HELL'S NIGHT
CHAPTER 21- ACROSS THE STREET


A gust of cold autumn air sent a chill up Tony’s spine as he slowly walked across the street to the Robinson house, where Madison was spending the night babysitting.

With every step he took, the music and the noises of the party were drowning out and being replaced by the silent, eerie sounds of a chilly Halloween night. Mostly all of the trick-or-treaters had returned safely to their homes to indulge in their candy before heading to bed. The neighbors had already begun to turn off their porch lights signaling that they had enough ghouls and ghosts visiting their doorsteps for the night. It was the end of a typical Halloween night in a typical mid-western town. It was hard to believe that not too long ago, this simple holiday was banned in Haddonfield.

Tony glanced down at his gold Fossil watch and saw that it was approaching 10 p.m. and thought to himself that, while the night may be over for the children and the elderly, this part of the night belonged to the adolescence, and to them, the night was still very young. He quietly walked up the sidewalk and paused before advancing any further toward the Robinson house. He contemplated whether or not this was such a bright idea. His mind drifted to the past, and the distant memories he had shared with Madison, some good and some bad. He stood there for a minute or two in a complete daze before a newly fallen brown leaf struck him in the side of his face, bringing him out of his trance.

Sighing, Tony threw the leaf to the ground, where it would eventually join the rest of the dead leaves in the gutter before proceeding to the front door. As he got to the door, he raised his hand in a knocking motion, but then the door swung open before he could even knock.

“I was starting to think you would never come,” Madison stated as she stood in the doorway with a cocky grin on her face.

“Yeah, well I was uh...” Tony mumbled, realizing she had seen him standing there on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets like a dumb-ass the whole time.

“Come on in, you’re letting all the cold air in the house,” Madison said with a laugh, standing aside so Tony could enter.

He got in the doorway when he noticed little Sherry Robinson sitting on the couch right in front of a big bay window, laughing uncontrollably as she picked at a huge bowl of popcorn.

“We watched you through that window,” Madison said as she sat down on the couch and motioned for Tony to do the same.

“Yeah, we’ve been spying on the party all night,” Sherry added with a mouthful of popcorn.

“Sherry, ssshhh, don’t tell him that,” Madison responded, that same smirk still on her face. “So, what’s up?”

“Um, nothing. The party was pretty lame so I figured I’d stop over and chill with you for a little bit,” Tony said, struggling to find something cool to say.

Madison only nodded her head in agreement, but didn’t reply.

“Madison’s letting me watch scary movies,” Sherry chimed in out of nowhere just to get some attention.

“Oh really? What are you watching?” Tony asked, pretending to sound interested, noticing Madison smiling radiantly at him.

Tony immediately returned the smile as Sherry explained they were watching a very scary movie about zombies.

“I rented the new Dawn of the Dead for us to watch,” Madison explained as Sherry watched the screen in awe. “She’s been screaming and jumping at just about every scene. She’s gonna be having nightmares and her dad will probably kill me, but I figured, what the heck, it’s Halloween. Everyone is entitled to one good scare.”

“Actually, I came over to see if I could maybe talk to you for a bit,” Tony muttered, hoping to get a reaction from Madison.

But before Madison could respond, Sherry interrupted again, this time whispering loudly, “Madison, no, we have to spy on the party remember?”

“I’ll take a rain check on the talk, but you should definitely stick around and watch the movie,” Madison replied, still smiling.

Tony could never say no to that smile, so he agreed to stick around, but when Tony tried to make a move and sit next to Madison, Sherry objected, saying that she needs to be in the middle so no zombies could get her from the sides.

“Sherry, honey, it’s your turn to do the spying,” Madison stated, staring right at Tony. “Why don’t you turn around and tell me what costumes you can pick out okay?”

“Okay!” Sherry exclaimed as she quickly hopped off the couch and peered through the window at the house across the street.

The entire time, Madison and Tony kept eye contact and even though a single word was not spoken, both of them seemed to know what the other was thinking.

“Um, Madison,” Sherry stated, tugging at Madison’s arm. “The boogeyman’s outside.”

“Oh, that’s nice honey,” Madison responded, not breaking her gaze from Tony.

“Hey, where is everybody going?” Sherry asked, still looking out the window.

Madison and Tony both looked at each other puzzled for a moment. “What do you mean where’s everyone going?” Madison asked confused as she and Tony joined Sherry at the window.

“They’re all leaving, that’s no fun,” Sherry whimpered, disappointed as the three of them watched as all the cars seemed to peel out at the same time and leave the area in a really big hurry.

“What the hell is going on over there?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know, do you think something is wrong?” Madison replied, sounding a little worried.

Just then, a clip from Dawn of the Dead caught their attention in the background. On it, a news reporter gave his synopsis of the zombie problem, stating that “When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.”

“Um, I’m sure everything is fine, probably another party somewhere else or something,” Tony replied reassuringly, trying to calm their nerves.

However, everything was not fine, for had they had the cable TV on, they would have heard the Sheriff’s urgent warning to get off the streets and behind locked doors immediately.

Michael Myers had escaped and once again returned to Haddonfield, and he now stood in the shadows across the street, watching their every move.


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