the last halloween night - english short story

8/8/2019 The Last Halloween Night - English Short Story

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The last Hai lovveen Night

October 31. .. Halloween Night ... not f or me anymore ... never. ..

Looking around in the "Party City" store in San Patricio Plaza, I noticed alJ the

Halloween d.e~o~ationson the aisles.There were all k inds of costumes of .the notorious

scary',~hara~ters.s~ch' as: Dracula, Frank enstein, witches, mummies, aI1d many more.

B~ts, spider~~arid pumpkins .}Verehanging f rom the ceiling, arid the wallswere covered 67

with the rypi~al black and orange colors. Through the speakers, you could hear a siniste~"voice laughing mischievously ~Flttu£ l ,' Z hahaha ... It was the Classicspook y atmosphere of

Halloween.

I didn't like it. I promise myself that I would never lik e Halloween days again. Not

anymore ... after what happened on my last Halloween night ... a long time ago... and I

still remember it ...

I was 14 years old, and I was in 9th

grade at Las Americas Jr. High School in Rio

Piedras. I was a good student with good grades, I had many friends, and ev~ryrhing was

going fine for me at that time. So, when they invited me to the usual Halloween-costume

party at Josiah's house, I simply said- "Oh yeah , sure I 'm going. "

We spent the whole week looking f or the costumes to wear, and talk ing abom hmvcool the parry was going to be. After all, we ail got permissions from our parents, and

Josiah's parents were pretty cool about letting us ~se their house in Cupe y Alto. The party

was scheduled for Saturday and we couldn't wait!

Finally, the night of O~tober 31 arrived and we were at the party! It wa:~the p~rf eet

,Halloween nightfor a parly. Even nature was decorating the sk y with a bright -yellow

full moon ... although some ugly da~k clouds were forming up on the horizon.

When I got there, the music was rock ing ... bum~.. bum ... bum. The DJ was

blasting the house with all the favorite bands of the moment. All my friendswere wearing

crazy costumes. IndiJuz was dressed up as a hippie; Miriam was the bad witch, and

Deborah, the good witch. Emmanuel was a pirate, Michael was Dracula, and Delines wasCinderella. I was "El Zarro."

Wao! Everything was so awesome!The house was decorated with all the Halloween

ornaments and there was food every \'vhere. Josiah's father was mak ing "pinchos". at



"68gatberid. at ih.::;'porch to call our p::trents 1:'.) p ic :!: . us '. jf" /\nyway, it was in dlere: Wid.:;f

?:~-..1·,~.. --~ r,""Y-r-'=' .- r~ . . J 1 . - : : - . "i p- 1 \ .rich ' 0 1 < : . . . .. · . • .p..c.~.•1"c -~~~:$ (".r 7-~" ~deal<fyH~ "':' ....,_1..,.... '--"-cll.,·.S, .vn~J.e 4{1 a", ~·.-I.g6~",-· _ ·L.-, ...L •. I<~~ j 1 "

< " f .l ~ - : · - y g:~ ·.~ y.i) i / s .! - l a .l k /uJ6 1e n tzig/J t! I ts : : i~ : f .r k f ~[ t~: ~ ?:;:; : -i; :·;~ / l7 . ;~ll.£ .i-:~~ cio j·o J neth it! .~ :< ..6 ~ : - : : : 1 : _ ; ; " Y : l.t

J{ra:3.~3:.J.k~J~;al:.r.OOtt~f:nm~.. (a huge r : l l.u I} _ d (~ 1 .· :struck at tite distance) " \ ' :\ 7 c ~ j: . ..U l' 1 .r · · { ·, : - : , : : : f r

OLE chair;;,. >. and .~'1khael continued - ' ' H ' J U -' about t C fUt ' all tell scar y st o r ie ) ' ~ , : ' i ~: Yf .

< 'n 0 7 : / ' I J ' ' j- k T ' tt' ! ! i ' 'W',:t Z 7 ..J f t · ; ; ' ," . , ' " tl ·· ·u n d e .? 's .. ' . ' _ · . '. \ .'!· l· ". · . ': : .' .' · .· .'" ', \ ·y' e-t., aon , .• nou/ , .. m ge" tng sc a re r ;; · 11I - ? · f .fl - t )' ." _' " I: ~. _. " _ _

with her black witch hat."D h plea' " · · ; ; ·, · ,/ t b e c ; o ' rnied osaw-sor:nc Gth~rs reulied. .t. ... -~'v: ' .....•1' . .• .. I.

