I knew it had to be my imagination… but… I could have sworn that I saw a witch fly by… heading in the direction of the old cemetery at the edge of town.
And, of course… being as curious as I’ve always been… I had to check it out.
Walking as fast as I dared I ventured into the darkness… trying to avoid stepping into a crack and falling… or stepping on a pebble and twisting an ankle.
Oh yeah, I am cursed with two weak ankles… a result of my daring and carefree younger years… and now I’m paying the price.
So there I stood… peering into the dark night through my bottle-glass spectacles… wondering if I saw what I thought I saw… or if it was my infernal imagination.
Yep… there she was… just cruising along over the old gravestones… most of which have fallen over… but there’s more than that.
Bats… swarms of bats… hanging from the trees… sitting on the old stones and wooden crosses… and the sky was filled with flying bats.
Oddly enough… despite all this unexpected chaos… someone actually brought pumpkins out here… carved for Halloween… three of the most fierce-looking faces I’ve ever seen.
And it looked like there were more of them… up there on the hillside… but only their carved out features can be seen in the darkness.
I had to admit… it definitely added something to the creepiness of the atmosphere.
Standing there at the edge of the cemetery… I had the strangest feeling that I wasn’t alone… that someone – or something – was watching me.
The back of my neck started to tingle… and the temperature seemed to plummet… making the night chilly and unwelcoming.
I was too scared to turn around… afraid of what I might see… and I hesitated to step backwards… for I might stumble and fall into… who knew what?
Once again I’d gotten myself into an awkward position… all because of my curiosity.
Suddenly there was a terrifying scream… and I think I jumped a full twelve inches off the ground… something else I have never been able to do before… by the way.
Then I heard a low, humming sound… I strained my ears, closing my eyes for better concentration… I know this works because it eliminates any visual distration.
There it was again… not my imagination… but it wasn’t humming… it was drums… and it literally sounded like hundreds of them… coming towards me… getting louder by the second.
Until I realised it was my own heartbeat… pounding in my ears… drowning out all other sound.
What should I do… what COULD I do… my feet refused to move… it felt like I was rooted to the ground.
Then I saw it… like a black shadow in a dark grey night… starting at the top of the hill… moving… no, more like gliding… towards me… getting closer with every heartbeat.
A hand extended from the shadow and… I felt my own hand start reaching out towards it… until I saw the burning red eyes and sharp white teeth… and then…
My eyes flew wide open and I sat bolt upright in bed… then I realized the television was still on… and so was the Halloween horror show marathon.
I wonder… do you think it would be a good idea if watching horror shows was scratched off my list of things to do late at night?
It had seemed like a good idea at the time but… my imagination is always in overdrive.
