me like a block of ice.
“Fine, you can like that if you want, but think back, when's the last time you ever talked to me, checked how I was? I haven't seen or heard from you in over a week until yesterday,” I said, not even caring about what I had just started.
“It's not worth it to talk to you because whenever I try to, you just ignore me!”
“Because I'm talking to other people! Has it ever occurred to you that I actually more friends than just you and Gopp, who a lot of the time I'd rather spend time with instead of watching you two be all over each other!”
“We are not 'all over each other,' we simply show our affection,” she retorted.
“If you can call it that.”
“What was that?!”
“You two are infatuated, and it's pretty damn annoying if you ask me.”
“We have a relationship, I mean we text at least five hours a day.”
“Oh, wow, so you communicate through the phone for five hours a day and not face to face. Maybe that's why I don't have anyone, because I'd rather talk face to face instead of through a screen so that I can react, show emotion, actually respond with feeling!”
“Or because you're just a really low person,” she said, and that hurt. “Ignoring me isn't a very nice thing to do, remember when you were nice?”
“Remember when you cared about me? Didn't give me a chance when we dated?”
“Hey, that's diff-”
“Don't even respond, I don't wanna hear it! Look, the reason I didn't answer when you bumped me is because it was done rudely when I was trying to talk to other people, ask for help on my math homework. You picked the worst possible times to try to talk to me.”
“Oh, well then maybe you'd rather just not have me talk at all.”
“Fine, I'll chalk it up to my ruined friendships along with Gopp's, which you ruined, and Paige Jogan.”
“Wait, what happened with Paige?” she asked.
“It's not really something I'd like people who aren't my friends to know, seeing as we pretty much ended our friendship,” I said, looking sad.
Paige sighed. “I think we can both be a little hard to deal with at times. I'm sorry.”
I nodded. “I'm sorry too.”
We finally walked into the store. We had just been standing outside it, arguing. “Well, we had a date last night, and we kissed.”
Paige raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Wow, I didn't know you still liked her. Nice job, Nick!”
“Um, Paige, it didn't go so well.”
Paige's facial expression became concerned. She frowned. “What happened? It sounds like it went fine.”
“It did, until she called me on my way to the store and told me that it was a mistake and we should just be friends.”
“Well, you can still be friends-”
“Paige, probably not, do you know how awkward it's gonna be?”
“Yeah, you're right.”
There was silence, we walked further into the store for a bit. “So, what do you need to get?” I asked her.
“Nothing really, just some Halloween candy, it's a good price. You?”
“Oh, I have a list my mom gave me of stuff to buy.”
“Nice, let's shop together. Hey, listen, Gopp's still mad at you.”
I walked over to the health and beauty section and picked up a bottle of Motrin. “I figured, and I probably deserve it.”
Paige reached around me to grab some Tylenol and turned to walk the other way. I followed. “You want me to talk to him?”
I turned down the next aisle to grab a box of Air Borne. “Nah, it's fine. I'll figure it out on my own.”
We continued walking until we got to the shampoo aisle. We went down it. “Okay then. You know, I was actually going to go the the Wal-Mart in Medina since it's closer to my house, but I figured I needed the drive, so I drove here, to Montrose.”
I laughed. “Oh, you're sooo bad!”
She smiled. She grabbed some shampoo and a bottle of mouth rinse. “Well that's it for me. You?”
I double checked my list, grabbed some toothpaste and a bottle of Head and Shoulders. “I'm good.”
We went to the check-out line and paid. I walked her to her car, and hugged her. She teared up a little bit. “Nick, you've brought me through a lot, and I'm grateful. I hope it can continue in the future.”
“Of course, bye.” I walked back to my car.
It was beginning to mist a little bit. I looked around at all the Halloween decorations in store windows and the jack-o-lantern banners on the light posts in the parking lot.
“Nick!” I heard Paige yell at me from behind. I turned around just as she pulled her car into the space beside mine. “I may not believe what ya told me about the Midnight Man, but I hope nothing bad happens tonight.”
I sighed. “Me too.”
“Bye,” she said, and then drove away.
I got into my car and drove home.
Then, I remembered I had forgotten to buy my candle, matches, and salt for this evening. I took out my phone while waiting at a red light and called Froats.
He answered, “Hey Nick, what's up?”
“I can give you a ride tonight if you bring me a candle, matches, and salt. I forgot about it and can't get to the store anytime today,” I lied. I just did not want to go back, I had schoolwork to do.
“Sure thing Nick, pick me up around eight or eight-thirty.”
“No prob, bye,” I finished, pressing the button on my steering wheel to hang up.
* * *
Trick-or-treating began at five o'clock in my neighborhood and lasted until seven. My parents were going out that evening since they had not been able to celebrate Sweetest Day yet. I had to laugh at that, it was just a stupid American Greeting holiday developed from something once good. In the 1920's, the day was dedicated to giving candy to orphans and other underprivileged persons. Where did it go wrong?
After I ate some cheese and crackers for dinner, I went to my house's pantry and dug out the Halloween candy and poured it into a bowl. I then turned on the porch light so that the kids would know I was passing out candy, and went and got dressed as Michael Myers. It is strange, here I wanted to avoid evil tonight but yet I was dressed up as one of the most evil things on Halloween, a man who had not only murdered his sister when he was six, but several more teenagers fifteen years later.
As each child came to the door, took candy, and left a little unsure as to whether or not they should trust the man in the mask handing them chocolate bars and gum balls, I began to wonder if any of them really know what this holiday is about. They probably do not know that we dress up to mimic the tradition of warding off evil spirits via scaring them with the costumes or just making it impossible to recognize the person behind the mask. Maybe I should wear my costume tonight so that the Midnight Man does not recognize me from last time. Then again, it probably would not work and I would just be made fun of.
Maybe the churches have it right in now celebrating Halloween. Maybe it is an evil holiday. But it is not anymore, it is just children dressing up and having a good time. I shook my head as to forget about that conservative idea. This was the 21st century, not medieval Europe, but whatever.
I also found myself thinking back to all the things that went on this month. Like that one week where I did not talk to either Paige and Gopp. They just hung out around Gopp's locker, which is not close to mine, and then they realized they missed me while being together and texting me. Here's a novel idea: talk to me in person!
Wow, I really sounded mean when I said that, but it is true. I do not understand why in today's society that people only feel the need to communicate through screens instead of spoken language. It remains a mystery.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It was seven o'clock, I guess that I should take off my costume and get ready to go pick up Froats. Time for a night of trying to avoid the Midnight Man. I can't wait...
And thanks for all the encouragement everyone!
DG- This is actually inspired by an urban legend I heard about last spring and was intrigued enough to research it further. All the people in this story are my real life friends, and I am really the narrator (Nicholas). This chapter was hard to write, and I think you'll see why...
RE: Muddy's Stories: I'm Back For Halloween! Chapter Two of the Midnight Man is Finished
If anyone still cares about this story:
If anyone still cares about this story:
Chapter 3- The Ride to the House
It was going to be a cold Halloween night. I made sure that I grabbed my sleeping bag and threw an extra blanket or two into the backseat of my car. I also grabbed the most comfortable pillow on my bed. I was ready for whatever Mother Nature could throw at me. The supernatural, however, was another thing. I do not think that anyone can really prepare for that. It is called paranormal for a reason; what happens is not normal and cannot be replicated by science.
As I was saying, it was a cold night. The wind was obviously coming out of the north, it chilled me to the bone as I was walking to my car. The few leaves that remained on the trees surrounding my house and neighborhood were being blown off. And, to make matters worse, the clouds had cleared off and the stars were visible. While this was quite a spectacle to behold, it meant that it was going to get even colder tonight.
Also, the cool weather meant that it would be more difficult to avoid the Midnight Man as one cannot easily tell if the air temperature has gotten cooler when it will probably already be below freezing. Fantastic. I was just about ready to start my car when I realized that I only had a thin jacket on. I ran back to my house to get a thicker one that kept me warm in the harshest of winter weather. That should keep me warm tonight.
As I was coming back to my car again, the thought struck me that the glass holder for the candle would also be cold. With any luck, the heat from the flame on the candle would counteract that, but I was not sure as I had never picked up a lit candle before. It just never seemed like it would be a good idea.
