It started as a stupid game. My friends and I had always enjoyed scaring each other with creepy stories, and when we heard about the “Midnight Game,” we couldn’t resist giving it a try. How dumb was that name, anyway? It was supposed to just be an excuse to hang out with each other and drink until the sun came up.
So it was me, Jenny, Luke, and Shaun. It was close to Halloween so we were really full tilt into spooky season, especially since we love that stuff. Jenny wasn’t into it as much, we could tell, but she played along for Luke’s sake. We all appreciated that.
Anyway, we’d run through the usual Halloween movies already and I don’t know if it’s just me but all the new ones are garbage. I hadn’t seen a movie that scared me made after like the 2000s, so it was kind of a boring night after we watched our last classic horror favorite. Shaun brought up this game his friend from home had told him about, and that’s how it started.
The game was simple: everyone wrote their name on a piece of paper, lit a candle, and placed it in the center of a circle drawn on the floor. Then you turned off all the lights and waited for midnight. At exactly midnight, you had to blow out the candle and try to stay in the circle until dawn. If you left the circle, it was said that the “Midnight Man” would come for you.
We didn’t really believe in the Midnight Man, of course. We just thought it would be a fun way to pass the time. We collected candles and wrote our names down at probably 11:50 ish, because we didn’t want to wait too long before the game started. The most tedious part was tracing out a circle of salt on the ground. Shaun had a huge tub of it, so we figured better too much than too little Luke brought some whiteclaws and I sourced a couple of shooters, so it was going to be a fun spooky time in the circle. Shaun suggested we leave our phones in the kitchen. I think he said it would “enhance the experience” or something. I didn’t give him much thought. But once the clock hit midnight, the atmosphere changed.
The air was heavy and still, and there was a sense of presence in the room that I couldn’t explain. It felt like we were being watched, and I had the creeping feeling that something was waiting for us just beyond the circle. Any attempts to joke or talk about anything fell flat, nobody seemed in the mood to goof around. Especially not Shaun, now that I think about it, who had been sitting quietly near the center of the circle since midnight. I think everyone was more scared than they wanted to admit.
As the minutes ticked by, we started to get restless. Jenny was the first to crack. She yelled that this was stupid, that she wanted some water and to charge her phone. Shaun argued back, and called her some not-so-nice things. She wasn’t taking this seriously, why did she have her phone, yada yada. I believe we were called every name under the sun as well. Luke looked sheepishly annoyed, and stood up next to her, trying to calm her down. He said something about the game just being dumb fun, and she replied something that I didn’t hear because she was dead before the end of the sentence.
As Jenny replied, she stepped out of the circle, and was gone. Something had grabbed her, it seemed like. As she was whisked away, she let out a bloodcurdling shriek that faded into the night quickly. Luke went to go after her, but Shaun pulled him back in by his shirt collar and threw him back inside the circle.
The door to the room suddenly slammed shut, and we heard the sound of footsteps approaching. We all froze, too scared to move, as the footsteps grew louder and louder.
It appeared where Jenny had stepped out, right in front of Luke. If it was standing tall, it would have been taller than the ceiling. It was hunched over, unnaturally long arms dangling down by its knees. Its head was swollen in a pronounced skull shape, with only white spheres for eyes. Out of its sockets, almost like tears, blood streaked down its face. It had a small mouth for the size of its head. The teeth inside, however, were just as sharp as you might expect. It had no nose.
Its arms and legs were unnaturally slender, but its shoulders were built. At the end of its hands were long, sharp looking fingers. They almost touched its feet. It was naked, and breathed quietly.
Nobody said a word.
I don’t know how much time passed with the Midnight Man standing outside the circle. It seemed like hours, but had to have been minutes. It began walking around the circle, eyes trained on us the entire time. Its gaze shifted to each of us at least once.
I watched Luke for most of this time. Shaun had held him for the first bit, but once Luke collapsed to the ground and began sobbing, he let him be. While I watched Luke, his eyes were focused on Jenny’s phone that was lying on the floor just outside of the circle. After another bit, after his sobs had been reduced to whimpers, I stopped watching Luke. I exchanged glances with Shaun and the Midnight Man.
I attempted to say something to Shaun once, but as the words left my mouth the Midnight Man opened his and there was Jenny’s scream again. A perfect imitation. I could tell it got to Luke. He still laid on the floor, facedown, crying.
Then, when the Midnight Man was on the opposite side of the circle, Luke lunged for the phone. The Midnight Man was on him too fast. It was too fast. His wrist was shredded as it latched on. Luke screamed, and it stared into his face and echoed his scream back. Luke was white. He was quiet.
The Midnight Man pulled Luke out of the circle slightly more, until his head was on the outside. It threaded its talons through Luke’s jugular, dousing the floor in blood, and poked its fingers back up through his mouth under it had a hold on Luke’s jaw like a bowling ball. In one swift motion, the creature wiped Luke’s body through the circle, scattering the candles and salt across the room. The next minute was a frenzy.
Shaun lost his mind, and scampered towards the window trying to get out. In my mind the only thing that made sense was to get more salt from that tub in the kitchen. I wish I had just tried to escape. I would have been killed.
The Midnight man went after Shaun, so I was able to reach the kitchen. I grabbed the container of salt and dumped it over myself, creating a huge pile of salt on the floor which I sat in the middle of. Thank god our phones were next to the container.
As I did this, I listened to Shaun’s screams from across the house. I don’t know when Shaun stopped screaming and the Midnight Man started echoing him, but I do know the Midnight Man was screaming Shaun’s scream when it found me in the kitchen. It took in the situation, and got as close as it could. Then it retreated.
It returned some time later, dragging bodies behind it. As I watched, it sliced open my friends and positioned them so their blood pooled and ran towards my salt circle. After this was set up. The Midnight Man sat quietly, watching me. Its eyes haven’t left mine. The blood has reached the outside of my salt circle and is slowly advancing. The Midnight Man is waiting in anticipation. Dawn is in 2 and a half hours. I don’t know what to do.