By Clare O’Brien, Staff Writer
It was a dark and dreary night. The morning sky had shown signs of a storm with grey clouds hovering over the city. The weatherman had predicted a shower of Halloween cliques to be poured down over the city of Riverside. Turns out his prediction was correct.
Waiting for your parents to leave, you sit at your desk pretending to do your homework. Once they’re gone your fun will begin.
“Okay honey you be good tonight,” your mom says as she kisses your cheek and waves you goodbye. Her key slides in the car door and you hear the sound of her engine start, her car fades into the distance. Once she’s gone for good, you pack away your unfinished work and make your way to the kitchen to order a pizza.
As you wait, you settle on the couch with a Halloween movie keeping you company. That’s when you hear it. Those soft footsteps. They sound muffled and slowly they become closer and closer. Your body curls into a ball as you bring the blanket up so far that it covers your mouth. Your whole body is clenched as those footsteps draw near until suddenly they stop.
Ding, dong!
You jump with fright and begin laughing at your foolishness. It was just the pizza guy. Once you reach the door, you open it slowly to find a man there. He looks middle aged but his beard makes him look older. “An odd night isn’t it,” he says as he hands you the pizza.
“Yeah I guess.”
“You never know what could happen. I remember it was fifty years ago today when-” Suddenly he stopped and stared at me, his eyes had dilated and his hand seemed to tense.
“When?”
“Oh it was just some ghost story my dad used to tell. We didn’t grow up that far from your house and to scare me he would pass this house and tell me the story of… oh what did he call her? Oh the Long Haired Girl.”
“Well out with it.”
“Oh right. Well the story goes that a family moved into this house. They had a little girl who refused to let her hair get cut. She was terrified of it, you see. The girl was odd. In disney movies she loved the villain, she would pretend to make potions, asked to visit graveyards, those sorts of things. When she moved in, she got worse. She started spending all her time at home, she laughed at people falling, screamed at her mom. The neighbors even complained they would hear screaming or manic laughter every night from three to four. People never went near her and when they did she would spit in there face or trip them. Then one day her parents stopped going to work and she stopped going to school. A neighbor called the police to check on the house and what they found.” He stopped and shovered here. His eyes seemed to drift off and fear plagued his face.
“What? What did they find?”
“They found her father’s body draped across the bed. There was blood on the sheets drowning his face. There were scratches on the bed frame and knives surrounded the bed in a circle. Her mom was in the bathroom. There was blood on the walls handprints all over.” He stopped and looked up at you. Tears stained his eyes. “But the scariest part was their daughter. When the police walked in, she was sitting on the couch staring at a black TV screen. She turned around, walked over to my dad, smiled, took his hand and led him to each body. When they asked what happened she just laughed.” He shook his head. “Well I’m sure it was all made up. My dad was like that. You’ll be fine. Don’t you worry. You have a good night.”
With that, he left you alone in this house. In the house that now carried a new memory for you. A story you knew was fake, but still held haunting truths. You went back to the couch and began eating your pizza, but an ear was open now. Suddenly you heard something. Laughter. A manic laughter coming from your parents room.
You made your way upstairs. All you would find was a stupid tv on, you were sure of it. Sure enough there it was. Then it came from your room. You ran over to your room but there was nothing in there. Then the laugh was coming from the bathroom. Again, you found nothing. Suddenly it was in the living room.
As you reached the living room, you found a figure sitting on the couch. A girl with long hair. She turned to you and smiled.
“I was going to let you go. Usually I pity the kids. You’re different though. That man told you about me-” her eyes flashed a wicked grin- “and you didn’t like what you heard.” She laughed. Her face pointed upwards as she shook with laughter so sinister even the devil would be jealous.
Your parents walked in while she was laughing. They looked at you in a face that said you were in trouble. Oh how clueless they were.
“Let’s play a game,” she whispered.