“Seriously, it’s the perfect spot,” Jack said, nudging Tyler in the ribs. “As long as you aren’t afraid of the ghosts.” He lowered his voice and waggled his fingers as he drew out the last word.”
Sarah hip-checked Jack hard. As she took another puff from her cigarette, she donned a scornful look. Her tight-fitting witch costume went from sexy to sinister in an instant. “Don’t be a dick, Jack. You know damn well there’s no such thing as ghosts.”
“Yeah, I know that,” said Jack, draining the last drop from his beer and tossing the can aside. “But Tyler doesn’t, do you Tye?”
Jessica shifted uncomfortably, shrugging off a chill that had nothing to do with her bare midriff and shoulders. Her Arabian Princess costume, while hardly containing enough material to keep her warm, was just about perfect for the unseasonably heat of the evening. Her skin had turned to gooseflesh because, like Tyler, Jessica wasn’t so sure she didn’t believe in ghosts, either.
Not that she was going to admit that to Jack. Her boyfriend’s calm confidence was the only reason she was entertaining this idea at all.
“Screw you, Jack,” Tyler snarled, revealing a flash of the canine caps that completed his vampire costume. “I’m not worried about ghosts. I’m worried about getting caught.”
“Caught by who?” Jack asked, furrowing his brow. With the skeletal face paint he wore, the expression came across as more cruel than skeptical. “Seriously, I was checking it out just this morning. The place is all boarded up. The police don’t patrol it. Even if they did, the cops have their hands full protecting trick-or-treaters and busting up college parties tonight.”
Tyler remained unconvinced, though he glanced away. “What if someone notices we skipped the dance?”
“Dude, it’s a costume ball. No one is going to suggest they didn’t see us. Shit, almost all of the juniors and seniors are signed up for this thing, and at least half of them are going to be unrecognizable.”
Jessica found herself looking for an alternative. The group of four teens sneaking off to hook up in some abandoned house seemed a lot more attractive in the daylight. Now that the sun had set, the whole scheme seemed like a bad idea. “Jack, let’s just go park somewhere.” All this talk of ghosts had her thinking a quicky in the backseat didn’t sound so bad.
Jack held out his arms, gesturing around them. “With what car? We walked here, Jess.”
“I can just talk to Tracey,” she said, shrugging as if she was indifferent to the option. “She’s always driving that van around. She’ll be at the dance tonight. I’m sure she’d give me the keys for an hour. Not like it would be the first time.” The more Jessica thought about it, the more she liked the ideas. Her excursions in the back of Tracey’s van were a lot better than those she’d experienced in the back of Jack’s Pontiac.
“Ugh.” Jack threw up his hands, rounding on the group. “Look, I spent a lot of time on this shit, okay? We all agreed that this was the plan. If y’all want to chicken out: fine. I’ll just spend my night alone in that spooky old house.”
The frown that scarred Tyler’s face announced the decision for the whole group. “Piss off, Jack. No one suggested flaking until you started poking fun at us. Personally, I want to see all the ‘work’ you put into this. If it’s lame, I promise, I’m getting the hell out of there. Feel me?”
Jack grinned. “Yeah, I ‘feel’ you.” He gestured to the woods just off to their right. “Well, if y’all are still up for it, then that’s the path. About a half mile past the school. Last chance: anyone too scared?”
The way he issued the taunt galvanized the rest of the party. Everyone except Jessica; she was only tagging along because it was her boyfriend leading the charge. God, I wanted someone more adventurous, but this adventurous? This guy is crazy.
She kept all this to herself. Tyler, taking a swig of his father’s whiskey from a flask, spoke for the group. “Fine,” he said. “Lead on.”
Jack giggled as he sprinted off the path heading to the school where their parents expected them to be. If their parents had ever suspected that the dance was just an excuse to hook up absent the pressure of time, they would have never let them walk over toward Silver Hills High. Such were the rewards of those who’d mastered the art of misdirection and lies.
Tyler took Sarah’s hand and stormed after Jack. With a deep breath, Jessica followed, not wanting to be left behind. As soon as they delved within the tree line, she regretted their collective hubris. She was no stranger to the woods just outside of Silver Hills High. She’d been coerced inside that tree line by a particularly cute senior boy her sophomore year. It was just outside the perimeter of the school’s security, and completely lacking in roads by which the local or state police could patrol.
These woods were an island, a landlocked sanctuary for the troubled and daring. There was no parking area, no declaration that this was some kind of state or county park. Sure, there were trails: but even the most avid of bikers and hikers avoided their use. Too many scary stories. Urban legends had rendered the woods essentially abandoned.
