--[Lab Horror Story]-- A Lab 305 Halloween Event!

[Ravina Loki]

If we here at the Lab love anything, it's a good scare! Kyou infamously ADORES Silent Hill and Ravi has warmed up to many a horror game and movie in recent years (although she's always enjoyed a good Stephen King novel regardless). Because of this (and some sudden real life obligations, unfortunately) we've had to decide to drop the ORP. However, we're not about to let such a great holiday go by uncelebrated!

Here's where YOU come in!!!

Welcome to Lab 305's scary story contest! We're all writers here and many of us love Halloween and everything to do with it. So, to make the best out of both worlds, we've decided to run a small contest to see who can come up with the scariest, spookiest, most horrifying-est story they can!

And what sweet, sweet treats do you get away with should you win? ;3c

Why some lovely art by Kyou of your character of choice garbed in their Halloween best of course!

[ RULES ]

[.01] All entries will be posted in this event thread! Please use spoiler tags to avoid page stretching! And if you're shy about your entry.
[.02] There is a 1000 word limit to your entry! If you go over by ten or twenty words no sweat, though.
[.03] All entries must be scary/spooky in theme. This is Halloween after all!!!
[.04] Most importantly: Have fun!

Entries will be accepted until 11:59pm PST on October 31st. Please use the provided form below to enter!

[spoiler][size=15][color=orange]SPOOKY SCARY...[/color][/size]
[size=11][b]Name:[/b] (Your username here)
[b]Favorite Thing About Halloween:[/b] (We're deathly curious what you all love best!)

[b]Entry:[/b] (Remember, 1000 words! But if you go over by a few no big deal)[/size][/spoiler]

 

[kyoupi]

.....

[ Additional tips ]

[.01] Feel free to include your Raevan or Guardians in your stories. It doesn't have to be canon, but if you so wish, you can treat this writing exercise as a canon solo for your Raevan/Guardian.
[.02] It doesn't need to be horror in theme. It could be a dark comedy, it could be a tale of caution, it can even be a campy horror with blood involved. (but not too much gore pls. Gaia TOS) As long as it either revolve around the horror or Halloween theme.
[.03] You may include pictures in your entry if you so wish.

.....  

[Rapidashtrainer]

~: Do Not Buy Eggs at Night :~

((Does not involve Xiu. Unless it is assumed that he is reading this story XD ))

“Haven’t seen you around here before,” said the proprietor of a roadside eatery as he watched the youth polished up a plate of fried noodles and shrimps. “From the city?”

“Yes, boss,” said the young man as he slurped his iced tea.

“Here for business or pleasure?” the proprietor then asked as he gave the small car the youth had drove in a glance. The young man had come alone. It was unlikely that he would be here on a holiday and the proprietor’s guess was affirmed when the youth answered that he was here for the former.

“Oh? Then what sort of work do you do? You look rather young” the old man then asked, engaging in typical small talk common amongst the rural folks.

Smiling at the proprietor’s curiosity the youth replied that he had recently been employed as an electrical engineer and that he had been tasked with monitoring the performances all the communication towers his company had set up across the country. Once his work was done here, he would be moving on to the next tower on his list.

“It’s good to see so many young ones educated,” the old man said with a toothy grin. “Back in my days, only a handful of us were ever able to enter universities,”

The young man acquiescent with a small nod of his head. “I heard it was tough,”

“Yes, indeed. Back then there was only a single university in operation. Now, there are so many of them around. Which is a good thing, in my opinion. So where are you staying in the meantime?”

“I booked a room in a place called Hibiscus House Homestay. The GPS says that it isn’t too far away from here. Oh, do you know where there is a mini mart? There are a few things that I would like to purchase before checking in,”

“There is one along the way to Hibiscus House,” the old man said with a nod in its direction. “They sell pretty much all you need. You should be able to reach it before it closes for the evening,”

“Thanks,” said the young man as he got up to pay for his meal. As the youth was about to leave the old man hesitated before calling out “By the way, do not buy eggs if you are driving up to Hibiscus House in the evening,”

Cocking his head, the youth gave the proprietor a curious glance. “Is there something wrong with the house I am staying in?”

“Oh, no. the house is fine. It’s just that the road leading in to it is...keras, dirty,” said the old man with an uneasy look. “Best to not drive through it too late in the night too,”

“I see. Thank you for your advice,”

“Safe journey then,”

“Thank you,”

---

The sundry shop was located where the old man said it would be and David, the engineer bought himself some orange juice and a loaf of bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. As he was paying the cashier, the young man noticed a tray close by proclaiming to contain free range eggs. Forgetting the old man’s warning and fancying himself some fried eggs on toast for breakfast, David bought half a dozen eggs. Tossing them into the passenger seat of his car, the engineer then headed towards the Hibiscus House Homestay which according to the GPS, is mere fifteen minutes away.

