This year’s Halloween party had to be massive. I wanted to see the excitement in people’s eyes when they talked about my party. Everyone at school should’ve been talking about it all year long. They should’ve been counting down the days until Halloween came again…
With all that excitement, I started preparing for the party. Decorations, event cards, games, sound systems, lights, food, drinks… Everything had to be perfect. Even the invitations had to have a unique style…
I created a countdown app for the party. When the countdown was over, everything would start simultaneously. All darkness would disappear, and the silence would be replaced by party music. Even the invitations were going to be different.
When people opened the black envelopes that came to their homes, they would find black cards with “I dare you!” written in blood-red and a few symbols I found online to make the invitations look terrifying. When they held their phones close to the card, they would be directed to an app with the address and the countdown.I was so happy and excited.
For a while…
One of those intense October nights, just two weeks before Halloween, I lost my mother…
The police files labeled it as “suicide.” I was shattered. She was happy. Even though our life wasn’t perfect, she always smiled. She made jokes and created all those beautiful moments for us. She was our best friend… How could my lively mother leave us willingly?
Hoping for an answer, I cried at the Ouija board for nights… Everything I had ordered for the party had arrived, even the invitations were ready in no time. Unopened packages filled the house. But it still felt empty without my mother…
She left a note for us. A tear-stained note written with crooked letters. It felt like my mother hadn’t written it… It said: “Dear family, don’t be angry with me. I’ll always be with you in this house. I love you, your mother, Amanda.”
“Your mother”… This note made everything sadder and more complicated. Especially for me, who couldn’t believe that she had committed suicide.
I didn’t leave the house, didn’t talk to anyone, and sat at the Ouija board in agony for a week. After that, I decided to go out for a walk. Maybe some fresh air could clear my mind, even just a bit. Of course, I wasn’t alone on my walk…
People came, asked questions, expressed their condolences, and inquired about how I was doing. I had no answers, and I couldn’t even smile. I even ran into a few schoolmates who said they were excited about the party. A party? After all these events?
When I got back home, I told my father how upsetting it was that some people were still talking about the party even in this situation. My father didn’t support my words as I had expected. On the contrary, he said the party could be a good distraction and help me take my mind off things. I was furious…
How could he say that? Wasn’t it disrespectful to my mother’s memory? After a few days of these thoughts, I understood what my father meant. If I continued like this, I wouldn’t be able to get out of this pit of sorrow, and the best option to distract myself was this party…
I unpacked the boxes, started preparations, and felt that the overwhelming grief I had been feeling for days was slowly turning into a small spark of excitement. This party was going to be for my mother. For all the beautiful memories and her happy smiles…
I completed all the preparations and made arrangements for distributing the invitations…
Two days remained until Halloween night. In the middle of the night, I was sitting in the living room at the witching hour, once again awaiting a sign from my mother. The night was progressing, and I was in a state of almost sleepwalking. I decided to go to bed. I extinguished the candles and walked towards the stairs.
The stairwell was lit, but the rest of the house was in complete darkness. Suddenly, I felt a shiver down my spine. I had always been the kind of child who would turn off one light and hurry to the next, thinking I would be safe when I reached the light. However, I had no energy to run. To be honest, I had no desire to either…
A gust of air blew through my hair from behind. I felt my hair floating in the cold and powerful breeze. The cowardly child within me urged me to run, but I resisted. I had grown too old to be afraid of the dark… As I stepped onto the stairs, something grabbed my hair and yanked it forcefully.
I fell to the ground. I didn’t understand what had happened, but I was petrified. I could swear I heard someone laughing. A woman, or more than one… It was so brief and faint that I couldn’t make it out. Was it my mother? Was this the sign I had been expecting from her? But why would she harm me? She’s my mother. Is she my mother?
My thoughts were muddled, and in my state of fear, I dashed up the stairs without knowing what I was doing. As I ascended the stairs, the light went out on its own, and I heard footsteps following me. It wasn’t like the footsteps of a single person; it felt as though a multitude of people were chasing me. I had become a little child desperately trying to reach the light.
When I felt something touch me, I was on the verge of crying out of fear. I entered my room and slammed the door shut. The sounds suddenly ceased. When I collected myself, I thought it was all a product of my shattered psyche and got into bed.
