Please note that I reserve the right to 'fix up' any entries so that the story flows nicely. *GRIN* There was really nothing extraordinary about the way the day started. Just like any other morning, when the alarm clock began screaming at me, I slapped it into silence and closed my eyes for another ten minutes of glorious sleep. At the second screeching, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and gingerly placed my bare feet on the cold hardwood floor. Tiptoeing to the bathroom for my daily shower, I could hear the wind picking up outside. Howling a mournful song. Gusts so strong they shook the windows. (My Contribution *S*) It was only then that I realized, I was a MAN!! What am I doing tippie toeing? I thought it was merely a dream, another subconscious torturing I seem so often to be going through lately. Grrr, where's my apricot face scrub? Oh, no never mind I do not need the "apricot" face scrub this morning, I need the shaving cream. What, on the other hand had I done in the lab late last night? I remember I was tired, and my head was pounding...and yes, I took that aspirin that I finally found taking refuge behind the empty box of paper clips in my top desk drawer. There was that glass of...oh no! what did I do? (Contributed by Paul Haldy) Suddenly, I just freeze. There is a loud crash. I hear this loud thumping noise and realize that it is my own heart beating. A cold chill fills my body. And I hear this terrifying sound in the distance. A sound that I have never heard before and hope that I will never hear again. But suddenly there it is again and this time it is not so far away. I can hear it getting closer to the house and my mind is racing. What can I do! (Contributed by Reba) I rush to the window in my small office, and fearfully pull back the drapes.....nothing but darkness meets my eyes. How can that be? Again, I hear the chilling sound, now under the window. I let the drapes fall back in place. Trembling, I drop to the floor, my mind whirling. (Contributed by C.A.Erhardt *S* thanks Mom) All of a sudden it got deathly still. And a bright light flashed. The quiet was worse than the noise. Oh what am I going to do and where am I going to go. And then out of nowhere came a chattering sound. I looked around and could see nothing. The wind started blowing and then it got still again. When I looked out my window I saw two eerie eyes staring at me. (Contributed by Barbara and Cheri) I first think of dialing 911, but know they can't get here in time to help. Then I remember the Louisville Slugger in the hall closet. I race to get it before whatever it is gets any closer. Just as I reach the closet, the front door crashes open and the wind roars in along with…… (Contributed by Mellocup9) With what???? My God! What IS that? There is something horrifying standing in my front doorway and I'm standing here with a baseball bat in my hands? What was I thinking? That I was Babe Ruth or something? No, the slugger will never do. I rush into the kitchen to the closet where I keep my cleaning supplies. With my heart beating out of my chest, I fling open the door and grab the first thing my hands touch. A bottle of Formula 409. (Contributed by Paula) I hear a big loud scream coming from not far away. Scared to death, I scream just as loud, and my heart nearly jumps out of my body. With my eyes wide open I take a peek out the door and see this great big shadow just flashing by so I..... (Contributed by Lyne) What would you like to do now? Keep Reading OR End Story I decided that the 409 would just not do against this figure that stands in the door. So where do I go???? What do I do?? I look down, see the slugger. Nope that won't do. I look around, the figure steps closer and closer....oh my! And the sound it makes....SCREEECCCHHHHHH!!!!! Here it comes....my heart is ready to jump out of my throat! I see the children's playroom and bolt for the closet! I open the door and out comes a......... (Contributed by Beehonee) ...a monster of giant proportions!! The nasty beast hurled itself out of the closet, knocked me to the floor, and sat on my chest. With eyes closed, nearly frozen with the terror of being eaten alive, I tried desperately to disentangle myself from the demon's clutches. Arms flailing, legs kicking, I failed to notice at first that this terrible creature was NOT fighting back. Had the fall to the floor killed it? I cautiously opened one eye a tad. Peering through my lashes, wanting to catch a glimpse of what I sincerely hoped to be dead. Pink. Everything was pink, and furry. One of the beast's arms was covering my face. What self respecting monster would gallivant around in pink fur? Had it never heard of Clairol? And that's when I knew. This was no demonic creature trying to have me for its breakfast. It was the 6ft gorilla won at the state fair last summer. That's when I realized the house was silent again. Whatever had been stalking me was no longer there. What to do? Crawl into the closet and hide, safe in the arms of King Kong's girlfriend? Or venture out of the playroom and confront whatever is out there? (Contributed by Me again....needed something to bridge these sections *S*) So I WHAT???? I regroup. I get my wits about me, and try to figure out first of all, why I am a man now, when I thought I went to bed a woman. No wonder I have a bottle of 409 handy at all times, what man would even have it in his house? I cautiously begin