An Averyverse Halloween Special
(Originally Posted October 2023)
Content Warning: Some Graphic Violence
It was Halloween in Stillwater Bay, and Avery was feeling festive. She had taken a couple edibles, made some popcorn, and put on her favorite scary movie. When the edibles really kicked in, they were stronger than Avery expected…
“Whoa” she said slowly, putting down the almost empty bowl of popcorn.
Avery put her feet up, and fluffed a throw pillow for her head. Now laying on the couch, still watching the movie, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Before the movie ended, Avery had fallen into a deep sleep…
…a deeeeppp sleeeeeppp…
At the very end of Seaside Drive, sat a large house, set back from the street and tucked away from the other houses, surrounded by large trees. Inside the house, Valerie B had just pulled a bag of popcorn out of the microwave. She grabbed a bowl from her cabinet, and poured the bag into it.
As she was opening the bag, the phone rang. Surprised, Valerie put the popcorn down and walked over to the phone to answer.
“Hello?” Valerie answered cheerfully.
“Hi…I’m sorry. I think I dialed the wrong number” the caller replied.
“Oh, no problem! It happens” Valerie said, and then hung up the phone.
Valerie had just picked up her bowl of popcorn, and made her way to her couch, when the phone rang again. She put down the popcorn, and went back to the phone.
“Hello?” she answered, less cheerful than the first time.
“You hung up so fast, I didn’t get to apologize for disturbing you” the caller said.
“So you called back to disturb me again?” Valerie asked with a half smile.
“I couldn’t help it. You sound really cool” the caller responded.
“Oh! Well…I am very popular” Valerie boasted. “I’m Captain of the Cooking Club.
“Oh wow!” the caller said. “A captain? Cool. Are you cooking now?”
“Oh, no” Valerie replied. “I’m working on a new ‘recipe rap’ for my TikTok. ‘Recipe raps’ are so in right now. When it’s ready, I’ll post it on all my socials”.
“Nice” the caller said, and then suddenly, oddly serious, asked “What’s your favorite social media?”
Unphased by the caller’s tone, Valerie answered “Oh, TikTok first, then X, you know, formerly Twitter, then Insta, but I’m on so many platforms, it’s hard to keep up sometimes”.
“Oh yeah?” the caller continued, asking “what’s your screen name?”
“Why do you want to know my screen name? Do you want to follow me?” Valerie asked, being coy.
“I just want to see if you look the same online as you do in real life”, the caller responded.
Valerie’s face dropped. “What did you just say?” she asked with fear in her voice.
“I meant if we ever meet” the caller explained, but Valerie was shaking her head in disbelief.
“No, this is weird now. I’m hanging up!” Valerie said, just before slamming down the phone. She looked at it for a second, and then shook her head, and let out a deep breath.
Valerie then decided to check the front and back doors, just to make sure they were locked, and they were. She took another deep breath and walked back to the couch, but before she could sit down, the phone rang again. Valerie gasped and stared at it, not wanting to answer, but it just kept ringing.
Finally, Valerie picked up the phone. “What do you want?!” she screamed.
“I want to butcher you, and then grill you with a nice dry rub” the caller responded calmly.
Valerie screamed, threw the phone away from her, and fell to the floor sobbing.
Realizing she needed to call the police, she crawled towards the phone and picked it up, but before she could dial, it rang again. Valerie screamed again. She didn’t want to answer, but it just kept ringing. Finally, she lifted the phone to her ear.
“Please, leave me alone”, Valerie pleaded.
“I might let you live. We just have to play a little game first”, the caller responded. “If you can answer my question, I’ll leave you alone”.
“Ok, what’s the question?” Valerie asked.
“When was the last time you used your WhaleWater account?” the caller asked.
“WhaleWater? What? I don’t even know what that is!” Valerie protested.
“Wrong answer” the caller stated.
“No! Wait!” Valerie yelled out. “That’s not fair!”
“I’ll give you one more shot to save yourself”, the caller teased.
