School Dance

School Dance is an action-packed horror story written by a member of this website called Pete. It’s about a group of teenagers who attend the Halloween dance at school where they cross paths with a masked killer.

It was the end of the day and after Mr. Stewart’s 8th period class everyone could go home and go to work, party, or whatever. The great thing abour Mr. Stewart’s class was you all you had to do was read along as he did a dramatic reading of a classic horror novel. Then, he’d assign the homework on the chapter and do a dramatic reading of a work by Edgar Allen Poe. Freshman Year it was The Telltale Heart, Sophmore year it was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Junior Year it was Frankenstein and Senior Year it was Dracula.

Marcy, Emily, Jenna, Bobby, Marty, Donny, and Ronny loved his class, mainly because they didn’t really have to do anything. Angela on the other hand got a little creeped out by him. He was a handsome, muscular, clean-shaven man in his early thirties, but he always seemed to get really close to Angela especially when he read a Shakespeare play. Even when she and the others were hanging in the hall by her locker he’d stand there and stare at them with his dark blue eyes and his long jagged smile.

His smile was probably the creepiest thing about him. Long, jagged teeth that were clearly never brushed. For Angela, that tuined everything else about him. She spent the whole class nervous as he did his Chrstopher Lee impression saying Dracula’s lines. He also did a Bela Lugosi impression when she walked in wearing a cape, fangs, white flannel shirt, black pants and shoes. It was because it was October 31th and not only was it Halloween but also the night of the Shadyview High Halloween Dance.

Marcy talked everyone into going. As far she was concerned the dance was for stupid underclassmen who still wanted to dress up. Seniors never went for the most part, except ones that were Halloween King and Queen. She was convinced that she and Marty would win. He was quarterback for the football team which went undefeated this year and won the championship.
Marcy was head cheerleader and even though they were already Homecoming King and Queen a few Weeks ago, she wanted to win this, and in the spring Prom King and Queen together no matter what. She also wanted “Perfect Couple” in they yearbook with him, she also “‘Most Athletic”, Prettiest Eyes, Prettiest Smile, and even though they didn’t exist to avoid pointless ranking of the seniors, “Most Popular” and “Most Beautiful”.
They had security this year since a group of kids at last year’s dance got busted with alcohol and drugs and got suspended. She had Marty sneak in booze and a six pack in his locker since she thought the teachers were too stupid to check lockers. Marcy and Marty and Donny and Ronny were proud of the fact their names rhymed and always bragged about it. They were considered the most obnoxious, unlikable, and unpopular kids in school despite their athletic ranks. Rumors still spread about just how Marcy got homecoming queen.

That night the guys and girls took separate cars. One car would not only be too crowded but Marcy would take forever getting ready since she wanted to look “pretty and popular”. Marty just wanted to have fun acting like an immature idiot while he still could. He was going out state next year.
Marty lived closest to the high school so he had to pick up the others. Donny lived on the other side of town but Ronny lived just down the street from Marty. Bobby lived further down the same road. It was clear to the others when Marty picked them up that he was very drunk. He swerved into the oncoming lane multiple times and then recklessly sped through the housing development that was across from the high school.

The kids were dressed up in the usual Halloween costumes. There were two Freddy Kruegers, a Jason Voorhees, a Michael Myers, three Leatherfaces, a Ghostface, some devils with pitchforks, some witches with broomsticks and a few brainless zombies shuffling down the sidewalk. They saw jack-o-lanterns watching from every house, complete with the usual tombstones, skeletons and Halloween props.

“STOP!” Bobby yelled.

Marty was going so fast that he almost hit a couple of trick-or-treaters who were crossing the street dressed as Superman, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. Marty slammed on his brakes, swerved to avoid them, then sped up again. If it wasn’t already clear that he was drunk, he drove his red Corvette up onto the curb and parked it on the grass.

“When we leave we are so smashing all the pumpkins on this street,” said Marty, “and maybe some egging or teepeeing too”.

Marcy showed up right behind them a few minutes later, also speeding recklessly.

“C’mon!” Marty said. “Let’s go wedgie some freshmen”.

They crossed the street and walked through the upper lot, into the high school. They could hear the song, Monster Mash, blaring from the gym on the other side of the cafeteria. Down the hall a few feet from them was the concession stand which consisted of apple cider, caramel apples, candy corn, pumpkin-shaped cookies, bat-shaped brownies, cupcakes with skeletons on top of them, and candy.

A group of kids had grabbed some snacks and taken a break at a table in the corner. One guy was dressed as Jack Sparrow while two girls had pirate costumes on as well. A big muscular dude had a biker outfit on and another had an afro and funny glasses, two other girls had cat costumes on complete with the ears. they walked down the walkway that divided two parts of the cafeteria and went across through the orange and black streamers into the gym. “Monster Mash” was about halfway through.

“Ugh none of these costumes are original,” Marcy said. “I mean… look!”

Sure enough, they could see the typical vampire, Frankenstein and his bride, mummy wrapped in toilet paper, witches in pointy hats, and zombies with bloody clothes and makeup.

“Really, what happened to originality?” she lamented.

No one wanted to point out that some of the kids weren’t even wearing costumes, just their football and cheerleading outfits. A few kids had taken a break and were sittIng on the bleachers. Others had crowded Into the two other gyms so there would be room for everyone. After dancing through “Ghostbusters ” and Thriller” Marcy was getting pretty sick of it.

