Midnight Death

Why couldn't I just be left alone? Damn kids wouldn't stop knocking on the door. I had left the porch light off for a reason. April, my step mom, took my little brother, Max, out trick or treating. She had bought a shit load of candy and told me to hand it out. Halloween has been an annoyance since I found out the supernatural world was just a figment of humanity's imagination. I always wanted to meet a mythical creature- good or bad- didn't matter to me. If they murdered me I'd die happily knowing they were real. When I voiced this to my step mother she went ape shit on me, yelling 'THEY ARE NOT REAL!' I got the message lout and clear. 1

The knocking had grown very persistent. I had to answer it if I wanted to get the brats to go away. I paused my movie although I had already seen it a million times. I opened the door to the usual 'Trick or Treat' greeting and gave them enough candy to give a dog a sugar high, good luck to their parents. They were dressed as a witch (I had wanted to be one, not for Halloween but really be one.) a ghost, and a pirate. I never cared much for pirates. After closing the door I went back to watching Old Yeller, my child hood favorite aside from the Harry Potter series. 2

I was well into the movie, water works and all when I heard a loud cracking sound, like bones snapping. My skin crawled and goose bumps decorated my arms and neck making the hair stand on end like I was being electrocuted. "Shit Maggie get a hold of your self it's Halloween of course there's going to be noises" I mentally scolded myself, but I still had the sinking feeling something bad was going to happen. I hate it when I get those feelings, they normally turn out to be a good source of information. 3

The last time I had that feeling my mother died on the way to pick me up from school. The sound was growing louder, I turned the T.V. off so I could try to distinguish the source of the sound. I couldn't remember ever hearing anything like it before in my life. I wanted to crawl out of my own skin. I wanted to hide under the bed like a two year old instead of the seventeen year old I am. I wanted to run but my body refused to listen to the orders it was given. I was scared out of my wits, of what I didn't know yet. I had a feeling I was about to find out weather I wanted to or not. 4

The sound had stopped, it was closer to me when it did though. I could hear the creak of my back door opening. Holy mother of God, someone was breaking into my house, and for the life of me my fucking legs wouldn't move! I could hear...paws? That couldn't be..and feet shuffling on the floor. Did some one bring dogs to ransack my home? What the hell was wrong with-5

"Maggie, you have something that belongs to us, we need it back" I heard the voice before I could see them. His voice was dark and gruff, sending a chill up my spine. I turned around on the couch. Never in all my years would I have thought I would see what was staring back at me. My father. I believed him to be dead. My step mom had married him a year after my mom had died and six months later he was thought to be dead from an animal attack. He couldn't be standing behind me with a..a...freaking pack of wolves. At least I think that's what it was. 6

"Daddy?" My voice sounded as small as I felt. Something flashed behind his eyes but just as quickly it passed before I could identify it. The air smelled like wet dog making me want to vomit. 7

"Yes. I need that earing in your left ear. It's something that belongs to me and your step mother stole it before I left." His voice was cold, I could feel the iciness of it as if I were in a frozen pond. My father had never been crude. He was always kind and warm. I could see none of that now as I looked into his black bottomless pits for eyes. My father was gone. No love could be seen behind the layers and layers of hatred. Why didn't he love me anymore?8

"Why did you leave? I thought you were dead!" My voice had turned pleading. I could hear my heart pounding behind my ears. I was scared. I didn't know this man, I couldn't afford to think of him as my father. The man who loved me was gone. 9

"I was bitten, to you I should be dead. I could never care for a human family as I am now. I left to keep you and Max safe from myself." If he left to protect me he could have fooled me. To leave means to never return, yet here he was now taunting me for an earing? April had told me to never under no circumstance give that particular piece of jewelry away. If my life depended on it I was to destroy it before I was to give it away. I never understood why it was so important to guard this tiny piece of junk with my life. I'll be damned if I'm not going to get some answers while someone was here who obviously knew why it was so important. 10

