Fright Night Newby

Halloween had always been one of his favourite times of year. All the dressing up and gruesome make up appealed to him. So did creeping up on people or jumping out at them to give them a scare.

‘What do you think to this one?’ Alan asked, striking a threatening pose in a clown suit and with a murderous look on his face.

‘Brilliant,’ Max said. He was enjoying watching everyone selecting their look for the special night and trying to decide what he was going to do.

The problem was that something was distracting him. There was something murmuring away at the back of his mind, something he felt he ought to remember about what was going on here, but he could not quite pin it down.

‘Come on Max,’ Lizzie urged. ‘Make up your mind what you’re going as. We want to go and try them out.’

‘Try them out? What do you mean?’

‘Oh, of course, you don’t know about it yet do you?’ she said excitedly. ‘There’s this wonderful place we go to. It’s an old ruin of a castle. Lots of kids and even grown ups go there because they’ve heard that it’s haunted. It’s the perfect place to scare the wits out of people. Come on get ready.’

‘Yeah, come on,’ the others all clamoured.

 There were about seven of them in the group and Max didn’t know all of their names yet. Again that puzzling question came back into his mind. What was it he needed to remember? He picked out his favourite outfit. He always liked the Grim Reaper look. The others all approved and finally they were ready to go. They set off with a lot of giggling and nudging. Max smiled. They seemed a really fun crowd.

As they came in sight of the place they were heading for Max felt the strange nagging in the back of his mind again. And another thought now occurred to him that he couldn’t remember how they’d got here. It seemed to have taken them no time at all. He dismissed the thought for the moment. This place looked really interesting.

It seemed to have been one of the very small castles that were placed on borders at one time. It was certainly eerie. It stood on a low hill, and looking up at it in the falling light made it look slightly threatening. There was very little of the outer wall left, but in the centre, on the top of the hill, there was what looked to be a quite substantial tower.

‘Come on,’ one of the group said, and they headed up the slope.

As they entered the outer circle of walls they could hear voices and laughing coming from inside the tower. They sounded like kids messing about, and the sounds were coming from higher up.

‘Oh good,’ said one young man who was dressed like a mummy. ‘Sounds like they’re up on the first level. If we hurry we can catch them unawares as they come down.’

‘Good thinking,’ said another who was dressed as a very gruesome zombie. ‘Shall we go round to the back entrance, Alan? Lucy the witch can come with us, and Gavin the werewolf. You and the others can go in the front and we’ll see what they do when they find ghouls in both doorways.’

Alan laughed an evil laugh and rubbed his hands. ’Brilliant,’ he said. ‘This is such fun. I love Halloween.’

Max smiled at Lizzie. Yes it was fun, although he hoped they wouldn’t be responsible for giving someone a heart attack.

Inside the tower was really damp and gloomy. It was a perfect location for a horror film, Max thought. They could still hear a lot of laughing and shrieking on a higher level, and somebody making moaning sounds like an imaginary ghost. Max could see the others in his group as they came into the entrance opposite the one where he was waiting with Alan and Lizzie. Alan put a finger to his lips as they heard footsteps coming down the stone stairway. Four people ran down to the tower floor. They looked like young teenagers, and at first they didn’t seem to notice the groups waiting in the doorways.

Stepping forward slowly and extending his arm to point at the kids, Alan spoke. ‘Who are you who disturbs our rest?’

Max stared at him. Somehow he had managed to make his voice deep and resounding. The kids were staring too, and starting to cluster together.

‘Who are you?’ One of them asked tremulously.

‘Do not ask,’ said the mummy, starting to approach them and also making his voice echo off the walls.

With a sudden cry of alarm, one of the kids made a break for the rear entrance, and was quickly followed by the others, arms outstretched to push the scary people out of the way. Max watched in absolute astonishment as the kids ran straight through the people who stood there, as though there was no substance to them. Screams of terror could be heard fading away down the hill. Inside the tower though, was filled with hysterical laughter. Everyone was doubled up. Except for Max.

‘What... What happened?’ he asked. ‘Were they... Were they actual ghosts?’

Alan stopped laughing and frowned at him. ‘What?’

‘Those kids. They just went straight through werewolf and the others. Were they ghosts?’

Alan sighed. ‘Max, I know you’re still a bit new to this and all, but you’ve got to try and get used to it. You’ve been dead for two weeks now. You’ve got to try and remember. It’s us who are the ghosts.’

It was almost as though a light had gone on in his head. Of course that was what had been preoccupying his mind. He had still been trying to grasp that he was actually dead. It did explain a lot. For a moment he stood staring into space, but now with a slow smile growing on his face. He chuckled at a thought.

‘Are you going to be alright?’ Alan asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

‘Yeah,’ Max said. ‘I was just thinking how much fun I always had at Halloween.’

Oh yes. He grinned widely. This year it looked like he was going to have the best fun ever.