Which, of course, was why Jack had scouted out the place for use. The police were growing ever wiser about the common spots used by the high school students for intimate activities. Worse still: so were their parents. The creativity Jack had applied in scoping out the forest manor was inspired, if somewhat controversial.
Jack ran ahead, keeping at least fifty paces ahead of the rest of them. Jessica found herself cuddling up next to Sarah and Tyler. After ten or fifteen minutes of hasty walking—most of which she spent resenting her choice of six and envying Sarah’s knee-high boots—Jessica whispered to Sarah, “Are we sure this is a good idea?”
“He’s your crazy boyfriend,” Sarah scoffed. “You tell me. Damn, he must be really good for you to agree to this kind of crazy shit. Maybe you should take that up with your therapist. You definitely have some serious daddy issues.”
Jack was that good, but Jessica wasn’t going to admit that to the group. Instead, she snatched the lit cigarette from Sarah’s hand and took a long drag. “I’m in therapy for anxiety, bitch,” she said. She wasn’t going to admit to her paranoid delusions because it was none of their damn business. “Besides, I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts?”
“I don’t,” Sarah insisted, her eyes going up to the narrow view of moonlight leaking through the skeletal trees. “That said, this place is supposed to be creepy even in the daylight; no ghosts required.”
Unfortunately, Sarah was right. Jessica had never seen Harken Manor, but everyone in Silver Hills had heard the legends. “Do you really think what they say is true?” she asked. “That the owner was a warlock that the town burned at the stake? That he hid his mansion in these haunted woods so that no one else could ever claim it?”
Tyler arched his eyebrow, taking another swig from his flask. “Is that what you heard?”
“Yeah. You hear it differently?”
“Yeah, for sure.” Tyler dabbed the flask on his tongue, having apparently savored the last of his stolen whiskey. “It’s just some government deal. These woods are state protected. The house is just so damned old that people forgot about it until the forest had grown over the dirt road that led back into town. By the time they found it again, the law protecting the area had already passed. They couldn’t get the machinery out there to tear it down, so they just boarded it up.”
Sarah scoffed, lighting another cigarette. “That might be true, but why was it abandoned? Tommy Richards has been up there. He said the thing is fucking massive. Why wouldn’t some scoop in and fix up the place?” She paused, taking a quick drag. Exhaling, she offered her theory. “I heard the Harkens were real reclusive. There were like twenty of them in there, and they almost never left. Supposedly they were deep into some sick incest shit going on in there too.”
Jessica shrug nervously, casting down her spent cigarette butt and smearing it into the dirt with one foot. “Okay, so they were reclusive and weird. That doesn’t explain why it’s abandoned.”
“One of their boys found religion,” Sarah said with a wicked grin. “He was so ashamed of his family, that he went back in and killed his whole family then killed himself. By the time someone thought to check in on them, the place was already falling apart, the bodies decayed, and the woods growing over the path. Easier to just board it up than clean it out.”
“I don’t know,” said Tyler. “I don’t care how bad the place smelled. If you offered me a mansion, even a fixer-upper, I’d sure as hell take it.”
“Even if it was haunted?” Sarah challenged.
Tyler instinctively reached for his flask before remembering it was empty. “No such thing as ghosts, right?”
Both girls giggled nervously. Truthfully, none of them had expected Jack to go through with this crazy plan. When he’d pitched it and told them he’d scope it out a few days back, the rest of them thought he was going to come back scared shitless. Rather than being terrified, Jack returned more enthusiastic than ever.
“It’s beautiful,” he declared. “That boarded-up exterior is just hiding the cool shit underneath. Whoever owned it last left it furnished! I can’t believe nobody’s looted it yet. It’s the perfect spot.”
Jessica, Tyler, and Sarah had been reluctant from the start. The endless pressure and teasing Jack provided eventually wore on their resolve, and they’d agreed to this little venture. Jessica was regretting giving in to that pressure already, and that regret upon laying eyes on the manor.
The monstrosity was four stories tall. Vines and leaf-bare trees encroached upon it from every angle. What era was this built in? It looked vaguely Victorian but didn’t quite meet the profile. It had to be worth a fortune. So, why didn’t anyone claim its ownership?
“Did you bring your Xanax?” Sarah whispered to Jessica.
Jessica frowned. “No, why?”
“Was just going to bum a couple off you, that’s all.”
