by Lane Diamond

Created on: October 09, 2009

"Creepy Cat"

That damned cat gives me the creeps. I can't help but wonder if it will jump onto me as I pass beneath the tree branch where it sits. It must be the atmosphere, the circumstances-the middle of the night on Halloween, the eerie blend of light and shadow cast onto the surrounding cornfields by the full moon, the fact I'm walking a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, the utter silence, and... well, it's creepy.

The only sound rising from this otherworldly setting is my heart hammering in my chest.

"Nah, I'm not the least bit nervous," I whisper.

If I'd known Alicia lived a million miles from civilization, I might have said, "No thanks."

Then again, she is totally hot, and a party beats shoveling candy out to a bunch of snot-nosed kids. Besides, it's not her fault my piece-of-crap car broke down-again.

It's all such a clich. I suppose everyone will be dead when I get there.

"Oh, knock it off, Damien! This is not a slasher movie, you idiot." I glance around to ensure no one heard me, like-oh, I don't know-a slasher closing in behind me.

The night swallows my nervous laughter. Once again, only my heartbeat and the shuffle of my feet break the calm. I hustle under the tree branch and glance over my shoulder. Two bullet-holes of light pierce the veil of night.

"That damn cat's eyes are all over me-a solitary black cat on Halloween. Yeesh!"

The farmhouse looms in the near distance, a ghostly micro-mansion that rises under the moonlight like a great white whale from the sea of corn. One upstairs window, boxed in dull light, breaks the darkness.

"Hmmm, must be a cozy little party."

*

Alicia said last week that it would be a small party to help celebrate her favorite holiday. She wouldn't say whom else she'd invited.

"You'll be shocked," she said. "Appropriate for All Hallows Eve, don't you think?"

I laughed with her. "Sure, why not?"

I might have said she was rather strange, but I rarely got invitations to anything. Besides, she had a reputation, and her eyes practically devoured me when she invited me. I couldn't be a virgin forever.

*

"I'm eighteen, damn it," I say to the cornfields. "I'm ready."

The corn ends as I approach the house, before which a half-circle driveway sits empty. Where could the partygoers' cars be? I'd expected to hear music, at the very least, but silence blankets the house, the fields, the road-the world.

"Lighten up," I mumble under my breath. "Take a deep breath. Alicia is getting into the Halloween spirit, that's

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