I just needed a few days to sit down and… think about what happened this Halloween. I know it’s been almost a month, but I’ve needed the time to just think and reflect about what happened. No one in my family believes me and I just need someone to listen to me without thinking I’m crazy so… Here I am.
I’m not a party girl, I will admit it. While my friends would go out to bars and parties for drinks and hookups, I would either stay home, or play designated driver to make sure they all got home safe. I didn’t mind this arrangement, in fact I loved it! And my friends could always appreciate me being able to drive on down to whatever bar they were haunting and drag them back home, without them needing to call an uber or whatever. I appreciated it too; I wanted to still hang out with them despite not being a fan of the high life, so being able to do this made my friendships feel worthwhile. But now…
When the flyers started appearing I knew they would want to go; Molly and Holly, Chris, Alexis, Jackson… especially Jackson. Jackson Bates… What to say about him? Despite appearing like the most stereotypical frat boy, he was a genuinely nice guy. Constantly encouraging the rest of the group, especially me. He always wanted me to get out of my comfort zone, ‘To live a little’ he’d always say. I’m still not sure why he dated me, really, when all the other girls were so much more willing to start chugging booze with him. But no- the flyers.
The Nightshade House was an urban legend within the town. Some massive rich house belonging to the Nightshade family, until they all just went missing. The house was closed and condemned, and because no one exactly wanted a house where people went missing, it was left to rot and decay, to be reclaimed by the woods that surrounded it. But occasionally, every… I want to say 20ish years? Flyers would begin to appear around the town - or so the story goes - advertising a party at the Nightshade House. A Halloween Party filled with drinks and snacks and music, to go wild to your heart’s content. There was just one rule, listed at the bottom of the flyer in large, bold text.
Get out before 2AM.
So, if you’ve caught on by now, Jackson wanted me to go to this party. “C’mon Cas!” he held my hands in his, “You’ve got to come at least once!”
“You know parties aren’t my thing, Jackson…”
“You can still play designated driver! You just gotta tag along, see the party!”
“But you know what people say about the party! The amount of food poisoning reports-”
“Then don’t eat anything, simple!”
“People are jumping out of windows that can’t possibly-”
“Then don’t! No one’s gonna force you to jump out a window Cas.”
“I’m still not sure-”
He looked at me, giving me the best puppy dog eyes a guy built like a linebacker could give. “Please, for me? You won’t have to drink, or interact with anyone. Just check it out! It’s the first time it’s happening in like… 20 years! We can’t miss it, who knows how long it’ll be until it happens again! And besides, we can consider it a date?”
I wish I never relented.
-–
The outside of the house was like it always was - disgusting. Built of rotten wood, moss and lichen slowly consuming the peeling white paint (more grey than white now). The windows were covered with boards, rusted nails burrowing their way out like they wanted to escape. And the front garden was grass stretching to the sky, surrounded by a ring of a collapsed stone wall. And here I was, outside the Nightshade house, dressed in the nicest party outfit I owned - some knee-length sleeveless dress I wore to a wedding - and small jacket, that did absolutely nothing to protect me from the cold, and my headphones. Had to protect myself from sensory overload somehow. The others were all dressed to impress, all Halloween glam and sparkle.
As we approached the house, I realized that things were a little… off, I guess? I could hear no music permeating the rotten walls, no lights gleaming through the gaps in the walls. It looked just like an abandoned house really. But the door… well it looked brand new. I could’ve laughed at the sight; a fresh oak door, immaculate against the shoddy shack it was connected to. “Are you ladies ready to have the night of your lives?” I could hear Jackson’s grin beneath the Ghostface mask he wore, which earned a snort from Alexis.
“Sure, let’s just… get this over with.” I really wasn’t looking forward to this.
Jackson swung the door open and Jesus Christ… It was just a sudden flash of light, a blast of music, the calls and whoops of people enjoying a party. I couldn’t help but jump, my heart in my throat. “Oh, this is more like it!” Holly cried, and immediately ran into the fray, dragging Alexis with her.
Molly trotted in after them, leaving me with Jackson. “Are you ready to go Cas?” He rubbed the small of my back.
I wasn’t, and yet I went anyway.