my trek outside of the safe confines of my home. It is unusually dark this morning...is there a solar eclipse? Could this be the reason for all of the strange activity going on? I walk around the corner of the house, can see the bright lights of the basement laboratory illuminating barely through the dingy windows. As I stop to lean on the Oak tree, I feel a sudden clamminess on my hand, look down at it, and notice blood...not even cold yet...still warm...and it is all over the tree. (Contributed by Paul Haldy) Holy Cow!!!! What AM I going to do? What is going on? Where do I go and look next?? I thought maybe I should just run and never look back!!!! But a man never runs. He confronts his fears head on!!!!! But Wait........I thought I was a woman. I don't even know!!!! Do I be a man and fight this thing head on....or be a woman and scream my lungs out in total fear??? Then all of a sudden my hands bloody, going through mental torment, I hear the trees behind me start ruffling again!!!!!! Blood starts to drip down on my head from the top of the tree. (Contributed by SuzieC) A shadowy form emerges from the darkness. An inhuman scream fills me with dread, and I look feverishly for something to defend myself with. Thoughts of the Louisville Slugger thrown carelessly on the kitchen floor creep unbidden into my head. Drat! All I have at hand is an almost empty bottle of multi-purpose cleaner. (Contributed by Me yet again......Boy ya'll are keepin me busy!!) I aim my trusty bottle of 409 at the shadow. Another scream erupts from the huge mouth on the shadow. Suddenly, there is silence all around me and the shadow disappears....but to where? Nervously, I turn. (Contributed by Nennie) Slowwwly, I turned. Step by step, inch by inch. Eyes constantly moving, searching every scary shadow around me. Asking myself over and over, what am I doing here? Half man, half woman, with an almost empty bottle of 409 in my hand? When, in fact, I should have grabbed the Lime Away. I know it's good for removing slime in the bathroom. It would have worked better on this slimy monster following me. Suddenly, before me, I see it! Oh MY GOD!! I scream. It looks so much like the dead Elvis Presley!! Oh, please, don't let that evil looking thing start to sing Teddy Bear. Not after the 6 ft pink gorilla on a bad hair day!! OOOHHHH NOOOOOO.... and as quickly as it appeared, it is once more gone.. Oh Where do I go from here, I ask myself? (Contributed by Paula) I go back into the house. I go into the bathroom to wash the blood off my hands. Oh my gosh. My hands. I look into the mirror and then hear the sound that I had hoped to never hear again. The sound is coming from me! It was MY shadow. I am not a woman. I am not a man. I am the beast. What DID I do last night? Someone help me!!! (Contributed by Reba) I run from the house. Away from the awful vision in the mirror. The bottle of 409 clutched tightly in my hands. I must have unconsciously grabbed it, as a child would a security blanket. Carefully, I make my way towards the laboratory. If I can just get there, I know I can fix whatever it was I did to myself. The leaves on the ground make an eerie noise as my feet sink into them. Another noise fills the darkness. I stop. Listen. A gargantuan form materializes in front of me. Without a second thought, I bring up the bottle of 409 and begin feverishly to spray the apparition. It bellows as I turn to run. (Contributed by guess who....Me again) OH my!! I...I...can't believe it!!! There are two of them. This one has iridescent blue fur!! While the other one screeches in agony from the 409 burning into its pink fur, I run the opposite direction. I run and run. I come to the corner and run into Hugs. I grab her and tell her NOT to go that way. She freaks! Then, there is this chilling silence. Nothing. Not even the wind. Just the moon, which looks like it is gone. Was it really an eclipse or was it a....? (Contributed by Beehonee) I look skyward, and what do I see but a bright light drifting slowly to earth. What could it be? Then, as if my thoughts were being read, my now empty bottle of 409 begins to float just inches beyond my grasp. The light is taking my bottle away. What will become of me? (Contributed by Bev Davis) There is nothing behind me, beside me, or in front of me. I am standing all alone. I can hear my heart beating furiously and I hold my breath for a minute and listen to the silence. It is never that silent. Suddenly I see a hand appear out of nowhere, the fingers are beckoning me to come into the darkness. I cannot refuse. My feet start propelling my body towards the hand but my mind protests - to no avail. I am drawn slowly and steadily towards that beckoning hand. When I am almost able to reach out and touch it something grabs at my arms, and I feel myself being pulled down into the darkness. Feeling the dirt closing in around me. I gasp for air. What is this thing and where is it taking me? (Contributed by Margaret) Deeper and deeper into the woods it's bringing me. My heart is pounding. My legs are growing weaker and weaker. I can't last much longer. Oh, how I wish I could remember what I did last night. I can't even see what's ahead of me, pulling me. It's so dark. But the strange thing is, there are no animals making a sound, no movement. Where have they all gone? What has it done to them? What is it going to do with me? All of a sudden it stops. I see nothing around me. I