(A/N: This is a completely revised version of the original story. The plot is different.)
It was the biggest night of the year. The one day where everyone left behind the thought of their mundane lives, got all dressed up, and spent their night trying to show up to every party they were invited to and even to some they weren't. It was Halloween, and everyone was having fun except for me. I was stuck at home working on a midterm project for my geography class, which if I didn't get a solid A on, I was most likely to fail for the whole semester, something I couldn't afford since I had my eyes set on UCLA for next fall. If there's one thing that is getting me through senior year, is the thought of being on the other side of the country by the end of it.
Being from a small town meant that exciting things didn't usually happen. Halloween night probably carried just as much energy as any regular night in an actual city. It was the one day everyone—and I mean everyone—including people in their 70's who frequented the local recreational center, were dressed up and spending the evening surrounded by friends, having a good time.
I, on the other hand, was the only person in Ardsley who was home curled up in a bathrobe, hunched over a desk trying to bust out three more pages about the Amazon Rainforest and its impact on human lives.
Since I was home alone, and no one was around to judge me, I was blasting my favorite Bad Bunny song on repeat with all of the lights turned off so that I could at least pretend that I was out with Cami right now. Granted, it probably wasn't the best for my eyes, but at the ripe age of seventeen, I wasn't really worried about worsening my eye prescription, just the current vibes of my homework excursion.
The song glitched as if someone was scratching it on a record, and my lights flickered on momentarily before shutting off entirely again. My head snapped up from my computer screen as my heart raced in my chest. I enjoyed being home alone, but not at night, and especially not on Halloween where the town kids were always up to no good, looking more for the trouble than the innocent treats given at the knock of a door.
Once everything was back to normal, I refocused my attention on my computer screen. It was probably a short power outage caused by my neighbors, who were currently throwing a party in their back yard and had used a million string lights to brighten up their space. I could hear the faint thumping of their music through my walls, almost aligning with the thumping of my speakers.
My computer screen went dark, but not in the usual way where the screen fades to black. The brightness came out from my screen in a sphere of light that bounced over my shoulder towards a shadow on the opposite wall next to the window. My eyes landed on a figure within the shadow. They were holding a device shaped like a globe in their left hand that captured the light and in their right hand, an electric baton that hummed away the silence that appeared after my computer shut down, no longer playing my music.
My body froze, but my mind raced with a million thoughts. My house was being invaded, and not just by a normal burglar, but one with a strange capability that I refused to wrap my head around. I didn't dare move as I watched the figure peek through my curtains and quickly duck back to flatten themselves against the wall, cursing under their breath.
I tried to speak, to say anything that would make myself seem more intimating, but I couldn't get my jaw to unhinge to get the words out. Possibly my only fear in life was becoming a reality in front of me. All I could do was watch dumbfounded as someone broke into my bedroom.
The person looked out the window again and let out a heavy sign in relief. My mouth finally woke up from its nap. "What the fu-" I tried to say.
They cut me off by bringing a bright light into my room. The sphere in their left hand that was previously completely black now had a slightly warm hue that grew and grew until it sprung out and latched itself onto the ceiling light and my bedside lamps, the only light fixtures in my room.
"Thanks for letting me hide here for a minute. Greatly appreciate it." The voice belonged to a young man, maybe a bit older than me. His figure was mostly hidden by a black cloak that dropped down to his shins, where a pair of black leather boots protected his feet, and black military-style pants peaked through. The hood of the cloak came down to hide his eyes, leaving his mouth as the only part of him exposed.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Can't answer that."
"Why the hell are you here?"
"I just said I was hiding."
"I'm literally going to call the cops if you don't start giving me answers."
"I feel like you should have done that a lot earlier, but I guess late is better than never." Chills ran up my spine as his sinister smile peaked through his hood.
"No, seriously, what the hell is happening? Is this some kind of Halloween prank because it's not funny, and I frankly don't get it. Also, how did you do that with the lights? Did you rig something in here before? Did Cami set this up because she's mad I couldn't go out tonight?"
"No."
"That's all you're going to say?"
"Yes." He stood defiantly in the middle of my bedroom, having taken small steps towards me as he spoke.
I got some feeling back in my legs, and my mind was working better than before. I didn't know who this guy was, but if Cami had sent him to scare me, it worked. I watched as his head turned around my bedroom, analyzing the space, probably looking for the best place to stuff my body once he killed me. I mean, if he killed me.
"I think you should leave," I said as I got to my feet. I didn't know how to defend myself and I was seriously regretting not taking those karate classes my mom tried to put me in as a kid.
He took another step forward, playing with the glass sphere of light between his hands. The electric baton was no longer on and stored away, which was a relief. "What is your name?" He asked softening his tone.
"Holly," I lied saying the first name that popped in my head. He tilted his head and I could feel the intensity of his eyes as he studied me.
The ball bounced up and down in a straight line from his right hand now, coming up to my line of sight right before it dropped down into his hands.
"Who is Elliot?" The wooden floorboards creaked as he took another step towards me. He was arm's length away, closing off the room with his bigger frame.
My eyes cast down to the floor, cursing the fact that he knew my real name, trying to figure out a better lie. "My older-"
"I know that your name is Elliot. Now to make things easier, I'm going to need for you to repeat after me."
"I don't want to-"
He cut me off by saying, "My name is Elliot." I felt a trance take over my body, forcing me to open my mouth and repeat the words he just said.
"I spent the night at home with no distractions. I went to bed at exactly 12:43 am." I involuntarily repeated the words after him, watching as the ball of light continued to rise up and fall back down. I quickly glanced at the clock on my bedside table that read 12:42 am.
"I will not remember anything unusual that might have occurred on Halloween night." After I repeated that last sentence, the clock on my nightstand read 12:43 am, and I found myself moving towards my bed and laying flat on my back.
Just before my eyes snapped shut, and I succumbed to the depths of rest, I saw the strange boy exit out the window with a dramatic flair of his cloak.