I was right about it being sensory hell, by the way. The music was loud and bassy, I could feel the floor practically surging beneath me. There were people everywhere, parading cups of beer, vodka, and other alcoholic drinks, sweeping between the rooms and up to the 2nd floor without a care in the world. The lights were bright and changed occasionally, oranges and purples and greens. I just sat on the sofa watching the humdrum with my headphones firmly on, probably the most uncomfortable I had ever been in my life up until that point. I couldn’t help but notice just how… weird the house was. Despite the exterior, the inside was… lovely. All clean walls and beautiful wallpapers, fresh furniture - hell there was even running water! I didn’t understand it. But at the time I just… felt like I didn’t want to question it? Like, yeah, a house that’s been abandoned for years surely has working electricity, that’s fine! Although the only thing that betrayed the houses’ true age were the windows were boarded up. But what was weirdest, and even I felt it was weird then, were the… butlers, I guess. They were tall people, not an inch of skin visible on their bodies. Their faces were covered by a mask, a weird… something. A scaly animal, like a lizard. It’s… hard to remember other than that. They breezed around the party, saying nothing, offering people drinks and snacks. I don’t exactly remember what it was they offered. Solo cups filled with a dark liquid that smelled vaguely of alcohol, that made me gag. Dark chocolates that looked more like coal that cacao. I guessed they were behind the party, but I couldn’t help but feel… unnerved. I never accepted what they offered me. Thinking about it now, that might’ve been what saved my life.
But well… I kept checking the time. Leave by 2. Get out by 2. That was fine, we had plenty of time. We’d gotten there about 10, so if we left by 12, we should’ve been fine.
-–
They didn’t want to leave at 12. Even as people began to trickle out of the building (except the mask-butler people), giving drunken goodbyes and hugs and kisses and… whatever, they didn’t want to leave. They all kept dancing and drinking and snacking, as I sat there like a lunatic waiting for them to be done. I know I should’ve just left, sent them a text saying I’ll pick them up when they wanted, but… I don’t know, I didn’t want to disappoint Jackson. He seemed so happy to see me out at a party…
1 in the morning passed and I began to get antsy. What exactly did happen at 2? No one knew, because by then people were usually out of the house. But there were always rumors - the most common being you’d vanish just like the Nightshades. I desperately didn’t want to find out, but you probably know where this is going.
“Jackson please we need to leave now! It’s practically 2 and-” he cut me off, words drunken and slurred.
“I know.”
“What do you mean you know?! We’re basically the only people here and-”
“Yeah, cuz we’re staying past 2! I gotta… Well, we gotta see what happens! We gotta! We’re gonna film it and see what’s up with this nuthouse!” He laughed too loud.
“You’re- You’re unbelievable!” I cried - I felt so ashamed about the tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
I just wanted to leave. I didn’t even care about my friends at that moment, I just wanted out. I regretted going to that stupid party in the first place, and I just wanted to go to bed and go comatose for like, a day.
A sudden droning gong sounded from the clock. It wasn’t a normal chime, it was… something else. My head whipped around as I spotted the time. 1:30. But as I questioned why it would chime like that as it wasn’t even 2, the hands began to move. Faster and faster, whirring and spinning, as the gong sound went again and again. I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins, as Jackson whooped and clapped his hands, yelling about how excited he was. I made a beeline for the door. I don’t even know why I felt so panicked, but it was just… something. Something really wrong about staying.
And then the door swung open, and a flood of people swept in.
-–
They were all wearing masks. That was what I immediately noticed. Strange, monstrous masks of twisted faces and teeth and eyes and tongues. Scales and fur and feathers and rocky skin. They didn’t even notice me, just breezed right past and immediately got settled into the party. Dancing and chatting and singing along to the music. It was like the beginning of the night, only… different. Somehow even more off-putting. When the last person entered, the door simply slammed shut behind them, like they didn’t even touch it. I don’t think they did. But I lunged forward, grabbing at the handle.
It was locked.
I wiggled it, pulled, pushed, more and more aggressive and panicked, but it was locked. I couldn’t open it. A strangled cry of terror escaped my lips. I shouldn’t be here. Jackson shouldn’t be here. None of the others should be here. I looked at the windows, and my throat went dry as I realised… The boards indicating where the windows had been were vanishing, wallpaper creeping up and over them like mould. I felt sick.
I threaded my way through the throng of people, muttering apologies and excuse mes, though they didn’t seem to notice. They were far too busy partying, though I should put that in quotation marks. They barely moved, standing still like statues. Those who danced moves stiffly, like they were an old animatronic in need of repair. It was hard to discern their voices from one another too, it was just a constant humdrum of chattering background noise that should’ve made sense but didn’t. And despite them holding and parading drinks and snacks around, they didn’t move to eat or drink them, or lift their masks up. I had to get out of here, and I had to get Jackson.
