October Writing Prompts- Pinterest List by ZellyKatArt
October 6th- Decorating
Jan placed her box of decorations on the coffee table and opened it. She stared down at her old decorations. They were old-school, outdated, and some were even ripped. She pushed the box away from her and sighed. She sat on her couch and stared at the box. She should just dump everything into the trashcan, but she couldn’t do it. They had been in the family for so long. Jan stood up and pulled out the decorations.
Her first pick was an old cauldron. It was small, and the family had always placed the candy in it for the trick-or-treaters. Jan sat it down next to the box and plucked out a few pop up pumpkins. She set up the pumpkins on the table closest to the door and continued to work until all the decorations were out. Jan taped up a few like she had done last year before she put them out. She stepped back and stared at the paper skeleton taped to her front door and shook her head. The skeleton was more comical than scary.
Jan threw her hands up as she gave up and took the box back out to the garage. She heard something rustle in the garage’s corner and she swallowed hard. Just what she needed…rats! Jan flipped on the light and watched the light chase away the shadows. She followed the scratching sound until she saw not a rat, but another box. It was a newer box that was taped and she had never seen it before.
Jan picked it up and walked into the house, eyeing the box. She was glad that it hadn’t been a rat. Unless the rat was inside the box. She shuddered and sat the box on the coffee table where she had placed her old, beaten up box a minute ago. Jan tried to open it up, but she couldn’t. It was taped up pretty well. Maybe the old owners had left it behind, but she had lived in that house for four years and Jan had never seen the box before.
Jan grabbed some scissors out of her kitchen drawer and sliced open the tape. She placed the scissors next to the box and slowly opened the top. She was breathing hard in anticipation of a rat jumping out at her. Jan peered inside, and to her relief, no rat jumped out. She turned the box this way and that, but she couldn’t see inside. It was like a dark pit. She didn’t like the idea of putting her hand inside to see what was in there, but she had no other choice. Jan hadn’t gotten any batteries last time she was at the store because she had forgotten and her flashlight was dead.
Jan took in a breath. “Come on, Jan. It’s just a box.” She shook out her hands and plunged her right arm into the box. Her body was tense as she felt around in the box, but it was empty. “Well, that was a waste. I thought there would be some cool Halloween decorations inside, at least.” Her fingers brushed against something and she picked out a scary-looking doll. It looked cracked with black eyes and was wearing a purple dress.
“Oh, this is perfect. I hope there are more like this and other spooky decorations in there.” She placed the doll in a chair and then went back to the box. Plunging both hands into the box, she felt more items and kept pulling out item after item of spookier decorations she’d used in the house.
Once her house had been decorated with the new items, Jan got ready for bed. She should have started earlier with decorating, but at least she was done. She yawned and took a shower. While in the shower, there was a bang in the living room. She grabbed her towel, wrapped her dripping body, and cautiously walked towards the living room. Jan stepped inside and looked around, flipping on the light. There was nothing missing or out of place, but she knew she had heard something. There was a bang.
Jan laughed it off and thought maybe it was outside and not in the house. She went back to the bathroom and finished her shower. She dried her hair and was in bed in seconds. She plugged her phone in to charge for the night. Jan laid in bed, the house quiet, and smiled. She finally had some decorations she loved. Jan rolled over and stared out the window as she fell asleep.
An hour later, a loud bang came from her living room again and Jan sat up, screaming. She got out of her bed and turned on her light when there was another bang. She slowly made her way out of her room and down the hall. She covered her mouth and froze when she heard someone laughing in the living room. Jan should have grabbed her phone, but it was on the charger in her room. She turned the light on in the living room and jumped into the room, yelling. She had hoped that she would scare away whoever was in her living room by taking them by surprise. Once again, there was nothing there. Jan looked everywhere to find out who had been banging on something and who had been laughing. She stopped when she got in front of the dolls she had found in the box.
The dolls were now on the couch even though she had placed them on the chair by the window. She had planned to leave her blinds open so the trick-or-treaters could see them. Jan picked up the dolls to put them back in the chair but one bit her. She yelped and dropped the dolls, who scrambled to their feet and ran laughing around the room. Jan turned and watched the dolls as they raced back towards her.
Jan jumped onto the couch and looked around as her house came to life. All of her new decorations laughed, bubbled, screamed, or moved. Jan shook her head and screamed again. She collapsed on the couch, covered her head, and mumbled.
The next morning, two men helped Jan out of her house. She was still mumbling about her decorations coming alive. They shook their head and helped her into the back of a van that would take her to the asylum two cities over. The police followed and watched the van drive off. The neighbors had heard her screaming early that morning and had called the cops. When the police had gotten there, the dolls and the rest of the haunting decorations had vanished. Jan was pointing at her old decorations and kept mumbling about how they had come to life.
“Came to life? She’s lost it,” one officer said to the other as they walked to their cars.
“Same thing happened to the owners of that house four years ago. And to the owners twelve years ago.” The officer looked at the house and shook his head. “Strange, huh?”
The police got in their car and drove away. In the window, the cracked dolls waved, giggling.