Forever Halloween

 

 It started with my friends wanting to go to a haunted trail through a corn maze behind a pumpkin patch. It was an innocent enough request, right? What could go wrong with that?

I shouldn’t have thought that. 

I went with my boyfriend, Grey, and our two friends-Mal and Joey. We pulled up in Grey’s old truck, dirt kicking up behind the back tires when we pulled into the parking lot. Mal was laughing at something Joey had said, but I didn’t hear it. The scarecrow by the entrance had caught my eye as the engine cut off.

It was the size of a person and looked like it was crucified on a cross. Its burlap head hung at such a quizzical angle on its mount that I almost could have sworn it was staring directly at us. 

The hair on my arms stood on end.

Did it shift when we got out?

“You okay, Em?” Grey questioned, cocking an eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, it’s just…” I pointed at the wooden post. “That weird scarecrow is creeping me out.”

My discomfort was dismissed as the group migrated toward the line, chatting happily about their experiences at previous haunted houses. Unfortunately for me, the end of the line was right next to the same stout scarecrow. I kept fidgeting with my mask-tugging it higher on my nose only to pull it back below my chin-and pointedly kept my gaze straight ahead. I could feel the straw stuffed man looming over me, his blackened eyes that were scrubbed into the fabric with a Sharpie were trained above my head, watching the maze that awaited us.

Or maybe… watching us?

Either way, I was thankful when they allowed our group to enter the gates. 

Inside, there was a twisting line of individuals waiting for their turn to get spooked. Actors were dotted around the line; a wolf-masked man stood behind a young group of girls with his glistening claws raised and ready to frighten them. A small child in a white clown costume and a bloody face stood with a single balloon tied to their wrist, head tilted to the side, watching the guest with deadpan eyes. Another woman with a ripped sweater and wild hair was running up to unsuspecting strangers with an axe in one hand and a mace in the other. Loud music with words garbled by the crackling speakers boomed from all sides.

Another burlap-faced scarecrow marked the entrance to the maze where screams coupled with laughter. This one seemed thinner, lankier. Its head was bent at an awkward angle that had it looking at the tree branch that was above and slightly to the left of it, like a doll whose neck was too brittle to hold the weight of its head properly. Its eyes were made from buttons and it had a stitched mouth.

I did my best to ignore it as well.

Group after group filed through the narrow entrance until we were next in line. An older gentleman with a long white beard and a straw hat was sitting in a rocking chair, drumming his fingers against the arm rest as we approached. He didn’t bother to stand.

“Listen up, kiddos, I’m only going to say each rule once and I don’t want any lip. Pay attention or the consequences are on your hide, not mine. Ready?’

We all nodded in unison.

“Alright, we have five rules here at our farm. The first is to stay with your group. No lollygagging or any of this splitting up mess. You’re better together. Number two: if you’re panicking, press this.” He handed us a small clicker. “It’ll trigger an alarm that lets us know you need out. Someone will come find you. Three, don’t press it unless you really need it. Don’t go wasting my people’s time. Four-well four isn’t really a rule. Just a warning. There will be flashing lights and loud noises. If you can’t handle that, then leave now. No refunds. And lastly, and really the only thing you need to retain from any of this, do not under any circumstances touch anything.”

And then we were unleashed into the corn stalk hidden path. In the distance, I could hear a chainsaw revving and the echo of stomping feet. The ground beneath my own feet was slick already and above us, clouds were starting to darken the setting sun.

“I hope we beat the rain,” I said, loud enough for our group to hear me. 

“We gotta hurry then!” Mal laughed, skipping ahead with Joey.

There were lights woven into the edges of the stalks, lighting our path as the sun sank deeper below the horizon. Joey laughed loud, clutching his belly every time one of the haunt actors burst onto the pathway before us and slashed at us with fake claws. It seemed the theme of the night was rabid animals.

A woman in a ragged and bloodied rabbit mask came sprinting up behind us with a hatchet raised, chanting in a shrill voice. I was the closest to her and was so caught off guard that I screamed and threw my hands out. 

The rabbit woman fell backwards, her pink dress catching on a stalk as she tumbled and ripped the sleeve. 

“Oh my God! I’m sorry!” I immediately said when I realized what had happened. 

At the same time Joey stated, “Come on, Emily. She was just doing her job!”

I held my hand out to the actress. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.”

She slapped my hand away and stood on her own, dusting the reddish dirt from her legs. She touched the now frayed seam of her sleeve then, wordlessly, she stared at us as she turned and disappeared into the walls of the maze. 

The same chill from earlier ran through my spine and I had to swallow before I spoke again. “That was weird, right?”

“I’m sure she was just trying to freak us out.” Mal offered, but I thought I detected a subtle wobble to her voice.”

Joey waved a hand. “There’s nothing to actually be afraid of out here, Emily. It’s all fake.”

Grey put a comforting arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. “Just stay close, okay?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, but gave a single nod. I didn’t want to be the reason the night was dampened. 

Around the next corner, the path split into two separate trails. The left took an immediate sharp turn and disappeared out of sight. The right headed straight for a little longer before it appeared to make a much more subtle curve.

“Let’s split up, the first to find the exit has to buy milkshakes on the way home!” Joey announced, tugging Mal toward the left path.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you guys not listen to the rules?” The raised eyebrows and tapping feet told me they were waiting for an explanation. “The guy at the front. He said the first rule was to stay together. Besides,” I fished the small device from my pocket. “We only have one panic button.”

