The smell of blood is sickening; hundreds of carcasses hang from silver hooks, stiff and shiny with frosty blood. They are just animals, yes, but they give a terrifying resemblance to a human being.
Nothing, nothing but a bunch of cowards they are; this is biology class, not execution. She tried to listen deliberately as the teacher gave the instructions, but, due to the fact that she hasn’t been able to contact her sister during school time was bothering her in every way.
Her eyes darted from left to right restlessly, getting more tired and impatient with each passing second.
The bell rang at last, and Gretchen, having waited for such a limitless amount of time was exhausted. The class was finally over, running as fast as she possibly could, she made it immediately to her house and pushed the door open abruptly, thus, there waiting for her was her sister.
“You’re late” she remarked rapidly.
“Sorry Emma,” Gretchen panted endlessly, “The bell was a tad bit slow.”
Both sisters hurried to pack their things which they needed especially for the club; they ran at the most incredible rate they had never ran in their whole life.
Eventually they reached to the Child Care’s Center, the place which their mother owned and worked. Both girls helped their mother out, as usual to keep things running quick and smooth since it was Halloween.
There was always a special tradition in their family, particularly the way they celebrate Halloween. It was one of the most important days of their life, for it was a day to celebrate and pay respect for the dead.
As time passed with toddlers every where, they were drained and weary by the time they were finished, yet, they were too strained to even stand; let alone continuing their usual tradition during Halloween.
“Ma,” they pleaded “It’s Halloween; we did our best to help why we can’t do our usual tradition like we always do?”
“Girls, it’s just this one Halloween tradition we’re going to miss, let’s not make a big deal out of it shall we?”
“I wish Dad were still here” Emma muttered silently, loud enough for her mother to hear.
Unaware of what was about to happen, Gretchen heard an instant ear-piercing sound and realized straightaway that Emma was slapped.
“Don’t you dare talk about that traitor!” Her mother bellowed
Suddenly feeling a pang of guilt the mother watched uncomfortably as Emma weakly collapsed on the ground weeping soundlessly as Gretchen comforted her.

On their way back home, there was an awkward silence between the mother and the two daughters. They walked and paced forward until they reached the horror that would haunt them for eternity.
It was their house. Nothing at all was normal about it. Letters of every curse was scrawled on the white, polished, marble door with dark red paint.
It was him; their father was going to come back for them.
The children watched thoroughly as their mother reached deep down into the bag taking out her cell phone, ready to dial 911.
But it was no use; the battery was long dead, there was no way to get help from anyone since most of their neighbors’ were out enjoying their vacations.
They stood there; frozen, silent, standing so still, so motionless, not moving even an inch until they were sure no one was in the house.
Apparently it was no big joke, the way their mother acted when they mentioned about their father, it did not exactly make them more cautious of their father as their mother had hoped; in fact, it made them even more anxious about their father.
Ever since the twins were born, they never got the chance to know more about their father, they were only five when he left. Yet, up until now, little was told about him and in all their lives they had never learnt a single thing about their father except for the warnings that were given to them. The children were strictly told how extremely dangerous he was and how, that is, if they were ever to come across their father, that they should be cautious of him since he was not exactly what her mother described as “normal”.

Pausing at the front porch, Gretchen got out her keys, unlocking the door while slowly and quietly entering the house, avoiding the scrawled letters on the door that read: “I’ll be back.”
The house echoed as she pushed the door open and softly crept inside making sure that all things were fine, making sure that nothing was out of the ordinary.
At last when everything was clear, she called Emma and her mother in. They were to be cautious when they were going in; also making sure that everything was perfectly fine.
Eventually when all was fine, they relaxed at last, making themselves feel at home.
The first two people to take a shower was their mother and Gretchen, while they were showering, Emma, still downstairs, still rather petrified, was wasting time watching television and taking a nap hoping for time to pass by swiftly.

She woke up twenty-nine minutes later, waiting and waiting, but time was intolerable; she could not stand the pain of silence in the house. Every move she made and every sound she made seemed to be bouncing off the walls everywhere making her more uncomfortable than ever.
“Mum? Gretchen?” she called many times but there was no answer; she tried calling again but there was still no answer.
This time she could not help but panic. She backed up against the wall, feeling the fear in her body, so strong yet so innocent; her heart pounded wildly against her chest causing her to utter a gasp. Thus, with every sound the clock made, had only caused her veins to throb more fiercely underneath her skin.
She was helpless; with no one to turn to; she was on her own.
All of a sudden, a loud piercing screech stabbed the eerie house.
It was coming from the basement.
Another scream; yes, definitely Gretchen’s, she’d recognize that scream anywhere. She ran as fast as she possibly could to the basement; the dark, dark basement she has always been terrified of since she was a child.

Emma reached there screaming when she saw the terrifying head of her mother, separated from the body, the body, sliced up into small pieces was now contained inside a jar. The face was carved into a pumpkin-like face. The eyes, the nose, and the mouth were missing, put into a baking tray. She watched in horror as her mother’s head moved slightly causing her to look worse. She watched the details of the head; the hair always neatly tied up was tangled with dried cake blood. Emma couldn’t take it anymore and the last thing she saw before the blackout was Gretchen, screaming for someone to stop. She felt something hard and painful against her cheeks and everything was black.

Emma woke up, finding herself in the hospital; some…sort of hospital. The room was dark and eerie, she couldn’t make out anything. The door flung open out of nowhere, there, she watched the policeman slowly approached her.
“What’s wrong officer?” she asked, obviously baffled by his sudden appearance.
“We came to confirm both the victim’s murders with you”
“Oh, yes” she remembered, “How’s Gretchen?”
“You mean you had no idea as to what happened in that basement?” the police officer asked.
“No” she said touching the scratches on her face, “Not a clue.”
“Emma, your family is dead.”
“This is no joke officer. I want to see them…NOW!” she shrieked, tears welling up in her eyes.
She turned to stand up but realized she couldn’t seeing as her hands were being tightly chained to the bed.
“Wh-what’s this?” she asked, slightly puzzled.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to show you something rather distressing.”
She watched in astonishment as he held out a tape, their family tape, the only object that held all their happiest memories before their father left.
“So…? What about it?” she asked, more confused than ever.
“Watch” was all he said.
She watched as the tape showed her family’s past and memories unraveling. Christmas presents and New Year pocket money, swimming competitions but something, something new came up.
This time it was not focused on the family but only her she watched her own smile forming into something so gruesome, something she had never seen before in her life. She became another person. She saw herself, holding the end of her mother’s head cutting a hole and putting a candlelight inside she watched in agony as her dear sister, Gretchen tried to slap her awake but instead of waking up she saw the madness in her own eyes. She saw herself carving pumpkin faces on her mother’s and sister’s face until; they were completely pumpkin-like and less human. She saw herself baking parts and features of her mother and sister without mercy. Needless to say, it was her that scrawled those horrible words on the door. It wasn’t her, no, can’t be, she could not believe in any part of it. It was too cruel, too… inhuman, too…terrifying.
The tape stopped and she remembered everything. Everything fitted together now, all those times when she was not awake was when she murdered. She was horrified. Realizing she had a different personality from what she should have as a normal child, coming to her senses, she realized she was definitely not in a normal hospital. She lives in the mental hospital. Just like her father.