Kra~kaak al}oc:m.n.L .. rain was pouting no,;' \!. :4.i~JIr)w,we h a z J t n o c A 'o ic ; , ' , \ : ( . ~ ; · : ' : : · s

here unt il o U ' t " i 't.:;·; · · C l·Zt ' S cmne ,;' 0 ll/e hu lle t o do .wm et }.iing i- (f t l m u s e oursdves. :·' ....}.;E .:b -.:,· :.<.::;\ .;,

Soon. af ter a little argurnent, everibody \V''Y .S quiet listening to all tbe: f L;:~ \ r",,

stories. >vIidncl began. telling one tt'l:.at· his old grandfatl'ler had told h.itn '.ilL.-:!;.; ;.;::

'.) littk t>; h ;;"·as·~b,,,t 'Lh r",r-' l lo -l y wi',-!·'F..· ·:;;'.ho 'J ., ,,,d "0 blOCk on his ? .L .' .n . ;i. :.· ,- < ,:- , : : :C o • • "h.~ •••• _ ••••• _,.~ •••• J j _ t. .~.·'--b .. ''-_.l'" ~' • .'''''-.'w'.''' .•..•... .•..•

PVC"y n;,,·h,· a' ,~ven'hO'.lI Th i> wi"rhe'o vr-~ ,..·. ,n ; ..· ,c.. o o , . ,f ,,,,,,parning at bin', ·· d j o . ; . . .· ~ .h ,· h,:.,• .. . .~ .•. .• / : ) .- t .. .~ I _.. , . - '" •...•.. . .. J \ -J. \ ... .' ~ ' - " ~ ' - E, .;J. •.•.••••.•...••••... i. . . . . ~ _ .- . _ r _......,: .

1 1 · 'r(r>" 1 . ., 1 h . 1 l' ,.wa.x:e ·Hm.u.p. " N nene'Jer l.C vyent out wlch a stHJtgun. ne .ad, tney ,VOlUo. (I'; · ': .:;'- : · · i· " '· ,l '

the night only i:C- come back later and rhrow I 'i ':: c ) .; :s and de 2.d. anilnals ~lt; his v,: j;: · .L: ,···· f : ..

. door:5. I : 1 > COl1\] not .c;t~ep-8.t all. They "vauld crawl and. creep allover the 'v\ J..U:, :.,:' . !. ''- ' ; ;

.roo f of tt H :: . }lOl .t~e .... 1vilcb.aei k.e pt Oft "y·virJ:i. h _ ~ _ s story - ...

E - \ - : " r . 2 . \ y " " b (J . : 1 y ';,~T2.5 scarEd then. ~['ltenigL.t '~:vas tU~l~lng very terlse 8.L~:J .- i· ~ > ;:

Kraaakk::..kk i±boCK?m •..• T'he rain W C'Ldd nnt stop, and it was getting Vel?... ..

lio-htnin(T ,·~o!1tinu..~d ·.. .· v· ;':rOlltinued \istl""';'\o' U ' , ~""'Oi' /' storl'e~ )'o siah· : - 0 1 · · 1 'h · :· .r .' . " .·D . '(;> - ....• ) \ -_ _ - .a..•. ~·~.•.•.~•..t) ~' 4.~_1 .•• _ • ..v. •. •.. '.' ._.'



parents had told ?~ years ago about a girl that hung herself in the woods near their. "; ",, ","~ i"'.. .; , . . .

house. Thentwe 1:i~ard)stoJiesabout ghosts, spirits'inside houses, dead P~8pl.{:,Y{~.....·· .

.-;;;~~~t~if~:mft?~;;~!~~Kraak akldi.h~oili.~.It " v is also difficult"to \ ieter~ipe where was the nois~;,coJ)J.ing;"·

from since it was verydarkqutside. We tried{(:rl()~k :vthentherewaslightning:' 8~t~e

couldn't seeanything. Hov:,ever"on one thing we allagf e~d ... the noise sounded just like

the distressirigvoic~ of someorte crying... .

We we~e terrif ied and confused,The \ rp \ ~e.or·~blid4;~coriung right from the tall'

'.. :.•.:pi1ieti:ee~<tha.'t.~~~~,bdiindan ,abandon;4"y6~den .how,~n&tt~ Josiah's house. The rain

"-continu'ed poUring and th,e noise was becon;ung louder',and more frightening .•.}it ,fdt

'like'3.voice cryi~g a ; { d sUffering.'Westopp~d 'ii;teni~g to"the f oolish stories wcLjtln;,ped '

to the gate'()f th'e porch trying to find out ""hat was rtiak ing that'i.1oise or where vias it

coming f rbm~. ..\ ..,

We were focusing~verytime there\ va:slightn.i~g. s'O;nebody brought out afl~iilight ...

and we saw a black d .6 ~circling one of the tall trees. That was even.stranger since I could ~ t : inever recall seeing dogs getting wet like that. The dog noticed our lights and stoppe4th,~;,,; ';'~ l.F (;f: ~ n '::;;,j ,:'; · '\ {'·

~~:::;~~~.~~::;;~i~~::ddi~e~t~~a~~:r~Z~,~~ili~~ii~~i~O£l 'ii~9 go outside undef ith;e;ii'~dryr~, but nobody would dare to g o withhif u. - ~<"

Josiah's parents were pretty busy inside the house and didn't notice what was going

on outside. It was, a scary feeling... something was crying 'out there and this was not a .

