October Break | Teen Ink

October Break

March 16, 2018
By ARKL123 BRONZE, George Town, Other
ARKL123 BRONZE, George Town, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

It wasn’t long before the black tires were rolling on the gravel road and millions of leaves fell from the trees. The blue Astin Metro finally found a parking space in the middle of the woods with a path that lead to what seemed like nowhere. Even though Jack, Lucy, and Timothy felt unsure about where they were going, Jack promised his parents that he would follow the map exactly. Jack assumed the trail lead to their Aunt’s house. So he told his two siblings that they would need to get their backpacks and start walking before the sunset.
Lucy was the middle child in the Whittaker family. She had two brothers Jack, who was 17, and Timothy, who was 12. Lucy was a freshman at Ridgefield High School. Jack was a senior and the quarterback for the football team. Timothy, on the other hand, was extremely smart and came first every year at the science fair. Lucy has always been a drastically curious person which is not always the finest thing making her brothers have to bail her out of the mess. 
As the leaves crunched beneath their feet, they all wondered what their Aunt could be like, since they had never met her before and they still don’t know why. All they know are the stories that their mother told them. The stories were usually about their mother and Aunt Katherine getting into trouble.
They walked for what felt like an hour but truly only took them around ten minutes to arrive at a little cottage by the water. The cottage had lilies and hydrangeas circling around the white walls where moss would grow. The sunset glistened on the water and Lucy watched the sun disappear into the lake. Before Lucy could finish inspecting her surrounding areas, the door swung wide open, and there right in front of Lucy’s eyes was a stranger. Aunt Katherine had long blond hair, with red highlights which she wore in two french braids to complement her overalls, and an immense hat. Her pale ivory skin made her look like a ghost, but Lucy didn’t want to make any preconceived notions about her Aunt Katherine. So when her Aunt stepped forward and began to squeeze the life out of her nephews' and niece’s cheeks. Lucy rolled her eyes.

“OH, MY GOODNESS! Y’all look so much like your parents… Jack and Lucy why,” Aunt Katherine said trying to point at whose name belonged to who. “You both have your mother’s blue eyes and brown hair, and Timothy. Well, my God. You look just like your father with your green eyes, and blond hair…” Aunt Katherine paused from talking and took a moment to admire the beautiful children. “Oh! Come in.”

The three children walked on the old wooden floor as their Aunt went on talking nonsense. Lucy zoned out and just looked at the old looking cottage. 

“So this will be your room. I hope y’all don’t mind sharing.” Aunt Katherine said.

“Oh, it’s fine. Thank you.” Jack responded.

“Well, I will give you guys some time to unpack.”

“Thank you,” Timothy said.

    “You guys are just adorable.” Aunt Katherine said while squeezing each of their cheeks again.

    “Well, I guess we should start unpacking if we want to go to bed tonight,” Lucy said trying to get her Aunt to leave.

Aunt Katherine left their room, and the three children looked at each other as if they had just seen an alien.
The next day, Lucy awakened to the defining sound of her brother screaming, “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!”.
Timothy ran over to the window and opened the curtains, a beam of light hit Lucy in the eyes. He told her that Jack and him would head down to the lake for a swim and that she should tag along. She quickly grabbed two pillows one to throw at Timothy and the other to cover her eyes with.

“GET OUT! I’ll come down in a minute.” 

“Okay!” Jack responded while running out of the room.

Lucy finally dragged herself out of bed and changed into her bathing suit to go meet the boys at the lake. She walked past Aunt Katherine, who was reading a book so intensely that she didn’t even notice Lucy leaving. Jack and Timothy were already playing in the Lake. So Lucy quickly leaped into the lake and she touched something unusual. Lucy took a deep breath and submerged underwater holding her nose shut. Her eyes were peeled open looking for anything unusual and just as she was about to go up for another breath, Lucy’s eyes squinted from the sun reflecting off of a piece of glass. She kicked a bit further, reaching out to the object. She closed her eyes and went up to the surface of the water. When Lucy got to the surface she threw herself onto the dock with a camera in her hands. Out of breath her brother’s swam over in a hurry. They asked if she was okay and she said that she was perfectly fine. Lucy reached over to grab the camera to inspect it but her hands started to shake so Jack took the camera from Lucy’s trembling hands.    

“Does it still work?” Lucy asked.

“Of course not. It was sitting at the bottom of the lake.” Jack said to Lucy as if she was stupid.

“Timothy, could you possibly fix the camera?” Lucy begged, her curiosity was killing her inside.

“I could try…  Jack, can I have the camera?” 

“Sure, but it’s a waste of time.” Jack said handing it to Timothy.

Timothy took the camera up to the cottage. Lucy followed, curious about what Timothy might be able to do. Jack felt left out, so he quickly caught up with his siblings. Aunt Katherine still unaware of her surroundings didn’t even notice Timothy taking a bag of rice out from the pantry. Timothy dropped the camera into the bowl and walked away.

“Well. Aren’t you gonna do something?” Lucy asked as if she was expecting the camera to turn on.
“Ugh. Just wait.” Timothy replied.

“Fine.”

