Halloween Stories

It was Halloween and I lived alone, so I’d been keeping an eye out for any trick-or-treaters that would rather play tricks than collect treats.  I already had about a dozen groups dressed in costumes ring my doorbell and I happily gave them the treats they were hoping for.  I also saw several older kids walking up and down the street, and since they weren’t wearing costumes and didn’t appear to be knocking on any doors or ringing any doorbells, I was afraid they were up to no good. 

At 9:30, or 21:30 for some of you, I felt I’d seen the last of the trick-or-treaters, so I went outside to check out my house and car to make certain the older kids hadn’t done anything to either one.  If they had, it’s usually best to find out about it as soon as possible so you can clean off the mess.  Things like a raw egg can eat the paint off a car or house if not washed off before it dries, and I certainly didn’t want that to happen. 

After looking around and not find anything, I turned to go back inside when I spotted movement off to my right.  I quickly turned in that direction so I could discover what was there and quickly spied two kids dressed in costumes.  They weren’t very tall and quite skinny, but they didn’t appear to be carrying a bag or a container to collect the treats.  It was also later than I thought they should be out since there was no adult with them, so I started to ask them a question.  That was the last thing I would remember, because I came to later lying on the ground.  When I went into the house, I quickly discovered it was now after midnight. 

Not only couldn’t I remember anything about the missing time, but I couldn’t recall any details about the two kids I’d spotted either.  I had no idea what had happened, but the incident concerned me greatly.  I didn’t feel a lump on my head, so no one had snuck up and hit me from behind, and I don’t remember any pain, so they couldn’t have used a taser on me either.  I might have been drugged, because I was experiencing feelings of euphoria, like I was coming down from a high, but I didn’t remember taking anything orally or being injected, so possibly that wasn’t what happened either.  Was I possibly suffering from a previously unknown ailment that had caused me to pass out or was there another explanation?  I was left wondering what could have made me lose consciousness for so long, but I eventually gave up and went to bed. 

I couldn’t get to sleep right away, and when I did it wasn’t very restful.  I felt stressed and anxious when I woke up, but I had no idea why I was feeling this way.  I decided to call into work and tell them I was ill and wouldn’t be coming in, since I wanted to get to the bottom of this conundrum.  Once I did that, I considered who I should call for help and advice while I carefully weighed my options. 

I didn’t feel the police could help, as I had no recollection of any relevant facts to give them, and it wouldn’t do any good to call an EMT, since I didn’t have any injuries.  I could possibly go to the hospital or see a doctor so they could take a blood sample to see if I had been drugged, but what would I say to get them to do that?  Even worse, how would I feel if they didn’t find anything?  After thinking about this for quite a while, I decided to call a friend of mine who worked in the psychology department at the local college. 

“Sid, it’s Brian.  Something strange happened to me last night and I didn’t know who to contact, so I finally decided to reach out to you.”  I then set about telling him everything I could remember, which wasn’t much, and when I finished, he spoke. 

“Brian, I can’t tell you what happened, but I may be able to help you recall the events of last night.  One of my colleagues is also a very accomplished hypnotist and he has a track record of successfully regressing patients to previous timelines so they were able to recall events they were previously unaware of.  If you are willing to give it a try, I’ll contact him and set up an appointment for you.”

“Yes, that would be a big help.  I’ll go take a shower, so if I don’t answer when you call back, just leave a message.  I would really like to discover what happened to me last night.”

While I was in the shower I felt something strange on my scrotum, so I hurriedly examined the area.  It appeared there was an inch (25.4 mm) long scar that had suddenly appeared, but I hadn’t had an operation or an accident that might account for it, at least none that I could remember.  The sight of it merely helped to cause me further consternation.

I was out of the shower when Sid returned my call, and he told me his friend was willing to see me in two hours, if I could make it.  I said I could, so he told me where to meet them, because he planned on being there as well.

When I met up with Sid later, he introduced me to his colleague and friend.  “Brian, this is Dr. W. Parker Swift, and Parker, this is my friend Brian Hayes.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Swift.”

“Please call me Parker and it’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Thank you and you can call me Brian.”

“Brian, Sid has told me that you’ve had a missing time episode and would like to retrieve memories from that period.  Is this true?” 

“It is.  I want to know what happened during that time, because when I was showering I discovered a scar on my scrotum and nothing has happened to me that would account for it.  Therefore, it must have happened during the period of time that I can’t remember.  I need to know what happened and how it got there.”

“I’ll do my best to help you recover those memories, but I’ll need you to tell me what happened before the missing period of time occurred.”  I then told him all of the information I could recall.  “Ok, I’m going to hypnotize you and send you back to the time before this happened.  I’ll ask you to describe what you were doing and the last things you remember, and then I’ll hopefully be able to guide you through the events that you can no longer remember.  Are you ready to begin?”

