Dark was the night before Halloween. Ghastly, eerie winds threatened the small town of Pumpkin shuck. Wispy clouds encircled the sky and cold was felt by all. A lonely rickety old mansion sat idle on the hill outside the city. Shingles were falling off, the roof was caving in, the house creaked and the windows were hardly see through. Darkness covered the house.

The paint had lost its vibrant bright colorful red and now was stained faded yellow and

black from dirt, grime and anything else that would attach to it. No one could believe

that a man lived there. Most didn't even see him. The thought was that he only came

out at night. Which he did. He wore a long silk black wavy coat that reached past his

knees. The only item that was found on him was a long slender hook like blade. He

moved swiftly and fast. His head was kept down most of the time obscuring his face but

when he did raise his head a look of sadness was upon it that would never go away.

Were the stories, legends, and myths all true. Was he him? Was it all leading up to this

or was he just an old saddened man who had lost a dearly beloved?

No one was bold enough to find out. They were scared of the stories too much

and the thought of what he might do to them was not a thought worth thinking upon. He

checked all the boxes and fit the profile to a T. There were days however where the

man would go out of town for a few days and while he was gone a group of rumbucios

teens, boys and girls mixed, would go up to the mansion and party hard and party late.

The mansion was the perfect spot to meet. Teens would come from everywhere. The

mansion was big, three stories; far enough away from the town not to cause angry

neighbors. No one cared to know who lived there or what his story was. Free house,

free party place, and no disturbance. What more could you ask for? For one teen more

is what he seeked. Answers is what he needed. Not on if the owner was a man or myth

but who owned this house in general. Neither clear in mind or step he made his way

downstairs while the party had there eyes looking away. This night he was determined

to find answers.

The basement was barely lit casting eerie glows and strange creepy

shapes on the wall. He kept going. He didn't know what he was stepping on but

he didn't check to look. It felt lifelike. Then something slid past him and he could

feel it all the way through his loose, lightweight shoes. It felt like a snake. Almost

made him jump but what happened next made him pee his pants. He had his foot

lifted and was bringing it down except it didn't touch ground. Whatever he

stepped on made a crunch and a hiss ensued. The teen as quick s he could

raised his foot and saw an injured gardner snake slither away. He didn't know

why but he followed it and did his best to keep up swatting spider webs out of the

way and squishing bugs in his quake. The snake finally stopped and was

nowhere to be seen. The teen struggled to get the last spider web off of his face

then looked up. There standing before him was a luscious pure white wedding

dress with white roses here and there. There were some red roses too that

matched the dress. Wait, no. Further inspection showed it was blood just in the

shape of a rose. The teen started seeing lots and lots of it but the reason he

didn't see it earlier is because it fit and matched the dress so perfectly.

Then the horror started. The feet looked and were black, mucky

and almost as if they would fall off at any minute. Further up the right hand

was completely gone looking like it was either cut off, ripped off, or bitten

off. Judging by the scratch marks and teeth marks on the left hand the

right hand was bitten off. That sent a shiver down the boys body in places

he didn't want felt. He stepped closer and heard a click of a button

pressed but he didn't bother looking. He was looking at something else.

The beautiful eyes of...a skull. Just four huge holes were shown left. He

kept staring cause it was so mesmerizing and saw something move

around in the eyes. He leaned forward and shouldn't have. Two snakes

slithered slowly out of each eye socket and one out the nose. The teen

took a step back and in so doing his foot stepped off the button. "Our first

date." A voice said in a friendly killer way.

That was enough. The boy saw a piece of paper in the girls

right pocket, grabbed it as fast as he could and hightailed it upstairs

snake on his heels the whole way. His eyes started adjusting to the

dark and he saw dead rats, mice, and human bones, some looking

like teens, scattered abroad everywhere. "He ate his wife and he's

eating his victims," was the boys thought.

"RUUUUUUUUN," The rest of the party heard clearly

from a young teen that almost fell on his face because of

coming up the basement stairs too fast.

"Wait why? Where have you been?" The teen

in charge of the party said with a cup in his hands.