As David drove through a rather narrow stretch of road leading to the refurbished wooden Hibiscus House, the young man fancied that he caught a whiff of...frangipanis. But the smell was fleeting and the young man soon gave it no thought. After all, he had other things on his mind. Like checking in and getting a good night’s sleep before work tomorrow.

It had been a long drive after all.

---

The clock on the wall showed that it was close to midnight but David could not sleep. Tossing and turning in his bed, the young man tried to make himself comfortable but to no avail. Something just felt...off.

Scratch, scratch, scratch…

There it was again. The incessant scratching that seemed to travel across the perimeter of the room. Up the walls and under the shuttered windows the sound of scratchings continued relentlessly. Occasionally there were even scramblings on the roof as though something quite large was making its way across it.

David was uneasy. Gingerly getting out of bed, the young man wondered if perhaps it was the work of a civet cat or some other rural creatures that were wont to wander close to homes in the countryside. He was fairly certain that it was not thieves as they would have broken in a long time ago if they had a mind to do so. No, it was probably an animal of some sort. He should not let this bother him as he had a long day tomorrow. Besides, the other occupants of the homestay seemed to not be bothered by it. Turning the lights off, David once again caught the scent of frangipanis. Feeling his skin prickle, the young man hurriedly dove under the blanket and hugged his bolster tightly for comfort. The morning could not be any slower in arriving.

The scent was cloyingly strong now. The whole room seemed saturated with it. Tossing in his bed, David opened his eyes a fraction and saw…

His bolster lying on the floor.

A soft feminine giggle could be heard as David felt his heart beginning to race. If his bolster was over there, that meant that what he was hugging…

A scream tore through the quiet household as the other occupants were jarred awake by the cry of fear. Running over to see what the issue was, the other tenants found a shivering David sitting on his bed. His clothes were ripped apart and there were several nasty slashes across his chest. The floral stench that permeated the room was now overpowering and several of the occupants gasped for air. Outside, a blood curdling laugh was heard and this drove several guests to their knees in prayer.

The police and ambulance were called for and David was taken to the nearest hospital to have his wounds treated. When questioned about the incident though, the young man could uttered a single word.

“Pontianak,”  

[shushida]

show spoilerhide spoiler

SPOOKY SCARY...
Name: Shushida
Favorite Thing About Halloween: Candy, duh.

Entry: Joshua’s job as a journalist had a tendency to draw him to some strange destinations and, by extension, LuLu ended up joining him on a few of his more unusual trips. An anonymous tip had led them to their current location. It was about a two hour drive from Barton and the definition of the word ‘solitude’. A log cabin had been cobbled together in a remote part of the woods. It was a far cry from the winter getaways depicted in TV ads. The building was more of a shack than a proper lodge. It was also the peak of winter much to Lu’s chagrin. A few feet of snow blanketed the ground outside and the wind howled with such ferocity it rattled the windows in their frames. Drafts tore through the building like the walls were no thicker than tissue paper. Worst of all, the cabin had no electricity. The whole thing was lit by gas lamps and a small fireplace in its parlor.

This civil war era hell hole was well outside of LuLu’s comfort zone. She had nearly thrown a fit about an hour and a half into the drive when her phone signal had died without warning. Losing all her modern comforts was not what the rabbit sigel had signed up for when she had agreed to the trip. Her guardian had simply laughed it all off though and claimed they would get to spend more quality time together during their short excursion. Nevertheless, to spite his good intentions, the sigel had found endeavors which did not include Josh. Currently, LuLu was enjoying some of the forest’s rustic scenery through the cabin’s front windows. She pressed her nose up against the glass. It was cold. Almost to the point it stung her skin, but it offered her a closer look at the frozen landscape outside.

The sun was nearly set and it was growing darker by the moment as night fell. The snow banks were starting to blend into the black sky like ink bleeding into paper. For a moment, LuLu thought it was playing tricks on her eyes. She saw a shadow moving in the distance. She blinked slowly and returned her gaze to the window. The shadow ducked behind a tree and out of sight. The girl felt a quiver of fear travel down her spine. She rose from her seat and moved to the kitchen to join Josh. When she arrived, she asked coyly, “Are there any visitors tonight?”

The boy was trying to scrap together a dinner for them from what was left in the fridge. The light in the kitchen was dim as they only had one lamp to illuminate the whole space. Still, Josh was a trooper and gave it his all to cut a carrot in the weak light. He replied, “It is just me and you, Buckaroo. Got a problem with that?” He chuckled softly.

The sigel shifted in place uncomfortably before she responded. “Are you sure?” She shook her head uncertainly, “It is just… umm, I saw someone outside.” Her eyes met Josh’s in the weak glow of the lamp.