"Why would something so small and worthless be so important to you? I don't get it. If I'm going to give it to you I should at least know why." I still couldn't believe that there was a pack of wolves. If I understood him correctly then that means they were not only wolfs but werewolf's. All my life I had wanted to see anything to validate my theory that the supernatural world was was real as the flesh that covered my bones and now I had that proof. So many emotions were running rampant inside me. I longed to run up to my father and hug him but the way his eyes looked dead stopped me before I could even finish the thought. I was excited that the world I had so wished to exist within was real. I was petrified with fear for my life yet I couldn't run. 11

"It contains my soul. I need to destroy it before midnight tonight if I want to continue to live. I need to live to destroy my enemies. You don't want me to die do you?" 12

I couldn't understand. It contained his soul? Something so small was someones soul. The very essence of a person. His eyes were black holes because he didn't have a soul, he didn't care about anyone or anything anymore. No compassion, kindness, love. He didn't love me because he didn't have his soul. I wouldn't let him demolish his soul just to exact revenge. 13

I lived without my father this long and the man in front of me only looked like my father. It wouldn't matter now if I kept his soul from him in order to kill him. I looked at the clock on the wall eleven fifty. I only had to stall for ten minutes. If I could do that I could set him free and let him truly rest in peace. I couldn't even begin to let myself think about if I was doing the right thing or not. If I started to doubt myself and think of what I was truly doing I would hand over the earing without a doubt. No I couldn't afford to stop and think. I had to act without a moments hesitation. 14

"Well I would like to help you but the earing I'm wearing is a duplicate. I don't have the original, April does. She never told me what she did with it. I don't have what your looking for." Please let him take the bait. I knew I was out right lying, but I couldn't see another way out of this. Eleven fifty-four. Six minutes to stall. 15

"Oh but your wrong. The one your wearing is certainly the one I'm looking for. Did you honestly think I wouldn't feel that it was a part of me? I can taste the heat from it. I can feel it's pulse from where I stand. It is without a doubt part of my existence. Now, I would be grateful if you would hand it over. Times ticking away." Shit well that didn't work... 'Think Maggie, think! Something has to work to get past midnight!' I thought. 16

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Swallow the earing. How would he get to it before might night with only four minutes left? Surely my stomach acid wouldn't burn it before then..that is if stomach acid could even burn gold? I didn't care it was the only idea I could come up with. The though crossed my mind with in a few seconds and while thinking about it I had taken the earing out of my ear. It was bright gold. The ice blue tear drop hung from the hook as if it were about to fall. I had a matching one in the right ear but it never looked as beautiful as this one. I understood now why. Souls were beautiful. This one was more vibrant, with a peaceful air to it. The other earing was just that an earing. I put it in my mouth and swallowed it. I could feel the hook scraping the inside of my throat, hear the tearing of my flesh in my ears, and taste the blood as I choked on it. 17

"You idiotic child! I can get it out of you. I have no qualms with tearing you apart for that earing!" Well I hadn't thought that far. Obviously my plan had a flaw. He was a werewolf and I a mere human who could not withstand his strength. I was going to die. I could feel it, I was as sure about it as I was that I was my name. I felt oddly humble. I didn't fear death. I knew where my faith lied. I knew the supernatural world existed even if it was what killed me. The nasty sound I heard before had made its return. I could hear it with clarity now. My father was turning. His body retaking the shape of a beast. His throat grew larger as did ever other part of his body. His feet clawed and odd shaped. Hands like a bear but longer. Snout just like a wolf. His eyes were a glowing yellow. His teeth were canines teeth but oh so much larger. 18

I could feel the tremble in my body, from head to toe. It was unnaturally cold in the room, and I ran. I knew it would do me no good but it seemed as if my survival instincts took over. I flung open the front do and took off. I had never run so fast in my life. I could see no pursuit behind me. What I didn't expect though was for him to be in front of me. Before I could pivot around he was on me. Tearing at my chest. The pain was more than I had ever felt in my life. Numbness took over almost immediately. The edges of my vision were fuzzy and black. I could see my father standing over me looking smug. He held the earing I had swallowed. In an instant he had smashed it between his hands. Some where along the line he had turned back to a human. 19

"Eleven fifty-nine and forty-seven seconds. Barely enough time to spare. You almost cost me my life." He won. I'm dieing. The last thing I heard was the sound of the church bells tolling midnight.