I found him, dancing in the middle of a group of the masked guests, a red solo cup, filled with beer, in one of his hands, the liquid sloshing over his hands and shirt. “Jackson!” I cried, “We- The door, it’s locked-”
He looked over at me, and I felt… God, no words can describe the terror I felt at that moment. His face looked slack, like he’d been drugged rather than drunk. His eyes were wide, pale, too pale. “Wuzzat?” he slurred, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, spilling the last dredges of beer all over it.
“The door is locked, we- we can’t get out. Jackson, this isn’t funny anymore, I think something really bad is going on.” I hissed at him.
“C’mon Cas- we… we’re fiiine!” he crowed, “Alexis’ filming this, we’re gonna… fffuckin’ find out what’s the deal with the-”
He cut himself off as he doubled over suddenly, coughing. I stepped back instinctively, watching him cough harder and harder, falling to his knees as his back arched. And I couldn’t help but scream as he raised his head, and his teeth-
They were growing, longer and sharper, blood and spittle spilling onto the ground as they split his gums open. His eyes were just… blank, staring at nothing as he coughed and laughed, and a growl began to burst from his throat.
I shrieked again, barely managing to keep the bile in my throat down as I heard the snapping and twisting of bones, his spine arching and his shirt splitting with spines crawling from his ruined skin, slick with gore. As I heard him howl with agony as his leg bones began to rearrange themselves, I ran.
-–
The masked people weren’t dancing or singing anymore. They just stared. Stared at Jackson, at Molly and Holly, at Alexis-
At me.
I could feel their gazes passing over each and every one of us, as the others… twisted. As I tried to find some way, anyway, to get out, I could see the others changing. Bony horns burst from Alexis’ forehead, twisting up and up. I couldn’t keep the contents of my stomach down when one ripped itself through their eye socket, bursting the organ like a water balloon. Holly and Molly, twins in life, twins in whatever the fuck this was, both had extra limbs rip open the sides of their ribcages, crawling and writhing like worms, all muscle and sinew with the skin barely having time to flow over them. I hovered on my feet, waiting for the changes to affect me, to have some grisly fate befall me… but it never did. It was the food, I realized. The food and drink I refused to touch it… did that to them. I couldn’t save them. I felt horrible in the moment - I feel horrible now! - but I had to save myself. They were too far gone. So, I ran.
I stumbled through the crowds, shoving through the swaths of people - I don’t even think they’re human, truth be told - forgoing any politeness. My life was on the line! But I found my means of escape. The stairs. I flew up them like a hurricane, my shoes thudding on the creaking wood. I had to squeeze past a few loitering mask-wearers, who regarded me with vague curiosity. Their gazes made a shiver go up my spine. I reached the landing, looking around wildly to find something, anything that could help me get out of there. All I could see were the masked people, and the odd straggler who didn’t make it out, body warping and twisting and cracking. And then I spotted it. A ragged looking door, one more fitting for the rotted exterior, sitting solemnly in the corner. I practically shouldered the thing off its hinges the way I broke through into the dinghy storage cupboard. It was empty, walls lined with crumbling shelves. And a window, half-covered with the slow-creeping wallpaper. My breath caught in my throat. My exit. I could see a pale light creeping through what remaining glass was visible, and my hand flew to my phone. 1:59. I had to go right then and there. So, I did what seemed to be the most reasonable solution and jumped through the window in a shower of glass and paper.
And then nothing.
-–
I woke up in the hospital. Apparently, I was found lying half-dead in the grounds outside the house, and brought me in. Turns out the police get involved and investigate the premises whenever the flyers show up. When I woke up, I panicked. What happened to my friends, I wanted to know. What happened to Jackson? But the nurses told me that the police conducted a thorough search of the house and… nothing. The inside was rotten and decrepit, as collapsing as the outside. The window that I apparently jumped through was fixed, like nothing happened. No masked butlers or masked guests. And as you can probably guess, no horribly mutated monsters. All the police found were rats and large piles of dust. I wanted to say that was suspicious but… I think they’d think I’m nuts. I haven’t told anyone about what happened at the house. I don’t think I can, or else I’ll be called crazy or something. But I know I’m not crazy, and I know that this happened! I’ll be going home today finally, but before I did I just… wanted to tell my story. Because I’m sure you all would believe me.