Josh brushed aside the comment, “It was probably a deer. We are in the middle of nowhere after all.” He returned to cutting the carrot with penetrating focus.

It completely caught him off guard when the lamp went out.

“s**t! ********! GODAMMIT!” The boy howled out. “I think I cut myself!” Neither him nor LuLu could be certain in the pitch black now consuming them. He continued, “Lu get some more gas from the parlor while I clean myself up.”

The girl gulped hard, “O-ok.” She retraced her steps back to the front room. LuLu recalled seeing a container of gas near the entry door. All she had to do was make it there and back to Josh in the kitchen. It was only a few feet at most. It was simple enough. In fact, the rabbit had nearly made it all the way there before a gale ripped through the cabin with enough strength to cause the lodge’s timbers to groan and the fireplace to extinguish. The front door slammed wide open with a BOOM.

The sigel had to hold back a scream. “W-who’s there?” There was no response. She inched closer to the door for a better view, but she still could not make out much in the darkness outside. She inched even closer. Close enough that she could feel the winter chill prickling her skin. LuLu decided then that she would not wait for whatever wanted to pounce on her. Her arm snapped forward and pulled the door shut tightly. LuLu then moved to lock the door but found the wood near the knob was splintered so horrifically that Lu doubted it would ever lock again. Her blood ran cold.

This was a forced entry.

She ran back towards the kitchen crying out for her guardian, “JOSH! JOSH THERE IS SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE!” At first, she could not see the boy. He had disappeared somewhere in the pitch black shadows of the kitchen. She assumed that maybe he had left the kitchen altogether. However, she quickly realized he was in fact there. Even though she could not see him, she could hear his labored breathing and struggling coming from a far corner. She approached slowly.

A large figure loomed forward. It had wound itself around her guardian with shadowy appendages that nearly obscured him from view. They appeared to be squeezing him tighter and tighter until the rabbit swore she heard bones cracking and joints popping out of place. The one thing she could see perfectly was the creature’s fanged teeth glinting as its mouth pulled into a smile too big for its head. Josh was limp in the monster’s hold, but kept repeating a word over and over. Though it was muffled by the limb enclosing his windpipe, LuLu could understand clearly what the boy was saying.

“Run.”

 

[Subobo]

show spoilerhide spoiler

SPOOKY SCARY...
Name: subobo
Favorite Thing About Halloween: All the spooky things!!!!

Entry: The streets were empty. Not too surprising, considering the freezing wind that blew unhindered through the town, worming its way into the cracks between coats and gloves and scarves, instantly sucking the warmth out of you and chilling you to the bone. But sometimes you had to leave the comfort of your warm, cozy space and brave the unforgiving winter landscape.

With hands jammed deep in his pockets and shoulders hunched against the wind he shuffled down the street, his focus mostly on his feet to make sure that he didn’t slip on an unnoticed patch of ice. A car drove by, the gust coming from it hard enough to make him stop and brace himself lest he be blown off of his feet. A quick glance up showed an empty road, so he once again bowed his head and shuffled along, reaching up for the briefest of seconds to tug his hat further down on his head.He didn’t seem to be the only one outside by urgent business today, as he passed a vague looking figure as he walked by the street lamp. A desire to not bare his face to the wind any more than he had to kept him from looking up, but he caught an impression of a long dress and skinny limbs from his peripheral vision.

But his attention was once more focused on the treacherous sidewalk, and aside from a brief empathetic thought towards his fellow likely-frozen comrade he didn’t pay them any further mind.

The sky darkened as clouds thickened in the sky, turning the already dull landscape into dark forms and smudges that only solidified into actual shapes when he nearly stumbled over them. The wind now seemed to be a living thing that howled around him, tugging at any loose ends of his clothes that it could find. He only noticed that he had walked past a streetlamp by a vague lightening of the world around him.

The rustling of fabric managed to cut through the howling of the wind, and the shape of the ragged hem of a dress seemed eerily well defined in the wind-blurred landscape he walked through. A faint whiff of something sickly sweet blew by on the next gust of wind.

He walked faster.

Skkktch.


Ssssskkktch.


Ssss-

Just the wind. Just….just the wind. An easy enough lie to tell himself, though his heart didn’t seem to think so. Nevertheless his pace picked up, fast enough that his feet started to slip on the icy sidewalk, the feeling of being off-balance only accentuating his fear. He passed under the next streetlight. He looked behind him. Nothing.

Except for the line of footprints that ran roughly parallel to his, footprints that stopped a few paces behind him.

He ran the rest of the way home, icy sidewalks be damned.

The next morning he was perfectly willing to write the whole incident off as a trick of his imagination. Sure there was probably someone else walking out yesterday, it wasn’t like he was the only one that lived in the town by any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully the weather seemed to have eased up slightly since last night, and while it was still snowy outside the sun was shining cheerily.

