Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

The Mask

It was a cool October day in the town of Misty Falls. The trees had begun to take on their fiery colors, signifying that autumn had finally come. This meant that Halloween was on the way, and the students of Misty Falls High could scarcely concentrate on their work.

"Come on Imogene!" begged Natalie "We have to get costumes for Mason's party! It's in a couple days!"

"Hey!" protested Imogene, the second of the best friends pair "Whenever I suggested it, you were too busy" Natalie tossed her long, black hair over her shoulder and grinned.

"Well I'm not busy now!" she said, laughing "Let's go to the costume shop on Main Street." Imogene rolled her eyes and agreed, sending the two of them off to Main Street.

"Welcome to Harry's Costume Shop!" announced a sales associated when they finally arrived "We have the largest selection of costumes in the Tri-State Area!" The girls gave her a quick grin and ran off to the section marked "Juniors."

"I want to be something scary this year," commented Imogene, remembering back to her array of fairy and princess costumes from previous years. Natalie groaned and shook her head.

"This is a high school party though!" she exclaimed "You should wear something like... This!" She quickly searched a rack and found a Cinderella costume that included an extremely short blue dress.

"No way!" Imogene giggled, pushing Natalie's hand away "I am done with princesses!" Natalie replaced the costume on the rack and began searching for something else.

"We'll find something non princess-y for you then," she murmured, fully concentrating on finding the two perfect costumes. Imogene sighed and walked off, determined to find something really scary.

She passed several costumes that could pass as scary at a high school party. There was a vampire, a bloody murderer, and a sea monster, but all of them featured something short or tight.

Imogene groaned in exasperation, going to see if she could find something in the guys' section. Because of the close proximity to Halloween though, everything good was taken. The majority of the remaining costumes were either funny or lame-scary. She almost went back to Natalie to surrender herself to whatever costume she had found.

As she spun around, she caught a glimpse of a door in the back of the shop. Assuming it was a dressing room, she went in, wanting to see if there were any scary costumes that were left behind. Well, she got the second part right.

Imogene looked around, and found herself in a cold, dimly lit room. Her face glowed with happiness when she discovered what it contained.

All along the walls were the scariest masks she had ever seen. There was a gorilla with blood dripping from its eyes, an old man with rats running around in his hair, and a goblin with drool dripping from its fangs.

"Looking for anything in particular?" asked a voice. Imogene turned around and saw a tall man with black hair and a cane. Too frightened to speak, she merely shook her head.

"J-just something scary," she stammered. The man sighed and limped on his cane over to a wall of masks.

"Well, have you checked out there?" he muttered "This place can be dangerous." Imogene laughed and began looking at the masks again.

"Dangerous," she giggled "Yeah right." Then she spotted a mask that she liked immensely. It was a person's face, but the skin had a slight green tint. The hair was messy and yellow, as were the teeth, which also had blood dripping down them. The ears were pointed and a little uneven.

"Can I buy this one?" she asked, taking it off the hook. The man tapped his cane agitatedly and scowled at Imogene.

"Fine!" he growled "Just leave! Take the mask and go! I can't be blamed for whatever happens!" More scared of the man than what he was saying, she slowly backed out of the room and went to rejoin with Natalie.

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The two best friends were completely psyched to go to Mason's party that evening. It was a nice enough night out, so they decided to walk.

Natalie was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. She was dressed in a short, fluffy red dress and a short cape with a basket. Imogene had on her mask and was wearing a black cloak. They arrived at Mason's house after a ten minute walk, and they entered his home.

"Hey Natalie!" said Mason "And..." He lifted Imogene's mask to see who it was. "Oh hey Imogene! Sweet mask!" She grinned as he put the mask back down.

As the night wore on, Imogene found the party to be quite boring. She had never really been interested in drinking, so she decided against getting drunk. She preffered not to dance among drunken teenagers. Her only other option was to sit on the couch and watch.

This was fine with her though, she had begun to feel sick. She had started getting a head ache and was dizzy. Before she knew it, she had fainted, and even when she woke up, she was not aware of her actions.

When she finally awoke from her daze, she was laying on the couch. She sat up and cleared her eyes, gazing at her surroundings and screamed. All around her lay dead bodies covered in blood. Afraid that there might be a murderer loose in the house, she ran outside and began a mad dash toward her house. The mask began constricting her breathing, so she decided to take it off.

The only problem was, it was glued to her face. Or more like nailed. As she pulled at it, pain shot through her cheeks. Then she began hearing a whispering in her ears. Imogene couldn't make out what it was saying, but it pulled her into a deep sleep.

When she awoke, she was laying on the street. This time she saw a group of bloody, dead children in costumes surrounding her. She again began running home, but immediately collapsed. Each time she woke up, more people would be dead. Trick or treaters, her friends, and finally, her parents.

She couldn't help but start sobbing. Everyone she loved was dead, and now there was probably a murderer after her too. The last time she fainted and woke up, she was holding a knife to herself, and that was the last thing she saw before everything went black.

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A tall man with black hair and a cane slowly limped into Imogene's house. He walked over to the girl's dead body and took off her mask.

"I did warn her..."