Jack ran up a fractured sidewalk, past the bramble that encroached upon the walkway, and up to the massive wooden doors that offered entry into the ghostly structure. On either side of those doors lay pockmarks where the nails that had secured the boards barring entry had been pried loose.
“Come on,” he said, sweeping open the door to reveal an unexpected glow within the foyer. When neither Tyler nor Sarah stepped forward, Jessica drew in a deep breath. She started to move toward the entrance before faltering.
Whether it was the glow from inside or the light from the overhanging moon, something seemed wrong with Jack. His skeletal face paint seemed a bit too menacing, and his eyes were…
Jessica blinked, taking a step back and nearly rolling her ankle as one of her heels snagged on something. If Tyler hadn’t been there to catch her, she’d have toppled straight onto that dirty path.
“What are you waiting for?” Jack asked, clearly annoyed, but without that sinister glow Jessica had seen just a minute ago. “It’s all ready and waiting for us. I’ve pulled out all the stops for this one.”
Just the light playing tricks on me. Swallowing her hesitation, Jessica stepped up and peered into the crumbling wooden construct. Instantly, she was swept up in the very essence of the holiday. The interior glow came not from electric light, but from scores upon scores of jack-o’-lanterns covering every physical surface of the abandoned foyer.
“Damn, babe,” Jessica whispered. “How much did this cost?” In the back of her mind, she wondered if such elaborate decorations did not cost at least as much as one night in a small hotel. She would have preferred the hotel.
Jack chuckled. “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.” He swept his arm open across the display. “Come on. Y’all gotta admit this is badass. Don’t lie. This is the most festive shit you’ve ever seen.”
“Festive is a word,” Sarah murmured.
Tyler laughed, starting a slow clap. “Okay, Jack: I’ll give this one to you. When you came up with this bat-shit plan to come here, I’d thought you’d lost your mind. Now I see what you were thinking. Cool stuff, bro.”
Jessica wondered if Tyler wasn’t overcompensating a bit with his lavish praise, but she was glad to see the guys getting along again. Her eyes went to the jack-o’-lanterns scattered about them. These were no mere child’s carvings. Each face was intricate and artistic, the fire in their eyes seeming to assess their every move with cruel intent. She decided she was with Sarah on this one: in a way, it was kind of festive, but the spooky decorations and infernal light only made the place that much creepier in her mind.
Instead of saying as much, she stuck to the facts. “There’s no way you did this all in one day; not if you were in school, and I know I saw you in Pre-Calc this morning.”
Jack had the grace to at least pretend to be sheepish. “What? I have an open hour right before lunch.” When she shot him a skeptical look, he added, “Plus maybe I skipped U.S. History and Senior English. I was back for Bio, though—exactly like the note from my parents said I would be.”
Jessica could only shake her head. She wasn’t exactly a rule-follower, which was why she was skipping the school dance to hook up in a haunted house, but she couldn’t hold a candle to Jack’s gumption. Meanwhile, Sarah was having a hushed argument with Tyler. Their voices were low and hissing, so the words weren’t obvious. Jessica caught something from Sarah to the effect of: “Don’t pretend like this is creepy as shit.”
Having apparently caught the comment, Jack cleared his throat. “Well, thank you all for taking the time to appreciate my pet project. Now—” He produced a tarnished metal key from somewhere within his skeleton costume. “—we are on a bit of a timeline. That key will get you into any room in the house, though I recommend you take the one over here behind me. I only prepped two rooms, but if you’re feeling adventurous, by all means: check out the rest of the place. Some pretty cool shit laying around here.”
Sarah stared at the key like it might bite her. “Keys? You found keys to the house?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jack shrugged. “I just looked in the obvious places. They had one hiding under the front stairs out front. Inside, I found two more: one in the kitchen, and one in the master bedroom. Y’all need a spare?”
“Nah, we’re good man.” Tyler practically flourished in his vampire’s cape as he seized the key from Jack. “Where y’all going to be? Need us to check in before we split?”
“Probably not,” Jack replied. “Just don’t tell anyone else we’re out here if you head out early. Get my drift?”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, drop something on the text thread if you decide to leave early, Casanova. We’ll do the same.” He extended a hand back to Sarah. “Ready, babe?”
Sarah hadn’t shed her expression of discomfort but took Tyler’s hand anyway. “Yeah, sure.” She looked back, locking eyes with Jessica. “Holler if you need anything, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Jessica sighed. “Will do.”
With that, Tyler led Sarah to the far end of the chamber. He inserted the key into the lock below an ornate metal door handle. The lock clicked approvingly as he twisted the key, letting the door swing open with a high-pitched squeal.
