Diana's Story

It was a dark and stormy Halloween night, and the clock slowly wound to seven oh six. A cat yowled in an especially dark and damp alleyway. A man darted across the alley, carrying a revving chainsaw. A bloodcurdling cry echoed off the cobblestone streets.

“Dee, Dee, wake up, sweetie. It’s just a bad dream, wake up!” Collin shook Diana’s shoulder, but the rain above nearly drowned out his whisper-quiet voice.

It was about eleven o’clock on Halloween night, and Diana was asleep in her sleeping bag on the floor in the room that belonged to Ivy, one of her best friends. She was spending the night with her and her two other best friends: Bridgette and Thorn. Collin, Diana’s boyfriend, had come over to watch a movie with them and his friends, Frank, George, and Eric before they went to bed. He was just leaving when he heard Diana scream. Bridgette was on the phone, apologizing to Kristin and Bails for not inviting them when Collin went up to check on Diana.

Diana shook in her sleep as her frightening dream continued. She was hiding behind a dumpster in the dark alley, the cat standing guard in front of her. The man got closer and closer to her, until she could see the white outline of his hockey mask; see the blood on the teeth of the chainsaw. Diana sucked in another breath to scream.

She sat bolt upright in her bed just as her best friends walked into the room.

“Diana, what’s wrong?” Ivy asked, always the maternal one.

“We heard you scream, did something happen?” The incredibly practical Thorn inquired.

“Um?” Bridgette voiced, yawning and brushing her beautiful dark hair out of her brown eyes.

“It’s Ok.” Collin answered for Diana. “She was just having a bad dream. He stood up and walked over to the window. He turned. “So, anyway, I’m thinking that tomorrow we can all – ”

He was cut off by the window behind him opening abruptly. The corner caught him in the back of the head, and he fell forwards, unconscious. Rain splattered into the room across his still form.

“Collin!” Diana shrieked, wrenching herself out of her sleeping bag and running over to him.

Bridgette went to go check his vital signs. When she realized that they were normal, she laughed and stood up.

“What’s so funny? He could be really hurt!” Diana accused, glaring at Bridgette.

“But he’s not.” She started to laugh harder.

“I wonder what it was that opened the window.” Thorn said, her eyebrows pulling together.

“Ooh!” Bridgette cried, tears streaming from her face due to the laughter. “Now the thing” she wiggled her fingers “is gonna get me!”

Bridgette backed up to the window and placed her hands around her neck in a fake gagging gesture. “Oh, somebody, help me! Oh, no! It’s got me!” She laughed.

Diana stood up, clenching her fists together.

Suddenly, a clawed hand reached out and grabbed a fistful of Bridgette’s hair, pulling her out of the window.

“Bridgette!” The girls screamed in unison.

Quick as The Flash, Thorn pushed the girls to the interior of the house, and locked the door of the room behind her. She led them downstairs and reached for Ivy’s phone.

“Ok.” She said reasonably. “Some freak obviously thinks this is funny. I’m going to call the police to get to the bottom of this.”

Outside, a gloved hand cut the phone lines.

An electrical current raced through the house, causing all of the light bulbs to break and Thorn to scream bloody murder before falling to the ground, unmoving. The girls screamed and ran to the front door at the same time.

Ivy twisted the handle and her face fell. She looked at Diana with wide, horror-struck eyes.

“I-it’s locked.” She whispered. “F-from the outs-s-side.”

Tears bumped down Diana’s face, and Ivy felt the need to comfort her. She led her back to the couch and got her a bowl of ice cream.

Ivy watched her eat it and began to think hard about why anyone would want to hurt any of them.

Gradually, a ticking noise began to make itself known. Diana abruptly put her bowl of ice cream on the table and turned to Ivy. “What’s that noise?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Ivy responded. “I’ve heard it before, I think. I’m not sure…” Suddenly, realization dawned on her face. “Diana, I don’t want you to freak out, but I figured out what the noise is.”

“Well, what is it?” Diana queried.

