Halloween Story Contest 2012- Honorable Mention
updated: Oct 30, 2012, 5:21 PM

By Kathie Lynn CantÜ

Sunlight shone through a crack in the curtains. Dawn had arrived, and with it another beautiful day in Santa Barbara. In the distance, the bells of the Mission tolled, and a train whistle signaled its passing. Birds sang out and the sounds of traffic were just beginning. Everything seemed so regular, so normal. And yet, nothing was normal at all…

Down The hall I could hear The children whispering faintly And giggling, But The harder I listened The closer The giggles Became, and The whispering voices became deeper And harder To UnderStand. The once beautiful chirping of The birds became More & More aggressive as if In battle. This day Thought To Be Like any other, Was anything But. Clouds came rolling In And shadowed The suns rise. Fear paralyzed My Mobil body & threatened My safety. A sudden gust Of wind rattled The chimes Out On The porch & knocked a flower Pot To The ground. After that a clear silence that sent shivers through my whole body....moments later a screech sounded near The window, A large shadow In the shape Of a bat, soon scratching And hissing, eyes glowing Of muggy yellow, It's wings flapping vigorously.

I turned my attention to Something i heard that Had fallen And broke In The kitchen ... Looked Back towards The window & Nothing Was There... Scared To tears I finally feel The urge To Move. I find myself Running To The children's Room To find them fast asleep. Without waking them I tiptoe To The quiet living Room, nothing seemed too strange In There... walking past The family Room To The kitchen ,The T.V. Suddenly turns On! Startled I look To The couch where The remote lay, & I See My youngest boy cuddled up With His blanky With the remote In hand. I smile, kiss His cheek & put Some cartoons On... Heading To The kitchen To See what fell, I noticed a broken mirror On The wall That I Had Never Seen before. There Was absolutely No glass On The floor & Nothing broken In The kitchen. Palpitations overcame Me & every hair On My body stood Up. The lump In My throat made It hard To swallow, My dry mouth made It hard To speak, & I could feel a burning sensation In The Pit Of My Stomach. Walking Bakk To My son.

I find Him watching The real housewives On television ... Of All days It's The episode Of The black hills rise. I shut Off The T.V. Grab My son And wake The other Two... Telling them all of whats happened, They Do Not recall whispering This morning. They rush To get Clothes On hoping To leave This place. We All walk To The Bakk door where The car Is parked OutSide... Before We reach It My older Son kale sees his fathers work shoes next To The door behind Some toys. Thoughts race My mind And The kids Are All worried In fear. Where Has My Husband been? Why isn't He At work? Panicked I Phoned His cell... No answer. I tried 5 More times And Left a few messages. Tori My daughter started To cry... Kale Starts To ask questions I Have No answer To. What Are We To Do now? Tori complains Of a strange smell coming from The front Room, We All walk towards The smell, It's getting stronger As We approach The front door... Kale throws Him self At The door To open It But I grabbed Him quickly And held Him Bakk. Not sure whats Out There I held Him aside To warm Him Of The uncertainty. Tori grabbed FORREST My youngest while I peered Out The door. I looked Out He peep hole But couldn't See anything... The smell Was Too strong For The kids To stand There So They stood near the hall. As I slowly opened The door thick fog entered The crack as well as The strong bitter molding smell. Scared Of what I'd find I squinted My eyes, as if That Would shield Me from pain. Still I could Not See anything, I looked All around And It seemed So quiet Not a car In sight. I looked down And To My surprise I saw Our 5 pumpkins we just carved the night before drenched In mold ,swarmed With maggots & nats... So disgusted I almost passed Out. Suddenly The Bakk door slammed behind us. We All jumped & I quickly shut The front door . All huddled together We Were crying, scared, And wished For This day In Santa Barbara To end.

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