My sleep wasn’t very peaceful either. In my dream, many dark silhouettes, each holding an invitation, were entering the house one by one. They were horrifying…
The walls of the house were torn, and the wallpapers were ripped. Beneath the wallpapers, there were symbols drawn in blood-red. They looked just like the symbols I had pressed onto the cards. The paints were dripping. Or was it their blood…
There was no furniture, and the incoming silhouettes filled the house… When I woke up, I believed that the excessive stress I had experienced in such a short time had affected my subconscious. I was scared and shattered…
The next night, I didn’t go downstairs and tried not to think about what had happened…
When the day of the party arrived, I was ready. I had pulled myself together and felt better. I had turned off the lights and was waiting for my guests. The silence was broken as the first arrivals gathered inside the house.
Everyone was whispering and laughing among themselves. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the start of the party. I could see countdowns on their phone screens. Everyone was so excited. This was going to be the best party ever. For my mother…
In the darkness, I couldn’t see anything. But when the countdown reached zero, it wouldn’t matter.
10… 9… I had made my way to the entrance to turn on the lights and kick off the party.
8… 7… I had reached the entrance, bumping into things and people. I took out my phone.
3… 2… In the darkness, someone tightly grabbed my arms and covered my eyes.
1… I struggled to press the button…
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a cold and gloomy room. A faint light was flickering on the ceiling. How? How had I ended up here? Where was I? My pupils were dilated from fear, and cold sweat was pouring down my body.
I heard someone laugh… It sounded like a little girl… She told me that I was at home. Suddenly, the light went out, and the darkness deepened. From the darkness, my mother’s voice rose. I swear it was her… I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel things passing by me.
Something was moving around me, darting quickly from one place to another. The air they stirred as they passed felt icy. And whispers…
It was as if they were reading something from a book, reciting some kind of incantations… Horrifying whispers echoed on the walls, chilling the atmosphere even more. I couldn’t move. I was bound by the darkness. It was as if my hands and feet were tightly held by them.
Amid the laughter, the voice of an elderly woman became more distinct, harsh, and terrifying.
In the distance, in front of a dirty mirror, a carved pumpkin with a candle inside suddenly flared up, and the candlelight began to flicker. The surroundings were dimly illuminated, and there was no one around… But the whispers didn’t stop…
Where were these grotesque and vile whispers coming from inside my head? The candle suddenly went out. I swear I heard someone blow it out… The darkness engulfed me again… Where was I? Who were these people?
Among the whispers, I screamed, asking what they wanted… The whispers ceased. It was as if they were waiting for me to ask that. Laughter began. Laughter echoed throughout the room. Among the disturbing laughter, I heard footsteps coming towards me. They stopped right in front of me.
Though I couldn’t see what it was, I felt it was staring directly at me.
All the sounds, all those vile whispers, and horrifying laughter ceased. It was as if they had all gathered in one entity right in front of me. Suddenly, the little girl answered, ‘You.’
A light turned on, and the reflections from the symbols drawn in blood on the walls illuminated the figure in front of me. It was a tall, black figure wearing a mask…
My mind was spinning. My heart was pounding in my chest. I felt like I was going to pass out. This dark figure approached me. I begged with my eyes tightly shut for it to leave me alone. My trembling voice and fearful cries echoed on the walls…
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the house. It was dark, but the light from the windows faintly filled the room. I felt a button under my hand. I was in sheer terror. I pressed the button.
The lights came on… Dim red lights… The walls were torn, and symbols were everywhere. My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets… This place looked like the nightmares I had been having for the past two days. My home…
The only thing filling the house was people wearing black robes and masks, their appearances twisted. Some of them had humps that protruded through their black robes. I was trembling. In sheer horror, I noticed the rope hanging from the ceiling. At the end of it, someone covered in black fabric was swaying.
Underneath that swaying figure was a large, horrifying symbol drawn on the floor, surrounded by burning candles. The swaying corpse was slowly turning toward me. There was not a single sound inside. Everyone had turned and was watching me from behind their masks. I redirected my gaze to the end of the rope…
The rope was tied around a woman’s neck. My mother… Tears streamed down my face. In a moment of desperation, I screamed with all my energy: ‘WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT!?’… The horrifying laughter began again.
The one who looked the most twisted and hunched among them started walking toward me through the crowd. My hand was still on the button, and I was frozen. Approaching me with their grotesque mask, they said, ‘You invited us…’
I felt my entire body drain and go limp. My hand involuntarily pressed the button… Everything went dark again. Darkness… Now, I not only feared it, but I also hated it. With the last ounce of my strength, I pressed the button again to dispel the darkness surrounding me and fell to my knees.
I was sobbing in fear, unable to move. But my sobs were lost amid the party music and the shouts of intoxicated people who had started to have fun…