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Our first place Elementary School entry was written by Sarah Cerasuolo, a fifth grade student at Veterans Elementary School in Saugus, Massachusetts. |
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convince my body to plunge itself into the abyss of sleep. Sleep deprivation creeping up on me like my shadow, the thought made my skin crawl. My eyes raked the scene before me. Dark shapes illustrated my room like a horror story, laughing, mocking, weeping, preying. I whipped the blankets off my body and shot my body up like a firework. I tip-toed throughout my room silently, becoming one of the shadows to them was the easy part, believing it myself was rather difficult.
I placed my hand on the rusty doorknob of my bedroom door, creaking it open as fast as I could, keeping the noise to a bare minimum. I danced through the eighteenth century house. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I was going somewhere. I had to do something. Sleeping was not in my agenda. I stumbled down the stairs to the backdoor to view All-Hallows-Eve.
On a technicality, it's Halloween Day right now. It's after 12 am, so it's the next day right? When I opened the door all I wanted to do was close it and go to bed. I didn't want to flee anymore, but welcome my bed's warm embrace and envelope myself in slumber. I staggered tiredly upstairs and went to bed.
That night, I flinched as my mother burned my skull for the 5th time tonight as she curled my hair. She murmured sincere apologies. When she was done I stared at her and smiled brightly. Pride blanketed her features like snow blanketed New England in the winter.
My bag was almost full with candy now. I was rounding the corner with Delilah, Marie, Kendra, and Anna, when Kendra pointed to Mr. Water Park. Mr. Water Park was the name of an abandoned water park. It closed in the 1960's because of so many unexplained happenings.
“Hey Sarah, let’s go into Mr. Water Park. It's Halloween. We deserve to be scared,” Kendra suggested with a shrug. I looked at her and back at the abandoned park and grinned. “Let's do it!”
I heard murmured acceptances.
We stomped towards the faded sign with a chill running down all our spines. A shriek coming from our left made us break out in a sprint. I don't know what was louder, the sound of our shoes or the thumping of my heart. We stopped running when we got to the heart of the park, literally. The pool was in the shape of a gigantic heart. The water was a rancid, yellow-greenish color. “I want to go b-b-b-ack,” stuttered Anna. Kendra, however, was unfazed by the strange sound. “At least there are four of us.” I assured them.
When we turned around, Delilah was gone. We started to look for her when that familiar shriek came from behind us. We stopped to turn around. A flash of white hair from the super slide made goose bumps trail across our arms. We bolted away and back to the heart pool. Kendra bumped into me and as a domino effect, I knocked Anna into the putrid water. Before I could stop her, she clenched the hem of my dress and I went with her. It's Kendra's fault for pushing me down, so I'm taking her with me. I clutched the back of her shirt and she tumbled down with us.
At first I was shocked by the warmness of the discolored water. It was late October and the water felt lukewarm. I regained my composure enough to haul myself out of the water. I was drenched...and angry. I turned around to shriek at Kendra, but she wasn't there. “Kendra!” I was beyond enraged now. “Kendra!” Where was she? Kendra and Anna fell in the water with me. The Water! Without a moment’s hesitation, I dove into the water to find Kendra. I searched and searched with nothing to show for it. No Kendra. No Anna. Nothing.
I hoisted myself out of the water. It was when I was drying off that I realized that Anna was a pushover, and Kendra was mischievous. They were playing a joke on me. “Very funny, Kendra! You didn't have to drag Anna in this!” I shouted to my missing friends. Delilah! Kendra suggested this place as a joke! I get it! It was rather funny, but still cruel. I let out a dark chuckle.
A flash of white to my left saved my sanity and kept me from becoming just like my friends, lost. Kendra stepped out of the pool with Anna and Delilah right behind her. Everything moved in slow-motion. Kendra's mouth unhinged itself as Anna's and Delilah's did the same. My heart skipped a couple beats. My friends had become monsters! Sharp, pointy teeth shone brightly as the park came to life. Popcorn popped, lights shone, and water swirled.
The familiar shriek from the beginning of our journey interrupted my thoughts. It was coming from Kendra. She, Anna, and Delilah charged at me with their mouths agape. I turned on my heels and ran. I ran and ran until my lungs burned. They chased me until my feet hurt. “Stop! I know you don't want to hurt me!” They all opened their mouths and screamed “Consume!”
I bolted away until I saw the heart pool. If they drowned, then if I drank the water, maybe I could cage the beast until I could find an antidote. I rushed over to the rancid water and dunked my head in the water and drank, deeply and fiercely. I could feel the monster inside me, clawing and scratching at my skull.
Kendra was behind me smirking viciously. She punched me in the face. My mouth bled. I tasted the blood and the pain behind my skull disappeared. The blood was the antidote! I took a punch at Kendra and blood ran down her lips. The anger died in her eyes and she became Kendra once again. We did the same with Anna and Delilah and then we went home.
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