Most of the trick-or-treaters were gone from the street, so I was able to back out of my driveway without fear of hitting one of them. I put down the right-hand backseat window so that I could see my surroundings better, just in case there was still a child trying to get some last minute candy. After I backed out, I turned on the radio and drove away.
The loose gravel on the newly paved road that I lived on crackled under the wheels of my silver Kia. I drove with ease even though there were multiple butterflies flitting around in my stomach. I was more nervous for tonight than I was for my date with Paige the night before. And that had ended terribly. I was afraid that tonight would end even worse.
Froats lived on the other side of our school district, so I was in for a good fifteen to twenty minute drive depending on if trick-or-treating was still happening on the roads I was driving on. Once I was off of my street and out of the neighborhood, the crackle of the loose gravel was replaced by freshly fallen leaves of all colors, shapes, and sizes.
Easing back in the driver's seat, Prince came on the radio. I cannot stand any of his songs, so I immediately switched it to the CD that I had in the car. It was Journey of course, and the song “Keep On Runnin'” was playing. I guess that it was a good motto for tonight, keep on running and avoid the Midnight Man.
And then, the music stopped playing, someone was trying to call me. I look at the name, the screen read Paige Jogan. Fantastic! That was just the person I wanted to talk to, not. Regardless, I was not planning on being impolite and not answering, so, I clicked the button on the steering wheel to answer.
“Hi, Nick. I bet you weren't expecting me to call anytime soon,” she said.
Even though she could not see me, I shook my head in reply. I swallowed hard, and replied “No, I wasn't.”
“How are you?” she inquired.
“Oh, doing just fine considering this morning and all.”
“I'm sorry, Nick, I really am!”
My tone must have been harsher than I thought it was. I quickly softened it. “I know, and it's fine. I should have known better, the kind of guy I am usually doesn't get someone like you.”
“Well, you've dated someone before, so you must not be that bad.”
“I guess. Anyways, what's up?” I asked.
“Well, I am standing by what I said this morning.”
“Great, and you felt the need to tell me because?”
“I called to wish you good luck this evening, I thought maybe you could use it. That's why I called, not to rub it in or anything, I promise.”
“I believe you, don't worry. And thanks, I appreciate it, I really can use it. I gotta go pick up Josh right now. I guess I'll talk to ya later?”
“Sure Nick, I'd like that. Ya know, you have no idea how many emotions run through my mind when I think of you. I want to be more than friends, yet I want to preserve our friendship. Does that make any sense?”
I laughed. “Somehow, yes.”
“Let me have a few hours to sort things out-”
I interrupted her. “Or you could do it now?”
“Um, okay. Well, on one hand, you're a really great guy who I wouldn't mind dating. But on the other hand, I don't want to lose our friendship. But on the other hand, I just don't know,” she sighed.
“Well, that's three hands, so there's a good starting place.” I checked my mirrors, I had not checked them for quite some time since I had been focused on talking to Paige.
She laughed. “Well, what do you think I should do?”
“It's your problem, and it's about me. Obviously I'd suggest you do whatever would benefit me the most. I think, that you should do whatever you think is best for you because in the end, it's about whether you're happy with your choice or not.”
“Nick, that may have actually been the best advice I've ever been given. I think that being with out will make me happy instead of constantly wondering about what could have been.”
“And there ya go. If I make it through tonight, you wanna go out again sometime?”
“Sure, I'd like that. Bye Nick.”
“Have a good night.”
I clicked the button on the steering wheel to end the call. Many would have called me out for my decision. I had let her decide to prevent a forming relationship with me from happening, and then just let her restart it again. Well, I know that Paige will stay true to her word, I trust her in that we will make things work. I believe in us.
Wow oh wow do I sound like a hopeless romantic or a character in those romance novels with Fabio on the cover. I do not know what came over me at that moment, I am not usually one for giving second chances when something that terrible has been done to me. However, I guess I felt the need to make an exception in this case. I really did like her.
Soon after, I arrived at Josh's house. He was finishing passing out candy to some last minute trick-or-treaters. “Evening, Froats.”
He looked up from checking what candy he had left in the orange, jack-o-lantern faced bowl that was sitting in his lap. “Hey Nick. Let me run up to my room to grab the sleeping bag and the other stuff.”
He opened the door to his house, handed me the bowl of candy, and disappeared inside the house. While I waited for his return, I rummaged through the bowl, hoping to find a Reese's. I was still trying to search for one when Josh reappeared from his house. “Alright, let's go. Here, I'll take that,” he said grabbing the bowl and putting it inside the house before closing the door behind him.
“You ran out of Reese's, man!” I yelled.
“Oh, ma bad, Shaker. Didn't know you liked them,” he responded laughing. “So, I gotta ask, how does it affect you knowing that your two best friends are dating?” Froats asked as we were getting into my car.
“Um, it sucks? What do you want me to say, everything's dandy?” I asked sarcastically as I backed out of his driveway.
“I can imagine.”
“Yeah, but I was able to use it so Gopp wouldn't come tonight. If I gave him a ride over, it would be pretty annoying, all this crap about I shouldn't go through with it because it won't make me happy. He plays mind games with that bull. It's annoying.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, when I wanted to ask Amanda to homecoming, and then figured out it would be a bad idea, he convinced me into doing it the next day. Well, he wasn't the only one, but he was a major driving force behind it. And he's like 'Well, I think you should do it, but if you don't want to, than don't. I just wanna make you happy.'
“Wow, that's annoying. Oh hey, speaking of Amanda, I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but she's not very happy with you.”
“Why? Is it still because her dress and my shirt ended up being the same color for homecoming? That was honestly not planned. I had no idea her dress was gonna be that color, I just liked that shade of blue on me.”
Froats laughed. “Yeah, that was great! But no, it's not that. She's not too happy about you and Paige being, well, together.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “First, she actually care? And second, how does she know?”
“Well, she saw you guys holding hands at the mall last night and Paige posted on Facebook about having a good time with you.”
“Oh, I haven't been on Facebook at all today, that explains it.”
“Yeah, she told me that you were just on the rebound from her rejection to homecoming.”
“That was weeks ago! Good lord, if she had a problem, she could have talked to me about it.”
“Yeah, but you know how Amanda is, and for some reason you liked her,” he said, changing the radio station. “Can we listen to something other than 80's music?”
“Um, I have 70's and 80's hair metal.”
“Hair metal. Anyways, for some reason she liked that she had you wrapped around her finger. She liked that she had someone liking her. She didn't want a boyfriend, just that knowledge of someone liking her.”
“Wow, that's mean.”
“Yeah, it's whatever though. We all know how she is. Just be glad you're with Paige, she's much nicer, and cuter.”
I paused and then nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” I replied, smiling, thinking about her.
We sat there in silence for a moment. The only sound was the slight pitter patter of a light rain on the windshield that had just started. “So why did you really talk Gopp out of coming tonight. I know you lied earlier.”
“Well, it is true that he does do that, and it's annoying, but he is my best friend, but I didn't want anything bad to happen to him-”
So you don't care about the rest of us?” Froats interrupted, sounding offended.
“Now Josh, you know that's not true.”
“I know Shaker, I just like messin' with ya.”
“Well, I stopped him from going because I knew that he would be the easiest one to. He's a nice guy, but he can sometimes be a bit of a pushover when it comes to girls. So, I forced Paige, Gopp's Paige that is, into telling him he couldn't go. While he didn't complain to her, he certainly did to me.”
“Ouch,” Froats commented.
“Yeah, but it was expected and needed to be done. They were both pretty mad at me, but Paige and I talked things over this morning. Gopp on the other hand, well, haven't spoken to him since yesterday.”
“When do you plan to?” Froats asked.
I laughed. “I really don't know, I'm just gonna focus on surviving tonight first.”
He shook his head. “Why are you so concerned about tonight, it's just an urban legend. There's no such thing as the Midnight Man.”
“Well, that's what I thought until I summoned him. Believe me, I was a skeptic no longer, I was subjected to the horrible hallucinations after he attacked me. I just don't want anything like that to happen tonight, especially with Paul taking part. He's so depressed sometimes.”
“Yeah, hopefully everything will go fine with that. Oh look, here we are.”
I slowed down and turned onto the winding road that led to the house at the top of the hill. It was a full moon, so I could easily see the house. It had been abandoned for decades, the paint was practically gone and several windows were broken, but the wood was not rotting and the foundation was still strong. It still looked eerie. The bats flying around the tree tops in the moonlight certainly did not help with this preconceived notion.