“Yes, I’m definitely ready.”

“Please sit down and make yourself comfortable.  As soon as you’re ready, I want you to relax, take regular deep breaths, and clear your mind of all thoughts.  Next, I want you to focus entirely on the pendulum of this metronome and watch it go from side to side as you listen to my voice.  Slowly begin to relax your muscles, starting with your feet and toes and then slowly begin moving up your body.  Go to your calves next and then gradually work your way to your thighs as you continue doing the same thing to each area as you come to it. 

“I now want you to move up to your waist, abdomen and chest while following the same procedure, and then swing around to your butt and back as you do the same thing there.  Finally, move up to your neck and face, and when you’ve finished with each of those areas, we’ll move on to the next step.”

He paused as he watched me slowly relaxing the muscles in each of those areas, and when he thought I was completely relaxed, he spoke again. 

“Imagine that you are standing at the top of a long staircase in a warm, quiet room.  As you walk down each step of the staircase, it will take you further back in time until you reach the point where you are standing in front of your house on Halloween night.  You notice movement off to your right and I want you to tell me what you see.”  

“There are two kids dressed in costumes for Halloween, but they are alone.  There is no adult with them and they aren’t carrying anything to put the candy in.”

“Describe what they look like?”

“They are small, somewhere between three to four feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) in height and they are very slender.  They also have long, skinny arms and they are both wearing the same costume.”

“What type of costume are they wearing?”

“It appears to be some sort of a space alien costume.”

“Describe it to me.”

“It’s completely grey and smooth, like it’s made out of latex or vinyl, and they aren’t wearing any other clothing – just the costume.  I find this surprising and somewhat odd, since it’s quite chilly outside and they probably should be wearing a jacket.”

“What about the face?  What does it look like?”

“They have rather large heads and there doesn’t appear to be any ears that I can see and there is absolutely no hair on their bodies.  Their noses and mouths are both quite small and they look out of proportion to the size of their heads.  They also have large, almond-shaped black eyes.”

“What do you do when you see them?”

“I start to speak, but I’m unable to say anything.  I want to move, but I can’t.  All of my muscles are stiff, like they’re frozen, and I have no control over them, although I can still see and hear what’s going on.” 

“What happens next?”

“The taller one is holding something in its hand.  I didn’t notice it earlier because the device is quite small.  I also notice their hands and realize they only have three slender fingers and a thumb.”

“Then what happens?”

“My body slowly lifts off the ground and I start floating toward them.  I have no control over what is happening.  It’s as if I don’t weigh anything and gravity doesn’t have any effect on my body.  When I get closer to them, they both turn and start walking toward my backyard and I continue floating in the air right behind them.”

“Where do they take you?”

“They lead me to a small, metal building that’s in the shape of a spacecraft.  When we reach it, my body is suddenly tilted backward until I’m completely horizontal, although I’m still floating behind them.  I realize this is so I can fit through the opening that they are walking through, because otherwise I would be too tall to enter.  I’m now inside the structure.”

“Tell me what you see.”

“There isn’t much inside the building.  It’s dimly lit and the only object I can see is a metal table.  Slowly, my body floats over to it and I’m placed on the table.  We must be in a room, because another child in the same costume enters from the other direction, but I didn’t see or hear a door opening or closing.”

“Then what happens?”

“The shorter one is unbuttoning the shirt I’m wearing and the taller one is unsnapping and unzipping my pants.  The taller one then pulls my pants and underwear down.  Once my shirt is unbuttoned, the other one lifts up my tee-shirt so it can examine my chest.  They appear to be playing doctor and are giving me a physical.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘they appear to be playing doctor’?” 

“They’re only kids, aren’t they, so they have to be playing when they’re doing this.”

“Ok.  What exactly do they do to you next?”

“Each is starting to examine a different area.  The taller one is examining my genitals, and that must be why I found the scar on my scrotum when I was showering.  This doesn’t make any sense, since they’re just kids, but the taller one appears to have taken a semen sample or done something else to me down there.  It’s possible that he merely inserted a tracking device into my body so they can find me later.  I can’t feel anything, so I’m not exactly sure what he did.”

“What about the other two?  What are they doing?”

“The shorter one starts doing something to my nipples.  I think he has a device in his hand, so he’s either taking a sample of my nipples or possibly the mammary glands.  Maybe he wants to know why guys have those too.” 

“Yes, I guess that’s possible.  What about the one that came into the room later?”

“That one is standing on the other side of my body and sticking some kind of probe up my nostril.  I’m not sure, but he appears to be trying to get to my brain through the nasal passage.” 

“Do they speak to you?”

“Yes, they keep telling me to remain calm and relax, and they also promise they won’t harm me.  I can hear them, but their lips aren’t moving, but this might be due to the fact that they’re wearing masks.  Either that or they could be ventriloquists.  They might also be using some sort of mental telepathy.  It’s very confusing.”

