I’m not sure how or why it happened, but it did.
I still see it as a distant memory. Details of that night still creep into my nightmares. I know what
all I experienced, the three of us do, and yet, no one is left to truly recall the tale but me. Would
those who I was with wish me to just forget about that night, or would they want me to share
their story? The truth is I have no idea, but I do know that I am going to type my story out here.
Whether I share it with others, I have no definitive answer yet.
Halloween night, 2022.
I was a junior in high school, at West Arrow High School. As part of the student council,
I, along with a few others, had been tasked with overseeing this year’s Halloween Dance event
that the school puts on every season. Well, turns out no one wanted a dance this year, more so
they wanted a festival or a place to goof off and do all sorts of edgy things; the life of a high
schooler, I suppose.
I joined a small subcommittee to help in organizing the Haunted House attraction that
would be set up in the gym. A general haunted house doesn’t quite describe it. What it more so
was, was the gymnasium full of fog with a few obstacles and actors chasing you around as you
tried to find objects—just basically your average horror experience.
Now, I was never into dressing up or chasing down other people—acting, I suppose. Thus, it was
either that or helping the hot dog vendor outside in the chilly October air, so thus, I chose the
actor job. I tell you; schools just think they can get away with telling students to do things for no
real cash, just hours of “volunteering” that will ultimately become useless down the road.
Still, I was surprised when the teacher overseeing the Haunted House came to me asking
if I wouldn’t be an actor anymore, but instead would be the guy who rehides the found items at
the end of every round. Needless to say, opportunity only knocks once, and so, I took it in a
heartbeat.
Then again, there were some hidden disadvantages. I helped in setting up tables and
folding chairs, the “obstacles,” and then it was lights out and fog machine on. The attraction
didn’t open for another hour, as planned, giving the gym ample time to fill up with the nontoxic
fog.
Each of us, the five actors dressed as monsters, the teacher, and me all acquired
flashlights to which we used to navigate to our starting locations. It might not surprise you, but
the cheap dollar-store flashlights provided essentially jack-shit for vision, though I could only
imagine how sight was for the actors, being behind their masks and such. Honestly, it was a bit
comedic the first time one of them ran into a metal chair and a loud bang echoed around the gym.
The laughs of the others and myself followed.
I found my way to the far end of the gym surprisingly fast, mostly just relying on
memory at this point. Truly, the gym really looked transformed, serial even. Oddly enough,
cynical old me had to admit, it was creepy to see the distant glow of flashlights dancing about in
the mist. Adding to it, the fog machine didn’t even turn off, and the gym would only become
even more foggy throughout the night.
The teacher, Mr. Strauss, announced for us to all get in our starting positions, and with
that, he left the gym, closing the door behind him, and beginning his telling of the rules to the
kids eager to play outside. He passed out flashlights that the players themselves could use, but to
which we’d previously taped over with parchment paper to dim the luminescence.
In truth, it took him around ten or so minutes to explain those rules and whatnot, so for
the time being, I just sat, crouched behind a desk where I wouldn’t be seen until the game ended.
For those wondering, Strauss instructed me to stay inside the attraction to lessen my back-and-
forth through the doors which would let out fog. Troublesome, seen as I already felt the urge to
piss.
I checked myself over. That morning I hadn’t worn a costume to school like I was
supposed to, but instead, opted to continue my fashion sense with a white button down and a
pumpkin-patterned tie, all tucked into kakis. Well, crumpled beneath a desk nor only made my
ware worse.
The silence was then interrupted by the doors to the gym opening, and thus, the first
group of ten players stepped inside. I peeked out from behind the desk, knowing that being at the
far side of the gym in the thick fog, I wouldn’t be seen. Their flashlights were pretty dim, but
apparently worked as intended. They’d be able to see the items they needed to collect, but also
lure the “monsters” closer.
Their laughs turned to silence, and pretty quickly it was clear as the lights dispersed that
they were going in five teams of two. Smart. Then, the screams started as the silhouette of one of
the seekers charged into the students, immediately getting one out and causing the rest to run for
it, turning off their lights and blending into the dark.
I twisted myself back under the desk and gripped my flashlight tight. Moments later, a
pair of footsteps passed by the desk, and I heard two voices.