“Yep, we've driven to our own doom, let's hope we survive.”
Froats just shook his head at me.
As I was saying, it was a cold night. The wind was obviously coming out of the north, it chilled me to the bone as I was walking to my car. The few leaves that remained on the trees surrounding my house and neighborhood were being blown off. And, to make matters worse, the clouds had cleared off and the stars were visible. While this was quite a spectacle to behold, it meant that it was going to get even colder tonight.
Also, the cool weather meant that it would be more difficult to avoid the Midnight Man as one cannot easily tell if the air temperature has gotten cooler when it will probably already be below freezing. Fantastic. I was just about ready to start my car when I realized that I only had a thin jacket on. I ran back to my house to get a thicker one that kept me warm in the harshest of winter weather. That should keep me warm tonight.
As I was coming back to my car again, the thought struck me that the glass holder for the candle would also be cold. With any luck, the heat from the flame on the candle would counteract that, but I was not sure as I had never picked up a lit candle before. It just never seemed like it would be a good idea.
Most of the trick-or-treaters were gone from the street, so I was able to back out of my driveway without fear of hitting one of them. I put down the right-hand backseat window so that I could see my surroundings better, just in case there was still a child trying to get some last minute candy. After I backed out, I turned on the radio and drove away.
The loose gravel on the newly paved road that I lived on crackled under the wheels of my silver Kia. I drove with ease even though there were multiple butterflies flitting around in my stomach. I was more nervous for tonight than I was for my date with Paige the night before. And that had ended terribly. I was afraid that tonight would end even worse.
Froats lived on the other side of our school district, so I was in for a good fifteen to twenty minute drive depending on if trick-or-treating was still happening on the roads I was driving on. Once I was off of my street and out of the neighborhood, the crackle of the loose gravel was replaced by freshly fallen leaves of all colors, shapes, and sizes.
Easing back in the driver's seat, Prince came on the radio. I cannot stand any of his songs, so I immediately switched it to the CD that I had in the car. It was Journey of course, and the song “Keep On Runnin'” was playing. I guess that it was a good motto for tonight, keep on running and avoid the Midnight Man.
And then, the music stopped playing, someone was trying to call me. I look at the name, the screen read Paige Jogan. Fantastic! That was just the person I wanted to talk to, not. Regardless, I was not planning on being impolite and not answering, so, I clicked the button on the steering wheel to answer.
“Hi, Nick. I bet you weren't expecting me to call anytime soon,” she said.
Even though she could not see me, I shook my head in reply. I swallowed hard, and replied “No, I wasn't.”
“How are you?” she inquired.
“Oh, doing just fine considering this morning and all.”
“I'm sorry, Nick, I really am!”
My tone must have been harsher than I thought it was. I quickly softened it. “I know, and it's fine. I should have known better, the kind of guy I am usually doesn't get someone like you.”
“Well, you've dated someone before, so you must not be that bad.”
“I guess. Anyways, what's up?” I asked.
“Well, I am standing by what I said this morning.”
“Great, and you felt the need to tell me because?”
“I called to wish you good luck this evening, I thought maybe you could use it. That's why I called, not to rub it in or anything, I promise.”
“I believe you, don't worry. And thanks, I appreciate it, I really can use it. I gotta go pick up Josh right now. I guess I'll talk to ya later?”
“Sure Nick, I'd like that. Ya know, you have no idea how many emotions run through my mind when I think of you. I want to be more than friends, yet I want to preserve our friendship. Does that make any sense?”
I laughed. “Somehow, yes.”
“Let me have a few hours to sort things out-”
I interrupted her. “Or you could do it now?”
“Um, okay. Well, on one hand, you're a really great guy who I wouldn't mind dating. But on the other hand, I don't want to lose our friendship. But on the other hand, I just don't know,” she sighed.
“Well, that's three hands, so there's a good starting place.” I checked my mirrors, I had not checked them for quite some time since I had been focused on talking to Paige.
She laughed. “Well, what do you think I should do?”
“It's your problem, and it's about me. Obviously I'd suggest you do whatever would benefit me the most. I think, that you should do whatever you think is best for you because in the end, it's about whether you're happy with your choice or not.”
“Nick, that may have actually been the best advice I've ever been given. I think that being with out will make me happy instead of constantly wondering about what could have been.”
“And there ya go. If I make it through tonight, you wanna go out again sometime?”
“Sure, I'd like that. Bye Nick.”
“Have a good night.”
I clicked the button on the steering wheel to end the call. Many would have called me out for my decision. I had let her decide to prevent a forming relationship with me from happening, and then just let her restart it again. Well, I know that Paige will stay true to her word, I trust her in that we will make things work. I believe in us.
Wow oh wow do I sound like a hopeless romantic or a character in those romance novels with Fabio on the cover. I do not know what came over me at that moment, I am not usually one for giving second chances when something that terrible has been done to me. However, I guess I felt the need to make an exception in this case. I really did like her.
Soon after, I arrived at Josh's house. He was finishing passing out candy to some last minute trick-or-treaters. “Evening, Froats.”
He looked up from checking what candy he had left in the orange, jack-o-lantern faced bowl that was sitting in his lap. “Hey Nick. Let me run up to my room to grab the sleeping bag and the other stuff.”
He opened the door to his house, handed me the bowl of candy, and disappeared inside the house. While I waited for his return, I rummaged through the bowl, hoping to find a Reese's. I was still trying to search for one when Josh reappeared from his house. “Alright, let's go. Here, I'll take that,” he said grabbing the bowl and putting it inside the house before closing the door behind him.
“You ran out of Reese's, man!” I yelled.
“Oh, ma bad, Shaker. Didn't know you liked them,” he responded laughing. “So, I gotta ask, how does it affect you knowing that your two best friends are dating?” Froats asked as we were getting into my car.
“Um, it sucks? What do you want me to say, everything's dandy?” I asked sarcastically as I backed out of his driveway.
“I can imagine.”
“Yeah, but I was able to use it so Gopp wouldn't come tonight. If I gave him a ride over, it would be pretty annoying, all this crap about I shouldn't go through with it because it won't make me happy. He plays mind games with that bull. It's annoying.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, when I wanted to ask Amanda to homecoming, and then figured out it would be a bad idea, he convinced me into doing it the next day. Well, he wasn't the only one, but he was a major driving force behind it. And he's like 'Well, I think you should do it, but if you don't want to, than don't. I just wanna make you happy.'
“Wow, that's annoying. Oh hey, speaking of Amanda, I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but she's not very happy with you.”
“Why? Is it still because her dress and my shirt ended up being the same color for homecoming? That was honestly not planned. I had no idea her dress was gonna be that color, I just liked that shade of blue on me.”
Froats laughed. “Yeah, that was great! But no, it's not that. She's not too happy about you and Paige being, well, together.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “First, she actually care? And second, how does she know?”
“Well, she saw you guys holding hands at the mall last night and Paige posted on Facebook about having a good time with you.”
“Oh, I haven't been on Facebook at all today, that explains it.”
“Yeah, she told me that you were just on the rebound from her rejection to homecoming.”
“That was weeks ago! Good lord, if she had a problem, she could have talked to me about it.”
“Yeah, but you know how Amanda is, and for some reason you liked her,” he said, changing the radio station. “Can we listen to something other than 80's music?”
“Um, I have 70's and 80's hair metal.”
“Hair metal. Anyways, for some reason she liked that she had you wrapped around her finger. She liked that she had someone liking her. She didn't want a boyfriend, just that knowledge of someone liking her.”
“Wow, that's mean.”
“Yeah, it's whatever though. We all know how she is. Just be glad you're with Paige, she's much nicer, and cuter.”
I paused and then nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” I replied, smiling, thinking about her.
We sat there in silence for a moment. The only sound was the slight pitter patter of a light rain on the windshield that had just started. “So why did you really talk Gopp out of coming tonight. I know you lied earlier.”
“Well, it is true that he does do that, and it's annoying, but he is my best friend, but I didn't want anything bad to happen to him-”
So you don't care about the rest of us?” Froats interrupted, sounding offended.
“Now Josh, you know that's not true.”
“I know Shaker, I just like messin' with ya.”
