𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀

𝟭|𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀

Halloween is the highlight of my year. Excluding my birthday, of course. One can never have enough cake. I toss my thoughts to the side and focus on the current problem at hand. My friend, Jasmine, is incredibly late. To say I'm irritated would be an understatement. You don't just tell someone a time to be somewhere, not even bothering to inform them you're going to be late, especially when the so-called person is standing in some shady neighborhood, at night, in the dark, alone.

I mean, even the lampposts are flickering. ALL OF THEM. It isn't ideal, but I snuck out of my house pretty late without my parents knowing. It's better to not be in a position where I have to explain why I'm sneaking around. They would never let me go out. I'd just be sent back inside. Not happening. I'm not willing to miss delightful horrors. The carnival only shows up once a year and it's my first time!

Suddenly I hear a noise behind me and quickly turn to scope out the scene. Nothing, nobody. This is it. I'm going to die in some random shady-ass neighborhood. I consider just running back home when a set of hands grab onto my shoulders, summoning an ear-piercing scream from me. My mouth was then covered by said hands. Preparing myself for a fight, I turn around and punch the culprit, only to come face to face with Jasmine now sprawled on the ground holding her nose.

"What the FUCK!" She yells out.

"Sorry, sorry. Have you seen where we are? You scared me," I say, holding out my hand.

She accepts it, and I pull her up, letting out a breath of relief. I hugged her once I let go, I glared at her.

"Didn't you say you were going to be here fifteen minutes ago?" I say with annoyance.

"Chill out Dest. I'm here now aren't I? Let's go".

She walks towards the car, swinging the keys around her finger carefree. I roll my eyes, deciding not to argue with her anymore, and hop into the car, closing the door behind me. Jasmine starts the ignition, and we're off. After twenty minutes of driving and five minutes of walking, we made it into the carnival. Thanks to our friend Kobe, we got to skip the line since he's an assistant at the carnival tonight. We spend the next two hours roaming around the carnival, riding rides, and just enjoying ourselves. It's fun, and I'm glad I decided to tag along.

"Hey, let's go check out that booth over there," Jas says.

I look in the direction her finger is pointing to find an employee in a clown costume. He's handing a guy a Halloween mask that I'm assuming is the prize. The employee looks in our direction. The sight of him is making my skin crawl, to say the least, but I agree nonetheless. I mean it is a horror-themed carnival. I like how much effort they put into their costumes and characters.

"Ok, let's go. Seems cool." I say.

The guy with the mask in hand turned around to walk away but paused when he saw us.

"Hey Destiny, Jasmine"

Oh, It's Kobe.

"Hey, I thought you were still on duty?" I ask.

"Nope, I'm on a break, but I'm heading back now," he replies.

"Oh okay, we'll see you around," Jasmine said.

"See ya," he says with a wave.

We say our goodbyes and he walks off, placing the mask on in the process. It's our turn in line, so Jas steps up first. She hit's all of her targets with precision. As expected, given her experience with darts.

"Nice."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll give you a few lessons, and you will come close to being better than me," Jas says with a wink.

"Oh, I will be better than you. Watch me," I say with confidence.

"We'll see, I love a challenge."

We laughed as she stepped up to grab her prize from the creepy clown guy. I could have sworn he had the evilest look on his face a moment ago, but it was gone before I knew it, making me question if it was even there to begin with.

She stepped to the side to watch as I had before while I took her place at the booth. I wasn't too bad myself, hitting all of the targets, but not nearly as close to the bullseye as Jas's darts were. I reluctantly step up to grab my mask from the guy, refraining from making any eye contact.

Suddenly we hear a scream coming from around the corner. We run towards the distress sound and find a crowd of people. We push through to the front for a better view. It's Kobe. He still has the mask on. Except, this time, he's covered in blood with a knife gripped within his hands, a lifeless body sprawled beneath him. My heart speeds up, skipping a couple of beats. My breathing is getting harder to control. He would never...

"Kobe! What the hell is wrong with you?" I yell out.

His head whips in my direction, triggering me to take a few cautious steps back. He is out of his mind. His eyes...they're glowing red with some sort of symbol on them. I'm not familiar with it, but I'm sure it has something to do with his condition. His glare is menacing, sending chills down my spine. Kobe wouldn't hurt me. Yeah, Kobe wouldn't, but this isn't my friend right now, that's a damn monster.

An ear-piercing ring suddenly released from who knows where causes me to cover my ears. I stagger from the ear pain. Other people wearing the masks, now consumed by something evil, attack innocent civilians, painting the ground in red. It's horrifying. I have got to get the fuck out of here. Maybe I can get some help. Kobe surely needs to visit a mental asylum.

I looked to Jas in a panic only to realize she had the mask on too. I don't know when she put it on while we were running, but it was there now. She stared back at me with a murderous gaze. I quickly turn and make a break for it. I refuse to die today. Unfortunately for me, I'm dealing with an athlete. A fucking track and field specialist at that.

She grabs me by the throat and slams my body into the wall. I slump to the ground trying to get my breathing and vision back in order. I try to get up and run only to cry out in pain. The wall impact must have broken something. All of my pleas to go in vain. I heard an odd phrase before she forcefully shoved the mask on my face, everything going black.

"Be one with the mask." the demonic being said.

My entire body shuts down, I'm no longer in control. Trapped in a dark abyss, forced to view the light at the end of a strange tunnel, I could only look helplessly at the scene before me.

"To the mask, I grant my soul. I am one with the mask," I say. Only it wasn't me. From then on, the thing in my body caused nothing but destruction, with myself as nothing but a spectator to its whims. I should have just stayed home.