The house was just up ahead of us, I could see it. We were almost to safety and out of this unknown area where we are like chickens running with out heads chopped off. I was filled with determination to get Jeff to safety. In a way, I owed him and I wasn’t really someone who liked to be in anyone’s debt. Being in someone’s debt meant they can hold it over you for however long they can if they were manipulative; so, I like to get out of it as soon as I possibly can. Though, I don’t think he was like that; a jokester perhaps, but not someone who was manipulative. Of course, I could be wrong.

The closer we approached the falling apart house, I made sure to take quick glimpses around our surroundings to make sure we were safe enough. When we finally made it to the rickety white porch, I made sure that Jeebus was in front of myself, putting myself in danger if need be. Or perhaps I wanted to be? Regardless, his safety mattered for I don’t know how much more pain he could handle before giving up. As he climbed up the very much damaged stairs, I faced towards the cornfield, still looking around, still hoping to see the menacing stranger. When I felt a tap on my shoulder, I knew it was time to for me to go in as well. I turned back around and as I climbed up the old stairs myself, I took one last backward glance before walking through the open door of the old house farmhouse.

Once inside the house, I shut the door behind me and locked it. My thoughts were on keeping the others safe if they were even in the agreed location. Slowly walking around in the house, I noticed a lot of the wall paper was torn off and the furniture was ratty and old. Everything was just old and needed a replacement from what I had seen so far. Even the stairs to the upstairs looked like they could cave in if someone were to step on them. I made my way further into what now looked like an abandoned house. Jeff took a different way than I did for I ended up what may have been the kitchen at one point. It looked like the appliances had not been used in years. Some of the counters looked caved in while some of the cupboards had fallen down and fell apart upon collision.

With a sigh and perhaps some disgust, I continued on to where I had finally heard voices. I followed the minimal noise of people speaking in hushed tones. It was clear they were afraid of who was out there. When I entered the room, all heads turned towards me. In a circle, I saw everyone but Claudette. Where could she have gone? I noticed that Dwight had scooted over to make some room for me in the circle. Slowly, I sat down next to the fellow nerd and focused on the discussion they were having before I had interrupted with my presence.

“Glad you two finally made it! What happened? You guys were right behind us and when I turned to make sure we were all together, you two were nowhere to be seen.” Dwight had sounded awfully worried. I saw Kate had gotten up to mend as much of the wound she could with her lack of knowledge. The basics were better than nothing.

“Jeff was taken by the… the...” I tried to think of a word to describe the stranger whom I found strangely appealing. But there was no way I could clue that in to any of them. “The person who I’m going to assume put him on the hook originally. I followed them out to the area where there are a lot of hay bales and even a tractor only to see him get hooked again.” I bit back a smile as I slid in the pun hoping no one noticed. My gaze slid over to Jeff to see him glaring, but it looked playful. He seems more grateful than anything though so, I managed a small smile back.

“Why would you follow that maniac? He could have hurt you if he had caught you as well.” My gaze turned back to looked at Dwight to see worry and perhaps a bit of anger. I don’t understand why he’d get worked up about what I did. I helped our friend who was in danger. I thought I did a good thing despite my reasoning behind it. Still, his reaction to what I told him was odd in my opinion. I looked over at the other two and saw them looking at Dwight with raised brows. It is a clear sign that I wasn’t the only one who thought it was odd for him to ask that sort of questions.

“Why shouldn’t I have followed him? If I hadn’t who knows what would have happened to Jeffrey here? And we have no idea where Claudette went for, I see she isn’t here either! So, what is your problem? Why do you care so much that I went and helped our friend who was in trouble?” My brown eyes squinted at the young man wearing glasses. I felt my face heat up in anger as stared him down. He had no right to react the way he did. I noticed his jaw had clenched at the points I made but it seemed like he still wanted to be stubborn. In a way, that trait would be admirable, but right now, it was not at all. It was like something had crawled up his ass and died.

“Like I had stated earlier, he could have spotted you and perhaps put you on a hook as well! Do you not think of your self-preservation? What happened to sticking together as a group? You could have alerted Kate and I to what had happened; but no! You decided to chase after them on your own which was quite foolish. I had thought you’d be more intelligent than that!” The words he had spewed at me were like a slap in the face. I was now breathing hard and fast from the building anger within me. In that point in time, I wanted to storm out and say to hell with him. He had no right to say those things to me.

“Dwight, that’s enough! Feng did what she thought was right in the moment and she had a point; we don’t know where Claudette is. So, in turn of events, her following and getting Jeff here, herself, was a brave thing and she saved his life. Give her a break.” When Kate had spoken up for me, I felt grateful for the blonde country bimbo who was also my friend. I gave her a smile of appreciation. She may be annoying and self-centered sometimes, but at least she was reliable and loyal to her friends. “Plus, why are you so defensive and protective over her? You like her or something?” With widened eyes, I looked over at Dwight to see his reaction to what my close friend had said. His face had turned red as he looked away from all of us. It was then when I realized why he was having an attitude.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I was flattered that he liked me, but I did not return his feelings. Not at all. I had just met him earlier that day. All I wanted was a friendship with him. My parents would have approved of someone like him especially if he was Chinese. But really, I did not have time to date. My focus was on my studies and my gaming career. My eyes caught him glancing over at me every few seconds. Out of awkwardness, I looked down. Some may take my looking away as me being bashful which I’m sure the young man beside me was, but that wasn’t it at all.