“Well, I stopped him from going because I knew that he would be the easiest one to. He's a nice guy, but he can sometimes be a bit of a pushover when it comes to girls. So, I forced Paige, Gopp's Paige that is, into telling him he couldn't go. While he didn't complain to her, he certainly did to me.”
“Ouch,” Froats commented.
“Yeah, but it was expected and needed to be done. They were both pretty mad at me, but Paige and I talked things over this morning. Gopp on the other hand, well, haven't spoken to him since yesterday.”
“When do you plan to?” Froats asked.
I laughed. “I really don't know, I'm just gonna focus on surviving tonight first.”
He shook his head. “Why are you so concerned about tonight, it's just an urban legend. There's no such thing as the Midnight Man.”
“Well, that's what I thought until I summoned him. Believe me, I was a skeptic no longer, I was subjected to the horrible hallucinations after he attacked me. I just don't want anything like that to happen tonight, especially with Paul taking part. He's so depressed sometimes.”
“Yeah, hopefully everything will go fine with that. Oh look, here we are.”
I slowed down and turned onto the winding road that led to the house at the top of the hill. It was a full moon, so I could easily see the house. It had been abandoned for decades, the paint was practically gone and several windows were broken, but the wood was not rotting and the foundation was still strong. It still looked eerie. The bats flying around the tree tops in the moonlight certainly did not help with this preconceived notion.
“Yep, we've driven to our own doom, let's hope we survive.”
Froats just shook his head at me.
RE: Muddy's Stories: Chapter Three of the Midnight Man Finished! Please Read!
Once again, an immensely entertaining and suspenseful chapter! You did an excellent job in the creation of this chapter, similar to your previous ones. It never fails to generate an atmosphere of apprehension and thrill, and for that, I am impressed. Let’s proceed to the few minor errors I’ve noticed so far.
Other than that, keep writing more!
- D-G
Once again, an immensely entertaining and suspenseful chapter! You did an excellent job in the creation of this chapter, similar to your previous ones. It never fails to generate an atmosphere of apprehension and thrill, and for that, I am impressed. Let’s proceed to the few minor errors I’ve noticed so far.
You forgot to add a t at the end of there.
Change it to than.
I think you missed something there.
Capitalize the beginning of well.
This is by far the last error I’ve picked up. Change it to thought.
Other than that, keep writing more!
- D-G
RE: Muddy's Stories: Chapter Three of the Midnight Man Finished! Please Read!
Oh, my Mew. I don't know why I read the stories but never posted or anything. Whhhhhhhhhyyyyy T^T
The stories you create are awesome. Especially MIdnight Man. I like how you keep the supense level steady, and then it explodes from a certain point in the story. Also, Dark-G took care of all the mistakes. I look forward to the fourth chapter!
EDIT: I got ninja'd by Muddy :O
Oh, my Mew. I don't know why I read the stories but never posted or anything. Whhhhhhhhhyyyyy T^T
The stories you create are awesome. Especially MIdnight Man. I like how you keep the supense level steady, and then it explodes from a certain point in the story. Also, Dark-G took care of all the mistakes. I look forward to the fourth chapter!
EDIT: I got ninja'd by Muddy :O
RE: Muddy's Stories: Chapter Three of the Midnight Man Finished! Please Read!
Chapter Four- The House
One summer several years ago, my dad and I went to see the movie called Monster House which is about a possessed house that tries to viciously attack and kill the mischievous neighborhood kids. The house itself was frightening to begin with; it's paint had long faded and the wood that it was constructed of was a dull gray color. Many of the shutters were broken, and porch looked like it could collapse at any moment.
If that was not bad enough, the kids who wanted to figure out if the house was possessed went inside it, and its interior was almost as bad as the exterior. The wood floors were worn and the stairs appeared unstable. When they descended into the basement, it was dirty and dark, however the foundation still stood strong.
The movie ends with the old man living there telling the story of how and why his dead wife possessed the house and that it was time to let her go. The kids and her husband agitate the house so that it chases them into a construction site where they throw dynamite through its front door, or mouth rather, and caused it to explode, thus releasing her spirit.
The house that I was about to enter reminded me of this house, only the foundation of this house was probably more unstable than the one in the movie. I shut the car off, opened the door, and stepped out of the car onto the gravel on which I had parked it. The car was only a few yards away from the house's entrance. Once Froats had gotten out, I locked it. I would like to say that was more out of habit than nerves, but it was a bit of both honestly.
“Think the Midnight Man's gonna try to steal your car?” Froats asked, laughing.
“You never know,” I replied grimly, shaking my head. I just stood there, not moving.
“You know that our stuff is in your trunk, right?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, here.” I said, popping the trunk. “You take the stuff inside, I'll watch for the others.”
“Okay.”
Froats began taking the sleeping bags, pillows, and our backpacks out of the trunk. In those backpacks were our lifelines this evening; the candle, matches, and salt all rested within them. Those three common items were our only defense against evil.
While Froats was walking our overnight items into the house, I went and sat on the hood of my car, gazing down the hill that I had just driven up. The wind was chilly, so I zipped up my jacket, hoping it would help retain heat.
Just after I had completed that task, there was a light making its way up the winding road that led to where I was parked. Behind it, there was another. Two cars were making there way up the hill, carefully navigating the sharp curves as to avoid driving off of the road.
I turned towards the house. “Froats, two of the three others are here!”
He emerged from the house and leaned on the post of the porch that stretched around the front of the house. “Nick, Luke and Paul carpooled. They're all here.”
“Okay, sounds good, I'll help them carry stuff in.”
“Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna go see where the bathroom's at,” Froats said, turning to walk back into the house.
The darkness coming from within seemed to swallow him. I climbed off of the car as the two cars pulled in to park beside mine. Paul lowered his window. “Hey Nick, grab what's in the trunk,” he called popping it.
I ran back as he turned off the car and he and Luke got out. I pulled out two sleeping bags, one green and the other blue, and two pillows both in white cases. I started to carry them to the house, and they followed. “Hey, wait for me guys!” I heard Popson yell after us as he was grabbing his backpack, sleeping bag, and pillow from the backseat of his car.
Just as I stopped to wait for him to catch up to us, I heard a loud scream come from within the house. I dropped the jumble of sleeping materials that I was carrying and ran inside. I was followed by Popson, Luke, and Paul. Froats came running out of the right-hand hallway from the house's foyer.
“Guys,” he said, breathing hard, “Do not use that bathroom. Something was running around inside the medicine cabinet, and there's a raccoon asleep in the sink.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Jeez Froats, you got big for a reason, to deal with small furry animals so that the rest of us wouldn't have to,” commented Luke.
“Hey, I didn't wanna get rabies or anything. Although when I screamed, it woke up and jumped out of the broken window in the bathroom.”
“Well, there's one less furry friend to deal with this evening,” said Popson.
“Now let's just survive the Midnight Man,” I replied.
Quietly, everyone spread out their sleeping bags on the old tattered rug in the foyer, attempting to avoid the spots where there was a draft, which was few. The house had virtually no insulation left, no corner of it was warm, at least not that we could find. We were in for a cold night.
It was about half past nine o'clock. I got into my sleeping bag in an attempt to stay warm. Popson leaned against the door of the house. “Well,” he said, “We have about three hours of waiting. Anyone up for a scary story?”
“Sure,” Froats said. Luke, Paul, and I all agreed as well.
“Well, it was a Halloween night twenty-four years ago, much like tonight. The moon was full and the wind was blowing strong enough to keep leaves falling off of the trees at a steady rate. A young couple was staying in this very house-”
“Really?” questioned Paul.
“Yeah, I know that it's cliché,” said Popson. “Just go with it. They had bet their friends that they couldn't last the night in the house.”
“Popson, this story sucks,” Froats interjected.
“Do you wanna hear the story or not?! We have nothing better to do.”
“Good point, continue,” Froats said.
“Anyways, where was I before I was rudely interrupted?” asked Popson, glaring at Froats.
I refreshed his memory. “They had a bet or something.”
“Yes! They had a bet about lasting the night in this very house. Well, they camped out by the door just like we were. However, the man had to use the bathroom, so while he was doing his business, and no, there was no raccoon in the sink, his wife went upstairs to look around. While she was up there, she found what appeared to be a little girl's room. She was certain because there was a doll lying on the bed.”
“Is this gonna end up like Chucky somehow?” asked Luke.
