Once upon a time, on a dark and stormy night, creatures of terror roamed about. The jagged teeth of beasts shone, and the demons howled with hunger. The ripe, red, sticky gore upon the undead, searching for brains. In this bitter, chilly night, leaves swirled hauntingly. It is here that our story begins…

A young boy named Deiphobos pulled on his ninja costume. He adjusted his hood, and jumped downstairs. Deiphobos stumbled out the door, bidding farewell to his parents, who told him not to be out too late. They did not know what the future would hold for Deiphobos. Such a shame, that was; Deiphobos would never come back.

This is one night when parents don’t walk with their teenagers to protect them from the night’s dangers. It’s quite foolish, especially when this night is Halloween, a night where evil rules. Deiphobos walked from door to door, trick-or-treating. Although he wanted candy, he wanted to have fun too; foolish Deiphobos, thinking that pranks were fine. In some instances, pranks may be fun, but never ever in a haunted mansion. His target was a vacant home called Stein Mansion. Its creaking floors, broken windows, and shrilling horrors were well known; foolish, foolish Deiphobos.

Deiphobos walked to the mansion nervously, wondering whether he should go ahead with his plan or not. Though horrible ideas came to his mind, he disregarded them, and continued with his plan. When he reached the Stein Mansion, he could have sworn he saw someone looking at him from one of the windows. He reached to open the gate, but before he could, they swung open at a pace of a turtle. A rusty noise creaked from the moving metal, sending shivers down his back, and he cautiously entered the land of Stein Mansion. Only a few steps in, he heard delirious, malevolent laughter, and the gates shut behind him quickly with a crack.

Deiphobos turned around, rushed to the gates, and frenetically pulled at them. No matter how much strength he used, the gates would not budge. Oddly, the possibility of climbing out became impossible, as spikes that may or may not have been on the gate were indeed there now. Deiphobos had no choice but to move on. He heard footsteps, pacing back and forth, shuffling to and fro. Shadows snuck looks towards him, and they disappeared into a wisp of smoke whenever Deiphobos tried to steal a look at them. All of a sudden, a moan broke across the clearing, chilling him to his bones. The only place to hide was in the mansion, up ahead of him. On its stair was a jack-o-lantern, withered with age, yet one dying ember burning the candle.

Although the mansion looked shabby and deteriorated from the outside, the interior looked as if it had been stored in a time capsule; untouched by time. The mansion was immaculate, as if it was out of a movie scene. A beautiful, sparkling chandelier shone brightly near the entrance. Deiphobos let out a comforted sigh, a sigh made too soon. The mansion suddenly turned pitch black, and the sound of glass shattering was clear. Now, the small jack-o-lantern that Deiphobos had seen outside the mansion was the only light visible from inside the building. The chandelier was lying on the ground; broken and ruined. Suddenly, all the beauty of the inside of the house seemed to have been drained out, leaving behind an impression for any person looking at the outside of the mansion that it would be the same inside too. There was ripped carpeting, broken windows, broken doors, and ripped furniture. Deiphobos was in shock; how could so much change all of a sudden?

Deiphobos realized how foolish he had been, but it was too late. What had he been thinking; how would he ransack a house already in a terrible condition? Without the courage to step outside again and face whatever horrors lay in wait, Deiphobos decided to explore. He traveled around the house, finding ravaged rooms. The kitchen was a horror, with bloody knives in the sink, and the dining room no better, with the table overturned and lumps of meat lying on plates. In the family room, couches were torn apart, with blood staining the carpet. Upstairs, the bedrooms had bloody walls, with some warnings to those that arrived in the mansion, others just from despaired victims. In the closet, Deiphobos found a more hideous sight than all he had just seen; it was the remains of a body, and not just anyone, but someone he had known from school. He too must have visited this house, after which he never was seen. The rumors in school were that he had moved, but lo and behold, here he was!

Still in disgust and horror from looking at the body, Deiphobos felt queasy, and felt he had to hurl. The putrid smell of the corpse was like rotten eggs. Suddenly, our “good old jack-o-lantern” was back, and along with it, it brought Deiphobos its next new horror. The body, now behind Deiphobos, gave a startling growl, and it blinked its way back into the world. Deiphobos almost pass out, but instinctively ran for his life. He went hurtling over chairs and slid down the stairs, but the zombie kept its pace with Deiphobos. No matter which way Deiphobos dashed, the zombie calmly yet speedily walked behind him. Gasping for his breath, Deiphobos quickly decided to hide behind the couch. He almost tricked the zombie, but Deiphobos had a smell that was different than everything in the house;, he was the only thing that didn’t smell putrid. With a sniff, the zombie threw the couch to the side and grabbed hold of Deiphobos.

The zombie could have easily killed our truly-frightened Deiphobos, but the jack-o-lantern appeared once again, and howls were heard. Even the zombie looked wary at the shrilling noise of hungry beasts. The zombie threw Deiphobos into the wall, before retreating upstairs. Deiphobos was completely dazed, yet surprised to find that he was still alive. He attempted to stand up, but to no avail; he was injured. He lay upon the hard-wood, smashed floor, deep in thought, wondering how to save himself. In a flash, a brilliant idea came to his mind; using a floorboard to support him and help him walk. He smashed his fist into the floor, and although pain surged through his hand, he banged it until finally he had a piece of floorboard he could use. He didn’t want to wait for the next horror in the house, and he limped towards the door.

Slowly opening the door, Deiphobos looked outside to see if any evil monsters jumped up at him. He glanced sneakily side to side, and stealthily walked towards the gate. He felt someone, or something was following him, but he didn’t turn around, aware that whatever was behind him would be the last thing he would see if he did so. He touched the gate, icy cold just as before, and slowly opened it. It seemed to whisper at him, telling him the dangers outside were far worse than those enclosed in the mansion, but there was no way that Deiphobos would risk such an experience again. He slid through the opening in the gates, and dexterously shut the gate; nothing attacked him, nothing tried to get him, and he was safe. The jack-o-lantern appeared inside the boundaries of Stein Mansion, and Deiphobos farcically laughed at it; he felt he had bested the horrors of the pumpkin. Little did he know that the pumpkin has always had its way, one way or another.
Deiphobos limped joyfully down the street, almost insanely, the tapping of his shoes in the now quiet night resonating down the street; only the rumble of the rain and thunder interrupted him. He raised his hands, welcoming the soft sting of the rain falling upon his bruised self. Yet some other noise ruined his wonderful beat of victory, not the rain or thunder, but another beat, much faster, getting louder by the second. Deiphobos turned around, only to see a hairy face ferociously growl and pounce at him. It ripped at him, clawing his face and skin. His ninja costume had become rags, torn apart and bloody. Deiphobos tried to push the beast off him, but to no avail. The jack-o-lantern had its way finally, and the beast howled eerily in the dark and stormy night.