, story, We started arguing about the location of the sounds so we could focus through the

lightning.' ' ' V iene' de alI i... N o vi'enede aquel palo ... , N o viene dealld !" And the voice came

. , again, and we agreed that it was f rom the tallest tree. " We were all look ing ...

Then ... a lightning flashed.. ,

c~aaaatUlaaahh! Ay Dios miooor ' -Deborah shouted in horror

Some girls,ran back inside, others were screaming f rom the top of their lungs ... there

•.: was confusion ... they saw somethi~g out there. . ." '.

. Kraaaakkaaakkabooom ... My friends were running in and out. "Que paso?" "Qui

. fue f o que viste alld ?" "Que era?" Nobody could talk ... they were panick ing, .

The voice was laughing now... Imich 'lo~der.. ~and crying again. I was trembling, my

heart was pumping and I had trouble breathing. Another huge lightning struck the sk y

. brightening the dark Halloween night... .'. .

And there I saw it. ..or her. .. That was the scariest mOrJ.?entof mYJif ~"llptheri / ,t:>

about 30 feet high, stuck in the branches of the tall tree / the{~~~sth~ fi g u r~ of a sm~i

creature naked an9-gettirigweCli{spiitseconds, Isaw how creepy the f ace was, and th~

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eyes were wide open .. .looking straight at me ... and the mouth was desperately crying

under the heavy rain. Then, it began to smile at me.. .it was a small girl with a rope tied

around her neck . It was up there, on the br~ches of the tree, under the rain ...

In the middle of the commotion and the sct~3..JIlS,a lot of flashlights appeared. Some "parents had arrived and began flashing their cars' headlights. Josiah's parents ~d othirs

ran towards the tree to look for the creature; I bak ed out and noticed that the dog was-

gone then., ," - , '

Kraakakakkabooom ... They couldn't f ind anything. There were no sighs of any giri

out there. The voice vanished in the air leaving us with just:the memories brth~spirit o f . ; 'that girl who hung herself on that sinisrer night. " ,c ,.t:

I won't ever forget that image of that Halloween night. I don't wam ~o celebr3te,tlk

Halloween no more. I can't even look at dark trees at night whenever it'sraining. I nevel'f:i(f ~

knew wha~really happened that night. .. nobody k new... and we didn't want to talk aboLf ; ,; ;' i

it either. Later on, I learned that Josiah and his f amily moved out of the house. ,¥:~ , "Miraa ... hellooo; vamos a cer r ar f a t ienda" -s'aid the clerk at Party City. I noticed:·h'''i.tk\

she was dressed up like a grotesque zombie with a hanging rope around her neck . As I w a s . ~ ~ i E leaving the store, she smiled at me and told me -"Have a happy Hallowee n N i g h t r ~ : m ; ~ ! \ ; ;



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The H is to ry o f H allo~ \Jee il"" '" .;".' /:;"

Halloween's .ongms date back to the ancient Celtic f estival of Samhain

(pronounced sow-i,Il)" ",': '::

.' .. ",;: 1hd:I:elts,:wh6lived 2,000 years ago i:iIthe area that is nbwIrelan8., the United

, 'Kingdom, ':ahd northern Fr~ce,celebrated their new year orrNovembe; 1. This

day mark ed the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark , cold

winter, a time of year that was of ten associated with human death. Celts believed

that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the

living and the dead became blurred. On the night ofOctober31,.th~y'"f ~I~~X;?§

,~~;:, \ ~~~;~w~ttgiiii~~r";"~fth~oth~~orldly spirits·tnade it ~'i~iJ:tF bi the Druids:::o?Celtic :p-ri~~ts,to mak e

predictions about the f uture. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural

world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and di~_c::c~ionduring

the long, dark winter. .. : ,: i '> ,' " ..'

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people

gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically ccinsistingof aniinal

heads and skins, and attempted to ,teil each other's fortunes. When the celebration

was over, they fe-lit their hearth f ires, which they had extinguished earlier tha

evening, f rom the sacred bonf ire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the ma jority of Celtic territory., In th

course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two f estivals o

Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, ~ day in late October when the Romans traditionally

commemorated the passi~g of the dead, The second was a day. ~Qho.n')r Pomm1a

the Roman goddess of fruit.anci. t~~e~.The,symbdl:'6f PO'th:bri:~;:i{):m~:·~pplt~dih¢'

'. .' )Ll~orpo~ation of this :c~1~brati6 ~::}ri '~~~amhain probably ~xplain~tE:e tradition o

"bobbing" f or apples thaCis practic~ci. todaYori·Hallowe~n.:. ... ~:



Y t e 800s, t e ln uence 0 nstlamty a sprea Into

seventh century, Pope Bonif ace IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to

honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting

to Jeol;:tce the Celtic festival of the dead with a re.lawi but church-sanctioned·

holid~y. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (f rom Middle I ·English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night bef ore i~, the night of

Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later,

in A.D. 1000, the church would mak e November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor

the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and

dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations,

the eve of All Saints', All Saints', .and AllSoyJs', were called Hallowmas.

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the last halloween night - english short story

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