“No, this won't be anything like it. Anyways, this doll was strange. Part of its hair had been pulled out and its left eye was missing. The rags it was wearing were very dirty. She then turned and walked out of the room and down the hallway to the next room. It appeared to be an older siblings room. It had some books in it and an old kerosene lamp. As she was inspecting the lamp, she heard singing.
“It was faint, but definitely there. It sounded like that of a small girl's. She slowly crept out into the hallway, and found that the closer she came to the little girl's room, the louder it became. It all of a sudden stopped when she walked inside the room. Her boyfriend walked up behind her, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped about five feet in the air, screaming.
“He apologized to her and asked what had gotten into her. She told him about the singing, but he told her not to worry. As they prepared to leave the room and walk back downstairs, she noticed that the doll was gone.
“She said, ' Hun, I think that something is going on here.' She explained about the doll, but the man told her that she was scaring herself and that it was the atmosphere of the house doing it to her.
“Once they were back downstairs, they sat down on the floor and she rested her head on his shoulder. And then, she heard singing. It was coming from the bathroom. The man heard it too. He got up and walked into the bathroom, there was a thud and then a gargling noise.
“Out of the bathroom walked the man holding the doll. His eyes, which were normally blue, now had a tinge of red to them. He smiled an evil smile when he say her, and opened his mouth. Out came a scream.
“It was like nothing she had ever heard before. It sounded demonic. Reaching in his back pocket, he pulled out his pocket knife, and proceeded to slit his own throat. As the blood ran down his neck, he remained standing as if nothing had happened. The doll laughed and began singing.
“The woman screamed and jumped up to run to the door. With the speed that only something out of Hell could possess, the man ran in front of the door and stabbed her in the stomach. She fell backward only to be caught by the man. The doll, which had know been thrown to the floor sat up and told her that she would know feel the wrath of the evil that possesses this house, of the girl who owned me and killed her family all those years ago.
“The man slit the woman's throat, and then he, gasping for breath, fell and died beside her. The doll-”
“Okay, this story sucks!” yelled Luke. “It's not even scary.”
“I can tell you something scary, there's time,” I said.
“Whatever it is, it's probably better than Popson's story,” said Paul.
“Well, it's the story of the first time I summoned the Midnight Man. Here's how it goes, and no stopping me either.”
I took a deep breath, and then began.
If that was not bad enough, the kids who wanted to figure out if the house was possessed went inside it, and its interior was almost as bad as the exterior. The wood floors were worn and the stairs appeared unstable. When they descended into the basement, it was dirty and dark, however the foundation still stood strong.
The movie ends with the old man living there telling the story of how and why his dead wife possessed the house and that it was time to let her go. The kids and her husband agitate the house so that it chases them into a construction site where they throw dynamite through its front door, or mouth rather, and caused it to explode, thus releasing her spirit.
The house that I was about to enter reminded me of this house, only the foundation of this house was probably more unstable than the one in the movie. I shut the car off, opened the door, and stepped out of the car onto the gravel on which I had parked it. The car was only a few yards away from the house's entrance. Once Froats had gotten out, I locked it. I would like to say that was more out of habit than nerves, but it was a bit of both honestly.
“Think the Midnight Man's gonna try to steal your car?” Froats asked, laughing.
“You never know,” I replied grimly, shaking my head. I just stood there, not moving.
“You know that our stuff is in your trunk, right?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, here.” I said, popping the trunk. “You take the stuff inside, I'll watch for the others.”
“Okay.”
Froats began taking the sleeping bags, pillows, and our backpacks out of the trunk. In those backpacks were our lifelines this evening; the candle, matches, and salt all rested within them. Those three common items were our only defense against evil.
While Froats was walking our overnight items into the house, I went and sat on the hood of my car, gazing down the hill that I had just driven up. The wind was chilly, so I zipped up my jacket, hoping it would help retain heat.
Just after I had completed that task, there was a light making its way up the winding road that led to where I was parked. Behind it, there was another. Two cars were making there way up the hill, carefully navigating the sharp curves as to avoid driving off of the road.
I turned towards the house. “Froats, two of the three others are here!”
He emerged from the house and leaned on the post of the porch that stretched around the front of the house. “Nick, Luke and Paul carpooled. They're all here.”
“Okay, sounds good, I'll help them carry stuff in.”
“Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna go see where the bathroom's at,” Froats said, turning to walk back into the house.
The darkness coming from within seemed to swallow him. I climbed off of the car as the two cars pulled in to park beside mine. Paul lowered his window. “Hey Nick, grab what's in the trunk,” he called popping it.
I ran back as he turned off the car and he and Luke got out. I pulled out two sleeping bags, one green and the other blue, and two pillows both in white cases. I started to carry them to the house, and they followed. “Hey, wait for me guys!” I heard Popson yell after us as he was grabbing his backpack, sleeping bag, and pillow from the backseat of his car.
Just as I stopped to wait for him to catch up to us, I heard a loud scream come from within the house. I dropped the jumble of sleeping materials that I was carrying and ran inside. I was followed by Popson, Luke, and Paul. Froats came running out of the right-hand hallway from the house's foyer.
“Guys,” he said, breathing hard, “Do not use that bathroom. Something was running around inside the medicine cabinet, and there's a raccoon asleep in the sink.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Jeez Froats, you got big for a reason, to deal with small furry animals so that the rest of us wouldn't have to,” commented Luke.
“Hey, I didn't wanna get rabies or anything. Although when I screamed, it woke up and jumped out of the broken window in the bathroom.”
“Well, there's one less furry friend to deal with this evening,” said Popson.
“Now let's just survive the Midnight Man,” I replied.
Quietly, everyone spread out their sleeping bags on the old tattered rug in the foyer, attempting to avoid the spots where there was a draft, which was few. The house had virtually no insulation left, no corner of it was warm, at least not that we could find. We were in for a cold night.
It was about half past nine o'clock. I got into my sleeping bag in an attempt to stay warm. Popson leaned against the door of the house. “Well,” he said, “We have about three hours of waiting. Anyone up for a scary story?”
“Sure,” Froats said. Luke, Paul, and I all agreed as well.
“Well, it was a Halloween night twenty-four years ago, much like tonight. The moon was full and the wind was blowing strong enough to keep leaves falling off of the trees at a steady rate. A young couple was staying in this very house-”
“Really?” questioned Paul.
“Yeah, I know that it's cliché,” said Popson. “Just go with it. They had bet their friends that they couldn't last the night in the house.”
“Popson, this story sucks,” Froats interjected.
“Do you wanna hear the story or not?! We have nothing better to do.”
“Good point, continue,” Froats said.
“Anyways, where was I before I was rudely interrupted?” asked Popson, glaring at Froats.
I refreshed his memory. “They had a bet or something.”
“Yes! They had a bet about lasting the night in this very house. Well, they camped out by the door just like we were. However, the man had to use the bathroom, so while he was doing his business, and no, there was no raccoon in the sink, his wife went upstairs to look around. While she was up there, she found what appeared to be a little girl's room. She was certain because there was a doll lying on the bed.”
“Is this gonna end up like Chucky somehow?” asked Luke.
“No, this won't be anything like it. Anyways, this doll was strange. Part of its hair had been pulled out and its left eye was missing. The rags it was wearing were very dirty. She then turned and walked out of the room and down the hallway to the next room. It appeared to be an older siblings room. It had some books in it and an old kerosene lamp. As she was inspecting the lamp, she heard singing.
“It was faint, but definitely there. It sounded like that of a small girl's. She slowly crept out into the hallway, and found that the closer she came to the little girl's room, the louder it became. It all of a sudden stopped when she walked inside the room. Her boyfriend walked up behind her, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped about five feet in the air, screaming.
“He apologized to her and asked what had gotten into her. She told him about the singing, but he told her not to worry. As they prepared to leave the room and walk back downstairs, she noticed that the doll was gone.
“She said, ' Hun, I think that something is going on here.' She explained about the doll, but the man told her that she was scaring herself and that it was the atmosphere of the house doing it to her.
“Once they were back downstairs, they sat down on the floor and she rested her head on his shoulder. And then, she heard singing. It was coming from the bathroom. The man heard it too. He got up and walked into the bathroom, there was a thud and then a gargling noise.
