The Witch's House (A Scary Personal Halloween Story)

When I was a little girl, my sister and I looked forward every year to going trick or treating on Halloween night. We lived in a small town and we would wander up and down Main Street dressed in our favorite costumes, knocking on doors. These were the days before people had to worry about their kids so much trick or treating. Nothing bad happened and the people handing out candy had just as much fun as the ones who were trick or treating. Our parents didn't even have to go with us. They just sent us on our way and told us to be careful and bring back some good candy.

My sister and I had our favorite houses we liked to go to. Ms. Flora always gave the best treats. She did not just hand out store bought candy. She handed out homemade popcorn balls and cupcakes. People didn't hand out any of the bite size candy back then either. We got the great big candy bars. Most of the houses gave good treats and we knew most everyone on Main Street. Most everyone was really nice.

Still, there was one house that scared the daylights out of us. Even in broad daylight we were afraid to walk by it. On Halloween , we always thought about skipping this house for trick or treating, but we would always end up daring each other to go up and knock on the door first. After all, it WAS Halloween...and being scared seemed to fit.

The house we were scared to visit was known as "Ms. Marmie's house". We didn't know too much about Ms. Marmie...other than the fact that she did not have a tongue. We weren't sure why she had no tongue...but we had heard some horrific stories about the reasons why. We had also heard that she was out of her mind, and loved for children to come to her house on Halloween night so that she could trick them to come inside. Why...we never knew. Some said she was a witch.

On this one particular Halloween night, my sister dared me to knock on Ms. Marmie's door. I was horrified, but had no intention of passing up on a dare. I told her I would knock if she would walk to the front porch with me. She agreed. We slowly walked up to the front door. I was trembling so badly I could hardly think straight. Taking a deep breath I knocked on the door. Just as the front door opened, my sister jumped off the porch and ran for the street. I stood on the porch, frozen...Ms. Marmie looking at me. "Trick or treat", I managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Ms. Marmie started talking, but I could not understand a word she was saying because she was unable to speak well due to her missing tongue. She then motioned for me to come inside. I was frozen, but allowed myself to walk in. She shut the door, and just as she did, 2 huge dogs bounded down the staircase, barking. I screamed and she started talking to me again in words I could not understand. The dogs soon calmed and she motioned for me to pet them. I did what she asked, still afraid of her. She motioned for me to stay put while she left the room. I kept thinking I should run while I had the chance, but I could not seem to get my feet to move.

When Ms. Marmie came back into the room, she held out a big basket of goodies to me. There were homemade cookies and cupcakes. There were candy bars and candy apples. I looked at her and she motioned for me to take as much as I wanted to. Suddenly I wasn't scared of her anymore. Suddenly I realized that she was a just a lonely woman who was trying to be nice...someone who was rejected because of her missing a tongue. I took some of her goodies and thanked her. I reached out and petted her dogs who both began licking my face. I started laughing and Ms. Marmie laughed too.

When I left her house, my sister was standing on the street corner waiting on me, looking scared to death. I decided to fool her, so I acted like something was horribly wrong.

"Oh my gosh!" she said. "Are you okay? I heard the dogs and I just knew they were eating you. What did she do to you? Did she put a spell on you?"

"I don't know, "I whispered. "But I'm glad that you ran."

All night long I played with my sister's head making her think something horrible had happened to me in Ms. Marmie's house. I figured it was good payback for leaving me like she did. At the end of the night, when she saw me munching on candy apples and cupcakes, she said, "Where did you get those?"

"From Ms. Marmie," I answered.

"But you said something bad happened to you," she said.

"No," I responded. "I said that I was glad that you ran...and I am glad that you ran. More goodies for me," I said...breaking out in laughter.

She threw a pillow at me, and I told her the entire story...about how Ms. Marmie was really a very sweet lady. As for my goodies? I shared them with her. After all, that's what sisters are for.