I was in my teens and living in my small hometown. My parents left town for the weekend, conveniently on Halloween weekend.
I was a nerdy, awkward, anxious kid, and hosting a party was the perfect way for me to get some social momentum. I had a big house, outside of town, so there were no neighbors to call the police.
Word spread around school. I knew my plan was successful when Casey, the girl who I had been failing to talk to for years now, stopped me in the hallway at school and confirmed she would be invited to the party?
I celebrated silently as I confirmed that of course she was.
Halloween came quickly and I readied the house. My friend Riley was the first person to show up. He alerted me of the first thing that was off that night.
“I tried calling you like five times and the phone was always busy,” Riley explained.
I stopped what I was doing. I hadn’t been at the house all day. I had actually just walked in from being at the grocery store.
I checked the phone. It was on the hook. Keep in-mind this was the late-90s. I didn’t have a cell phone and neither did almost anyone I knew. We just had the landline.
Who had been on the phone?
I remembered if you dialed *65 your phone and got the last number which had been called from the phone.
It was 911.
I shook it off. My drifty older sister, Marin, may have come from college for the weekend and had been home while I was out and dialed 911?
I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Casey showed up - dressed as Carrie - prom dress, tiara, covered in blood. She looked fantastic.
Things started smoothly. I caught a very comfortable buzz. As did Casey. A good chunk of people showed up. They seemed excited to see me when usually they would just walk right past me without acknowledging me. My generic vampire costume seemed to do well enough.
The only thing that was possibly off was two people - one tall, one short, dressed in generic skeleton costumes. The two never seemed to talk to anyone and any time I walked by them they seemed to stare at me. I didn’t pay them too much mind though. I was more focused on Casey.
People started to leave around 2. Casey stayed though, even though her friends who she came with left. This was a great sign.
However, it was interrupted by flashing lights beaming outside on the road. Oh shit.
I rushed to the window. Horrified of getting busted by the cops and thinking about the 911 call someone placed from the house earlier.
I let out some breath when I saw the lights go past my house and heard one of the more intense party bros next to me click his tongue.
“Fucking asshole. It was one of those fake cop cars,” the party bro lamented.
Still, the cop scare seemed to chase another big group of people out. Leaving just a handful.
-
I posted up on the couch, conveniently leaving the seat next to me open. I shot some eye contact with Casey across the room.
She came down and sat next to me. We launched into an embarrassing, too drunk, 17-year-old conversation which led to us making out on the couch.
Which led to us eventually slipping off to my bedroom.
Casey and I had drunken sex and fell asleep together in my bed. I had no idea what time or how long we had sex. It was one of those magical drunken exchanges where time drifts out the window.
I woke up alone in bed. I could see a light coming from the bottom of the bathroom door though. I assumed Casey was in there.
I had to pee. I threw some clothes on and ventured out into the living room.
I was surprised to see no one sleeping out there. There were at least 10 people who seemed like they were going to crash in the house and it still seemed to be the middle of the night.
Whatever…I went to pee in the living room bathroom and encountered my first oddity.
I felt something outside the little window in the bathroom as I was relieving myself. I shot my eyes over there and saw a shadow move outside of the pebbled glass as soon as I did.
I never saw who or what it was. Just that they were there.
Then I heard the music in the living room start blasting - definitely as high of a volume as the family stereo could muster.
I walked into the living room and turned off the stereo. Still didn’t see anyone in the room.
The next red flag was in the pool. I checked the backyard when I walked through the living room and back to my bedroom and couldn’t help but notice a red tint in the water.
The sight drew me out into the backyard where I quickly saw the redness in the pool appeared to be blood. My body went cold and not just because of the Fall night air outside and me only wearing my underwear and a t-shirt.
That eerie sight was quickly overwhelmed by the sight of Casey, squatting in the back corner of the yard, still in her bloody Carrie costume, shivering, scared and looking at something right behind me.
I was about to say something to her but she got words out first - whispering…
“He’s right behind you.”
I whipped around and saw someone in one of those generic skeleton costumes run away from behind me and go back into my house.
I rushed up to Casey and discovered something horrible. The blood on her was no longer just from her Carrie costume - she was bleeding out of her arms and somewhere in her torso.
“What happened?” I blurted out.
“He’s lost his mind,” she whispered back.
“Who?”
“My ex.”
“In the skeleton costume?” I asked.
Casey didn’t answer. We were answered by the sound of an engine firing on the other side of the house. My mind told me her ex in the skeleton costume had run off and was driving away.
“He stabbed me,” Casey explained in pain.
I had to call 911 immediately. I wasn’t encouraged about the skeleton guy running into the house but I was also pretty sure that was his car driving off.
I walked into the living room and was quickly greeted by the phone ringing. The sound froze me in the middle of the room.
I answered the phone and put it to my ear. There was no answer on the line. Just breathing.
Then the other line hung up.
Going back to the time period, I used a trick. I dialed *69 to figure out which number had just called me.
A phone rang in the adjacent dining room.
I looked to the dining room and saw the person in the skeleton costume standing there, knife in hand, moving into the living room - they must have called from a cell phone on them.
I looked to Casey behind me. We were fucked. If skeleton took a run at us, there was no way we were going to get out the back.
Yet, I started to back up. Figured it was our only shot. Get out that door.
I watched skeleton tense up and then charge at us.
Just as he did…a voice shot across the room…
“What the fuck!?!?” My sister Marin’s angry voice shot across the room.
I saw her in the doorway, her mouth open as she looked at skeleton, halfway across the room, with his knife, racing at us.
Marin screamed and reached into her purse. Her move was enough to reroute Skeleton. He now ran for the door.
He got out before anyone could take a breath.
-
We called the cops and Marin told them about her ex boyfriend. His name was Shawn and he lived a few towns away. That’s all I got. Her wounds weren’t serious. She didn’t even need to go to the hospital. Just bandages.
Casey and I started dating even though it never felt right. I mean, how are you supposed to work with that night as your foundation?
Shawn had an alibi for the night. He worked at a gas station or something and he was on camera while this was supposed to be happening. I didn’t push on it. I didn’t want my parents to find out I had a party.
Casey and I didn’t last long and she moved away. I had mostly forgotten about her within a few years.
Every once in a while I would think about her and how there were some peculiar things about that night, including how light her injuries were, and her reluctance at first to call the police. Was there more to what went on?
Years later, once Facebook took off, I kept searching for her but could never find her and she had a super unique last name, so I should have been able to.
I eventually got an idea. I remembered Shawn’s last name. I searched for her with that name.
I found her.
She appeared to be married to Shawn. She appeared to live in the town where he lived at the time.
I made a mistake while stalking her - accidentally liking a photo.
I thought nothing of it until the next Halloween.
It was well past midnight and I was getting ready for bed. I still lived in my hometown where all of this happened.
My doorbell rang. I opened the door and was greeted by two people in generic skeleton costumes.
Both were too tall to be kids and it was far too late for kids to be trick or treating. They had no bags or baskets to hold candy.
They just looked at me as I stood there in the open door.
I quickly closed the door on them and locked it.
I could see them through the window still standing there for a little while before they walked off.
I moved away shortly after and I leave town every Halloween.