Silent Scream

I’m only going to be gone for a little while, don’t open the door for anyone or go outside until I get back, she heard her Momma say before she went out the door, the sound of the lock turning told her that she was safely locked inside for the night, too bad Mom had to go into work tonight, especially since it was Halloween and now she was going to be home alone with no costume to wear or candy to give away if by chance anyone found their house.

The porch light and the lights in the front room were shut off to deter any spooks or goblins who had mistakenly found their house from knocking on the door, so she was left to either sit in the dark waiting for Mom to return home early and take her out for a bit of trick or treating, or to entertain herself for awhile and then turn in early to wait for the morning light, she chose to prepare herself for Halloween just in case, and knowing they couldn’t afford a costume she headed into the hallway and looked up at the door leading to the attic, surely to goodness she could come up with something for a costume in the trunks of hidden treasures there.

She made her way into the attic with a small flashlight to light her way, there were two large trunks and a whole stack of boxes that contained old clothes, shoes, books, and all sorts of treasures from her childhood and a whole lifetime of things stored that once belonged to her Dad, she could use some of his old things to make a fabulous costume she thought, and maybe even come up with something her Mom could wear to make the evening more enjoyable if she should get off work early.

Working with the lock on the nearest trunk came to be more trouble than she realized, she propped the flashlight onto the stack of boxes and fought to release the latch, with a loud crack the latch sprung open, popping up toward her face nearly scaring her to death, the light dimmed at the same time and it was all she could do to keep from screaming her fool head off, she caught her breath and slapped the flashlight with her hand to get the light glowing once again, she slowly opened the trunk revealing what appeared to be clothing that must have belonged to someone’s Grandparents, she took out a hat that looked both ancient and brand new at the same time, she heard a shrill scratching noise from the small round window behind her and looking back she saw what appeared to be eyes staring back at her through it, but decided the reflection from the flashlight was playing tricks on her, the wind must be blowing a tree limb against the window she thought and went back to her search, glancing up she saw the spider web in the corner of the lid and realized the shadow that had continued to swing in front of her face was exactly what she feared it could be, slapping and screaming at the large spider retreating back up to his web, he met his death with a swift swat from Grandpa’s hat, now the hat didn’t look so good anymore so she placed it to the side.

Reaching back into the trunk she removed an old suit jacked, pinstriped and in very good condition, this just may work so she laid it aside, wigs were found and more shoes than she could imagine, she saw something shiny in the corner and stretched to reach it, she turned her head to the side and stretched her arm inside, standing on her tip toes she leaned inside trying hard to reach into the bottom of the trunk, it felt like a watch chain so she wrapped it around her fingers and gently pulled, she got a warm feeling of hair on her hand and for a minute she thought it was another wig, but at that same moment something was suddenly climbing up her arm toward her neck, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she jumped backwards from the trunk with the feeling of tiny claws on her shoulder, the flashlight fell from atop the boxes and hit the floor sending a spiral of light in circles around the attic lighting up all sorts of images and objects hiding in the darkness, and then suddenly went out, she could feel herself alone in the dark dancing around trying to separate herself from the grasp of the tiny claws on the back of her neck, all of a sudden it was gone and she could feel the pain in her face from her wide open mouth getting go of a blood curdling scream that should have been heard all the way into town.

She made her way back to the attic door as fast as she could leaving her flashlight and everything she had found behind, tripping over the My Buddy doll propped against the wall that looked like Chucky in the dark she scratched her nails into the floor as she crawled the remainder of the way to the door, she almost fell down the steps while slamming the door behind her, she ran down the hallway giving up on her plan of finding a costume in the attic. She went into her Moms room and helped herself to Moms makeup, lipstick and such made for a bloody mess on her face, some oversize jeans, a black t-shirt, and boots made for a costume that definitely could not be explained but would be uniquely different and definitely could work, she stared at herself in the mirror thinking something is missing, while over her reflections shoulder she saw what looked like a face in the window behind her, she turned and looked to see nothing but the sway of the tree limbs in the wind. While going back into the hallway she found the now crushed and crumpled hat that had obviously been trampled and dragged down from the attic in her rush to safety, the hat would now complete her costume she placed it at an angle on top of her head and smiled back at her reflection in the window, grabbing a pillowcase for a bag she headed for the front of the house.

She chose a book to occupy her time for a while and sat in her homemade costume to patiently wait for her Mom to get home, by the light of a lamp she got lost in a wonderful story that was only interrupted by an occasional scratch or tapping sound at the window beside her, she peered out the window to only see her reflection looking back, settling back into the oversized chair she fell asleep only to be awaken by the sudden darkness of the lamp going out, she reached for the chain and pulled it only to realize nothing was changing, she stumbled through the darkness to flip the light switch by the front door to only remain in the dark.

Against her Moms orders she turned the latch and opened the door to get in some trick or treating, Mom wouldn’t be home before daylight anyway and she wasn’t staying in the dark by herself any longer, so down the walkway she went and made a left to head toward town, or was town to the right? Walking down the dirt road seemed a lot longer than it was when riding in the car with her Mom, the sounds coming from the woods were constant and a lot louder now, the crickets repeated their songs over and over giving her a bit of comfort as she walked, the occasional hooting of an owl and the loud flapping of his wings startled her, she began to notice a rustling sound in the brush right beside her that gave her chills, she walked a little faster following the path in the road lit up by the moon, she shivered underneath Grandpas hat and now wished she had brought the coat down from the attic because she was beginning to get really cold, she bit her lip and continued clomping down the road in the boots that were way too big, the rustling sound stopped and now it almost sounded like someone was walking behind her, she stopped and listened while turning to look back, all she could see was darkness and all she could hear was the crickets chirping.

She continued walking down the road wishing she had stayed home like her Mom had told her, but now she was scared out of her wits and didn’t know if she was even going in the right direction, she continued to wonder what the rustling in the woods beside her could be, the hair was now standing on her arms and underneath it her skin was crawling and covered with small bumps that tingled as she rubbed her arm with her hand, the rustling in the brush got louder and all of a sudden the sound of the crickets stopped, this was not a good sign she knew, now the only sound she could hear was the popping of her jaws as her mouth sprung open wide in a silent scream, she was now staring into the face of the blazing eyes coming out of the darkness.

Mom pulled into the driveway seeing the house was completely dark, thinking her daughter had already gone to bed she hurried to get inside to wake her so they could go back to town before it was too late, pausing for a moment to watch an old hat roll past her feet in the wind, she walked up the steps to find the front door standing wide open, she walked in and called her daughters name, placing her hand on the pinstripe suit jacket hanging on the back of a kitchen chair, she stared into the flame of the candle strangely burning on the dining room table, a shrill scratch on the kitchen window startled her, and a sudden tapping sound at the window caused her to turn and find herself wondering if the blazing eyes looking in were only a reflection from the candle or not...