“Out of the bathroom walked the man holding the doll. His eyes, which were normally blue, now had a tinge of red to them. He smiled an evil smile when he say her, and opened his mouth. Out came a scream.
“It was like nothing she had ever heard before. It sounded demonic. Reaching in his back pocket, he pulled out his pocket knife, and proceeded to slit his own throat. As the blood ran down his neck, he remained standing as if nothing had happened. The doll laughed and began singing.
“The woman screamed and jumped up to run to the door. With the speed that only something out of Hell could possess, the man ran in front of the door and stabbed her in the stomach. She fell backward only to be caught by the man. The doll, which had know been thrown to the floor sat up and told her that she would know feel the wrath of the evil that possesses this house, of the girl who owned me and killed her family all those years ago.
“The man slit the woman's throat, and then he, gasping for breath, fell and died beside her. The doll-”
“Okay, this story sucks!” yelled Luke. “It's not even scary.”
“I can tell you something scary, there's time,” I said.
“Whatever it is, it's probably better than Popson's story,” said Paul.
“Well, it's the story of the first time I summoned the Midnight Man. Here's how it goes, and no stopping me either.”
I took a deep breath, and then began.
RE: Muddy's Stories:Chapter Four Up! Midnight is Drawing Near!
Chapter Five- The First Summoning
“Well, it was this past summer,” I started to tell them. “I had just gotten back from my vacation in Washington D.C. and had helped my uncle to get his room ready for the first day of school; he teaches 3rd graders in Barberton. I was at a party with some friends from theatre camp. It was a pool party actually, and I was going to go home with one of my friends, Zack, to spend the night at his house.
“Well, we ended up leaving the party pretty late. I think it was around 11:30 P.M. We hugged everyone goodbye, hoping that we would be able to stay in touch, knowing that it probably wouldn't happen. Zack's dad drove us home.
“On the way back to his house, I mentioned something I had found on Facebook that I thought was entertaining. It was called the Midnight Man Game. I told him what I could remember, and he looked it up on his phone. He read through the instructions, and told me that it sounded entertaining. If we got back to his house in time, we could try it. Well, we got back at about ten minutes till midnight. His parents went to bed, and we immediately grabbed some slips of paper and a pin to prick a finger for the blood.
“Once this was done, we placed the slips of paper with fresh blood on them in front of the front door of his house. It was wooden, which was required for the Summoning to work properly. We then lit two candles and split up the matches and salt between the two of us (we had gotten it from his kitchen).
“The clock in his living room chimed, and we knew that it was time. Zack opened up the door, and we both blew out our candles. He quickly, but ever so quietly, shut the door. We relit the candles and began wandering the house, in the dark.
“Believe it or not, the candles we were using actually gave off a decent amount of light, and we could see well enough as to not bump into anything. During the first fifteen minutes, Zack opened up his pantry so that either he or I could get a snack if one was needed.
“It wasn't until half past midnight that we felt something change in the air. There was a thickness and a coldness to it that hadn't been there before. It felt as though all happiness had been removed. Now, when I turned around a dark corner, I was much more cautious. I felt the need to look behind me more often than before.
“I was nervous. I'd have been a fool not to be. I felt that somewhere, the Midnight Man was lurking unseen in the shadows, waiting to make each of us his prey.
“At about quarter till one in the morning, there was a change outside. The outside light beside their driveway wasn't very bright to begin with, however it appeared dimmer. I thought maybe the bulb was beginning to go out, and I would have said something to Zack, however we were being perfectly silent so that the Midnight Man could not find us.
“Then, the light began to flicker and it went completely out. One by one, each house down the street lost the light of their outside lamp. Shadowy figures began stalking the sidewalks of the community. Something was very wrong.
“Right as the clock chimed one, I felt a chill run down my spine. I felt as if someone's eyes were boring into the back of my skull; I was being watched by someone, and it certainly wasn't Zack.”
I paused. “Did we bring any water bottles?”
“Yeah, here you go,” answered Froats, handing me a unopened bottle of Dasani.
I opened it and took a long swig. “So, did this really happen?” asked Paul with a tone of skepticism.
Turning toward him I replied, “Yes it did, and keep in mind there is more to this story, so please don't be to quick to judge. Let me finish.”
“Continue,” commanded Popson.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. I then began telling what had happened before I had stopped for a water break. “Anyways, it was at one when I knew that there was a growing danger in playing this game. However, there was no way out, no way of escaping the Midnight Man. If I were to run outside, I would face whatever demonic shadow creatures patrolled the sidewalks. I knew that I had to continue playing.
“The air grew colder, so cold that I was sure that I was seeing my own breath in the candlelight. And then, it happened. My candle went out. For a brief moment, I was stunned. I couldn't believe that what I had found on the Internet was actually true.
“Then, I realized the seriousness of my situation. I jammed my right hand into my right side pocket, pulled out the packet of matches, and struck one to relight my candle. Just as I allowed the flame of the match to touch the flame of the candle, all seemed much more peaceful. The chill in the air was gone. But around the corner, disappearing into the shadows of the house, was a dark figure.
“Instead of turning around, I pursued it. I went around the corner and found myself in what appeared to be the living room (the candle did not provide sufficient light to properly see my surroundings). I made my way through the room, careful not to bump into the sofa. I made sure that my steps were quiet so that I would not alert the Midnight Man where I was.
“Then, I found myself at the foot of the staircase that led upstairs. I saw the shadow of the man reach the second floor and vanish into the darkness. I could hear footsteps overhead. I crept up the stairs and noticed a light in one of the bedrooms. It was at the end of the hallway.
“I made my way through the hall to the room where the light was shining. Then, the light went out. There was the sound of rummaging through pockets, as if matches were trying to be found. Then, a brief silence, then more rummaging, this time, I believed it had to have been for the salt.
“The hall was quiet. The chill that I had felt only minutes earlier had appeared in front of me. I walked through it and found myself in the room. Zack was sitting by the small window at the front of the room. He told me that he couldn't find his matches and had sprinkled a circle of salt instead. And that's when I was assaulted again.
“My candle went out. I was truly afraid at this point. I pulled out the packet of matches, but my hands were shaking so badly I couldn't manage to strike one. I blacked out.
“I came to in a matter of minutes, according to clock in Zack's room. Luckily, I had fallen in a such a way that his bed broke my fall. My candle had hit the floor. Shards of glass were scattered throughout the room and a pool of hot candle wax lay at the foot of the bed. Luckily, his parent's bedroom door had been shut, so they hadn't heard any of this.
“I sat up and gazed around the room. My back hurt slightly from where it had slammed the side of his bed, but like I said, I was fine other than that. Zack was still sitting by the window, but he was now turned to face me. I knew what was going through his mind. He was wondering if I was going to begin hallucinating since my candle had not stayed lit and I hadn't had the chance to spread a circle of salt around myself.
“The room was dark, however I could still make out a large dark figure in the corner. It appeared as though it had a knife in hand. Then, Paige, short, blond Paige that is, walked through the door and into the room. I was stunned. What was she doing here?!
“Still confused, I approached her to ask how she had gotten here. But the figure in the corner approached her and jabbed the blade into her gut. Her mouth opened and a stream of red hot blood dripped down her chin and onto her tank top. She fell to the ground, gasping, and then was still. My mouth was wide open and my eyes were wide.
“Just as quickly as it had happened, the scene disappeared. Shaking my head, I rose from the bed and bolted down the stairs. I was getting ready to open the door when I heard a knock on a window in the living room. I walked into the living room and saw Gopp at the window, peering in at me. Some demonic creature with horns rose up behind him. I mouthed 'run.'
“But it was too late. The demon grabbed his head and twisted it to the side. He fell to the ground and didn't get up again. I stopped just short of running out to help him, afraid of what the creature outside would do to me.
“I felt faint. I slowly stepped back and sat down on the couch. I was breathing hard and sweat was running down my face. I reasoned that these had to be only visions and that this wasn't actually happening. It just seemed so vivid, so real that I didn't know what to think.
“Looking up at the clock, I realized I still had two more hours of this. I would be suffering for that entire time unless I did something, but what could I do? There was nothing I could do within my power to stop the evil of the Midnight Man!” I paused.
Paul looked at me. “What did you do?”
I turned towards him. “What could I do, I was completely at this mercy. To make a long story short, for the next two hours, I stayed on that couch, emotionally drained and unable to rise. I watched every person that I had ever felt something for be murdered multiple times before my eyes, only to disappear and segway into the next killing. And that's all there is to it, that's what happened when I summoned the Midnight Man.”
