It was almost Halloween, definitely Erika´s favorite holiday. Although most might say that Christmas, or even Easter was their favorite, she disagreed. Sure, Christmas was pretty, with all the lights and presents you felt as if you were in a fairy-tale, always calm, always cheerful, but there was something about the mystery of Halloween that almost made it....beautiful. Every year, as a tradition, she would go down to the basement and take out the big box marked “Halloween Decorations“ she´d hidden there. Each year a new spot, somewhere that wouldn´t be seen from the top of the stairs, the place where Tommy, her little 3 year old brother would stay for hours without being able to move. Erika knew he was looking for that particular box, she knew that among the endless witches that sang, skeletons that danced with the press of a button and fake spider-webs, there was a remarkable toy. She had found it on their trip to Russia, inside this quaint little antique shop. It had been hidden behind two huge lamps that blinded every-one with their bright light. Her mother had said it was ugly, her father only shrugged but she and Tommy had fallen in love. The only part that could be seen from the top of the box was it´s big red nose. A nose that belonged to a strange little clown, which wasn´t that little. It was the size of a small poodle, or maybe a Pomeranian. Made of only fab-ric,it was as soft as a stuffed toy, but as creepy as a blood spattered Alice. Wherever you put it, it just sat there, looking at you bewitching you with its big eyes. When it was bought she claimed it as her own not letting Tommy, or anyone else, touch it. By her parent´s orders and her relief, the 3 year old couldn´t be near the doll. Not only did it look like the clown from “IT“, Tommy was too young to be disturbed by a stuffed doll. She really never worried, he never got past the top of the stairs. There was only a single bulb in the basement and it was not enough to light it all up so there was always a dark corner from which anything could come out. This clown was the least of their problems, but it was very creepy. Most of the time she thought it would stand up on its own and start chasing her around the room, which wouldn´t happen of course, it was only a toy.

As she got out of the bus on October 30th her expectation reached new levels. With no more homework to think about she kept counting the minutes until she could go down those dark stairs and walk through the creepy basement, to that corner Tommy said was full of monsters. Although she was only fourteen, she didn´t get scared at all, with anything. Two years ago, on this exact date she was watching a scene from a hor-ror movie with all her friends. You know the one: the group divides for some reason and the camera focuses on the most beautiful girl of them all. Suddenly the music stops, the girl starts walking....and walking....she goes past a window where the shadow of some-thing is uncovered with the flash of lightning. She gets outside, making sure it was all her imagination and just when she reaches that dark corner, that spot outside the win-dow, there is nothing there. She turns around and....BAM! This is the moment when everyone screams, but not her, she just feels this excitement in her chest. The girl dies, if you were wondering what happened at the end. The best ones always died, each movie was so predictable that from the first scene you already knew who would survive and who wouldn´t. This was one of the reasons why Erika was just not scared anymore, it was all fake, unoriginal. This Halloween would be different though, she had rented “The Crazies“, a movie where you needed ID just to watch the trailer. Supposedly there was so much blood that even a 40 year old would pee in his pants. It would be the best year ever.

She woke up at 7, not being able to wait anymore to put up the decorations. Luckily, her brother was still asleep so he wouldn´t realize that the clown would already be at his usual place, on the small end table next to Erika´s bed. As she was the only one who loved the holiday so much, the best decorations would rest year after year inside her bedroom. Leaving plenty of others to scatter around the house of course. She opened the door to the basement and peered down the stairs. Weird, this was the first time she felt a slight inclination to run away and lock herself in her room....she started going down, one step at a time. When she was in the middle of the room she spotted it, a white blanket with a square shape. She uncovered the box and lifted it back to the stairs. She was walking right under the hanging lightbulb when she saw one of the black plastic bats flap its wings. She stopped cold and stared at the box....Nah, it was only her imagination, moving decorations? Please!

