Chapter 1. |Halloween and Horrors|

Halloween.

I hated that holiday, in fact, I hated just about anything that involved scares or the likes, my life already contained enough nightmares as it was. 

I was a soulless monster.

I inwardly cursed the holiday as I dragged little Frankie, my seven-year-old cousin, along. After walking around trick or treating with him for what seemed like over three hours now, I realized that I should have charged my mom more than the $100 she had hastily squeezed into my palm as a reward for babysitting Frankie.

I could have been at the costume party Jenny and my friends, the other cheerleaders were throwing tonight but here I was looking stupid in the black, catgirl costume accompanied by a seven-year-old dressed as a fat, orange pumpkin.

"Ruby," I heard Frankie whine, snatching his arm out of my firm grip and gently rubbing the gloved arm with his other hand. "You're squeezing me."

He paused his walk and continued to pout and rub his arm slowly, his big, brown eyes staring innocently up at mine. I groaned, face palming myself for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight and placed my hands on my hips and glared at the little menace.

"Look, kid!" I snapped, raising my voice at the child and noticing how his lower lip was already quivering in fear. "We've been walking for about three goddamned hours now, I'm tired and my feet hurts and I'm not going to stand here to listen to your complaints about how your tiny hands hurt!"

Then Frankie made the already terrible going night even worse than I could imagine, he opened his tiny mouth and gave a loud wail uncharacteristic of a seven year old. I was going to smack the life into the boy when I noticed that his cries were attracting the attentions to curious trick or treaters passing by. A blonde, chubby woman in a Red Riding Hood costume was coming over when I quickly knelt down to Frankie's level and patted his funny looking pumpkin hat tenderly.

"Please stop crying," I begged into his ears, reaching up to clamp a hand to his mouth. "We'll continue walking around for as long as you want, I'll take you to all the neighborhoods."

"You better," Frankie hissed rudely into my ear, his voice completely normal. Once again, I felt like smacking the child, he always put up the innocent front when he was with adults but I knew the little demon for what he was. 

"I hate you, kid."

"Want me to cry again, Ruby?" He asked innocently, in a way a child asking for candy would talk and it sickened me. Why did my aunt choose to bring her twisted kid over for Halloween anyways?

"Oh, I'll make sure you cry plenty. You'll see." I stood and glared down at him.

Frankie shot out a tiny leg which hit me right in the shin, I howled as the pain shot down my leg and wanted nothing more than to wring his little neck. I cautioned myself, cussed loudly and began to march away from the little monster when I felt my phone buzz in the tiny black, clutch I had slung over my shoulder.

It was a text from Molly, my best friend that never seems to stop talking or texting, it was annoying but I had learnt to live with it.

Molly<3: Where are you? Jess just started streaking!

Jess was one of us cheerleaders at Edgewood High, and that redhead was a perfect ten out of ten. I couldn't believe I was missing that for this, this rubbish that this child was giving me.

Me: Stuck babysitting Frankie:( Take a boob pic for me.

Her reply came back instantly, that's just Molly, the fast texter.

Molly<3: That two faced monster? Tough luck, girl. Also, Blake is here too ;)

I rolled my eyes and slipped my phone back into the clutch and smiled at the cute crush Molly had on the newest addition to Edgewood High, Blake Johnson. He was really cute but seemed kind of aloof to me, not really my type but then I didn't even know my type considering the fact that I've never actually dated anyone before. But when I imagined my type, I pictured the tall, dark skinned captain of the football team, Darren. 

Only that Darren was the head cheerleader's boyfriend. That made him eternally off limits, well according to the "do not date your head cheerleader's boyfriend" rule.

The cool night's breeze made me shiver all of a sudden and I came to a full halt, I had been walking and daydreaming at once. With a strange tingling sensation down my spine and an increasing sense of imminent foreboding, I made a few eerie observations; firstly, I had stopped hearing Frankie's little feet behind me along with the sounds of his greedy munching on the sweets he had accumulated all through the night. Maybe letting him walk behind me had been a bad idea but the kid was annoying me.

Second, the night's temperature seemed to be dropping rapidly and I could hear my shallow, fast breathing very clearly. Lastly, my blood turned ice cold when I realized with a sudden jolt that the street was completely empty, there was absolutely no one around. It was like everyone had suddenly vanished.

No trick or treaters.

No cars.

No sounds from anywhere, no nighttime noises, it was almost like someone had pressed pause on all the night's activities. Only I didn't want to imagine that particular someone, if it was that someone, bad things were going to happen. Bad things always happened whenever he was around, it was his thing.

All quiet and still, like a morning stream, except from the quiet flickering of a solitary street lamp a few feet away from where I was. Under it was the subject of children's nightmares, I was right, it was that someone whose existence was better imagined.