Before Jessica could see what lay behind the door, Jack swept her up in his arms. She had to stifle a little yelp at his sudden touch but managed to hide her fear behind a nervous giggle. Jack was all smiles. “Ready princess?” he asked.
She’d known he was strong, but in his confident grip, she felt positively weightless. “You know it,” she replied with a confidence she didn’t quite feel. With a smile, Jack carried her up the creaking stairs. Each wooden plank groaned plaintively to an extent that Jessica half-wondered if they might fall through. The boards held, and soon Jack was rounding the corner of the upper hallway and carrying her into the nearest bedroom.
This door was not only unlocked but cracked open. Jack shouldered it open effortlessly. Crossing the threshold, Jessica was brought out of the festive Halloween décor and into a candlelight fantasy from a bygone century. “Holy shit, Jack. How did you…?”
Jack shrugged, depositing her back on her feet. “All the materials were here, just waiting for someone to come along.” His humble remark bore no hint of a lie, yet Jessica could still hardly believe it.
Unlike the rest of the decaying house, the room was immaculate. A king-size bed in pristine condition had been dressed in fresh sheets and a clean patchwork quilt. Candles dotted the surface of two nightstands, a vanity, and the windowsill. The walls were the same decaying woodwork and stripped paint, but it seemed less harsh in the romantic ambiance.
Jessica turned to Jack, compliments on the finery at the tip of her tongue. With a gasp, those compliments were swallowed into the sudden fear and panic in her chest. Laying eyes on Jack, she saw—not his amateurish rendition of a skull crafted in cheap face paint—but an actual skull placed atop his costumed shoulders.
That skull turned to gaze at her. Instead of eyes beneath the white ridges of his brows, distant coals burned within the dark abyss of those sockets. The jaw opened, and absent lips or tongue to form words, its message reverberated from within the distant chasm of its throat. “Do you like it?”
Jessica would have screamed, but she hadn’t the breath. She stumbled backward, colliding painfully with one corner of the bed and toppling to the ground. She only barely managed to avoid colliding with the nearest nightstand.
“Jess? Jess!” Jack surged toward her, arms outstretched. Now Jessica did scream, her hands slapping at his oncoming form. He grabbed her wrists and restrained her, forbearance and gentleness evident in his every move. “Jess, look at me! Talk to me!”
Against her better instincts, she opened her eyes. She saw Jack. The actual Jack. Not the scary skull-faced thing she’d fled from a moment ago, but the guy she knew. Her boyfriend. In his eyes—those very real, very visible eyes—she saw deep concern.
What had happened? A trick of the light maybe? “I… I’m sorry,” she stammered, fighting back tears. “I just got scared for a second.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” She drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I think you did too good a job. This whole haunted house thing is getting to me.”
Jack let slip a slight smile. “The horror was supposed to stop at the door. I was hoping you might find this romantic.”
“It is. I do.” She let out another shuddering breath and drew him close. “Sorry, just some anxiety shit. Probably nothing.”
A low chuckle reverberated in his chest. “Well, let me ease your anxiety.” He kissed her. Deeply. Passionately. His left hand held the back of her neck, his other massaging her lower back. With a satisfied sigh, Jessica leaned into his touch. As they continued, what she’d found comforting became agitating. With an eager moan, she reached behind her and began to pull herself on the bed.
Jack guided her, the hand on her back moving to her ass and carrying her onto the mattress. When she was well positioned, that hand slid up her abdomen, under the thin fabric of her costume, and onto her breast. His thumb brushed her nipple, provoking a gasp of pleasure.
“Do you like that?” Jack asked. Then, in a deeper, more sonorous voice, he asked, ”What else do you want?” He kissed her again, but this time it felt different. Instead of soft lips, she found teeth. Instead of a smooth tongue, she found...
She pulled away, pressing as far back as the headboard would allow her to. For just a split second, she saw that ghastly face, the image of the skull with the burning, ember eyes.
Then she blinked. She saw only Jack’s confused expression. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“No,” she admitted, rubbing her eyes with trembling fingers. “No, I’m not. I’m sorry. This… this is just too much for me. I didn’t want to admit it before, but I’m a wimp. I’m scared. I don’t think I can do this here.”
In sharp contrast to his earlier remarks to Tyler, Jack was nothing but sympathetic. “Okay, I understand.” He embraced her in a manner that was more comforting than sexual. “We can go. Can I just…” He pulled back, a bit of a twinkle returning to his eyes. “I had one more thing I wanted to show you. I was going to wait until after… you know… the main event, but I don’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Can I just show you this one more thing?”
