Halloween Stories

Brian Sopher

The Escape

The alarms blared, lights flashed, screams of fellow guards echoed through the halls. I think he escaped. He was the most dangerous person in the whole asylum. We had to keep him in a sensory deprivation tank to keep him calm. We hooked him up to life support to keep him alive. He killed 52 people before he was caught. He was a cannibal, that’s all he did to survive, Kill. I heard my friend, Weslee Bowman, scream in terror. I ran for the exit door. I hopped in my Mustang and drove off. Or at least until I felt something thud on the tires of my car. I looked into the mirror to see Garland Aston, the warden on the road behind me. I screeched to a halt. I went to check on him. But he said, “Run. Save yourself,” in a raspy voice. Then Fraco Dennis (which was apparently his name) lunged at me. I dodged him but I needed to get to the car. It had been idling so I hopped in and drove off when he hopped on the back of my car. He smashed my back window. “My insurance ain’t gonna cover this,” I whined. I swerved but he had a strong hold. Then I slammed the brakes hard and then drove. He fell off the car. I drove off from the blaring asylum. I hoped I wasn’t going to see it again…

I'm going to write all this down so people can know what happened to me. So let me start at the beginning. Me and my daughter were planning to go explore and go in the woods. My daughter likes going out into the wilderness and watch the stars and look for new leaves or plants. We always go to the same spot. My daughter likes that spot, for some reason. My daughter says she likes it because she can see her dad. Her dad died when she was born. My daughter says he's tall. And he's really nice, she says. I say, well how do you know that. And she says, he's right next to us …

The Moon glimmered in the sky. The dark streets gleamed with street lamps, every other one flickering. Steam from the half-broken air conditionings fill up the alley. It’s cold tonight, I can see my own breath. I just closed the door to my private eye business, Werning’s Privite Investigators. Solved 200 mysteries, not one closed. I have a tingle in my stomach, that sweat behind my ear. Something’s about to go wrong. I turn around to someone standing there. Gray suit and pants, black shoes, red tie and a white fedora. “What’s up Jimmy?” He calls out. Then I realized, It’s my partner, Randy Vesly.
“Not much, just closed up shop. Whatcha doin’ out here Randy?” I ask as I start to approach him.
“I’m just waiting on you. You said you’d buy me a shot.” He recalled.
“I don’t remember saying that,” I say. And I wouldn't've. 1: Randy went home early today. Said he was sick. 2: He doesn't drink. Went to a bar and asked for water. This is the moment I knew something was wrong. And I saw it. He looked up and I saw blood shot red. But more deadly. “Randy! Yo-”

Before I could finish, Randy pulled something out of his suit pocket. It was a gun. 8 Bullets. Loaded. “Wo wo wo, Calm down. This doesn't need to get violent.” I said, trying to reassure, still wondering how this escalated. Suddenly, He Fired 5 shots. But they weren’t just bullets. It was something else, much harder and deadly. I tried to run, but a shot ran through my heel. I dropped at the pain. I clenched my foot. He pursued towards me, now holding it at my face. I closed my eyes. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes. He was gone. I looked around. Nowhere in sight. I heard rustling from my right. Just a raccoon. I steadied myself up and limped back to the place. I sat down at my desk. What was that? Was that actually Randy? Where’d he go? I tried to look outside. Nothing.
Just then a hand hit the window. I jumped. I clinched on to my table. The hand had splashes of blood, moving it around, now dirtying my window. I heard a knock on the door. My mind started to race. My heart is beating faster than a drum roll. The thing started to try and unlock the door. Good thing I locked it. It stopped. I thought it was over. I tried to breathe it out. In and out. In and out.