Everyone stared at me. No one knew how to react, all I knew was that the fact that maybe the Midnight Man was real was beginning to sink in. I took a deep breath, and leaned up against the wall behind me, still covered in the warmth of my sleeping bag.
Luke turned from me and towards Froats. “Do you think we should still go through with this? If what Nick said is true, then-”
Froats interrupted him. “We're already here and we have nothing better to do. Besides, I still don't think the Midnight Man is real.”
I shook my head. Nothing was going to keep them from summoning him. They wanted to and had their minds set on it, there was no stopping them.
And then, there was a silence, except for the occasional creaking of the house settling on its foundation. It was now about ten o'clock. We still had another two hours of waiting until midnight and an hour and a half until we began to prep everything, that is distribute the matches and salt evenly, make sure that everyone has a candle, the names are all written on the slips of paper, blood was drawn, and all the lights in the house were out. The last of those was the easiest, the house had no electricity and it was already pitch dark except for the flashlights that we had brought along with us.
I then felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a call from Gopp's Paige. “I'll be right back, you guys,” I said pulling myself out of the sleeping bag so that I could answer. Once I had picked up the phone I said “Hold on, let me get outside then we can talk.”
I grabbed my already turned on flashlight which was laying on the ground near my sleeping bag and made my way towards the front door. It was cold outside. On top of the coldness there was the smell of smoke, someone must be having a Halloween bonfire somewhere nearby or just burning a witch. I figured it was the first of those two thoughts.
“Okay, outside now. What's up?” I asked Paige.
“Well, I'm just giving you a heads up about something,” she said with noticeable amount of concern in her voice.
“Did one of our parents find out that we're up here?”
“No, it's not about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
“If you'd stop asking questions then I could actually answer you,” she replied, a little annoyed.
“Sorry.”
“It's fine. Listen, the reason I'm calling is to warn you that Gopp's gonna try and sneak up to the house you're in around half past midnight or closer to one to try and scare you.”
“NO! Paige, you've got to stop him, he'll die. When the Midnight Man arrives, he brings demonic entities with him that inhabit the space outside the house that the Midnight Man is inside. That's why you're not supposed to leave the house once he's been summoned. They'll do something terrible to him if he arrives.”
“Oh God. I'll try to stop him.”
“Please do. I'm gonna try and catch some shuteye before midnight rolls around, call me after you talk to him so I can intervene if needed.”
“Nick, I don't think that's such a good idea. He's mad at you-”
I cut her off. “I know, but if you fail, I'll need to prevent him from coming at all costs. It's a situation of life or death,” I said gravely.
Paige must have caught onto the tone of my voice. “Alright, I'll let ya know. Bye.”
“Yeah, bye.”
I hung up the phone and sighed. It appeared as though Gopp was going to get involved whether I liked it or not. I gazed at the full moon in the sky. A few clouds hung in the sky surrounding it, but otherwise it was a clear night. The stars were out and I could make out a few constellations. I tried to remember what stars gave the sign of something terrible to come, but try as I might, their names and locations could not come to mind. Maybe it was for the better not to have recalled them. It might have just made me more afraid of the night to come.
I turned around and walked back inside shutting the door behind me hoping to leave some of the chilly nighttime air outside. Only Froats was still sitting in his sleeping bag. “Hey Nick, everyone else went to walk around the house so that they got a feel for it before walking around it tonight. I didn't really want to after the bathroom incident.”
I laughed. “Can't say I blame ya. Well, we have an issue.”
“What's up?”
“Well, Paige just called, that is my friend Paige, not the one I had a date with last night. Them having the same name's annoying.”
“Yeah, anyways, what'd she have to say?”
“She told me Gopp's gonna try to get up to this house tonight around one in the morning to try and scare us.”
“Okay, and what's the problem with that?” asked Froats.
“Well, remember when I told you guys about the first summoning and those shadows outside the house?”
“You don't think-”
“I do, if he shows up, he's as good as dead.”
“Well, stop him from coming here!”
I sighed. “Paige agreed to talk to him, but if that doesn't work, I'll call him which I'm hoping I don't have to do. He's mad at me and I don't feel like bothering him until he's cooled off.”
Froats nodded. “Seems reasonable.”
“Look, I'm gonna try to sleep since it's gonna be a late night tonight.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thanks. Just wake me up around quarter after eleven. What, it's a little after ten now?”
“Yeah,” Froats replied after checking his phone. “Get some sleep, I'll wake ya up.”
I turned away from him and headed toward my red sleeping bag. I pulled my pillow close and laid down. I was already warmer, but I still was thinking about what would happen tonight, especially if Gopp decided to show up. Shaking my head, I said a silent prayer that he arrived before we summoned the Midnight Man. If he didn't, then he was toast, plain and simple.
I laid down and close my eyes. Within seconds, I fell asleep.
“Well, we ended up leaving the party pretty late. I think it was around 11:30 P.M. We hugged everyone goodbye, hoping that we would be able to stay in touch, knowing that it probably wouldn't happen. Zack's dad drove us home.
“On the way back to his house, I mentioned something I had found on Facebook that I thought was entertaining. It was called the Midnight Man Game. I told him what I could remember, and he looked it up on his phone. He read through the instructions, and told me that it sounded entertaining. If we got back to his house in time, we could try it. Well, we got back at about ten minutes till midnight. His parents went to bed, and we immediately grabbed some slips of paper and a pin to prick a finger for the blood.
“Once this was done, we placed the slips of paper with fresh blood on them in front of the front door of his house. It was wooden, which was required for the Summoning to work properly. We then lit two candles and split up the matches and salt between the two of us (we had gotten it from his kitchen).
“The clock in his living room chimed, and we knew that it was time. Zack opened up the door, and we both blew out our candles. He quickly, but ever so quietly, shut the door. We relit the candles and began wandering the house, in the dark.
“Believe it or not, the candles we were using actually gave off a decent amount of light, and we could see well enough as to not bump into anything. During the first fifteen minutes, Zack opened up his pantry so that either he or I could get a snack if one was needed.
“It wasn't until half past midnight that we felt something change in the air. There was a thickness and a coldness to it that hadn't been there before. It felt as though all happiness had been removed. Now, when I turned around a dark corner, I was much more cautious. I felt the need to look behind me more often than before.
“I was nervous. I'd have been a fool not to be. I felt that somewhere, the Midnight Man was lurking unseen in the shadows, waiting to make each of us his prey.
“At about quarter till one in the morning, there was a change outside. The outside light beside their driveway wasn't very bright to begin with, however it appeared dimmer. I thought maybe the bulb was beginning to go out, and I would have said something to Zack, however we were being perfectly silent so that the Midnight Man could not find us.
“Then, the light began to flicker and it went completely out. One by one, each house down the street lost the light of their outside lamp. Shadowy figures began stalking the sidewalks of the community. Something was very wrong.
“Right as the clock chimed one, I felt a chill run down my spine. I felt as if someone's eyes were boring into the back of my skull; I was being watched by someone, and it certainly wasn't Zack.”
I paused. “Did we bring any water bottles?”
“Yeah, here you go,” answered Froats, handing me a unopened bottle of Dasani.
I opened it and took a long swig. “So, did this really happen?” asked Paul with a tone of skepticism.
Turning toward him I replied, “Yes it did, and keep in mind there is more to this story, so please don't be to quick to judge. Let me finish.”
“Continue,” commanded Popson.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. I then began telling what had happened before I had stopped for a water break. “Anyways, it was at one when I knew that there was a growing danger in playing this game. However, there was no way out, no way of escaping the Midnight Man. If I were to run outside, I would face whatever demonic shadow creatures patrolled the sidewalks. I knew that I had to continue playing.
“The air grew colder, so cold that I was sure that I was seeing my own breath in the candlelight. And then, it happened. My candle went out. For a brief moment, I was stunned. I couldn't believe that what I had found on the Internet was actually true.
“Then, I realized the seriousness of my situation. I jammed my right hand into my right side pocket, pulled out the packet of matches, and struck one to relight my candle. Just as I allowed the flame of the match to touch the flame of the candle, all seemed much more peaceful. The chill in the air was gone. But around the corner, disappearing into the shadows of the house, was a dark figure.
