NOTE TO REGULAR READERS: I am participating in Choose Your Own Blogventure. This post does not make sense out of context.

Who am I kidding? It barely makes sense, period.

Go to Nancy Pearl Wannabe and make your way from there. If you end up back here, good enough. If not, even better. (I suck at melodramatic fiction.)

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The key was cold in Kate’s sweaty hand. It smelled of rust. She turned it over and noticed a fleck of what looked like dried blood near the ornate handle.

Kate swallowed hard. Her eyes met Julie’s. They spoke at the same time.

“We don’t know what this –”
“We have to try –”

They giggled, the steam of their breath rising in the cold Halloween air.

“I’ll get there first!”

And they were off.

They reached the Halloween House faster than they’d thought they would. Kate stood next to the old gramophone, panting, holding the stitch that had suddenly developed in her side. The tinny voice from the gramophone echoed throughout the yard. Odd that it should echo…

Julie looked around warily. “I don’t see the candy. What happened to it?”

But Kate wasn’t interested in candy. She wanted to see what was in the chest. She walked over to it with a sense of purpose.

The key turned in the lock.

The lid was too heavy for Kate to lift. She turned. “Can you please –”

But Julie was gone.

Gulping back a scream of terror, Kate knew what she had to do. She summoned all of her strength. Grinding her teeth, she raised the lid, and saw Annelise peering back at her.

Before she could gasp in shock and fright, someone grabbed her from behind. Someone with cold, clammy hands.

THE END

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For more information about this writing project (or to complain about my part of it), click here.