The moment the teen regained his footing a team of

snakes were on the bottom step coming up fast. The teen

line backed charged into the other teen using him for

support, turning him around then pushing off. Then

everybody saw and heard it The hissing started first then a

cloud of snakes moved as one up the stairs directly towards

them. That got them moving. First it was crashing through

each other then the front door. Some being victims in the

process. It looked like a bad dream.

Once they were outside the teen found his

besties and gathered them together. The team consisted of

two theory nut boys a down to earth girl and him. An

adrenaline junky. With a side of mystery and also down to earth as well. "Before all the snakes attacked i managed to snatch this out of her dress." "Whose dress?" And what is it?" "I saw the most horrid thing. There was this dead girl just all skeleton. She had the most beautiful white dress on though like it had just been put on recently. No way she died in it. Blood covered it and her right hand was off like someone bit it off. At first I thought that whoever owned this house was a cannibal and ate his own wife but that was too gross to even consider harder. I bet the snakes ate it off. Anyways I stepped on a recorder and heard a man's voice say, 'Our first date.' Then I saw the note. It's too a high end restaurant out of town. I'm guessing this guy liked her a lot and wanted to surprise her. He took her to this fancy restaurant to score lots of boyfriend points then once she got angry at him for interrupting so many times he strangled her then and there. Bit off her arm and stabbed her to death. Sprinkled roses on her as a gift for the afterlife then dragged her body to his basement where it remains to this day." "I thought you weren't into the stories?" "I wasn't but upon seeing what I have seen I'm more than convinced he is the Reaper. "Dave, stop that," the girl said. "Give me the note. I think it's pretty clear here what happened. And Dave he is not the Reaper. Get that out of your head." "Oh yea. Then what's the obvious question then?" "Knowing boys," she said softly under her breath but enough for them to hear. He liked this girl a lot. And for her only the best and most perfect would do. So after a few months he mustered up his courage to ask her out on this all important date. She asked where they were going. He said it was a surprise and took her to this place. Now either he asked her to dress fancy and she wore a white dress or he put in on her afterwards to remember who he lost. He prepared as much as he could. Rehearsed and talked to himself in the mirror over and over again wanting to get it right. The reason he brought her to the restaurant was because he wanted to ask her the question. Obviously the date didn't get that far because the restaurant blew up, someone had prepped it earlier. He was holding her body in his arm her barely holding onto life. Blood everywhere. He was crying, she was crying. Her hand had been blown off. He was holding her other arm tightly towards his chest indicating the scratch marks. Now I don't know why he would take her back to his house and put her in the basement. Unless.... "The date went past the restaurant back to his house. They got in a fight and he cannibalized her," another teen said "Seriously. You've been watching way too many horror movies. He bought a ring for her for that night but based on Dave's findings he brought her home. Kept her in his basement and a way for him to remember her was by putting that dress on her as an engagement wedding almost but still why bring her home. That part I don't know. "Perhaps I can shed some light on that. The saddened look on his face looks like a man that would do anything to bring back something and know that we know who that something is. He was trying to bring her back to life." "That's ridiculous and a stupid theory. Even if it were possible, how would he do it or know how to do it?" "Easy. Dark Magic. He was trying to perform an art. The reason he brought her home was to try to bring her back to life. What you need is the thing or person you're trying to bring back. An open room enclosed and also four relics or objects that relate to that person." "But where would he find such things and why hasn't he succeeded?" "It's dark magic not a simple magic trick. But wouldn't he know where to get things. Weren't they together a while?" "First date remember so that means.....? Can I see that note. This note is for a reservation ...today. He forgot to bring it with him. That's where he is?" "Why go back. Couldn't he have just gathered up the lost items that night?" "No. He thought the blast destroyed everything so he rushed her home to save her himself. This reservation is for seeing someone. And this someone has found or knows where lost items are." "How far away is the restaurant?" "A day's walk." "So we have till tomorrow to bring her back." "What. But you just said. We just said. She's dead." "But what if she isn't?" "What do you mean. Your scaring me a little. Are we going to see if we can conjure up a spirit faster then the man can to bring his girlfriend back? "No you sillies, but the man has started the process and his girlfriend is coming back to life." "How do you know?" "When I touched her left hand. I felt the strangest thing." "Her hand moved?" "No." "It waved?" "No. It was still warm." "How?" There was silence for a while and then Dave spoke. "We need more snakes, earth as well."