Don’t you think it’s funny? How Halloween presents itself, and how people tend to celebrate it. Like the idea of a haunted house. Amusing, isn’t it? People travel far and pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to walk through bloody and graphically gory houses set up in different types of paths and walkways, just to be scared out of there senseless little minds. What drives a person to want to be scared? The amazing feeling of adrenaline coursing through the veins? Or is it getting to know what it feels like to be in such a horrid situation. Preparing for something that could very well happen to one's very self one day. Some say it’s not even real, but isn’t it? Everything is real. If you’re one of those people who go through a haunted house or watch a horror movie and convince yourself it’s not real, you’re in for a rude awakening my friend. Did you hear that? No? That’s a shame, you really aren’t aware of your surroundings are you? That’s dangerous. Shhhhhhhh!!! You’re gonna wake up the spirits! You're too loud! Are you confused? I’m talking about your thoughts silly! They’re getting louder and louder the longer you’re with me. Right, you don’t know who I am, let’s fix that. Do you want to hear my story? I thought so.

I used to love the idea of horror, how it made you feel. Gory makeup was my thing, I had half a gallon of blood under my sink for several years. Oh don’t worry, it was fake. I had a list of horror movies I had seen, and another for the ones I needed to see. Horror was my thing, but that’s all gone now. Oh, why? Because I’m dead. I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, that was really cheesy” but you don’t really know why now do you? I hope you aren’t reading this in the dark, you’re more vulnerable that way.

I was 7, which didn’t help anything. Do you know a seven year old kid who is absolutely obsessed with horror and gore? Not really huh? That was the problem. I wasn’t able to relate to anyone my age, so I didn’t have any friends. I was too afraid to tell them. The kids at school. What would the think? What would they do to me? So I simply just didn’t say anything. Sitting alone was what I did, all the time. I was never really lonely though. My thoughts were always there with me. Together we would come up with new ideas for fun unique costumes and especially new makeup styles to try. Yes, all the time, it didn’t matter what day it was. It was so much fun for me, it was the only thing that kept me sane.

Then there was my parents. They loved me, I think, but they knew how I was. They didn’t like the stuff I liked, they didn’t understand me. I understood why they didn’t get me, I didn’t mind. As long as they loved me, as long as someone loved me I was ok. And that’s exactly what they did.

October 30, 2009. That’s when I met them. There were five of them. Victoria, Matt, Izzy, Colin, and Bridget. A group of friends looking for another. I was that other. They found me on tumblr, they liked my page and pulled me into their group. I was so happy! People finally like me, who could ask for anything more? They were a few years older, and by a few I mean like double my age, but I didn’t care. I was naive. They were so cool, they accepted me. I realized I finally had a family. But I see it now. I made a mistake that night, one mistake that I would never be able to fix. I trusted them.

They said they’d come to my house and pick me up, but I didn’t want to give them my address. I told them to pick me up at the gas station a few blocks away from my house. We all agreed on that spot and the plan was carried out. I was scared, but also very excited. We were going to a house, the one who seemed like the leader of the group. She was really pretty, they were all attractive. All five of them. I felt so misplaced, so not like them. But that’s the thing, I was like them and they were like me, so I brushed it off. I got in her nice luxurious convertible, and for once in my life, I felt very content.

The house. It was humongous! So nice, but a little too nice for my liking. When we got inside we went to the kitchen. She told us to raid it, so we did. With our arms full of food, we went to her room which was on the first floor. Once everyone was inside she shut the door, warning everyone to step back from the indent in her floor. Then, just like a scene out of a movie, that indent lifted out of the ground revealing a set of stairs. They all started walking down into the hidden room, so I quickly followed behind. By that point, I was pretty sure I was in heaven. It was amazing, makeup and prosthetics everywhere! My dream come true.

For several hours all we did was mess with all of the makeup, those hours went by fast. You know what they say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I needed to get home, I was pretty sure my parents were getting slightly worried. When I asked Victoria if she could drop me back off at the gas station where they picked me up, everyone stopped what they were doing. They didn’t want me to go home, they said they had more planned for the night. They wanted to take me to a friend of theirs haunted house. “Fine, what’s one more hour” I said as we all got in the car and drove to the haunted house.

That set up of the place was absolutely crazy, I was almost certain I was doomed to get lost. That was exactly their plan. They told me it was easy and they knew the place like the back of their hand. “Just follow us!” I said ok and followed them in, with as much bravery as I could muster up in the amount of time I was given, which was hardly any time at all. The place was honestly terrifying. I loved it! Then it happened. I got chased, I didn’t see them. I was lost. I felt someone behind me, but before I even had the chance to scream, a cloth soaked with chloroform was pushed against my nose and mouth. Everything started going black, and within a minute I was knocked out.

I woke up on the ground. Confused as to what exactly happened. I tried to get up but I couldn’t. Restraints, of course. I didn’t know where I was. I looked up to see my feet restrained as well, along with five different pairs of shoes. They were attached to bodies. It was them. They all had a somewhat devilish gleam in their eyes as they watched me struggle to get free. It was no use, they had tied me up way too good.  “What do you want from me?” That’s what I asked them, “Why me?” Victoria, the leader of the group, stepped in front of the other four and explained to me that I was basically breathing my last breaths. I was scared, I was crying. I was too young for them to be saying those things to me, but they were. To this day I wanna forget about everything that happened, but I can’t. I will never be able to. The last thing I remember hearing was Victoria saying the words thank you, and the pain that came after it. Then everything went black.

You can say that my story is a little dark, that’s because it is. But you’re the one that wanted to know it. I still haunt them to this day every once in awhile, it is the only thing I find joy in. Scaring them because of what they did to me, it’s all fun and games to me. Even though I was different, doesn’t mean I wasn’t a child. What they wanted with me failed because I was too young, they regret it. Sadly, they got away with it. My parents sent out a search party by midnight. They never found me, but I know where they put me. I’ve made myself pretty, just in case they do find me one day. Until that day comes though, I’m going to keep playing my childish games with the hope that I will one day be able to crossover.