“I… I do not… That’s not… I just think she could have gone about it another way instead of endangering herself.” The fact he had stuttered through his words and change the direction completely was evidence enough. He really did like me. With nonchalance, I looked up at him through my lashes to really look at him. Short dark messy brown hair, clean thick brows, a smallish nose that went well with the rest of his features. His lips look velvety pink and plump with a strong jaw, but yet I felt nothing for him. “Instead of going by herself, we could have gone to help. There is power in number and he can’t get all of us all at once.”

“Does it really matter? I’m off the hook thanks to Feng here. If it wasn’t for her bravery to follow that cray manic, I’d either still be hanging or dead by this point. So, I’m personally grateful for her actions. It’s fine if you have feelings for her but at this rate we have to focus on surviving and escaping from this hell. Alright? So lay off on the poor girl.” I was surprised in a way to hear two people had defended me and I couldn’t help but feel honored that they would do so.

When Dwight agreed with Jeff by nodding his head, the atmosphere had calmed down in the house. As soon as they begun talking about trying to find Claudette and the possibilities of where her whereabouts are, I had begun to space out. My eyes glazed over in a dazed looked as I thought about the one, they call maniac. Granted, he has no issues in harming us; that much was clear to see when I witnessed the act of violence. The way he walked like he had a purpose and with focus. The way he was so strong to carry someone who easily. I couldn’t stop my thoughts from going to the menacing stranger. I also refuse to call him a maniac.

I felt the need and want to go back outside. I wanted to look for him and observe him. I wanted to see him in action again. My gaze moved towards the window, only to see that he was indeed at the edge of the cornfield, staring at us. A little glee feeling bubbled up inside me. Had he finally noticed me? Was I to be his next victim? I perked up a bit with a little smile, excited at the prospect. I swear, our eyes had met and my heart thumped fast in my chest. I then knew why I couldn’t like Dwight even if he was a safer option for me, I was attracted to the killer who was outside.

As I continued to stare outside, I noticed the tall stranger walk away with leisure. I felt a hand wave in front of my face bringing me out of my reverie. My gaze turned towards the person waving their hand and surprise, surprise, it was the one who basically confessed his feelings in front of everyone without actually doing so. Blinking a few times, I focused my vision and my attention on what was going on at hand. I saw a bunch of newspaper clippings on the floor that mentioned “The Shape”. Silently, I picked one up and read the contents over.

“What is all this?” Obviously, I knew what they were, but what I didn’t understand was how they had anything to do with us or our situation.

“Have you really not been paying attention Feng?” Jeff asked me causing my head to shake my head slowly with confusion written on my face. It was definitely my fault for not paying attention. They must have found these clippings from somewhere in the house. How had I not noticed that someone had left the circle? Oh yes, because I was too busy thinking about HIM.

“Kate found these clippings in the closet under the stairs where important documents and such were being held. We looked through the different articles and found quite a few of them had pictures of our dear friend the killer.” My eyes blinked a few times at Dwight who continued filling me in on what they had found. “His name is Michael Myers. He killed his older sister and has been hunting his younger sister Laurie for many years on Halloween night.” Again, I just blinked at him.

“Okay… So, let me get this straight; he hunts for his sister every Halloween and is a serial killer?” I looked around the circle and saw everyone was nodding their heads. Something wasn’t adding up with that explanation. My brows furrowed as I continued to think of how that would work. “If he only came out during Halloween and hunts for his sister then how is he here now? It is Spring break. See how the logic makes no sense? The only way it can make sense is if he goes somewhere else to bide his time then goes back to…” I look at an article to read where his sister lives, “Haddenfield.” I looked around and noticed they were just as lost, but they were confident in their findings. The answers they got were better than nothing and on the plus side, I now know his name. Michael Myers.

“We obviously don’t know why or what he does when it isn’t October, but there is plenty here to know it is the same person. Sadly, he is quite persistent. So, whomever he sets his sights on to kill, he won’t give up and will attack those who get in his way. He has already murdered many people.” As he talked about the man outside, I picked up another article and scanned it over. My hands grabbed one after another, there really was quite a bit of evidence against this man whom others call a monster.

“So far, he has hooked Jeebus, here. Has he set his sights on him then? Or is it random since none of us know Laurie?” It was something I had to know. It wasn’t the holiday he comes out normally so everything was like a wild card which means he won’t be playing by the so-called rules. Already, I could tell that I’m not going to follow some unspoken rule either.

“We don’t really know what to expect either. The fact that Jeffrey here was attacked twice tells me he doesn’t care whether if we know his sister or nor. He’s doing it for the sport. And that is more dangerous for he does not have a specific target; we are all prey to him unless we can escape.” If I am to die by that hunk of a man, I am more than willing to die by that big knife of his. In fact, I’m sure I’d make it easy on him at some point, but not too easy for I’d like to admire his form from afar for the time being. Nodding my head in agreeance to what Dwight said, I stood up from where I was sitting and stretched.

“If we are to survive this night, does this mean we may have to leave Claudette behind if she isn’t found?” That was a good question that the country singer asked. I honestly would not have expected that from her, but she has been full of surprises as of late. Maybe she only liked to play dumb. If only she’d let that brain shine more. I wrapped my arm around Kate in a side hug with a small smile curling up on my lips.

“Sadly, yes, we have no way of finding out where she is right now and our goal is to leave as soon as-“