have nothing in my hands for defense. But wait, I see something I can use. I slowly lean over and grab a ... (Contributed by SusieC) a handful of stones. Not knowing where this evil beast is dragging me to, or what his intentions are when it gets me there (me thinks that it is not good), I begin throwing the stones at it. I miss with the first one..ouch...I wish I could have grabbed that one that I just had my head drug across. Determined to free myself from the clutches of this monster of my nightmares come alive, I balance my body, rear back, and hum a Nolan Ryan fast ball straight for the head, at least I think it's the head, of the beast. Whammmooo!!! Right on target. It stops, and stands motionless for a second, then slowly falls back on top of me, with it's oozing goo coming from open pores on it's back, sliming up my clothing. Oh great, it would fall on top of me. There is a large gash in the back of the head, and this purplish reddish substance is leaking out of it, wow, I hit that sucker good! Finally, I am out from under it, I have twisted an ankle from the pull of this beast, so limpidly I drag myself into the bushes nearby, no time too soon I might add, that beast is awakening, and looking for his prey...me. (Contributed by Paul Haldy) As I am out in the bushes fearing for my life I hear a small voice coming from the house yelling for Mommy. Oh my gosh in the midst of all of this I had forgotten the children! How do I get back to them? What do I do? I know there is someone or something between me and the house. (Contributed by Barbara) I slowly creep from the bushes. I hear nothing, see nothing. I MUST get to the house. Cautiously, ever wary of the deepening shadows, I make my way closer to the tiny voice I hear calling for me. (Contributed by OK you guessed it...Me) What would you like to do now? Keep Reading OR End Story Oh what I would give right now for a drink of water as all of a sudden my mouth is very dry. It gets darker and darker, but then I see a light, just a small little flicker out in front of me. Getting larger and brighter the closer I get to it. My heart starts racing again. Am I seeing things? Oh my it's... (Contributed by Gramma Judy) ....a car. I run to the middle of the road to flag it down. But wait....I'm a beast. They won't stop. If anything they will try to kill me! My children!!! I can't let them see me! I must get back to the laboratory. What did I do last night? And what has happened to my husband..or wife? Who am I? What about the blood? Oh my God, what did I do last night? I run for the bushes to hide. Suddenly I hear something, I turn to look, and see... (Contributed by Carol Erhardt ) ...the good witch of the east. At least I sure hope that is who it is. I call to her for help. She turns slowly to face me. Again I cry to her for help and she starts toward me slowly. Oh thank Heavens! I will be safe now, I think. But wait....something is wrong. From a distance she looked so kindly and now she is turning into a beast too!!! (Contributed by Cheri ) A falling star!!! Great!!! I'll make a wish! I'll wish this was all just a bad dream. But oh my God.......I am frozen stiff. I feel breathing down the back of my neck......I'm too scared to move to see what it is. Is it someone to save me? Is it the beast? Is it my imagination? I finally get my nerve up to turn and look. I have to. If it is the beast, I can't stop him anyway. I slowly turn my head. (Contributed by SuzieC ) My initial hopes are that it is Claudia Schiffer breathing on my neck, or is it Brad Pitt? I need to get a grip on this identity crisis thing...Oh nevertheless, no such luck for me, that's for sure. I can only be sure of one thing, that this is one thing I do not even want close enough to me to be able to feel it's breath on my neck. I just know at any moment now this ghoulish inhabitant of my worst realization is going to wrap its clawish hands around me, rip through my shirt, and allow me to feel it's razor sharp claws slicing slowly into my chest and stomach, as it finally attains what it is after, my demise. What did I do to deserve this? Better yet, how do I get out of it? Ahhhh, this is where all those nights of watching Monday Night Live Wrestling comes in...I reach around with the speed of a snake, and wrap my arm around this ghoul's neck (gawd it feels icky), and within moments I have him upside down, in front of me and I lay a mean piledriver on his scaly self. This momentarily immobilizes the beast, and I scurry (with my tail tucked comfortably between my cheeks of course) towards the house. Please let me make it this time...wooo, i am moving...I can see 20 steps ahead of me....... (Contributed by Paul Haldy) ...the backdoor lights. I race for the door and I feel the chill of fear run down my spine as I pray feverishly that I will make it to the door without being caught. "Mommmy!", my son screams! "Behind you!" I look behind me, and sure enough the monster is gaining on me. I make it to the door just in time and lock it behind me. I turn around and get the shock of my life. The monster with the iridescent blue fur has my son captive. What to do? (Contributed by Rita) Why do I ask myself what to do? I am a man now. I waltz my now stalky body right over to that nasty irridescent son of a gun, kick him in the gut, give him a stone cold stunner, and grab my son. Man, watching WWF with my son is really paying off today. We both run down the stairs