Halloween

It was the scariest night of my life.  I thought I was going to have a fun night at my friend, Kayla Laposta's house for a sleepover. I was so wrong.
It was a rainy night when I arrived at Kayla's house. The moon was full, but there wasn’t a single star in the sky. I knocked on the door and heard Kayla's voice screaming for someone to answer it. I shook my head as the door violently flew open. For a moment, I almost thought it was going to come off its hinges.
Kayla appeared before me, looking very annoyed.

“Hi, . Are we having a bad day?” I asked, walking into the living room.

Kayla sighed. “Yeah, you could say that. Nobody seems to know how to answer the door around here except for me.”  Kayla looked at her older brother, Jim, who was sitting on the couch.

Jim rolled his eyes and popped some more chips into his mouth. “Calm down,” he said with his mouth full. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Kayla looked over at him with disgust as he wiped potato chip crumbs off of his shirt. Jim got up and put on his coat.

“I have a very important date tonight, so I’m leaving you ladies alone. Mom said to not destroy the house or else. They’ll be back around midnight.” Jim waved and left.

As soon as the door was closed,  Kayla smiled widely. “Everyone’s upstairs waiting. Let’s go.” Kayla grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs.
Our two other friends, Jessica and Laura were up there, waiting on Kayla’s bed.

“There you are, Sweta!”  Jessica said to me. “We have been waiting forever for you to get here.”

I shrugged, not knowing what to say. It wasn’t my fault my parents didn’t want to let me go tonight. They wanted me to stay  home in case a bad storm  hit.  We all sat in a circle on the floor, talking about what happened at school that day.  After awhile, Kayla appeared to be getting bored with Jessica’s conversation about a boy she liked.

“I have an idea,” she said with a grin. “Let’s tell ghost stories instead.”

Everyone else nodded and Jessica volunteered to go first. She sat up straight and pushed her long, brown hair out of her face.  Before she could speak, thunder rumbled loudly in the distance. I looked out the window as lightning flashed and the lights flickered.
Jessica cleared her throat and started her story. “There once was a girl named Amber who had all of her friends over for a party. They were all having fun and laughing when they heard a mysterious knock at the door. It was late and nobody was expecting anyone. The knocking got louder and louder. Everyone was terrified of who it could be.  None of the girls could move to even look to see who was at the other side.  As lightning flashed across the black sky, the lights went out, and everyone screamed.  Then, they heard the door open slowly with a loud creak.  No one made a single sound. Amber sat very still until she began to feel a very cold, wet hand on her shoulder. Amber freaked out and…” Jessica stopped and looked around. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

We all listened and heard a loud, scratching sound. It got closer and closer. Then, as it started getting faster, the lights went out.
Jessica and  started Kayla screaming at the top of their lungs. I tried to calm them down, but it was no use.

“Guys, chill out! It’s just the storm. That’s all!” I shouted over them.

They stopped only to listen to the scratching sound nearby. My heart started to race, but I had to be brave. I gathered up the courage and grabbed a flashlight sitting on Kayla’s dresser. I walked to her bedroom door and threw it open.

“Where in the world are you going?” Jessica asked.

I didn’t answer as I looked up and down the dark hallway. Shadows danced across the walls, playing with my imagination. I listened for the scratching noises and followed them. They were coming from Jim’s room! I took a deep breath and flung open the door. As soon as I walked in, the scratching got louder and faster. My heart was beating wildly and I felt like I was about to suffocate with fear. I stopped to hear where the sound was coming from.  It sounded like it was coming from Jim’s closet.

“You can do this,” I whispered to myself. “You’re brave.”

I slowly reached for the door knob and turned it. It creaked as I opened the door. I started to shine the flashlight into the darkness when something jumped out at me. I screamed and fell over backwards. I heard a meow right before I fainted.