Marie

A SPECIAL HALLOWEEN

This happened during the night of Halloween in the year 1973. Allison was a very nice young girl, good looking and always sweet and smiling. She was then fourteen and she wanted to be, for once, really frightening. She looked for an awful disguise but could not find one in the store in center town.

As she contemplated the traditional masks and other pumpkins, she looked so disappointed that a very strange man with very dark eyes, and a very black coat came to her and said : I think I have got what you need, come to my shop this evening. You will find it at the back of the warehouse; there is no sign, just a candle in a lantern. Allison asked to her best friends Jack and Henry to go with her but she entered the shop alone and saw nothing but a dreadful mask on a cushion with a word "Take it, it's free, bring it back when possible"

Allison felt very happy. She took the mask over her arms, showed it to her friends and ran home to make herself ready for the party. Arrived in her room, she put the mask on her head, looked in the mirror, felt afraid of herself and left home with the intention of being really bad this night.

The first children she met were so afraid that one of them fell on the ground; Allison wanted to say "it's me Allison, don't run" but an awful voice came out of her mouth and said "run or I catch you". And the nightmare began for Allison; a strange power forced her to be more bad, aggressive and violent that she ever wanted to be. She stole the candies of the children, hit them when they were not quiet enough. She knew she was victim of the mask, but the mask was now like a second skin on her face. She could note take it off. She looked for help but everybody ran away when seeing her, and the words she really wanted to say could not come out of her mouth.

Allison remembered then that her friends had a party in the cemetery; she ran there and saw Jack and Henry, dancing not far from fire they had lighted. She yelled; Jack saw her and immediately recognized the mask. Allison tried to speak but once again could not. Henry came and caught Allison in his arms while Jack tried to help Allison and take the mask off. It was very hard; Allison screamed for pain but all together they succeeded and Jack threw the mask in the fire.

Allison promised herself that never again she would wish to frighten people.