“Found another item,” one whispered.
“I’ll hold it. Should we turn on our light?”
“Are you crazy?”
“We can’t even see where we are! Turn it on really quick so we can…”
The voices faded away. I peeked back out from my hiding spot, and for a brief moment,
caught sight of the couple turning on their flashlight which instantly revealed a seeker right
before them. They screamed, and as one was caught, the other turned to run, but tripped over a
chair, alerting the other seekers to come over and get her out too. Both of them walked to the
entrance, then they waited till the ten minutes were up or all the items were found; however and
whenever the game would end.
It was then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I’ll admit, I screamed, though to most
everyone else it probably just sounded like another player was eliminated.
A familiar laugh followed. It became louder as the monster mask was taken off. Though I
couldn’t see her, and I was told not to turn my light on during the game, I knew who it was.
“Alice? That’s not funny!” I threw a punch in her general direction but missed.
“Yeah,” she laugh-whispered back, “it was scary. Gotcha though.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be out there hunting people?”
“Am I? I can’t see shit through this mask. I’ve already run in to three tables. My waist is
so sore, and it’s just the first round! Besides, figured I’d check up on you. So, how are you
anyway?”
“Crouched behind a dirty desk. But I mean, at least I’m not running into shit.”
She laughed again, then her footsteps carried her away. By the sound of it, she caught
another player only seconds later.
When the ten minutes were up, Mr. Strauss opened the door to announce the end of the
game. I sprung out from my hiding position, and met with all the remaining players and seekers
by the main entrance.
All our flashlights combined; we could see the results of the game. Three players
remained, with six out of ten items found. I took the oversized Jenga blocks we called “items”
respectively, and jogged off, making sure to hide the blocks in different spots than before, some
harder and some easier. I checked to make sure the other blocks were still hidden, then unclipped
my walkie talkie from my belt.
“All clear.”
“Good,” came Strauss’s voice. “Before we start the next round, we’re going to make a
few changes. First, there should be a Bluetooth speaker in that desk at the far end of the gym.
The actors have all agreed you should play some spooky ambience through it; help set the mood.
Also, I’m here with Cameron. He’s gonna take over when you need a break, but he’ll also radio
you. He’ll wait with the players who get out, and collect all the blocks when the games up and
give em’ to you. He’ll have this radio now.”
Cameron was one of my best, and only high school friends. To keep it short, we met
freshman year, and instantly were like Yin and Yang. All the same interests, clubs, honor
societies–we shared in pretty much everything the other did.
“Hi.”
“Cameron, you gave up on running Balloon Pop?” I gave a sarcastic reply. “Or was it
Duck Pond?”
“Oh shut up, I got lightheaded. Plus, this looks hella cool in here.”
“Everyone, get in your starting positions,” Strauss’s voice echoed before the door shut.
Very quietly, I could hear him explaining the rules to the next group outside in his same boring,
monotone voice he aways spoke in. The actors’ voices came from out in the fog as they laughed
and made comments to one another about how the previous run had gone. I could hear Alice to
my right and Cameron was by the entrance. It’s funny, without being able to see it, my mind
created a somewhat mental map of the gym and where the actors were.
I found the speaker as instructed, hooked it up no problem, and played the first hour-long
soundscape I’d found on YouTube with crickets, owls, rusty gates, and howling wind; pretty
much stereotypical Halloween soundtrack. Again, you wouldn’t know it entirely unless you
were there, but in the increasingly dense fog, the gym really was really unsettling.
I heard Strauss’s warning knock followed by Cameron ducking behind his desk. The door
opened, and the next ten entered as Strauss attempted to be more efficient by staying outside and
readying the next group.
Rinse and repeat. Flashlights were instantly turned off to hide their locations, the players
dispersed, and every now and again when someone would run into an obstacle and the noise
would echo, I’d give a slight chuckle.
Ten minutes later, we all met and I rehid the blocks while Cameron tallied the winner.
Needless to say, no more changes were made this round, or to the three subsequent games that
followed.
