I work in a seasonal Halloween store. You probably know the one I’m talking about. We typically pop up in the plazas or mall fronts that are run down in your small town. We show up for about two months and then are gone. It’s not a bad job. I’m able to work around my school schedule and as a Halloween fanatic, it’s pretty neat. I’ve done this enough where I’ve been able to become the key holder/shift lead.
We get all kinds of customers. Small kids looking for costumes, adults looking for party decorations, dads going all out to make their houses the spookiest spot on the block, etc. I’ve done this a couple of seasons now. I was never surprised, until lately.
It started as a normal day. I was fronting all of the decorations and and putting back the costumes that people haphazardly put in the wrong place. I was scarfing down a frozen burrito down on my lunch break when I saw him come in.
This dude. He had to have been about 6’6”. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and had on a mask. This mask was very elaborate. It was pale gray/ blue, the eyes were hollow and blacked out, so mesh hiding his eyes. The lips were stitched.
So this isn’t out of the ordinary. People do this very often. They dress up, come in a shop and try to get a reaction out of some kids or record tiktoks.
“Get a look at this jag-off”, I told Penelope. It was just me and her closing the store. We had one of those relationships where we weren’t a couple, but everyone wondered why, and I think we wondered why to.
“Yeah that guy sure is scary. His mask is a winner. I’ve never seen it online or in any other store”.
The man casually browsed some of our decorations and I let him be. He came for attention, I wasn’t going to validate him. Not until he walked through some of our displays where we have the animatronics, a vibrating floor, and a fog machine. It’s really just a fun walk through for kids to get a quick spook in.
Well a small boy was walking through already nervous and this man jumped into the path and let out a mighty laugh. The boy screamed and ran to his mother, leaving behind a puddle that I’d have to clean.
I went to confront the man and ask him to leave but before I could, the child’s mother came up to me and gave me an earful. I apologized even though I had done nothing wrong, gave the kid a costume, and sent them out. Suddenly the man was gone.
I walked back to the register and put on some campy horror movie that sits at the tv by the register. I started talking to Penelope about classes I was taking and was going to invite her on a date. Two ladies walked in that I happened to recognize from around college. They went to the “sexy costume” aisles and grabbed about three or four costumes apiece.
Penelope guided them to the private changing rooms, that we keep available. She came back and had a smirk on her face. “Sexy cats, playboy bunnies, nurses, and poison ivy. How original”. We both let out a chuckle and I had built the courage. “Hey, when we get out of here, do you want to catch one of those midnight showings at the drive in. I can swing by the house and grab some snacks and set the truck up for optimal viewing”.
She bit her lip and looked at the ground, then at me. She bust out laughing and punched me in the shoulder, “hell yea, I’ll go on a date with you”, she said. I felt on top of the world. She went to help a horror dad look at the yard decorations while I was having my celebration internally. I went to put in a new cd in the store PA when we heard a woman screaming.
Penelope and I took off as fast as we could towards the changing rooms. The tall masked man had ripped open one of the changing room doors and threw a gallon of fake blood all over one of those girls while she was changing costumes. Penelope quickly grabbed one of the ponchos we sell and covered the crying girl. Her friend heard the commotion and came out of her stall, helping Penelope lead the girl to the staff bathroom to get the fake blood out of her eyes and attempt to clean her up.
I was livid. I quickly raced to the man and yelled, “Hey pervert. I don’t know what your game is but you have to leave now”.
Another customer chirped in, “Hey step away from him. The police are on the way”.
The man turned and stormed off out the entrance doors. Some minutes later, local PD came out. I talked with them while Penelope gathered the woman’s street clothes.
I told the officers all I knew and I pulled up what security camera footage I could. But all of it really was useless. I mean the dude was in a costume. I have no true description of him other than him being tall. We did see that he pulled off in an old Ford Festiva, but we couldn’t make out the plates. He had parked far away enough that the footage was grainy. The officers spoke with the two women and went on their way.
I gathered up the mop to go clean the mess that the man had made. Closing time came around and Penelope told me she was heading out. It was my job to do closing operations such as security codes and counting the tills at the end, so I told her I’d be leaving in an hour and would swing by the house to get the truck ready and pick her up. She gave me a small kiss on the cheek and left.
I quickly went to the office and counted the money and locked the office on my way out. Heading to the front door, I noticed another spill. Great, more punk kids and fake blood, back near the changing rooms again. I figured some kid made off to play while some parent wasn’t paying attention.
I opened the curtain and my stomach dropped. Penelope lay there in a pool of blood, mouth bubbling and tears falling from her face. She managed to look past me before she grew silent. I quickly called EMT and told them that there was a murder. First responders would be on the way but it would take them at least ten minutes.
I felt two hands on my shoulder and then I was flung into a display of pitchforks and sling blades. Looking up, my eyes met him. The man with the mask. He sat on me and put his hands around my throat. I could see his tongue licking the stitches while I was reaching for anything I could find. There was nothing in my reach and I put my hands on his face. The mask felt like….real skin.
I managed to put my thumbs closer to his eyes and in a moment of pure instinct, I jammed my thumbs into his eyes. The mesh broke and I was able to get a pretty good hit there. However, it only lasted a second, but it was enough to clear my airway and swipe his ankle on my way out from under him. I took off to the front door to escape, only to find it locked. I banged on the door until my hand bled. I ran into one of our walkthroughs, hoping I could wait it out until maybe the cops could bust the door.
I curled into a corner and held my breath. Minutes later I could hear the man whistling and laughing as he checked in containers. He made his way into the encampment I had burrowed into and triggered some lights and fog. Doing so set off an animatronic witch. She began to rock back and forth and it exposed me. He saw me and pulled out his knife. He put his hands on me and I managed to knock the witch over as he pulled me out. She fell against him. She wasn’t heavy but it was just enough resistance I could run.
At this point I saw the blue lights and police working on opening the door. They barely had it cracked and I bust out crying. They stormed in the area but couldn’t find the killer. EMT examined me and I was stable enough to go home. They checked in on Penelope, but it was too late. She had been gone the moment I was with her.
Be safe this season and watch out for people in costumes