“Hey Marty want to go have some of our fun now until they announce I’m queen?”

Marty took her hand and, using the key he stole from the janitor earlier, opened the tall iron gate that cut off the rest of the school. He led her to his locker and then led her to one of the science rooms.

“This room never locks,” Marty said. “The door’s broken.”

Marcy paused for a minute. She could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure ducking into the darkness.

“Probably a stupid Halloween trick,” she mumbled.

Marty let her in first then set the six pack of booze down on the desk. They had just started to “get busy” when they heard the door slam. A tall, muscular man wearing a fake nose, mustache, and glasses stood there holding a butcher knife.

Marty tried to knock him out by punching him and slamming him into the cabinets but instead, he picked Marty up and threw him across a table, sending him crashing into the chemistry equipment that was set up for the students. Then, the man wrenched open the cabinet door, grabbed the screaming Marcy and pinned her against it. In one swift motion, he drove the butcher knife into her chest.

It was just about time to announce homecoming queen when all of a sudden the lights went out. It was pitch black and no one could see a thing. Minutes later, when the lights came back on, everyone screamed in horror. The decapitated bodies of Marty and Marcy were hanging from the rafters, dripping blood.

Mr. Stewart appeared on stage. “EVERYBODY OUT!” he shrieked. “THIS IS NOT A PRANK! I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A PRANK!”

The cops assigned to the dance went to emergency exit in the back of the gym hallway. Every student there started running, panicking, and screaming in an unorderly frenzy that none of the teachers or cops seemed to be able do anything about.

Angela, Bobby, Jenna, Donny, Emily and Ronny were last. They were just about to get into the hallway when the door closed in front of them. They tried it, but it was locked. They tried the side doors to the other gym. Also locked. They tried the doors to the hallway. Open. They tried to get out the side entrance. Locked. They couldn’t go down the gym hallway as those doors were locked as were the doors on the other side of the hallway and the front doors and any door that led outside.

“Try getting someone to see if they open from the outside,” Bobby said.

“Can’t,” Donny said. “We don’t get service in this crappy school. Texting barely works in class”.

Just then, they all heard their phones buzz as a text came in. It was from Marcy.

“Come to the science room,” it read.

They walked down the hall, turned into the main hall, turned into the math hall, then down the back hall though a set of doors that led to the science hall. At the very end of the hallway, there was an open door. They each went in one by one with the girls hiding behind the guys. What they found horrified them.

The heads of Marcy and Marty had been turned into jack-o-lanterns.

Suddenly, another text came in. Again, it was from Marcy.

“Happy Halloween,” it read.

Angela texted back “This isn’t funny, bitch!”

Marcy’s phone replied instantly. “Aw Angela you hurt my feelings. I’m doing this all for you.”

Bobby held her tight. “Ok, let’s spilt up and find a way out of here,” he said, “Then we can text each other when we do.”

Jenna rushed down the science hall, Emily went ino the main hall, Donny hurried towards the front of the school and Ronny went back towards the gym. Angela and Bobby decided to stay together since Angela was pretty upset.

Jenna heard footsteps echo behind her. “Ok Marty or whichever jackass this is, knock it off. This isn’t funny!”

She turned around. There, stood a huge man in a suit and tie with fake glasses and and a fake nose and mustache. She tried to scream. He grabbed her by the throat tossed her head up into the ceiling tiles and stabbed her deep in the chest.

Emily heard the noise in the science hallway. She was heading towards it when someone grabbed her by the head and tossed her into the display case.
Donny was walking down the music hall when he heard big footsteps near the front. He ran into the auditorium, opened the costume wardrobe and stepped inside. He could hear footsteps echoing on the stage. A text came in. It was Jenna.

“Where are you”? it asked.

“Hiding in the auditorium wardrobe. Get out of here then get the police”.
The door opened and a knife slashed through the clothes, grazing him in the stomach.

Ronny got a text from Donny. “Meet me in the gym.”

As soon as Ronny entered, he heard heavy footsteps echoing on the gym floor. He turned to see a huge hulking figure wearing fake glasses, a nose and mustache coming towards him. He ran up the bleachers and was heading over the raiing and toward the stairs when the killer jumped to the top, grabbed him by the arm, and threw him to the ground. The killer leaped onto the floor, landing on his knees and slitting Ronny’s throat.

Bobby got a text from Ronny. “Come to gym.”

He left the room with Angela holding onto him. When they entered the gym they were greeted by all six of their friends, now dead and hanging from the rafters. The killer stepped out of the darkness.

“ANGELA RUN!” Bobby yelled.

Angela ran out of the gym and down the hallway. Bobby ran forward and tackled the killer, ramming his head into his stomach. Bobby got back up and the killer did as well, seemingly unharmed.

“Who are you?” he screamed. “Michael Myers or something?”

Bobby punched him to the ground, knocking off his mask, but he just got up again. Bobby started running. Angela was nowhere in sight. He was halfway down the hall when the killer ran really fast and grabbed him by the back of the head and violently slammed him into a locker, splitting the boy’s skull in two.

Angela ran up the stairs and down the hall, down another hall into the library, and into one of the cubicles where Mr. Stewart usually was in his free time.

She got a text from Bobby’s phone. “Where r u? He’s dead.”

“Mr. Stewart’s cubicle” she replied.

She heard footsteps approaching but it wasn’t Bobby coming to save her. She recognized that grin anywhere… The terrifying, jagged grin of Mr. Stewart.