“Do they say anything else?”

“Yes, there’s a screen above me, like a computer monitor, and they tell me to concentrate on the images and share my thoughts about what I see.”

“What kind of images are they showing you?  Are they photos, diagrams, drawings, or something else?”

“They’re mostly geometric shapes at first, but then they show me images of others like themselves.  One doesn’t look like the rest of them, though.  It’s more human looking, but not totally human.”

“What else happens?”

“They show me an unusual looking machine and explain how to operate it.  They then ask me to operate it using only my mind.”

“Do you do that?”

“Not at first, but they keep urging me to continue until I can do it.  I don’t know how it was possible, but I’m finally able to get the machine to work.” 

“Do you know what the machine does and why they’re asking you to operate it?”

“I think they just wanted to see if I’m capable of manipulating it with my mind, because it doesn’t appear to be doing anything other than running.  It’s hard to tell, though, because I’m still unable to move.  I can only see and hear what’s going on.”

“Do you hear anything else?”

“Yes, there’s a humming noise, but I have no idea what’s causing it.  The machine I was operating didn’t make a sound and I heard this noise before I got the machine to work.  There doesn’t appear to be anything else in the room that would cause it, so possibly the sound is coming from the area where the other child came from.  There could be some other machinery in there that I can’t see that’s causing the humming sound.”

“Doesn’t it seem odd to you that children are doing these things to you?”

“Yes, it does, and I wondered about that too, but they aren’t big enough to be anything else.  I know some adults might be short, but not as short and skinny as these children are.”  Neither of us spoke for a few seconds as I considered what he was getting at.  “Do you think it’s possible that these are real aliens from another world?  I’ve never believed in stuff like that before, but what else could they be?  These must be the grey aliens that people have been talking about since the Roswell crash, but I thought that stuff was all made up and just something from people’s imaginations.”

“Is this from your imagination?”

“No, this is actually happening to me.”

“Do you feel any pain or anything else at all?”

“No, nothing.  I don’t even feel the table I’m laying on or their hands while they’re touching me.  It’s like I’m not in my body.  They must have done something to numb my entire nervous system.”

“What happens next?”

“They appear to be communicating with each other, but I can’t hear anything other than the constant humming noise.  When they finish communicating with one another, they fix my clothing so I’m dressed again, and then I start floating off the table.  That’s when they take me out to my backyard again.”

“Where exactly do they take you?”

“They return me to the front of the house – to the very spot where I first encountered them.  They lay me on the ground and leave me there.”

“Do they do anything else?”

“Yes, they tell me to go to sleep and urge me to forget about everything that has happened.” 

“And then what do they do?”

“I don’t know, because I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up later.  They must have left.”

“Did you hear them leave?”

“No, I only heard the wind blowing and the leaves rustling as I fell asleep.”  

“Brian, do you remember the staircase you walked down when this started?”

“Yes, I do.”

“That’s good, because I want you to go back to that staircase and slowly walk up the stairs this time.  When you get to the landing at the top, I’m going to count to three and snap my fingers.  When I do this, you’re going to wake up, but this time you’re going to remember everything that you just told me.  Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“One, two, three.”  He then snapped his fingers and I immediately came back to consciousness. 

“Oh, my god.  I can’t believe what I just saw,” I blurted out.  “I was actually abducted by aliens and they experimented on my body.”

“Yes, that appears to be what happened to you and what you couldn’t remember.  It obviously accounts for the missing time.”

“Yes, they did all of that to me during the two and a half hours that I couldn’t account for.”

“How do you feel about this?”

“I’m more than a little freaked out by it, because they did all those things to me without my permission.  I’m glad they didn’t hurt me or take me with them, but it’s still unsettling to realize that it actually happened.”

“Yes, it’s definitely a good thing they didn’t harm you or take you with them.”

When I glanced over at Sid, he was sitting in his chair with his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging slack.  Apparently, he was as overcome by the events that I described as I was. 

“Damn, Brian.  I certainly didn’t expect to hear anything like what you just told us.  I thought you’d possibly had some sort of seizure or a negative reaction to some other stimulus, but I never imagined you had been abducted.”

“Yeah, neither did I.”

The three of us talked about this for a while longer, and then I finally returned home.  Before I left, however, I told them that I didn’t want to talk about this again, because I was going to attempt to completely erase it from my memory. 

What I didn’t tell them was that I probably wouldn’t be the same again on Halloween from this point forward.  I would never be willing to step outside of my house on that night, and I also wasn’t sure if I’d even be willing to open my door to greet the trick-or-treaters.  Although I tried not to think about it, I couldn’t help but imagine that if I opened the door I would discover more of those aliens waiting for me on the other side.   Maybe I’ll just leave the house dark on Halloween and stay in my bedroom with the blankets over my head until morning.   

 

THE END.