The Night After Hallowe'en: Prologue

The Night After Hallowe'en: Prologue

29th Oct 2010

By Mark B. Oliver

Justin shivered, as the wind whipped around him. Instinctively he pulled his parka hood further across his face, he was very cold, and very lost.

'Thank heavens the moon's bright,' he muttered to himself as he glanced upwards. The moonlight cast eerie shadows around the forest he had been trudging through for hours.

'Mum is never gonna let me forget this,' he sighed. After all, she had warned him not to go hiking alone. 'Poor Mum, she's probably worried sick.' He should have been home hours ago but somehow had wandered off the path and had been struggling to find his way out of the trees ever since. Pulling his compass from his pocket, Justin held it up to the moonlight but it just wasn't bright enough to make the needle out clearly. Exasperated, he put it away and continued to weave through the forest.

The wind suddenly picked up, great gusts that newly blew him over. And then it dawned on him.

'That's not wind.' Glancing up he could see a dark object flying just above the tree line; the branches smoldering from the heat. Realizing that it was going to crash, Justin started to run. The pilot and passengers were going to need help. The noise was deafening as the craft passed overhead and sprinting now, Justin struggled to keep up. Ahead of him, he could hear a deafening roar as it plummeted towards the forest; there was an almighty splash and then silence.

Justin raced into a clearing, a large lake lay before him, but there was no sign of any airplane, no wreckage, no noise even. It was as though the entire world had fallen silent.

'Surely it can't be that deep?' Frantically he glanced around, slipping his rucksack off his back as he did so, dropping it to the ground. Sweating profusely, he unzipped his parka and made his way to the water's edge. The water was perfectly still, the moonlight reflecting off the mirror-like surface.

The young man, sank to the ground, his feet stretched out before him. Had he imagined it? Was he that tired? Dehydrated maybe? Slowly his breathing returned to normal as he calmed down. The lake looked beautiful in the moonlight; so peaceful. Justin pulled his mobile from his rucksack - maybe he would finally have a signal.

'Yes!' he exclaimed with relief. Just half a bar, but if he kept very still... As he dialed his mum, he could see a fish swimming by the water's edge, just underneath the surface of the water. He turned his attention back to his mobile. 'Come on, come on.'

Without warning a gnarled, bony hand reached up from the water and grabbed his ankle, holding it tight. Terrified, Justin dropped his phone and tried to break free, but whatever had him was immensely strong. Using his other leg and his hands he tried desperately to clamber away, but the grip was too tight. To his horror, it was pulling him into the lake. He tried to scream out, but no sound would come. He tried in vain to find something to grab onto, anything, but his fingers just clawed at the soft dirt. He was on his back, up to his waist in water, being dragged in.

On the bank, his discarded mobile lay in the soil.

'Justin, Justin, is that you?' But Justin was gone, the lake quiet and calm once more. 'If this is one of your Hallowe'en pranks I'm really not impressed, young man. You might find it funny...' The words were beginning to sound desperate over the still, silent water. 'But nobody's laughing.'

Don't forget to come back on Monday for The Night After Hallowe'en: Part One.