Challenge Submission That Fateful Night

[Saya Vandiesmont]

Allie walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her humming. She was so excited for the evening to start. It was officially Halloween! Her and several other friends had plans to go to the abandoned asylum outside of town. It was supposedly haunted by the ghost of the most brutal killer to ever be admitted. Grabbing her brush, the girl worked on getting the mess of tangles out of the brown mop on her head. She had wanted to dye it a deep plum color, but her mother would not hear of it. Rolling her big green eyes, it did not take long to get on her costume for the night. The junior was going on a black cat, one of her favorite animals. The others in her party had kept their costumes a secret.

"Allie! What are you doing up there?" a voice from below called.

"I'm getting dressed to go out with some friends, mom!" Allie called back with a sneer.

"You just better not get in to trouble tonight! I wont bail you out of jail like I did your sister last year!" her mother called back.

Allie rolled her eyes as her mother's voice faded off. She remembered what happened to her older sister Kathrine. One too many drinks and suddenly, the older girl had a knife buried into some random dude's stomach. Her older sister never did tell anyone what really happened; all she did was plead guilty before the judge. Shaking her head, the girl finished getting ready just as the sun was starting to set. Pulling on her black ankle boots, the teen ran out of the house before her mother could stop her. Bounding down the road, she slowed to a walk as the other houses in the neighborhood moved past her. Looking at her watch the girl made a tch sound.

"Still early. What to do till they get here," Allie spoke while walking into the old park.

The soft crunch of rocks pushing against each other could be heard as the girl walked into the park. The sight that greeted her was not one of happiness. It was an old run-down place that had been abandoned when the city built a new, larger play area closer to the houses. A set of swings sat off to the left most had a broken chain, making it more into a chain swing. There was one seat nearly rotted clean through that the chains still held together on. Shivering, she watched as it slowly swung back and forth. The sight was creepy as there was no wind of any kind to make the motion happen. Turning away, the slow squeal of old bolts and washers moving caught her attention. Jerking her head around, the merry-go-round had slowly begun to turn as well.

Allie felt her skin crawl as a black crow flew over head and landed on top of the plastic slide. The bird turned and stared at her for what felt like an eternity. Black, unblinking eyes stared into her hazel eyes; she felt as if the crow was trying to find out what secrets the girl was hiding. Cocking its head to the side, it left out a loud caw before flying off again. An eerie wind began to blow causing the fallen leaves to flitter across the ground. The girl slowly began to back up not liking the feeling she was getting from the area. The unsettled feeling began to get stronger till, a hand touched the girl's shoulder causing her to jump nearly two feet in the air.

"AH!" Allie cried out and spun around.

"Woah! Hey, hey its only us," a tanned pirate said jerking his hand back.

"That was not funny, Noah!" Allie growled.

Her heart pounded in her chest as the adrenaline coursed through her veins. She and Noah had dated off and on during their time in high school. The girl was not a popular person but not a geeky person either. Allie was the in between kid that could make friends with almost anybody. The only exception was Kaitlyn Reeves, the schools resident head cheerleader and school hoe.

"If you are this freaked out already, maybe we shouldn't go to the asylum," Noah said gently.

"No, I will be fine. Come on Marissa and Justin are waiting on us," Allie stated and shook her head.

 

[Saya Vandiesmont]

Noah nodded and walked ahead of the girl. Allie began to follow him pausing at the rusted metal fence to look back at the dead playground. A shiver ran up her spine as the girl raced to catch up with her boyfriend. It did not take the pair long to reach the overgrown dirt road that lead to the asylum. Waiting for them was a raven haired grey eyed girl dressed as a cartoon character of some sort, and a tall lanky boy that had fake glasses on trying to be "Harry Potter". Allie had never been able to get in to the series, but never made fun of Justin for liking it. As they approached, Marissa turned and glared at them.

"You two are late. What took you so long?" Marissa asked crossing her arms.

"Sorry, I had to split from the house early so my mom couldn't ask where we were going," Allie stated.

"Yeah, thanks for the text about where you were. It took me ten minutes to figure out which way you had went," Noah said with a pout.

"Oh, you will be okay. Come on before someone sees us," Allie spoke and started up the pathway.

Soon after the other three followed making sure all phones were put on silent and hidden in their pockets. Allie gave her phone to Marissa who had her messenger bag dressed up like a pirate chest. It took nearly an hour to reach the building with how grown up the dirt road had become. Grunting, the group finally managed to pull themselves free of the underbrush.

"That was a lot harder than it was when we were kids," Noah said and ruffled the leaves out of his hair.

"Yeah, but at least we made it," Justin stated and pointed ahead of them.

It was still going to be a walk, but in the distance stood the asylum. The building was larger than the town hall and a slate architectural grey color. Only four windows could be seen on the outside of the building giving it an even more menacing appearance.