The movie was just getting to the climax, her bedroom decorated perfectly with half of the contents of the box. It was happening again, the group of people had decided to split up to go look for help, typical. The scene was just getting to the part where the main character´s boyfriend (at least this was different) was walking, alone, in the forest. Just at the moment that he was turning around the dancing skeleton that she had placed on the vanity started moving, but the only way to make this happen was to press the big red button on it´s base, the one which hadn´t been touched. Must be broken she thought and returned her eyes to the screen, where “Tony“ was already dead. Ooh, I missed the good part. She started rewinding it when again the skeleton started dancing, except this time the rest of the decorations did the same. The lights started blinking quickly, the witches started moving as if being pushed by the wind and the music boxes let their creepy music out. A disturbing feeling started forming in the pit of her stomach, and for once in her life Erika lifted the covers to hide everything but her eyes. After a few minutes they all stopped, at the same time. Her heart was just coming back to nor-mal when a piercing scream was heard throughout the room, Erika looked up from the covers and saw it had come from the movie. I´m taking this too seriously, it all came from the movie, I just have a very creative imagination. Or so she thought, because as the woman screamed once more on the screen, from the corner of her eye she saw the legs of the clown doll start to stretch. Slowly, very slowly she turned her head to the ta-ble. To her fear, the clown did the same, turning his eyes to look straight at her. She was paralyzed. The eyes of the clown wouldn´t let her move, all she could do was hope her heart wouldn´t explode and kill her at that moment. What seemed like hours went by but the scene stayed the same, nothing changed. She thought of the basement, the door of her bedroom was to the right, with one quick movement she could jump out of the bed and go down the dark stairs before the clown could even blink. It was so dark down there that not even this small doll could find her, it wouldn´t be able to do anything to her. This was her moment, the movie was just ending and the loud end music could be heard, 12:45 she saw on her clock. She waited a little and by 12:46 she was already opening the door to the basement. She could hear small tapping noises behind her, al-ways one step behind. How is he catching up to me so fast? After almost killing herself on the last couple of steps she got to the dark corner and climbed on top of some boxes she found there. She looked at the top of the stairs I left the door open she thought, So stupid. A small silhouette appeared at the spot she was staring at, and behind it an army of skeletons, witches, ghosts and disturbing figurines. Please leave, please leave, please leave. The clown started going down the stairs, and so did his friends. Erika felt a pang in her heart when they all went past the point where the reflection from the out-side world let her see a part of the stairs. She closed her eyes and listened. Tap......Tap.....Tap.....Each step closer than the last. She wished that at least the music boxes started playing again, that way she could at least know where they all were. Tap.....Tap.....Tap. Then silence....No sound at all. Some time passed, maybe twenty minutes or half an hour until she heard it again. Tap...This time next to the box she was sitting at. Without even thinking about it she jumped from the box and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the open door. She heard the click of the lock as she closed the door and sat with her back to it, as if guarding it in case the decorations decided to fol-low her again.

Two hours had passed and nothing had been heard. Erika stood up and led her hand to the doorknob. She knew this was what always got the characters on every hor-ror movie killed but she wouldn´t be able to sleep until she made sure she could lay down on her bed without the fear of the decorations coming for her again. She took each step as slowly as she let her breath come out of her mouth. Her left foot was just feeling the fourth step when she stopped. There was something behind her....she felt the breeze of the door be interrupted by something small, something the size of a small poodle, or of a Pomeranian. There was nothing she could do, the Tap....Tap...Tap...could be heard again, this time next to her legs. She was determined to run, her brain had sent her right leg the command to keep going down the stairs, but it would not have the opportunity to follow orders. Erika felt a small push on her legs and the last thing her eyes saw was the floor of the basement coming closer...

Erika woke up drenched in sweat, she quickly sat up and after a few minutes real-ized she was in her room, the movie she had been watching going on in the back-ground. I can´t believe it she thought It was all a dream. She looked around to see all the Halloween decorations neatly hanging from where she had put them. Living decora-tions, Yeah right, I can't believe I thought it was real. She grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV. After reaching to turn the light switch off, she rearranged herself in the bed and lay down with a Please! going around in her head. Just as she fell asleep, something happened in that little end table next to her bed. If anyone had been awake at that moment, in that room, they would have seen a small shadow of a doll straightening its legs and the bright open eyes of a clown.