Lucy grabbed a chair next to the camera all day wondering what types of footage would be on it. Assuming that the camera belonged to Aunt Katherine, Lucy thought that it could be all the stories that her mother had told her. Lucy hesitated, and thought that maybe it would be best if she just left the camera alone for personal privacy however her need to know everything took control. As Lucy was lost in her thoughts, Timothy was making a mess as he searched in all the closets, cupboards, and drawers for anything that he could play with, since there was no wifi at this cottage. Jack was throwing a football up and down as he laid on the pull out bed. Lucy soon felt her eyelids close but before she could fall asleep Timothy was poking Lucy on the shoulder, and was forced to lift her head off of the table. Timothy clicked play and the video started. The video had Aunt Katherine on it. She was basically recording her entire life. She would record herself gardening, cooking, and more.  But after an hour of watching Aunt Katherine’s life, things started to take a twist. Jack, Lucy, and Timothy watched Aunt Katherine explain how to make candy apples and all of a sudden her eyes rolled back as her body started to shake. It was almost as if she was being possessed. Jack grabbed the camera turning it off, and shoved it into a drawer. Lucy’s hands were shaking and her heart was pounding. She knew that her life would never be the same from this point forward. They didn’t speak for 2 minutes, but the silence was broken by their Aunt coming into the room telling them that dinner was ready. Lucy’s heart started to pound faster and faster as she got up from her chair and walked towards Aunt Katherine. Aunt Katherine’s arm wrapped around Lucy’s back as they walked downstairs to eat dinner. Chills ran through Lucy’s body as Aunt Katherine pulled her closer. They sat down and Aunt Katherine began to eat. The room was silent, and Lucy could hear the tap dripping. Their heads dropped as they played with their food.

    “Well, how was your day?” Aunt Katherine asked taking her time to look at each of the kids.

“Fine.” Jack quietly responded.

“Well hopefully, tomorrow will be better.”Aunt Katherine responded.

No one replied and for another 5 minutes, the kids stared at their food.

“Well if you guys don’t want to eat your dinner, we could have candy apples for dessert.” Aunt Katherine said trying to cheer them up.

The children looked at each other, their eyes popping out of their heads.

“Oh, if you guys don’t want candy apples I can make something else.” Aunt Katherine said shocked by how they responded.

“You know what. I think I am going to go to bed now.” Lucy said taking her plate off the table and walking over to the sink.

“Me too!” Timothy said quickly getting out of his chair.

“Same, thank you,” Jack said following Timothy.

“Oh ok… Do you want me to come tuck you guys in?”

“Oh no. We’re fine.” Lucy said while walking up the stairs.

That night they decided to watch more of the video to find out what was going on with their Aunt. Jack took the video out of the drawer and clicked play. The Aunt’s episodes began to get worse and she would just ignore them as if nothing happened. But one day, she was in a dark room, her eyes were swollen, and she looked like a mess.

“It is October 31st and it is getting worse. I don’t know what to do. I can’t control this. I need help.” Aunt Katherine said as she turned into a monster.

Aunt Katherine was all veins and her eyes were rolled back and her jaw transformed. To allow her teeth to turn into the teeth of a shark. When she was transforming into the monster she would scream as if something was taking control of her. Then all of a sudden she would calm down, her head would hang and then she would walk away from the camera like a zombie. After watching their own Aunt turn into a monster Lucy, Timothy and even Jack could not sleep that night. They would just lay in their beds as their hearts trembled and hands shivered. Suddenly they heard a glass drop and the three of them shot up in their beds.

“What was that?” asked Timothy.

“I am not sure,” Lucy replied

“Shhh!” Jack said.

Lucy and Timothy got out of their beds and quickly ran over to Jack’s bed trying not to make a sound. Out of nowhere, they heard a deathly scream, and they all knew exactly what was happening. The screaming went on for about 5 minutes and then stopped. They could hear footsteps going up  the stairs. Jack quickly looked around the room, for some way to leave. Jack got out of the bed and grabbed his keys and told Jack and Lucy to climb through the window.

“Are you insane?” Timothy whispered.

“Do you want to die at the age of 12?” Jack responded.

“Good point!” Jack said as he ran over to the window.

Slowly the doorknob moved. Jack quickly grabbed a chair and placed it against the door. The monster started to bang against the door, and shake it vigorously. Timothy was waiting at the bottom, as Lucy started to make her way down the cottage wall. Soon enough Aunt Katherine punched her hand through the door and started to make a hole. She saw Jack going out the window and left.

“Let’s go!” Jack said to Timothy and Lucy as they began to run to the car, they got in and quickly started the car. Sweat dripped down Lucy's face as she shook with fear. Jack was breathing heavily and quickly reversed and turned the car around towards the road. Jack hit the gas and went full speed ahead. Jack had never gone that fast in his life and I was worried that he would lose control. Lucy looked behind her and didn’t see the monster, but as she turned her head she saw a person standing right in front of the car.

“STO?” Lucy screamed, but it was too late Jack didn’t see their Aunt right in front of them.

It looked as if the car had run into a pole, and people heard the crash miles away. Lucy, Jack, and Timothy were all unconscious.

Two days later, Lucy woke up in a hospital she looked around to see her two brothers still unconscious. Her parent threw themselves at Lucy.

“Oh my god! Are you ok? What happened? You are safe now.” Mom said.

“I’m fine,” Lucy said trying to sit up. “Aunt Katherine’s eyes...”

“What are you talk–?” Her dad asked.

“They, they went from blue to, white,” Lucy said while looking terrified.

“Ummm, your Aunt’s eyes are brown.”



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