“That noise you’re hearing? The steady tick-tick? I think that’s a bomb.” Ivy explained. “We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Ivy grabbed Diana’s hand and pulled her upstairs on tiptoe. They made it to the room where they left Collin unconscious and opened the door.

Diana screamed in terror. Collin was gone. Sliding, bloody handprints coated the floor and led to the far wall, upon which were the numbers 666 written in blood. A note was pinned underneath of it. Diana snatched it up, as Ivy was rooted to her spot in terror.

“Eenie, meenie, miney, cay.
Catch Diana if I may.
Cut her head off, string her up.
Get ready for some more bad luck.” Diana read aloud.

“Oh, God.” Ivy said, stepping carefully over the blood to the spot where Collin had been. It was outlined in white chalk, like a police line.

“Ivy.” Diana said, turning to her friend with venom in her tone. “This is all your fault. If you hadn’t had this party at your house, then we wouldn’t be in this mess, would we?”

“No, Diana, you’ve got it all wrong…” Ivy defended, her eyes wide. Diana began to approach and she unconsciously backed up to the still-open window.

“Don’t you tell me what I’ve got wrong! They’re all dead because of you! It’s your fault! Your fault!” Diana screeched, pushing Ivy with her final word.

Ivy screamed and fell out the window. “Ivy!” Diana shouted, looking down. Ivy’s body lay there, oozing blood. She looked very nearly 100% broken.

Diana ran. She ran back downstairs, ignoring the ticking.

“Diana…” a soft voice called. “Come here, Diana.”

“Who’s there?” Diana demanded, looking around quickly.

“We love you, Diana. We want to be with you always. We miss you, Diana!” The voice said again, only this time Diana realized that it wasn’t one voice she was hearing, but hundreds. Hundreds of voices of children, coming at her from every angle, watching her every move.

“I’ve got to get out of here!” She cried, racing for the back door. Mercifully, it was unlocked. She raced out into the street, having no idea where to run to.

Across the street, a dark figure watched the pajama-clad girl with messy hair stumble into the middle of the road. Slowly, he pulled down his hockey mask and picked up his chainsaw.

He darted out into the road after Diana, and tacked her. He pinned her down by sitting on her stomach. “Remember me?” he asked. His voice was menacing.

Diana tried to scream, but the stranger put his hand firmly over her mouth. He shifted his weight infinitesimally, and Diana twisted her hips to one side in a move she had learned from Bridgette. It almost worked. Almost.

“I know all of your tricks, dear.” The stranger said, leaning in close to her. “Are you ready?” he asked, pulling the chainsaw up to rest on her chest.

“One…” he said, and Diana closed her eyes, willing it all to be over painlessly. “Two…” she squeezed them together tighter. “Three.”

The stranger pulled his hockey mask off and leaned closer in to Diana’s face. “Boo.” He said.

Diana’s eyes flickered open and she found herself staring at…

“Eric?” Diana asked in surprise.

“Surprise!” He smiled, climbing off of her and giving her a hand up. “Guys, you can all come out now!” He said, calling towards a group of bushes.

Bridgette, Collin, Ivy, Frank, Thorn, and George emerged from them.

“Oh, that was great! Hilarious!” Collin cried, wiping tears from his eyes. We really got you.” He laughed.

Bridgette was laughing so hard that she had to be supported by George.

“What!” Diana demanded angrily.

“Well, after your prank on April Fool’s Day, we decided to get you back!” George explained. “Frank was in charge of special effects, Collin was your mysterious ‘sliding handprints’, and I…” he held up a digital camera. “… got it all on tape!”

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” Diana said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I thought so.” Ivy said, patting her on the back.

“Diaaaannnnaaaaaa…” the child-like voice called.

“Stop it you guys. I know it’s you, and that’s not funny any more.” Diana said, putting her hands on her hips and looking at each of their genuinely shocked faces in turn.

“Hey, it’s not us.” Eric said.

They gave each other a meaningful look before running shrieking into the night.

Somewhere in the trees above, Kristin and Bails giggled into the voice synthesizer, sending their laughter fragmenting into a thousand voices. “April Fools!” they called.