Everything within Jessica wanted to say no, but Jack was being kinder than he’d ever been. She’d expected her boyfriend to tease her, to criticize her paranoid beliefs. Instead, he was being… nice. “Sure,” she replied. “Just one more thing. Then we can go, right?”
“Right,” Jack agreed. He crawled backward off the bed and made it to a door on the far side of the bedroom. It looked like a closet. “Just give me a few minutes to set it up, okay? I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for her response, Jack opened the door and vanished into the darkness beyond.
And just like that, Jessica was alone. Though the room still held that same air of fantasy, cold fear now crept beneath her skin. It tainted every highlight, every shadow. The contrast between the ornate furniture and the broken-down interior felt more striking. Even the light of the candles now appeared to dance with infernal glee.
A breeze swept over her shoulders. Never mind that the windows and doors were closed. She distinctly felt the air move against her flesh, carrying with it a deathly chill. That was when she heard the whispers. They were indistinct at first. They mingled with a distant scream. They grew louder, becoming something she could understand. A single word: Run.
Jessica sat up, fully intent on heeding the haunting message. As she threw her legs over the edge of the mattress, the closet door burst open. “Jess? You okay?”
“No,” she sobbed. “Jack, I’m… fuck it… I’m seeing things. I’m hearing things. I just… I just…” She buried her face in her hands. What is wrong with me?
Jack was by her side in an instant. “I’m so sorry Jess. I didn’t mean to freak you out.” He wrapped her in his arms, bringing her head to his shoulder. “Look: let’s just go. I don’t need to show you this other thing. It’s not that important.”
Despite his words, Jack’s tone conveyed his disappointment. That disappointment spurred Jessica to stifle her sobs and compose herself. “No, you worked really hard on this.” She pulled away just enough to look into his eyes—his very human eyes. “It’s bad enough I can’t give you what we came here for. Just show me what you’ve pulled together. After that, we can leave.”
Jack’s smile was broad and sincere. “Thank you,” he said. “This will only take a moment. I promise.” He took her by the hand and led her off the bed toward the closet door. Jessica found it odd that the portal was shut again. Had Jack closed it on his way out?
Regardless, he opened it and ushered her in. “This way,” he said, pushing her into—not a closet—but another small room. This new place was lit by a single lonely lightbulb. Had there been electricity anywhere else in the house? Regardless, the scant light from this didn’t even reach the walls. Its dim glow cast itself only on one, singular object in the room.
It was a thin fixture, at least a foot taller than her. When Jack shut the door behind them, he approached the white cloth with a showman’s flourish. “Behold!” he declared, whipping the sheet away. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The thing was beautiful but hardly worth the pomp and circumstance. It was a mirror, gilded with gold at the edges, but just a full-length mirror. Jessica stared harder at the piece, wondering if there was something she was missing. “Yeah,” she replied with less enthusiasm than she’d been attempting to muster. “Looks great.”
She watched in the mirror as Jack came up behind her. “Isn’t it though?” he whispered, wrapping both hands around her exposed abdomen. One hand went back up her bra while the other flirted with the upper edge of her thong. “It’s the main attraction. It’s why I brought you here.”
As he spoke the words, Jessica had no idea what he was talking about. As she stared into the mirror, however, the truth became apparent.
Though she could feel Jack’s lips work against her neck, that was not what the mirror showed. Instead, that demonic skull nuzzled against her reflection’s neck. Its ember eyes glowed as it wrapped a tongue of darkness around her throat. As Jessica went rigid with fear, her reflection kept smiling at her. It laughed and gave her a playful wink.
Jessica screamed louder than she’d ever screamed in her life. She pulled away, but Jack’s too-strong hands held her fast, continuing to molest her. “This doesn’t have to be difficult, Jess. Just enjoy this part.”
“Yeah,” gasped another voice, this one coming from the mirror—a mockery of Jessica’s own voice. The false reflection—rather than pull away from Jack, leaned into his touch—moaning softly in pleasure. “There’s no reason we can’t both enjoy this.”
The sick display gave Jessica another spike of adrenaline. With renewed terror, she turned within Jack’s grasp, somehow managing to wriggle free from his embrace. She pushed back against him as she stumbled to the far door. She twisted the knob, found it open, and burst out the other side.
Sprinting across the room, she heard a loud crack and missed her next step, tumbling onto the mottled wooden floor. Her heels, she realized. One of the broke. Both of them?