I suppose I was getting a bit bored, and feeling a bit mischievous, I started peeking out
from under the desk and briefly turning on my flashlight to troll the seekers. When a group of
players would walk past, I’d bang on the desk and snicker at their screams of “holy shit!”
Once, Alice thought my light was a player and ran into my desk. She instantly knew what
I did and all I said remarked in a quiet voice was, “Karma’s a bitch.”
Another round and my jokes were already growing old. Then sparked the urge; I want to
see what it would be like out there actually playing as a player.
Of course, I already knew where the blocks were hidden, but that wasn’t necessarily the
point. If I could get away with sneaking out into the fog and pretending to be a player, no one
would know the difference. None of the seekers could see me through their masks, and any other
players would just assume I was with them.
So, with the fog growing impossibly dense by now, so much so that my light, which was
not hindered by tape and parchment paper, couldn’t even see more than a few feet in front of me.
Truly, I was surprised they let the fog get this thick, and it didn’t seem to be dissipating in the
slightest.
As soon as I was up and moving, the loudest scream I’d ever heard bounced off the walls
of the gym. I flinched to cover my ears. Now I can understand it might have been scary to see
someone dressed up as Slenderman emerge from the fog and tackle you, but why high school
girls feel the need to burst a lung, I’ll never understand. Heck, I would’ve thought they were
dying.
Still, the scream did enforce the idea that I should probably turn off my own light, and
thus, I did.
I moved slowly with my hands reached out into the pitch black. The air felt heavier. The
blackness consumed all my rational thoughts. It felt as though I was suddenly a child again,
crying for my mother when the nursery went dark.
My foot collided with something on the floor, and I nearly tripped. Unfortunately for me,
while steadying myself the flashlight slipped from my hand. I heard it land on the floor not far
away, and as I crouched down in an attempt to retrieve it, my hand touched an unexpected
puddle on the floor. I pulled back like I’d been bitten, quickly wiping my hand on my pants.
The thought of having actually just infected my hand with someone’s piss repelled me;
repelled me enough to give up on finding the flashlight. To hell with it anyhow. My eyes would
adjust soon. I figured I’d either make my way to Cameron or back to my desk, but it was only
then that I realized I had absolutely no conception of direction.
A few lights danced about in the distance, and so with no other reference point, I
stumbled toward them. While my eyes may have adjusted in normal darkness, my eyes could see
through fog. Of course as I did move to chase the other flashlights, the lights went out and more
screams came. This group in particular, was by far the most easily frightened. I’ll admit, their
screams legit sounded real and frankly, out of pain. But then again, I couldn’t imagine Alice not
being a bit rough with her jump scares. Thus, I gave name to this group: “The Screamy Bunch.”
Still, it was an eerie break in the silence that followed, and maybe it was just the fog, or
the subconscious need to fill the silence that urged me to cough, basically announcing myself.
“Nick!” Cameron’s voice was in my ear before I felt his hands on my back.
I spun around. “Yeah?”
“We need to stop the game. Do you have your light?”
“No, I lost mine. Don’t you have one?”
He spoke fast with an edge to his voice. “No. I wasn’t given one.”
“Why do we need to—”
“Because, something happened to Alice.”
“Huh? What? Did she scare a–”
“I found that I forgot to give you one of the blocks, so I nonchalantly started looking for a
place to hide it and tripped over Alice. She was lying on the floor just moaning, barely even
conscious. She couldn’t say anything coherent.”
I felt a deep pain in my gut. Truthfully, I knew it was a stupid idea to have people running
around in the pitch black in masks with obstacles. Just another thing to add to the list of death
traps this school has accumulated over the years.
“She must’ve tripped over a chair or something.”
“You think? She’s probably got a concussion! This is too dangerous.”
“You’re telling me! I nearly slipped in someone’s piss!” I demanded.
“We can worry about that later. How much longer do we have till this round ends and
Strauss comes back in?”
Truthfully, I didn’t know, but I did know we couldn’t wait till then. Maybe it was just a
minute more, or it could have been nine minutes.
“Look,” I pointed towards a distant light, though it was mostly useless for Cameron to
see my hand, we need to go get that guy’s light and then find a wall, and follow it till we find the
exit.”
“Brilliant.”
Cameron and I dashed a bit faster than we ought to have in the dark towards the last of the lights.
