A Night of Demons

“Now kids, remember Halloween is tomorrow and so it is important to stay inside. It is not safe for Ghosts on Halloween. Do you understand?” Mom asked Auria and her siblings. She gave this same speech every year and it was getting old, they weren’t little sprites anymore. Auria and her siblings were almost full-grown ghosts. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes mother, we understand.” The young ghosts all chorused.

With a nod, Mom further pressed, “Good. So that means you all won’t do what?”

“We won't go outside until Halloween is over,” came the rehearsed response. The older ghost looked closely at all her children before nodding and leaving the room. The three young ghosts were quiet as they waited for a while.

When they believed their mother was far enough away, Alastor, Auria’s brother, turned to her and Daimon and softly announced, “This is the year I’m going outside; we aren’t little anymore and we will be fine.”

“Agreed! I think the stories aren’t even true, it is like believing in ghost eaters.” Auria nodded her head. She was ready to prove to her parents that she was ready to face the world. Daimon quickly agreed and they started to plan how they would sneak out of the house. Halloween couldn’t be that bad.

The next day, the plan went smoothly, and soon Auria was outside with Alastor and Daimon just before nightfall. The three moved down the streets of the quiet neighborhood nonchalantly. “See, it is nothing! Mom and Dad are just trying to freak us out for no good reason,” Alastor boasted.

“Well, Mom and Dad did say that things only go crazy once the sun goes down,” Auria pointed out.  This caused both of her brothers to glance at her with smirks.

“Are you scared little Aurie?” Daimon teased then the two brothers leaped at her causing her to flee with a squeal. They chased her for a bit before they all came to a stop laughing.

“Hey look at that house! It has a cool looking skeleton out front.” Alastor pointed at a house. Auria followed his finger and found a skeleton standing in the yard pointing at another skeleton who was facing away from the first in a running position. Between the two was a skeleton dog with his head low and mouth open. The three laughed at the scene.

“This is one of the best ones I have seen yet!” Auria exclaimed as her laughter quieted. These kinds of things were put up around this time each year, she didn’t know why but she found the fake skeletons and other lawn ornaments funny. Some were really cool and Auria would often walk around with her brothers looking at them.

Sooner than they had expected, the sun went down. Although it didn’t get dark because the lights filled the neighborhood; they cast shadows across the decorations littering the lawns. The three fell into silence as they looked uncertainly around. “Maybe we should head back,” Alastor nervously spoke as he looked around at the strange sight.

“Look who's scared now.” Auria teased with a smirk.

Her brother looked at her with a fake glare before mumbling, “Shut up.” Auria laughed before fleeing as he once more started to chase her. They darted down the street and were so involved in their play, that they didn’t notice as life started to enter the road. She looked back laughing at the two slowpokes only to see them suddenly stop as their eyes went wide. Their gaze angled past her.

Auria turned to look.  She stopped staring at the creature approaching her. Its shadowed eyes seem to stare at her from its pale white face. Its red mouth was open in a toothy smile that seemed to stretch across its entire face. She didn’t know what the creature was and she screamed involuntarily as she flung herself out of its way. Oddly enough, the creature ignored her and just continued on its path.

Her brothers flew to her while shouting, “Aurrie, are you okay?!” All she could do was nod as she tried to calm herself down. They turned together and watched the creature amble further down the road.

“What was that thing?” Auria’s question came out in a whisper. 

Daimon shook his head slowly, “I don't know. Do you think that is what Mom was warning us about?” Before any of them could respond, a scream pierced through the air and immediately sent them flying down the road.

When they finally slowed, they found themselves surrounded by demons, skeletons, and other strange creatures. The humans were nowhere to be seen as they spun in a circle. “What are they?” Alastor shouted.

“I don’t know. What do they want?” Auria questioned.

“I don’t know. Most importantly, where are we?” Daimon added. His question brought both of his sibling’s eyes to him as they all felt frozen. They had no clue where they were, how would they get home.

Alastor looked around wearily and took a deep breath before saying, “We should look for something familiar so we can make our way back from there.”

“How?! Everything is different and the creatures are EVERYWHERE!” Auria shouted back at him as her hands flailed around to gesture to the creatures. It was hopeless, they were never going to see their parents again, and cries started to escape from the terrified ghosts.

“Auria! It’s okay Auria. Calm down, it's going to be okay. We will make it home, we just have to keep our heads on” as Daimon reached out and placed his noggin back atop his neck. He got it backward and then had to twist it around but eventually had it on right. Auria’s fear started to give way to reason - especially now that she was able to see her brother's eyes again.

Another scream tore through the air, interrupting the moment, and caused Auria to jump. This time, instead of running, Auria turned toward the sound and she observed a group of creatures approaching the door of a nearby house. Her eyes were drawn to one specifically. Something was wrong with it, but she couldn’t put her finger on it until he entered the light shining on the porch.

Her eyes widened and seemed to be glued to the headless creature and she couldn’t help but whisper, “Too late, someone already did.” 

“Oh, that hurts,” Daimon said.  Then they all turned and stared at the scene before them. One of the creatures reached up and knocked on the door.  As the door started to open, Auria decided that she didn’t want to see what would happen next and turned and ran.  Alastor and Daimon quickly followed. 

Nightmares surrounded them on every side.  Screams and strange noises seemed to be emanating from houses on their left and right. Purple and red lights flashed everywhere.  Glowing creepy faces stared at the young ghosts but they just hurried past. Auria just wanted to go home. Where was home?

“Hey, I know where we are,”  Alastor’s voice broke through, “Home is this way!” She quickly turned and followed her older brothers. Having found their bearings, they moved swiftly now through the neighborhood. Auria recognized a few familiar landmarks and then moved faster.

After another minute, she realized how close they were and Auria sped past her brothers. The house was just around the corner now. As she turned the corner, a scream tore its way out of her as she found herself face to face, just six-inches away, to another creature. It had the outline of the top of a head, but then just drifted down. Its white ends seemed to be blown about in the wind. The only defining characteristic of the creature was two black spots right where the eyes should be.

Another scream tore its way out of her throat as she stared at it before jumping and darting away. Again, the creature paid her no attention and simply moved past her.  Her brothers ran around the corner and caught up to her calling her name. Her eyes met Alastor’s before he shouted, “Get to the house now!” She nodded before jolting forward and flying the last little bit to her house.

As they flew up to the door, their parents opened it and welcomed the three shaking children inside. Once inside, the parents followed the children to the living room and then their mother inquired, “Do you believe the stories now?”

Auria collapsed onto the coach and slowly looked up to meet her Mom’s eyes. “I am never going out on Halloween again.”