Halloween Ghost Story Contest -- 2000
Middle School Winners

First Place

Beyond the Obvious

by
Maria Fabello

Halloween, for some it's a day to dress up and get candy, to others a day to cause mischief, and for some it's even a day of fear. For identical twins Lori and Nicole Lawrence, it used to be like that, but their ideas of Halloween will never be the same. They had just moved there not too long ago, Stonybrooke Connecticut, it was a small town, a quiet town. You know, one of those towns where nothing exciting ever happens in or at least that's what the Lawrence family thought.

It had been a month since the move and Lori and Nicole were still settling in. Their parents had been running around the entire time frantically trying to set everything up. They could all proudly say that the house was finally a home. They had moved from Miami Florida, so it was a really big change. Lori and Nicole were excited, they knew that their fourteenth birthday would be the following day. Coincidentally, it happened to be the same day as Halloween, which made it much more exciting.

The next morning they were eating breakfast and they realized that they had gotten a letter in the mail. It was a letter telling them there was a dance that night. People their age got these letters once a month, they were sent to all of the kids in the town. They had never been to these dances before and it was only a few weeks into school, so they weren't sure they wanted to go. They talked it over and eventually decided to go. They spent the rest of the night picking out outfits, taking showers, doing each other's hair, and after hours of getting ready were finally ready to leave for the dance.

The dance hall was decorated for Halloween; the lights were flashing, the music blaring. As they looked around they recognized a few people from school. The place was so crowded it was pretty hard to move around without getting pushed out of the way by some ignorant by-passer. They started talking to a group of people who soon left to go check their make-up. As they looked around they noticed another set of twins. They were boys. They decided to go up and introduce themselves. The boys did the same, their names were Jonathan and Anthony Peterson.

The twins hit it off right away. They spent the whole night together talking, laughing, dancing, and partying. Just having a good time. Lori and Nicole noticed that the boys didn't seem to be all that in to talking about themselves, when they were asked questions the answers were rather brief. But other than that they seemed to be having a great time. The girls explained how they were new to the town and the boys told them a little about it. They also said that they'd been in that town for all of the years they'd lived.

It was nice to relate to another set of twins. It was actually pretty fun. Jonathan and Anthony said they had to go pretty soon, and asked for their address. They said that they wanted to see them again this time next year. Lori and Nicole looked to each other in confusion, then looked at the boys. "Next year? Why next year?" they asked in unison. Neither Jonathan nor Anthony answered the question. In fact, they changed the subject. Lori and Nicole were confused by this but decided to shrug it off.

It was 11:30, the time they were all supposed to be home, but they were having such a good time that they completely forgot. The boys left for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. Lori and Nicole talked, as it turned out they each liked Anthony and Jonathan, but there was just something different about them. Neither of them could put their fingers on it. Maybe it was just that it was a new town and everyone seemed a little different from their old town, but they weren't quite sure.

When the boys came back the talked a little while longer. When Nicole finally looked up at the clock it was 11:45. "Oh no!" she cried, "We're already past curfew!" The boys looked up at the clock also. "Actually, we better be going too." They all got up, got their things together, and put their coats on. They went outside, and hugged goodbye Lori looked up at Anthony and Jonathan. "How about we make plans to meet again... say maybe next week?" she inquired. The boys seemed kind of uncomfortable with the question. "We... uhh... won't be around" Jonathan replied.

Confused Nicole and Lori looked at each other. They looked back at the boys to say their good-byes, but when they looked back the boys were nowhere to be found. "Wh..Where did they go?" asked Nicole " I have no idea." responded Lori "It's as if they just disappeared." They looked all around but there was no sign of either Anthony or Jonathan. All of a sudden Lori shrieked. Nicole turned and looked at her "What, what's wrong?" she asked. Lori pointed to the ground in font of her. Nicole looked down to where Lori was pointing. She shrieked too, for what she saw, what were on the ground in front of them were the clothes of the boys. It was all that was left of them. They looked at each other. They were so scared. They had to get home.

They ran as fast as they could. Without thinking they cut right through the graveyard. Their house was just on the other side if they could only make it through the graveyard they'd be home, in their beds. Trying to figure out, no trying to forget about what ever it was that just happened. They ran faster and faster with every breath. Nicole didn't realize that her shoe was untied. While they were running Nicole tripped and smacked right into the solid ground. Lori bent over to help her up, and her eye caught something. When Nicole stood up she saw it too. They both looked at each other with faces filled with horror and dread. At the same time they screamed loud, ear piercing screams. "It can't be it just can't be!" cried Lori. For right there in front of them was a tombstone and carved on the tombstone was:

Here lie twins Jonathan and Anthony Peterson, May they rest in Peace
January 26th 1972 - October 31st 1986