This, in turn, caused the friend by my side to trip and fade away into the inky darkness. I would
have stopped to help him, but ended up running into one of those wood cutouts you put your face
in at carnivals before I could do anything. I got my arm stuck in the hole where you put your
face, and as it toppled down on top of me, I struggled to get it off.
Up to this point, the night was seemingly just rather normal, apart from the attraction
going to shit of course, but that notion didn’t stay long. Cameron screams came, loud and gut-
wrenching. They lasted for no more than a few seconds, then came to a startlingly abrupt stop.
I had either the choice to continue for the light or help Cameron, and I chose to dash for
the light. Hear me out, aiding Cameron would have done nothing in the dark, but if I could get to
the light, then I could help both him and Alice. Plus, that also meant shutting down the attraction
and preventing everyone else from getting seriously hurt.
I shimmied towards the light, now calling out that the game was over and there was a real
emergency.
Halfway there, I started hearing footsteps behind me. Not fast, but rather slow and quiet,
like someone was trying to sneak up on me. I picked up my pace, not wanting to play any more
games.
I reached the light, and found it lying on the ground. I reached to pick it up, and again felt
repulsed that it too was slimy and wet. I went to wipe it on my pants, but the light revealed the
other substance that I’d wiped there earlier.
For a moment I found it odd. The school certainly didn’t allow fake blood to be used; that
was a question Cameron had asked just yesterday. Then the pieces clicked. I dropped the
flashlight from my hand.
Then came the question: whose blood, was it? Alice’s? Maybe it was all just a really
messed up prank. Yeah, a prank on the socially awkward kid who only wanted to hide under a
desk for the night.
Another scream came from not too far away, and I realized that it wasn’t the scream of
having a good scare, but rather a real, life-threatening last exhale of breath.
I wasn’t having any of it now, and as luck would have it, I backed up against one of the
walls of the gym. With one hand on the wall, I jogged the length of it, hoping to find the exit.
First however, I found the ninety-degree corner of the gym; the corner that just so happened to
house the lights. For once, things looked promising, but of course, nothing good lasts forever.
With one flick of a switch, the overhead lights filled the gym, but my vision stayed just as
useless with the fog. The light reached the floor, but the fog was so built up and dense that my
hand looked ghostly, even right in front of my face.
Not knowing what else to do, I continued racing the wall towards where I knew the exit
was at this point. Need I say, I did eventually make it, but not before witnessing the limp body of
a girl I’d hardly known from homeroom, propped up against the wall; eyes rolled back and
lifeless, mouth hung open at an offset angle, and blood stains turning her Casper the Ghost
costume a deep shade of crimson.
I reached the door, and while at first, I imagined it had to be locked, (because really, in
this situation it always is), but again, as luck would have it, the door screeched open. One look at
my stained clothes and Strauss showed the most expression I’d ever seen in the old man during
my four years at that school.
The rest is a blur. Tens of police officers showed up in minutes. The gym was aired out, though
the police wouldn’t even enter until around an hour later when the far wall was visible.
The last thing I remember was the awful, unimaginable horrors in the fog. All ten players,
two seekers, Alice, and Cameron were sprawled out around the gym, like ragdolls in a daycare.
The two remaining seekers were found hiding behind the same desk I used as my initial
hiding spot.
It was quickly determined that I, nor the two others, were in any way responsible for the
massacre, and we were directed to go home. No gun, no knife, no human could have done that.
The corpses…they were torn apart and mangled in a way not even the most mental of crazy
people could possibly conceive. My heart goes out to those families that suffered the loss of a
young life. That night, I too lost many things: my two best friends, my childhood, and the spirit
to celebrate Halloween ever again.
I don’t remember what the official reports were for the cause of death of the victims, but
let me just say, I count my stars at night. Running with Cameron; that very well could have been
me who could have tripped and been taken. Often, I wish it was. Other times I don’t.
I think it can be fun sometimes to take one of your senses away for a fun spooky game.
But when does the game stop being a game? When you as the player can’t just restart with a new
life? Maybe, but all I can say now is, don’t go into the fog, because you can’t even begin to
imagine what else is in there with you.