He opened the door, taking a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. He had his hand on the handle of the door, about to close it when he looked out towards the street.

There were footprints in the snow leading from the sidewalk up to the house, a line of churned up prints clearly made by someone wearing boots in a hurry (himself) and a much fainter line, each print clearly delineated against the smooth expanse of snow. The second line ran parallel to the first and ran up onto the porch where they left perfectly formed impressions of bare feet in melting snow. The prints passed right by where he was standing, the last placed in the middle of the welcome mat.

He wished that he could ignore the footprints and continue on with his day, but he found himself turning slowly to look behind him into his house.

Chunks of half-melted snow ran in a straight line into his house. A chill breeze blew past him and into the open door, bringing with it a scent of something rotten.

 

[Skyeforge]

show spoilerhide spoiler

SPOOKY SCARY...
Name: Brolis
Favorite Thing About Halloween: The candy~ emotion_bigheart

Entry:

The thunder could be heard from the confined space. It wasn't long before he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He held his breath as best he could to help hide the fact that, internally, he was screaming.

Three Hours Earlier...

"You're absolutely sure you don't want to go?"

"Positive," the frei's voice rang in an obviously annoyed tone. He had heard that question all day. Wasn't answering it once enough?

"Okay...well, we'll only be gone a few hours." The guardian reassured his charge as he fixed his collar in the mirror.

"Great. Enjoy."

"Okay, it's seriously your last chance to-" Reuben began, only to be interrupted.

"Leave the kid alone, Reu! God, I've only been here twenty minutes and you haven't shut up. He doesn't want to go. It's settled. Now come on before we're late." Calista said, anger bubbling up in her voice. The only thing heard in response was a heavy sigh.

The frei laid outstretched on the living room couch reading a new horror manga he found on the iBooks store. Scrolling through the pages on his phone, he didn't even look up once.

With a heavy heart, the guardian laid down a few rules for the raevan. "Don't leave the house; it's going to be nasty out there in an hour. And text me if you need anything," Reuben said, slowly being ushered out the front door by Calista.

"Bye," Ryder stated coldly, swiping his finger to reveal the next page.

As Reuben had said, within an hour, the storm had rolled in. The faint sounds of rain pattering on the roof could be heard from the couch. Lightning struck, lighting up the dim room for a brief moment, only to be followed by a soft roar from the heavens. It was nights like this that were too few and far between for the frei's liking. He absolutely loved the rain. It made things damp, which he loved.

Ryder was still quite invested in his new manga. His brain swirled with different ideas of whodunit. The mystery behind the pages intrigued the young frei. And the pictures only proved to help his fading imagination out. The frei swiped page after page. The soft rain pattered down, tapping at the windows in the living room. The thunder roared and the lightning flashed.

~~~

Ryder awoke in his bed in complete darkness. He sat up, only to see two orbs of glowing red glaring through the mirror across his bedroom. The frei, feeling his heart beat faster, floated over to the mirror, the glowing orbs seeming to follow him like eyes as he made any movement. As he stared into the mirror, the orbs glowed stronger, brighter shades of red. The frei's heart began to race even faster than before.

Suddenly, Ryder felt strong pressure on his chest. Quickly opening his eyes, the frei saw nothing but a dark figure looming overhead with a hand pressing down on his chest. A quick yelp escaped his lips and the startling jump caused an unforeseen reaction in the frei.

From every freckle on the frei's body, colored smoke quickly emerged in a large cloud all at once. The rainbow smoke, much like that of his essence, quickly filled the area as the frei quickly fled the living room towards his room, dropping his cell phone on the floor in the process. The victim of his smoke cloud began to cough and wheeze uncontrollably as the frei made his escape. What had he just done?

Fumbling and coughing seemed to cease as the frei found himself in his closet. The thunder could be heard from the confined space. It wasn't long before he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He held his breath as best he could to help hide the fact that, internally, he was screaming. Hiding in the closet just wouldn't do, but where else was he to go? He couldn't confront the ominous figure. Not yet, anyway. He didn't have the power to do anything. His cell phone was still in the living room. Footsteps could be heard outside the small closet's doors. Even peeking through the small gap in the wood didn't seem to do much, as not much could be seen.

Suddenly, the small sliver of the bedroom that could be seen was now covered by darkness. Chills ran down the frei's spine as the doors of the closet flung open. There the figure stood, tall, looming, staring down at him.

"What the hell was that, Ryder!?"

That voice. Ryder's fear turned into sheer anger the instant the voice was recognized. "What do you mean!? Why would you scare me like that!?" The frei emerged from the closet, arms crossed.

The guardian let out a heavy sigh and began to chuckle.

Between the nightmare and the scare, the frei had had enough for the night. Little did he know that the horrors were just beginning.