“Instead of turning around, I pursued it. I went around the corner and found myself in what appeared to be the living room (the candle did not provide sufficient light to properly see my surroundings). I made my way through the room, careful not to bump into the sofa. I made sure that my steps were quiet so that I would not alert the Midnight Man where I was.
“Then, I found myself at the foot of the staircase that led upstairs. I saw the shadow of the man reach the second floor and vanish into the darkness. I could hear footsteps overhead. I crept up the stairs and noticed a light in one of the bedrooms. It was at the end of the hallway.
“I made my way through the hall to the room where the light was shining. Then, the light went out. There was the sound of rummaging through pockets, as if matches were trying to be found. Then, a brief silence, then more rummaging, this time, I believed it had to have been for the salt.
“The hall was quiet. The chill that I had felt only minutes earlier had appeared in front of me. I walked through it and found myself in the room. Zack was sitting by the small window at the front of the room. He told me that he couldn't find his matches and had sprinkled a circle of salt instead. And that's when I was assaulted again.
“My candle went out. I was truly afraid at this point. I pulled out the packet of matches, but my hands were shaking so badly I couldn't manage to strike one. I blacked out.
“I came to in a matter of minutes, according to clock in Zack's room. Luckily, I had fallen in a such a way that his bed broke my fall. My candle had hit the floor. Shards of glass were scattered throughout the room and a pool of hot candle wax lay at the foot of the bed. Luckily, his parent's bedroom door had been shut, so they hadn't heard any of this.
“I sat up and gazed around the room. My back hurt slightly from where it had slammed the side of his bed, but like I said, I was fine other than that. Zack was still sitting by the window, but he was now turned to face me. I knew what was going through his mind. He was wondering if I was going to begin hallucinating since my candle had not stayed lit and I hadn't had the chance to spread a circle of salt around myself.
“The room was dark, however I could still make out a large dark figure in the corner. It appeared as though it had a knife in hand. Then, Paige, short, blond Paige that is, walked through the door and into the room. I was stunned. What was she doing here?!
“Still confused, I approached her to ask how she had gotten here. But the figure in the corner approached her and jabbed the blade into her gut. Her mouth opened and a stream of red hot blood dripped down her chin and onto her tank top. She fell to the ground, gasping, and then was still. My mouth was wide open and my eyes were wide.
“Just as quickly as it had happened, the scene disappeared. Shaking my head, I rose from the bed and bolted down the stairs. I was getting ready to open the door when I heard a knock on a window in the living room. I walked into the living room and saw Gopp at the window, peering in at me. Some demonic creature with horns rose up behind him. I mouthed 'run.'
“But it was too late. The demon grabbed his head and twisted it to the side. He fell to the ground and didn't get up again. I stopped just short of running out to help him, afraid of what the creature outside would do to me.
“I felt faint. I slowly stepped back and sat down on the couch. I was breathing hard and sweat was running down my face. I reasoned that these had to be only visions and that this wasn't actually happening. It just seemed so vivid, so real that I didn't know what to think.
“Looking up at the clock, I realized I still had two more hours of this. I would be suffering for that entire time unless I did something, but what could I do? There was nothing I could do within my power to stop the evil of the Midnight Man!” I paused.
Paul looked at me. “What did you do?”
I turned towards him. “What could I do, I was completely at this mercy. To make a long story short, for the next two hours, I stayed on that couch, emotionally drained and unable to rise. I watched every person that I had ever felt something for be murdered multiple times before my eyes, only to disappear and segway into the next killing. And that's all there is to it, that's what happened when I summoned the Midnight Man.”
Everyone stared at me. No one knew how to react, all I knew was that the fact that maybe the Midnight Man was real was beginning to sink in. I took a deep breath, and leaned up against the wall behind me, still covered in the warmth of my sleeping bag.
Luke turned from me and towards Froats. “Do you think we should still go through with this? If what Nick said is true, then-”
Froats interrupted him. “We're already here and we have nothing better to do. Besides, I still don't think the Midnight Man is real.”
I shook my head. Nothing was going to keep them from summoning him. They wanted to and had their minds set on it, there was no stopping them.
And then, there was a silence, except for the occasional creaking of the house settling on its foundation. It was now about ten o'clock. We still had another two hours of waiting until midnight and an hour and a half until we began to prep everything, that is distribute the matches and salt evenly, make sure that everyone has a candle, the names are all written on the slips of paper, blood was drawn, and all the lights in the house were out. The last of those was the easiest, the house had no electricity and it was already pitch dark except for the flashlights that we had brought along with us.
I then felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a call from Gopp's Paige. “I'll be right back, you guys,” I said pulling myself out of the sleeping bag so that I could answer. Once I had picked up the phone I said “Hold on, let me get outside then we can talk.”
I grabbed my already turned on flashlight which was laying on the ground near my sleeping bag and made my way towards the front door. It was cold outside. On top of the coldness there was the smell of smoke, someone must be having a Halloween bonfire somewhere nearby or just burning a witch. I figured it was the first of those two thoughts.
“Okay, outside now. What's up?” I asked Paige.
“Well, I'm just giving you a heads up about something,” she said with noticeable amount of concern in her voice.
“Did one of our parents find out that we're up here?”
“No, it's not about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
“If you'd stop asking questions then I could actually answer you,” she replied, a little annoyed.
“Sorry.”
“It's fine. Listen, the reason I'm calling is to warn you that Gopp's gonna try and sneak up to the house you're in around half past midnight or closer to one to try and scare you.”
“NO! Paige, you've got to stop him, he'll die. When the Midnight Man arrives, he brings demonic entities with him that inhabit the space outside the house that the Midnight Man is inside. That's why you're not supposed to leave the house once he's been summoned. They'll do something terrible to him if he arrives.”
“Oh God. I'll try to stop him.”
“Please do. I'm gonna try and catch some shuteye before midnight rolls around, call me after you talk to him so I can intervene if needed.”
“Nick, I don't think that's such a good idea. He's mad at you-”
I cut her off. “I know, but if you fail, I'll need to prevent him from coming at all costs. It's a situation of life or death,” I said gravely.
Paige must have caught onto the tone of my voice. “Alright, I'll let ya know. Bye.”
“Yeah, bye.”
I hung up the phone and sighed. It appeared as though Gopp was going to get involved whether I liked it or not. I gazed at the full moon in the sky. A few clouds hung in the sky surrounding it, but otherwise it was a clear night. The stars were out and I could make out a few constellations. I tried to remember what stars gave the sign of something terrible to come, but try as I might, their names and locations could not come to mind. Maybe it was for the better not to have recalled them. It might have just made me more afraid of the night to come.
I turned around and walked back inside shutting the door behind me hoping to leave some of the chilly nighttime air outside. Only Froats was still sitting in his sleeping bag. “Hey Nick, everyone else went to walk around the house so that they got a feel for it before walking around it tonight. I didn't really want to after the bathroom incident.”
I laughed. “Can't say I blame ya. Well, we have an issue.”
“What's up?”
“Well, Paige just called, that is my friend Paige, not the one I had a date with last night. Them having the same name's annoying.”
“Yeah, anyways, what'd she have to say?”
“She told me Gopp's gonna try to get up to this house tonight around one in the morning to try and scare us.”
“Okay, and what's the problem with that?” asked Froats.
“Well, remember when I told you guys about the first summoning and those shadows outside the house?”
“You don't think-”
“I do, if he shows up, he's as good as dead.”
“Well, stop him from coming here!”
I sighed. “Paige agreed to talk to him, but if that doesn't work, I'll call him which I'm hoping I don't have to do. He's mad at me and I don't feel like bothering him until he's cooled off.”
Froats nodded. “Seems reasonable.”
“Look, I'm gonna try to sleep since it's gonna be a late night tonight.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thanks. Just wake me up around quarter after eleven. What, it's a little after ten now?”
“Yeah,” Froats replied after checking his phone. “Get some sleep, I'll wake ya up.”
I turned away from him and headed toward my red sleeping bag. I pulled my pillow close and laid down. I was already warmer, but I still was thinking about what would happen tonight, especially if Gopp decided to show up. Shaking my head, I said a silent prayer that he arrived before we summoned the Midnight Man. If he didn't, then he was toast, plain and simple.
I laid down and close my eyes. Within seconds, I fell asleep.