A terrifying Halloween

It was a normal Halloween night and I had many plans for today so after dinner, I went to my friend’s house to pick him up for trick or treating. Me and my friend Nick had a long night walk, sharing stories and collecting candy from different houses.

 Nick was a very paranoid person and was always alert. He informed me of the unusual occurrences that were going on and how an old man had gone missing yesterday. I listened closely to what he had to say and it gave me chills but I just shrugged and lied that it wasn't a big deal.

 It was 12 o’clock at night when I returned home. As soon as the front door behind me, the doorbell rang, who could it be this late in the night? I approached the door and gazed through the peek-hole, an old man was staring at the door creepily, and just looking at him gave me goosebumps. His clothes were torn in several places so it almost seemed that he was wearing a loincloth and his face looked as rough as sandpaper with those black eyes which were looking directly at my soul.

 I slowly started to back away from the door and the doorbell rang a second time. I saw the shadow of the beggar's feet move from under the door. I was frightened to open the door but knew that I had to talk to the man so, most unwillingly, I approached the door and unbolted it however a surprise was waiting for me on the other end.

The old man was gone though a letter was placed on the door mat. I looked around to see if the old man would return but no one came so I grabbed the letter and locked the door. As I was opening it the telephone in the living room rang. Confused, I approached the phone and held the receiver to my ear, a raspy voice of a man answered from the other end "Help the old man so you and your family will be safe or else prepare for your damnation" and the line cut. 

I was paralyzed with fear and as I was putting the phone down to go to the front door, I caught sight of something red on my window. When I focused more closely I noticed that it was a huge graffitied sign on my window which simply stated in bold red letters "HELP" 

Horror-struck and not knowing what to do I just opened the letter and started to read. There was an address stated on the letter and I figured this was the place where the beggar lived so I grabbed my bicycle and set off towards the address. 

By the time I reached there and checked the time, it was 2 o’clock at night. I parked my cycle and approached the house. It was a small, musty building and looked as if someone had not lived in it for a long time. The walls were peeling off and the window panes were all shattered. The outer gate of the house was rusty and bent open. The house itself was in a quiet street where there were no other houses nearby and surrounding it were tall dead trees and barren land. It was a truly terrifying sight.

 I quietly knocked at the door, but no one answered. But the door wasn't bolted so I pushed it open. As soon as I moved inside, there was a sudden shuffling noise and I thought "well this is it for me" and waited for death's cold embrace. Still, after a few moments, I saw that instead of my demise, the lights of the house had flashed on and as my eyes adjusted to the bright light there was a massive outburst of "Happy Birthday!" I looked around and distinguished all my family members and friends.

Apparently, they had decided to throw me a birthday party and had decided to lure me here so they could surprise me. I looked everywhere in awe but I couldn't really enjoy it as I was also pretty shaken up after all the incidents.

Slowly I started to calm down and was congratulated by everyone. I eventually reached my friends and asked them how they had pulled the off prank? All of them laughed and started explaining the whole plan, but after they finished I perceived that they hadn't explained the phone call and the beggar and his identity. My friends stared at me blankly and asked "what phone call and beggar?"

 A chill suddenly went down my spine. It was clear from their tone that they weren't joking. So they had only placed the letter and nothing else but what about the other incidents? A thought echoed through my heart, did I dream about the call? No, the call had been real, someone had called! But who? And the thing I was most worried about was that the person who had called had said to help the beggar, but I had failed to help the beggar so what would happen now? Oh my God! I was petrified, what will I do now and what was going to happen to me..........?