She didn’t pause long. She tore the shoes from her feet and pushed herself to her feet. Ignoring the sharp pain in her left ankle, she stumbled across the bedroom and out the far door. Looking to her left, she saw the distant glow of jack-o’-lanterns down the hall. An impossibly long hall, with not a single door to her left or right. Hadn’t Jack just carried her around the corner?
No time to think. Have to run. She rushed barefoot toward the distant light, each step eliciting wet cracks from the fragile boards. Behind her, she heard Jack. “Jessica,” he pleaded calmly. “Jess, please. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Finally, she made it to the end of the hall. She turned and raced down the stairs. The pain in her ankle throbbed in angry bursts with each frantic footfall. She stumbled, clinging to the banister to keep from toppling the rest of the way down. Limping now, she managed to reach the bottom. She looked for the door at the end of the foyer.
A figure intercepted her. Jessica screamed. She’d have lashed out, but her arms were pinned to her side. “Jess. Jess!” She recognized the voice. It was Sarah’s voice.
“Sarah,” Jessica gasped. “We have to go. Something’s wrong with Jack. Something’s wrong with this place. We have to go.”
Sarah shushed her, bringing her into a tight hug. “Look, just calm down. You’re having a panic attack. Let’s just breathe for a second, and we can talk about it.” After a slight pause, she added, “My eyes are on the stairs. Jack’s not coming. No one is coming. Now, calm down. Tell me what happened.”
Jack wasn’t coming? What the fuck was he doing, then? “He brought me into this room, and it was beautiful, but…” She swallowed hard. “There was this other room, with this mirror, and… and…” She dissolved into sobs. “Sarah, we need to leave. I don’t know what’s happening, but we need to leave.”
Sarah’s embrace suddenly felt too tight. Jessica found herself unable to shrug it off. She pushed harder, and Sarah leaned back to face her. Instead of finding Sarah’s face beneath her broad-brimmed witch’s hat, Jessica saw the same skull she’d witnessed upon Jack’s shoulders.
The thing that was most definitely not Sarah spoke. “Don’t be afraid,” it said in a voice that was too deep and echoed too far into Jessica’s mind. “This will only take a moment.”
Jessica screamed again. She shrieked so loud that she couldn’t cry out any harder when skeletal impersonations of Jack and Tyler appeared to take each of her arms. With the thing that was not Sarah grabbing her legs, all three monstrosities carried her back up the stairs.
Thrashing frantically, Jessica could find no relief. Every skeletal hand on her body felt like it had been cast in iron. They carried her back into the bedroom, now vacant of candlelight. The furniture that had seemed so pristine before was now rotted, crawling with spiders and insects. This realization was only a flash in Jessica’s mind as the creatures dragged her past the far door into the closet that was not a closet.
The mirror still glimmered with the lonely light of the overhanging bulb. The creatures that had taken the place of her friends stood her upright in front of the mirror. As they held her in place, her horrific reflection took center stage.
“It’s okay, Jess,” her reflection said. “We’re going to take good care of your body. Better care than you ever did. So please, just relax, this will only take a moment.”
The apparition reached out of the mirror toward Jessica’s face. Jessica screamed and thrashed but was unable to free herself from the bony hands that held her. Her reflection’s hand inched closer. It touched her forehead.
Then it all stopped. Jessica found herself unhanded, floating in a sea of darkness. Her breath still pumped raggedly in her chest, yet the inhalations provided no release to her anxiety. “Hello,” she cried out into the void. “Is anyone there?”
She felt a sensation like a vacuum tugging at her toes. With another gasp of horror, she found herself back in the upstairs bedroom. This time, she was in front of a window. The curtains were no longer drawn, so she could see clearly out in front of the house. Distantly, she heard terrified shrieks: one male, one female. Tyler and Sarah.
And another voice. One more distant than the others. One she recognized. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know.”
Jack
Jessica looked around. All around her was dark and void. The only light, the only sense of reality, came from the window in front of her.
From that window, she saw the door to the house burst open. Four figures looking all too familiar raced into the moonlight. They wore the skins of her and her friends. There stood Jack, looking normal once again, along with perfect replicas of Tyler, Sarah, and Jessica herself. They waved good-naturedly up at the window, with only a hint of their skeletal features flashing as they darted off into the woods.
Slowly, the already scant light from the moon outside began to fade. The world outside steadily succumbed to shadow, and Jessica was left alone.
Alone in the darkness.