into the basement and lock the door behind us. Taking a deep breath of relief I turn around only to find that it was not my son that I grabbed. It was that monster. Oh my God!! Did I give the stunner to my son? What kind of mother or father am I? I quickly try to open up the door before the monster can get to me. My hands are so sweaty that they keep slipping off the doorknob. The monster knows I am trying to escape. He stands.....he has to be at least 8ft tall. He belts out the most awful noise I have ever heard. He reaches his slimy hand with those long sharp claws out toward me. The door finally opens and I run out only to find the blue monster has materialized in front of me!!! (Contributed by Traci Merz) The blue monster suddenly starts spinning around with my son. While he is spinning I can see he is changing forms, into the form of a coffin. It starts spinning towards me. I run into the hall and slam the door. Seconds later the door busts into a million splinters so I run into the bathroom and slam the door. I huddle into the corner when suddenly it hit me. I could hear the coffin outside of the door. I run for the medicine cabinet and get out the Vicks Formula 44D, the good stuff. I open the bathroom door, throw it at the coffin and the coffin stops. (Contributed by JBHatchett) Ok, now for the slugger bat. I run to the kitchen and pick it up and start slugging away. The iridescent blue monster starts ripping open...and stuffing comes out. It was the oversize cookie monster I had hidden in the closet for a Christmas gift for my son. I pick him up and run for the back door. He says, "Mommy, you look like Daddy, and...and....yucky! Why do you have catsup all over you??" I hug him close and tell him not to worry, everything will be ok. Then I peek through the back door and see nothing but darkness. Slowly, I open the door, peek around, and begin running for the laboratory. A loud screech sounds behind me....I'm terrified to look around. My son begins screaming. I run faster, faster, trying to reach the laboratory hugging my son close. The screeching becomes louder. I reach the lab, grab the door, yank it open, and, and.... (Contributed by Carol Erhardt) We're fallllllling. Slowly at first then speed becomes our enemy. When I think this may be the end, we land on.......a big marshmellow. What? Where did that come from? And, it is floating down here. In fact, it all floats down here… (Contributed by Bev Davis) …then from a distance, I can hear it calling me, "Honey, wake up, wake up I say!" Honey? Why does the evil beast call me honey? Oh my, he he he, I was dreaming. I suppose that second hit of the snooze button lasted a bit longer than I thought. Oh my, this is too funny, the beast was my husband (and believe me, he CAN be a beast) all along. No wonder I thought I needed a shave instead of my apricot scrub. It is then, that I manage to mumble out my first words of this Halloween morning, "ummm…dear…you need to shave". Harry just looked at me in wonderment for a moment, then asked why I was clutching onto the Louisville slugger we keep in the bedroom for protection, as if I was awaiting a slider. He just seemed to be rambling to me now, as I struggled to awaken, "and why don't you ever put stuff away when you use it?" as he grabbed the bottle of Formula 409 off of the nightstand in an agitated manner, which I had been using yesterday as I cleaned our room. "The kids have been trying all morning to show you their Halloween costumes, they have been in here at least 4 times already. They were even hiding in the closet when they saw you stirring a while ago, thinking that you were about to get up. Joey eventually gave up and came out of the closet, stood right next to you by the bed in his Cookie Monster costume you worked so hard to make him, and gave a rousing roar hoping to give you a scary wake up call, but, nothing but a roll over. I kinda thought it funny how you bumped your head on the back of the bed though, then how you looked as if you were gazing out your hands and trying to wash them off." "And, tell me, why is there wet 409 all over the bedspread, what did you do, grab it thinking it was a cup of coffee, take a sip of it and spit it out or something? Wow honey, ("Geez Harry, give me a break, hush up already") you really need to stop staying up so late watching horror flicks, you know what they do to you, just how late did you stay up?" It was then I was beginning to recall what was going on, my dream was associated with everything around me, my scruffy husband, the ceiling fan on full blast, the kids in their costumes, the 409, the blood, the Halloween Outer Limits marathon, finishing up the costumes under the tortuous halogen light in the corner of the den, those bananas I ate. He he he, I guess Harry is right this time, I did stay up too late. Just as I am beginning to sit up, here come Joey and Hanah, screaming and hollering, arms flailing, all dressed up in their Cookie monster and Pink Panther costumes. My I did do a nice job on them, I must admit. Then they stop, as if they had seen a monster themselves (me?) and walk over to me, give me a big hug, and tell me thanks for the costumes. "We love you Mommy, Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen." (Contributed by Paul Haldy) Thank you everyone who helped with this little project. Be sure to check out the next story!! Thank you so much Paula for making this graphic for me.