It was Halloween day and I was getting ready to meet up with my friends. I was almost finished with the final touches on my costume, when all of a sudden I heard a knock on the front door. I was home alone so I didn’t want to answer the door since I didn’t know who it was, so I looked out my bedroom window, which has a direct view to the front door. But when I looked there was no one there. “Weird,” I thought to myself, “Maybe I just imagined the knock?”

It was thirty minutes later and I was finally ready to go. I was walking through my small hometown; it was so pretty the leaves were changing and everyone was decorated for Halloween. I was peacefully enjoying my walk when I was abruptly knocked out of my thoughts as I heard something coming from what our town called “The Old Man’s House.” If someone was new to the town they would think the house is abandoned, but it wasn’t, as an elderly man lived there. It was unusual to hear sounds coming from it, especially since he was never really seen. However, something pulled me to his house, and I couldn’t resist making sure everything was okay. 

I knocked on the door, but didn’t get a response. “Hello?” I yelled. But again there was nothing but silence. Until I heard a weird sound again, I gently nudged opened the door, worried about the old man. I walked in slowly and unsure, when the door slammed shut. I jumped and ran to the door to leave, but it was locked. Terrified, I continued to yell out, at this point desperate for a response. The house creaked and groaned as I continued through terrified of what I might see. “Ahhh!” I screeched, as everything went black. 

I woke up and looked at my phone. It read, 7:38 p.m. I had a dozen missed calls and text messages from my friends wondering where I was. I slowly got up, as I got up my body felt as if I had run a marathon, it ached more than it ever has before. But what even happened? I made my way to the back of the house to see if there was possibly a back door unlocked for me to leave out of. Without warning I heard an object fall, as I turned around to see what it was, a flash ran past. I bolted towards the back of the house, terrified for my life. 

After what felt like an eternity I found myself at a backdoor. I shook the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran until I found a door, a window, anything I could use to escape. As I was running I heard heavy footsteps getting closer and louder. I knew I had to immediately get out of there. I was back at the front door, and panic set in. Was there no other way to get out? I had been around the whole house. I heard footsteps as well as things getting knocked over. As a last try, I grabbed the doorknob of the front door. It opened! Relief almost rushed through me, but I still had to get out of there. 

Sunlight hit me. I had never been so happy in my life. I ran out of the house and slammed the door behind me. I heard a thud and looked behind me while running faster than ever before. The door was shaking, but never opened. As soon as I got off the property everything stopped, the shaking, the footsteps, the weird noises. All I saw as I turned around was a dark, shadowy figure lurking in the window of an upstairs room. What was that, I wondered? Will I ever know? All I knew was that something was after me, but I’ll never know what “it” was…