The Calm Before The Storm

close your eyes and fall asleep, pray to god for no bad dreams

Izzy finally came plodding out of her room and Helley was surprised she wasn't hidden behind a giant teddy bear. Izzy wanted some forewarning for the jumpy bits and Helley smiled a devilish smile, "You know I can't do that, it would spoil the fun!" Helley loved a good jump but there weren't really any jumpy bits in Halloween, although Izzy might disagree. Helley found it comforting, predictable, even funny to watch, she was in a mood to be entertained tonight. She his the play button and the dramatic music of the opening sequence started up, sending Helley's spirits soaring. She watched the glowing pumpkin head and read the names on the screen as she reached forward and grabbed some M&Ms, keeping them cupped in her hand, popping one in her mouth at a time as the camera got closer and closer to the lit pumpkin head. Merlin tonight was going to be brilliant!

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close your eyes and fall asleep, pray to god for no bad dreams

The camera zooms closer and closer to the pumpkin until it was only the eye and the nose. The screen went black as the director's name came up. Haddonfield, Illinois. Halloween Night 1963. Children chanted an old Halloween rhyme and then an owl hooted, only crickets filling the void of sound. The camera approached a white house as though you were in the point of view of someone. The exterior of the house had overgrown bushes and a carved pumpkin sitting on the porch. It looked through an open window where a teen couple were canoodling on a brown floral printed sofa and Helley was hooked. Her eyes didn't dart away for even a second as the movie played on. A clown mask and a little dialogue later and the pair were running upstairs, leaving the camera to move back around to the front of the house, looking up. The bedroom stairs light turned off and there was a sharp chill of notes struck. The camera went back to the open window and beyond, making its way to the back of the house and through the open back door, entering a dark kitchen, the music still shrill and chilling.

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close your eyes and fall asleep, pray to god for no bad dreams

Helley ignored Izzy's commentary, her best friend's voice nothing but a background noise like the creaking of the ceiling from the neighbours above or Tilly's panting. Helley barely blinked, popping M&M after M&M into her mouth, chewing slowly so as not to miss too much of the tension while Izzy made a fuss with her popcorn. Helley knew all too well there was no one in the kitchen, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying Izzy's utter terror. This year she was going easy on Izzy, but next year she was going really scare the crap out of her best friend. Was it evil? Just a little, but Helley would love it and Izzy wouldn't sleep for a week.

An arm dressed in some kind of green and cream, silky top pulled open a draw, grabbing out a knife. The camera moved through the house, going past the dining room and into the lounge, looking a the sofa the teens had been on moments ago while the pair talked upstairs. The camera moved toward the bottom of the stairs where the boy could be heard saying he had to go and the girl asking him to call tomorrow 'Yeah, sure' The teen had gotten what he wanted, Helley thought, there was no way he was going to call. The camera moved back and the teen boy came down the stairs, not noticing the person with a knife in the living room and left through the front door. The shrill notes never stopping as a clock rung out the camera moved up the stairs, the landing dark. The camera looked into a room, the clown mask from earlier on the floor. A hand reached down and picked up it up, the shirt sleeve showing more colours, like a clown costume. The screen went black for a moment, the suspenseful notes still continuing to play uninterrupted and the images came back n screen only through the shape of two eye holes. The person with the knife had put on the clown mask and was looking in the bedroom, a shirt on the floor, the teen girl humming from farther in the bedroom. The camera moved slowly deeper into the room, the girl sat naked in front of a vanity, brushing her hair. The masked camera looked down at the messy bed and then moved toward the teenager 'Michael!' she scolded, covering herself with her hands before the screaming started. It was so anti-climatic, so weak that Helley couldn't help but laugh as Michael brought the knife down over and over, the camera turning to the knife for a moment wile he killed the teen. Eventually her bloody body was left on the floor, Michael turning around and then heading out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door, a car rolling to a stop at the front. Michael walked up to the man and woman getting out of the car. 'Michael?' came the man's voice. The camera changed angles, looking to Michael as the clown mask was pulled off. A young boy, six years old, was stood in his clown outfit, knife in his hand, camera panning out.

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close your eyes and fall asleep, pray to god for no bad dreams

The screen went black and then the white writing appeared again, only it was Smith's Grove, Illionis now, then the dae appeared after, October 30, 978, rain could be heard. A thunderstorm. A car came onto the dark screen, a man sat in the passenger side while a nurse drove, smoking her cigarette, focusing on the road until the man asked her if she'd 'done anything like this before'. She responded with 'only minimum security'. He informed her the drive way was up ahead and she spoke of their gibberish, whoever they were. The two talked back an d forth about a patient and the nurse relit her cigarette. They spoke of medication for the patient when he would face a judge and then silence, only the rain for a while until the nurse spoke again, talking to the doctor about never letting the patient out, never wanting him to leave. Chilling, tense music started again as the pair spotted patients in their white gowns out in the rain, an urgency in the doctors voice as he urged the nurse on and then demand she stop the car. He made his way to the gate while a patient climbed the car and reached in through the window, grabbing at the nurse. In her panic she hit the accelerator of the car, the car moving erratically until it crashed. The nurse was free of the hand, laid across the front bench of the car. A hand came down over the passenger side window and hit the glass, cracking it. Helley gave a small chuckle, smiling at the tele as she continued eating her M&Ms.

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close your eyes and fall asleep, pray to god for no bad dreams

The nurse made a run from the car and Helley looked at Izzy, smiling a bit, "Oh come on! It's practically a comedy. It's a total classic. I definitely went easy on you this year." Helley looked back to the screen, the car was driving away, a patient having gotten into it. The doctor came running over claiming that the evil was gone and then he ran off, leaving the nurse in the mud, rain pouring down upon her.

These scene changed to a quiet suburban street in the daytime. Haddonfield was written across the screen and then it changed to Halloween. An eery tune was still playing as a camera came to look at a white house, a black car sat in the driveway as a teen left her home, carrying her school books. A man came out after her, telling her to drop off her key off at the Myers place, Helley's mouth twitched into a smile as the scene carried on. The girl crossed a road, looking about the street, her books, and then to a boy that came running up to her - evident from their conversation that she was his babysitter. They conversed down the street, she told the kid she had to drop a key off at the Myer's house and he sounded surprised. The camera moved to the Myer's house, white like all the others on the block but dilapidated and dirty. Windows missing, wood hanging down. The teen made her way to the house, the camera angle changing to inside the house behind a door with a broken viewing window and a dirty fly screen. She approached and as she bent down she the camera changed again so the audience could see her place the key under the mat. She turned to walk back down the path, the camera angle changing once more to inside the house looking out, only as she walked away the music built and a silhouetted figure looked out the broken window. The boy claimed the house was haunted and the pair walked off, the boy heading to the left, the girl walking down the street, singing, a person stepping into frame on the right side of the screen, only a fraction of his body visible, though he was wearing some kind of jacket.

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