Writing for Fun
November 2016
Spooky - Sue Barker
Jade was very excited and nervous too, it was the highlight of her month. Freak week at Colchester zoo had been advertised everywhere. For a fourteen year old girl it was a dream come true, Halloween at the zoo, she was determined to go. It had taken hours of persuasion, sulking and just a little emotional blackmail but in the end her parents had relented, not only could she go but she could stay over at Lucy’s.
She had planned what to wear; it had to be something amazing just in case Joe was there. He was her latest crush and he was so cool, he looked a little like James Pattinson the lead actor from the twilight films. Joe had never spoken to Jade but she hoped that this night would make all the difference. She wanted to look scary but in a fanciable way, her being a goth normally meant at least she was half way there. She decided to model herself on Bella Swann the love interest from the twilight films; she was hot in a cool way.
She had arranged to meet her gang of friends by the elephant enclosure but she was early. It was only just getting dark, as she stood there she could see every kind of ghost, ghoul, zombie and vampire pass by. The make-up and costumes were beyond belief. As she waited she heard a howl, it started quite quietly and then it built up to a terrible pitch, every hair on her body stood to attention. Then she chuckled to herself, oh what a fool, she was in a zoo, it was just the wolves in the next enclosure.
She was looking around, and checking her watch, why wasn’t anyone else here. It was only around seven o’clock but Jade was beginning to feel sorry she had come; none of her friends were here yet, where were they? The arrangement was to meet at quarter to seven. Then she heard a whistle, she had received a text message. It said to go to the Hillbilly maze, they had changed the venue, but she hadn’t received the earlier text.
Off she set, it was really dark now, the zoo had been filling up since six o’clock and it was packed, she struggled to get through the crush. People were screaming and the ghost train hurtled past, it was driven by a devil; most people on board looked frightened and several children were crying.
The zoo had gone to an amazing effort with the lighting and there were cobwebs and pumpkins everywhere. Jade finally found the Hillbilly maze and there was a huge queue, she thought she saw Lucy and the gang just going into the maze, she hoped she could catch up with them soon. She felt the wetness of a cobweb sweep across her cheek and she shuddered.
When she was at the front of the queue a man approached her, he was dressed like a hillbilly and through his teeth he hissed, ‘I like the look of you, I bet you do as your told, little miss.’ Jade was so scared she couldn’t reply, she felt a little sick, she didn’t want to look like a baby but he was very menacing and she felt tears spring into her eyes. She just looked down and ignored him, praying he would go away.
Finally it was her turn to go into the first house, it was dim in there and suddenly a knife was driven through the roof and hung about 2 foot above her head, she screamed; the woman behind her screamed too. They looked at each other and shared an embarrassed laugh. ‘Whoa that made us jump,’ laughed the lady. Jade tried to look unbothered but they both knew she was frightened.
She stumbled out of the house to be squirted with water by the ghoul on the roof. She was just calming down when a zombie jumped out from behind a barrel and screeched at her. Oh this was just awful, she couldn’t go back and didn’t want to go on. If only her friends had waited for her. She had to carry on; the next part was a maze of straw with smoke billowing up to waist height.
Not too bad, nothing jumped out or grabbed her; she expelled the breath she had been subconsciously holding. Then she was being chased by a man with a chain saw. Bloody hell she hadn’t been expecting that for a moment. The lady behind her leapt two feet into the air screamed and ran. Jade screamed and ran with her, they knew it wasn’t a real chain saw but for a moment it felt like it. A child in front of her was sobbing uncontrollably.
She was just reaching the last part; you could almost see the light at the elephant enclosure. ‘Not far now, you can do it,’ she told herself. She was then surrounded by pumpkins and scarecrows, some looking malevolent and some quite cute, she steeled herself and charged forward, passing the evil scarecrow to her left she was ready, ‘Not this time buster,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m ready for you, I will not jump or scream.’ Nothing happened, nothing at all, she edged forward and just as she was next to the exit the cute scarecrow grabbed her, and held her to its chest. She screamed with all her might, sobbing and choking, the fear had finally consumed her. She passed out.
When she came to she was in the first aid tent, surrounded by her friends, they were all dressed up as vampires and ghosts. Joe was dressed as the cute scarecrow that had held her tight at the end of the maze. He said that he thought it was a way to get her attention. Well it backfired, Jade felt so ill she had to phone her parents to pick her up and take her home. She had well and truly gone off Joe, his idea of fun wasn’t hers. Next year she’d stay at home and watch a scary film . . . behind a cushion of course.