“Come on Thomas, you have to go with us. It’ll be fun.” I heard my best friend say while we walked on the sidewalk to my house.  

“But dude, its breaking into a store. I don’t want to get in trouble.” I said while stopped at my house. 

“I promise we won’t get caught. It’ll be fun!” He grabbed my arm and shook it in his hands.  

“Fine, come to my house at 11 and we’ll go.” I cocked my head to the side and sighed. 

“Yes yes! Jeremy and Niko will be there too, I can’t wait.” He started jumping up and down across the street as he left my house to go to his.  

I shook my head and went into my house. My mom and dad weren’t here yet as they worked till about 5 each day. I Went up to my room and flopped on the bed. I can’t believe I’m actually going along with this. My friends want to go into Spirit Halloween tonight and break in to see if anything spooky happens. I couldn’t believe we were going today on Halloween of all days. Last year we went to a haunted hotel in the exact haunted room where a woman died. She threw herself out a window when her new husband was found cheating on her. Nothing really happened besides Niko getting scared over a lamp dropping on the ground. 

I waited until it was nighttime to tell my parents that I was leaving. I told them I was going trick or treating with some friends. I even had on a vampire costume on, decked out with fake teeth, makeup, and a red and black cape. I was excited to see if any spooky things happened throughout the night.  

I met up with my friends as Stephen picked me up. Niko and Jeremy were there in the back of the car. Jeremy dressed up like a werewolf, Niko was a cheerleader, and Stephen was a unicorn. I loved their costumes. Soon enough we were on the way to Spirit Halloween. There was one in the mall and another store by itself. We decided to go with the latter. When we finally arrived Stephen picked up some bolt cutters in the back to his car and cut the metal chain to the unlocked doors.  

When we finally went inside, it was about 11:45. We explored the store, looking at all the animatronics. I felt like someone was watching us, but that would be ridiculous. I looked at a clown animatronic and brought my face close to his. I was terrified of clowns but I knew he wasn’t real. When I turned away I felt something watching me.  

“Are we really going to stay all night in here?” I asked hopeful that we would just be able to leave like nothing happened.  

“Yes I even brought us a couple sleeping bags so come on it’ll be a fun hangout like we used to do as kids.” Niko said excitedly.  

I groaned, but I was already here so I might as well just stay. It was one minute till midnight. My mom always said that the veil is always the thinnest at midnight on Halloween. Good thing she didn’t know I breaking into a store full of haunted ghouls. 

“Guys its midnight!” Stephen shouted.  

We all laughed but something felt off. I looked around and noticed one of the animatronics was missing. The swing that once held a little girl covered in blood, was now empty. My heart was in my throat. They must’ve just moved the animatronic before we came in. 

“Guys, does something feel strange to you?” I asked, and surprisingly they all shook their head yes.  

All the sudden my ears were filled with screams.  

We looked at each other before running towards the door. A creature shut the door and locked it tight before we could get there. The little creature was a bear with one of the fake knifes the store held in bulk. The only problem was that the knife looked real. Real enough to force us away from the door and start running the other way. We could get to the other entrance in the mall if we ran there fast enough.  

Masks off the walls spoke in deafening screams. The haunted house in the middle of the store vomited out animatronics that were now alive. A zombie with a nasty bite, followed us to the other side of the store. We forgot though that the store always closes up with a metal gate, so people can’t steal from the store.  

We were truly trapped. The same clown I had stared at before was suddenly behind me. His big hands grabbed me and threw me into a wall. It felt like a rib bone had broken as it hurt immensely to breathe. I looked as my friends were suddenly getting harassed as well.  A woman in white came to close to Niko with a knife. He looked at the stash of now sharp weapons and decided to fight back against her. All of my friends were picking up weapons and shields made of bronze to fight against all the monsters in the store. My view was suddenly blocked by the same clown who threw me across the room. 

He came close to me as my heartrate sped up. As he came close to my ear I recoiled away. He whispered ‘sacrifice’ in my ear before picking me up. My body hurt so bad as he moved my body to the haunted house. My friends were so preoccupied with their own monsters that they didn’t even hear me screaming for help. When he put me into the haunted house I saw almost nothing. It was lit up by fake candles, and it had a table in the middle of the area. The clown looked at me and I looked back. He was a lanky creature and his face, full of makeup, was ripped open to express a smile. He cocked his head to the side and again said ‘sacrifice’. 

My body felt exhausted from all the pain. I didn’t know what the clown meant by that before I heard the screams of all my friends. I hoped they weren’t screams of pain. It was suddenly quiet. No more screams, no more clanging of swords and other weapons. I felt alone as all could be. More animatronics came into the small room. One with a knife. As I looked at all of them I realized what they meant.  

They started saying ‘sacrifice’ over and over again softly at first, then louder as time went on. The next thing I knew was a slicing pain. I closed my eyes and let myself drift to sleep as the pain suddenly went away. I didn’t know why they did it, but I’ll never forget what happened on that night.