"Hey, you!"

I glanced up, my eyes wide. Goddammit.

I stuffed the jewellery into my bag, securing my mask and hood in the process.

And then, I ran.

Like naruto ran.

Like super fast.

At like sonic speed.

I'm telling you, I cheetahed away from that grumpy old man.

Crawling behind a bush, I brushed myself clean and attempted to make myself comfortable, which wasn't an easy feat considering the fact that I was crouched low behind a bush with my back to a wall swarming with climber plants and bugs. The thought of the multiple insects crawling around sent jitters down my spine. Ugh.

I leaned my head back, groaning when it hit against a hard metal surface. Well, dang, since when was the wall this hard?

Twisting myself around to face the stupid wall, I attempted to figure out exactly what dared irritate me while I was already in such an uncomfortable position. Pushing aside the hordes of climber plants on the wall, my eyes widened as a small plaque exposed itself to me.

A small gold plaque.

I couldn't be sure if it was actual gold or not, but either way, it was going to lead me to a whole lot of cash. After all, tricking people into thinking something was real gold was not that hard.

And that plaque seemed like the real deal.

I brushed my fingers along the surface, slightly shivering at the cool feeling. A few words were engraved on it: Pumpkin Spice.

I scoffed. Of all the things to engrave, this stupid person chose Pumpkin Spice? Hell, pumpkins aren't even spicy!

I couldn't help but wonder why somebody would put a plaque in such an idiotic area. The plaque was clearly hidden well by the plants on the wall and bushes surrounding it.

Huh, maybe they buried their dog, Pumpkin Spice or something, over here. Although, Pumpkin was a pretty weird name for a dog.

The thought of there being the remains of a dead dog below me gave me the weebie-jeebies so I immediately got to work. Pulling out my screwdriver, I began to unscrew the ends of the plaque, being careful not to make too much noise.

Money, here I come.

And that's exactly when God decided that getting chased 3 blocks down the street and having to hide in bushes full of creepy bugs on a Halloween night wasn't enough trouble for me.

Things just had to get worse.

I unscrewed the gold plaque carefully and like the complete idiot I am, dropped the damn thing. I was in a crouching position so the stupid gold thingamajig landed on my knee and boy, did it hurt.

"AHHHeeeee" I yelped with my teeth clenched in an attempt to lessen all the noise I was making. Great, now I had a bruise.

For goodness sake, why wouldn't this night just end already?

I glanced up at the space on the wall which the plaque once covered, surprised to find a rectangular hole right smack in the middle of the area.

"Huh? What stupidity is this?" I muttered, gently leaving the plaque on the grass and leaning closer to take a look at the weird hole.

Then it hit me.

"Holy! Is this a secret compartment space? Damn, someone probably left hordes of valuable stuff in there!" I burst out excitedly, struggling to keep my voice low. Money, money, money.

I grinned, showing off my gold tooth.

Money, money, money.

I reached into the compartment, flailing my hand around for something. Anything.

And then, it grabbed me.

A sickly dirty hand.

I screamed, trying to pull my hand out, but that thing sure was strong. Like really really strong.

Like hulk sort of strong.

Dammit.

I shouted for help but for some crazy god knows what reason, nobody heard me.

"Let me go, you imbecile!" I screeched, trying to use the stupid gold plaque to push the creature's hand off of me.

What was that thing even?

I couldn't see much of its features, except for its hand. Its fingers were long and a sickly shade of green. Its nails were likewise, with some of them chipped and dripping with... blood.

Holy sh-

I pulled harder, anxious to get away from the horrors before me. Please, let me go.

Please.

Then, someone grabbed my shoulder.

Or, something.

A tree.

A TREE BRANCH WAS HOLDING ONTO MY SHOULDER.

I shook, taking a step back, but the branch wouldn't allow me to move at all. I could hear weird noises but they were all unidentifiable under the ringing noise in my ear.

I wanted to go home.

I felt like I was about to faint. The night was dark and eery, and hardly anyone seemed to be nearby. That did not help my situation.

Aw come on, where were the damn trick-or-treaters and the stupid kids with their idiotic costumes?

I couldn't breathe. Everything was shaking. My vision was blurry and I couldn't think straight.

I tried reaching into my pocket for my inhaler, but that goddamn tree branch was stupidly strong.

And then it began to get stronger.

I could feel it squeezing my shoulder blade, crushing my bones. It felt like nails were being hammered into my back. Nothing felt right.

I craned my neck, glancing down at the branch that was now wrapping it's extended fingers around my neck.

Help.

I was lifted a few centimetres off the ground with the perfect view of the secret compartment.

I watched at a strange gas escaped through the hole and creatures, that I could never have imagined ever, came to life.

And they said the horror movies of today were scary.

I screamed, well tried to, at least. My voice was hoarse and weak. Just like everything about me at the moment.

The pain was unbeatable. Like level 10 on the pain severity chart.

Ahhh.

"Well, well, well..." A harsh and rough voice laughed, as the last bit of vomit-coloured gas erupted from the compartment in a tornado, spinning and spinning around to form the most hideous and frightening creature imaginable.

"Lookie here! Ahhh, our dear sweet saviour. Finally. I must say, thank you so much for this. You've helped us so much. Now, we can finally have our revenge on your pathetic human race." The creature grinned(or at least looked like it) and pointed a long fat branch-like finger at me. "Well, thanks for helping us escape from that stupid underworld... and now, I'll gladly help you escape from yours."

And that's when the tree branch suffocating me hurled me into the night sky and towards the end of my life.

"Happy Halloween!"

Yeah right.

More like... Happy death day.

• • •

(: my entry for StarDazzleProfile 's Halloween mini-contest, #PumpkinSpice :)