Joey rolled his eyes, pulling Mal further away. “Those rules mean nothing, Emily! We came to have fun, loosen up! See you guys on the other side!” 

Mal gave me a sympathetic glance over her shoulder as they disappeared around that corner.

I spun on Grey. “Something bad is happening. I can feel it. I’ve felt it since we got here. We need to get out of here. We need to-”

“Em,” he sighed. “Joey has a point. This whole thing is a game. You’re supposed to be scared. That’s why people come to haunted houses.”

So, I let him lead me down the right trail. Twenty minutes later, after wrong turn after wrong turn, is when it began.

The sun had completely vanished, replaced by a moon that was still shadowed by the pesky clouds. It had started to rain, a constant trickle that was just persistent enough to turn the already slick dirt under my feet into puddles of mud. It had been eerily quiet around us for the last several minutes.

We stepped around a corner and a small figure was crouched at the end of this path, right before where it veered left. Their back was to Grey and I, and they appeared to be drawing in the mud with an object that I couldn’t quite identify. A baby doll was cradled under their right arm and they were barefoot, feet caked in the sticky muck.

I was honestly over the jump scares at this point and just wanted out, so I marched right toward the squatting individual.

Grey suddenly grabbed my arm-right above the elbow-and yanked me to a stop. “Em, I don’t… something is wrong.”

I looked at him, then back at what I had assumed was an actor, who was now standing and facing us with the object in her hand now visible-a very shiny, very real looking knife.

I shifted backwards. “Grey, is that--?”

But before I could finish, the stringy haired child’s head snapped up and she let out a shrill shriek. Grey was pushing back in the direction we had came, yelling, “RUN! Emily, run!”

I slipped around the corner, sliding through the mud and catching myself on my hands and scrambling in the slickness. Grey snatched me up by the back of my shirt, practically dragging me along behind him. 

I chanced a look over my shoulder to see the girl-clad in a white mask with black fabric covering the holes for eyes like the Scream! mask-chasing after us with unnatural speed. With another shriek, she launched herself into the air.

“GREY!” I cried at the same time she collided with his back, sending them both toppling to the ground.

They somersaulted several times, but she came out on top. I watched in horror as she raised that knife above her head and thrust it down, sinking it into Grey’s right shoulder. He yelped and I screamed, but I was frozen in place like my feet had been cemented to the ground.

The knife was yanked out.

Grey made eye contact with me, his eyes full of pain. Just loud enough to reach me, he said, “Go…”

With tears streaming down my face, I turned and fled, abandoning my boyfriend. I heaved as I ran, coughing and choking and so loud. My chest was an explosion of broken shards that I couldn’t even process. I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. 

I stumbled into a deadend pathway and paused, spinning in a circle with my mud covered hands pressed to my temples as I looked back at my options.

Images of a black handle sticking out of Grey’s back were burned into my mind. My knees were stinging from the scrapes I had gotten when I fell. My ears rang.

As I twisted to try another route, another figure slammed into me and something sharp sliced across my upper arm.

I clasped a hand over the cut as I teetered backwards, thinking they had already found me, only to see Mal standing before me.

“Emily!” she sobbed and collapsed against me, arms slung around my body.

She was bloodied and covered in these small scratches; some had torn through her clothing. She clutched a hatchet in her hand and her hair clung to her face in wet clumps.

“They got Joey!” she was saying through gasps of air. “It was so aw-awful. He tr-tried to save me! There were two of them; those sc-scarecrows from outside! Th-they looked just like th-that. One dropped this when Joey punched him-”she waved the hatchet. “I gr-grabbed it. Wh-where’s Grey?”

I shook my head, fresh tears blurring my vision. I had to push the bile rising from my stomach back down as Mal crumbled in on herself again.

“We have to go,” I told her as I tugged on her arms that were tightly wound around her torso. I glanced behind her where the path I had planned to take was and my heart stopped.

There they stood. Four in total.

Two with burlap sacks over their heads and straw poking out of their shirts. The button eyes next to the one with the Sharpied on scowl. The little girl that had attacked my boyfriend, her flannel dress now disheveled and torn.

And the woman I had knocked over earlier in the night, with the rabbit head and a mace. 

Mal and I shot to our feet and shoved ourselves between the cornstalks behind me. We rushed through the walls of the maze, our skin getting snagged and battered by the razor-like leaves. We pushed through row after row, never knowing if we were getting closer or further from the end. Somewhere behind us a chainsaw revved, a delighted little giggle rang out. The sound echoed all around us. It was getting closer and closer.

We burst into a clearing between two walls of the maze. Over the height of the stalks, we could see a rust colored archway.

The exit!

But we must have paused for just a second too long. A pair of arms sprang from the back of Mal and snatched her against the corn. The hatchet she hung onto dropped when she was pulled backward.

Without even thinking, I grabbed it and smacked it into one of the burlap-faced man’s arms, yelling, “Let her go!”

A muffled protest came, but the hold relinquished and we were running again, hand-in-hand.

“I can’t! I can’t!” Mal was begging, her legs threatening to buckle under her, but I kept pulling her along.

We tripped to a halt at the next opening. Right between us and the exit stood the remaining three individuals. They stepped toward us.

“Emily!” Mal urged and I remembered the clicker in my pocket.

An alarm will sound, the old man had promised.

I fumbled the white button out of my pocket and frantically pressed it down.

And again.

And again.

Nothing happened.

“What?” I looked at it, clicking it again and again.

“No…” Mal was trembling. “No!”

When I looked up again, I could have sworn the girl with the rabbit head was smirking.