The Halloween Killer, a horror short story

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Left to right: Christopher and Nico at a pumpkin patch

October 31, 2014

*A fictional story. A camp fire story, best told around a fire with friends.

It was Halloween night. The trick or treaters had gone. The bowl by the front door was empty. It was a good sign of a successful Halloween. But the night wasn't over yet. We didn't want it the day to end but we knew we would have to wait another 365 days until the next night of ghouls, would come. So to extend the weaning hours of Halloween night there was one final tale to tell. 

It was Halloween night. Kids laughter left the night. Everyone was snug in there house. Seeking safety from the creeps and goblins that remained outside....

Joel knew his time was almost up. There was no way he was going to defeat the killer that he had just witness murder a person. Joel ran as fast as he could after seeing the horrific sight in the hopes he wouldn’t be seen. He even left his best friend, Champ, his loyal dog, behind out of sheer fear.

The killer still saw him however, and gave chase leaving the lifeless body behind. The adrenaline dump Joel was experiencing quickly faded and he couldn’t run anymore due to his exhaustion. So he decided to hunker down in some bushes about 10 blocks away from the grizzly scene.

The lights around the neighborhood supplied enough illumination for this killer to catch any hint of a visual presence that Joel, was still around. And Joel knew it. And that made him scared shitless. It was that fear and his exhaustion that made him stay put. The fear paralyzed him.

Joel hid his body the best he could in order to avoid being seen. He wasn’t sure if he covered all of his body but he didn’t have time to worry because the one thing he was sure of was that the menacing man was looking feverishly for him.

Joel shouldn’t have even witnessed the murder. The killing started before Joel stepped out from his house to walk his dog after his dog hounded him by pacing back and forth by the front door. Feeling sorry for the dog Joel reluctantly got off the couch to take the dog out. It just worked out that Joel was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Had he known his neighbor were being killed, or any one that was murdered, for that matter, I highly doubt he would have left the house. And now here he was hiding in some bushes, trying his best to get away. The only other thing Joel had on his mind, other than not being killed, was if his loyal dog had survived.

Joel did his best to control his breathing. Slowly he inhaled through his nose and exhaled out his mouth. His heart was beating fast and he was sure the loud thumping could be heard a mile away.

“Boom, boom, boom.”

 If his beating heart was not bad enough, Joel’s nerves were causing him to jump ever so slightly, when he heard a new creak from a tree branch or rustle of the brown leaves that had fallen on the ground, it would place him into the highest of anxiety.

“Creeeek, (the wind howls through the branches)

Joel closed his eyes and prayed for this nightmare to go away. He begged to God to allow him to escape with his life and he’d be a good Christian for now on. His saliva was building in his mouth out of fear for making a noise while swallowing. He didn’t want to make a peep.

A branch snaps.

Joel sits up slightly. He reluctantly opens his eyes. The shadows all around him are playing games on his imaginations. Is the shadow of the moving tree the maniacs out stretched arms? The hands clutching a knife?

“Please, please, I’ll be good, God. Please save me,” Joel murmured.

He could no longer hear his heart beating. A gate that was slapping against the wooden post that was cemented into the ground and it was drowning the beating sound of his lifeblood. The gate was barely held together by a string. The string was beginning to stretch caused by the wind with its strong wind gust. As the wind would die down the string would retract pulling the gate closed and causing a loud, BANG!

Joel pushed his body closer to the trees that he took refuge under. He had to hope that he was out of the view of this killer. He couldn’t be tonights next victim. Off in a distance he heard the starting of a car. He hoped that it was the mad man driving off, giving up, on his search for the only witness who could put him away in jail.

As Joel focused on the trees moving he saw that the shadowed cast trunk of the tree morphed into two. He realized that the killer was walking his way!

“clank, clank,” the sound of a metal knife being tapped on a steel gate.

The killer had stopped at the very spot where Joel had taken refuge. The killer stood there as he looked around the surrounding landscape. His eyes fresh again as the light in the area gave him better vision. The man began to tap the edge of his knife against his pants leg.

Joel sat there ever so quietly. He closed his eyes begging himself not to give up.

“Just walk out with your hands up. He’ll go easy on you,” Joel thought.

The killer began to whistle. Was he the whistling killer? Was he whistling his theme song? What the hell was he doing?

As the man stood there, Champ, Joel’s dog, walked beside the man. It seemed like the ultimate betrayal. His best friend was going to unwittingly know he was becoming Judas and give up his friend by sniffing him out.

Joel’s breathing became more labored. He didn’t want to move but he wasn’t sure if the killer was playing a trick on him. He had seen too many scary movies. He knew the killer would turn back. He had to run. He had to live. He had to take on this killer!

“Rah!” Joel screamed.

He jumped to his feet and ran full speed at the killer! The killer turned towards him and began to extend the knife. Scared, Champ the dog ran away in the opposite direction. This was it, the finality of the night. Before the killer could fully extend his knife out Joel collided with the killer and pushed him as hard as he could sending the killer off the curb and tumbling into the street where a car struck him and killed him. It was the same car that Joel had heard starting in the distance. For the second time tonight, Joel was at a place and time but this tim it was the right place and time.

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