“Ok, please, anything!” Valerie cried.
“When you checked to see if the doors were locked…did you remember to check the garage door?” the caller asked with a sinister tone.
Valerie realized in that moment that she had not checked that door, and looked across the room at it.
Valerie suddenly jumped up and ran towards the door, but just as she reached for the doorknob, the door swung open towards her, bashing her in the head, pushing her backwards. She looked up to see someone in a black, or maybe navy blue, robe and a mask that seemed to resemble a one-eyed whale.
Before Valerie could do anything to stop them, the attacker pulled out a knife carved from whale bone, and drove it into her chest. Valerie screamed in pain, and stumbled back, but the whale-faced killer stayed on her, stabbing her over and over again.
Valerie, now gargling her own blood, lay on the kitchen floor, thinking this is how her parents will find her when they get home, dead in a pool of blood. The killer raised their knife one last time before bringing it down for the final time, ending Valerie’s life.
The next morning, Avery waved goodbye to her parents as she left the house to head to school. As she approached Stillwater Bay High, police and reporters were scattered everywhere.
“Avery!” a voice called out. Avery turned to see her friend, Laura, walking towards her.
“What happened?” Avery asked.
“Valerie B. was killed last night”, Laura informed her.
“The Captain of the Cooking Club?” Avery asked, surprised. “Why?”
“No one knows. The police have no leads”, Laura responded.
Avery and Laura were interrupted when one of the reporters approached them.
Holding a microphone, and directing the camera man where to stand, the reporter spoke assertively. “I’m April Sparkles, reporting to you live from Stillwater Bay High, where tragedy has struck. Were you friends with the victim?”, she asked, now holding the microphone up to Laura’s and Avery’s faces.
It quickly became clear that they didn’t know anything, and April moved on to other students. Avery and Laura made their way to class, going through the morning in an otherwise usual fashion. At lunch, they met up with their other friends, Aaron, Dani, and Mark.
“Everyone make sure that you show up after 8:00” Aaron was saying when Avery walked up.
“You’re still gonna have your party?” Avery asked.
“Duh, why wouldn’t I?” Aaron responded. “To be safe, I told everyone no costumes now, plus Valerie wasn’t even invited”.
“And…it’s Halloween!” Dani added.
“Aren’t you worried about the killer?!” Avery asked.
“Not really”, Aaron responded. “Whoever it is obviously had a problem with Valerie”.
“Dani, weren’t you the Captain of the Cooking Club before she took the position?” Mark asked, snickering to himself. “That sounds like a problem”.
“Shut up Mark!” Dani replied, punching him in the shoulder. “I didn’t wanna do that shit anyway. Besides, Aaron’s the one who used to date her”.
“Yeah, until she wouldn’t make me a lasagna”, Aaron responded, showing no signs of regret.
“I’ve gotta run”, Mark said, jumping to his feet. “I’ll see you all later. I’ll be there after my trombone lesson”. He waved and left.
“I think you should reconsider this party”, Avery stated with some exasperation.
“No”, Aaron replied.
“I think we should go”, Laura said. “It’ll be a good way to get our minds off this tragedy we’re experiencing”.
“It doesn’t really seem like everyone thinks it’s a tragedy”, Avery responded.
“Well…Valerie wasn’t even invited”, Laura said with a little chuckle, and the group chuckled with her.
Later in the day, Avery had just finished her last class, and was ready to get home after a weird day. She walked through the hallway, and started to feel the strange sensation that she was being watched. She turned around to look behind her, but no one was there. She kept walking.
Knowing the shortest route to the exit, Avery turned into the school aquarium, but immediately realized she was the only person in there. She started walking at a quicker pace, until she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She froze.
It was hard to see anything with all the tall glass tanks and dim lighting. Avery was trying to look through the tanks to see if she could see anyone on the other side, but nothing. She realized it was probably just a fish swimming around, but then…she heard a scraping sound.
Avery looked all around now, still too afraid to move. Suddenly from behind a counter, a figure rose up, wearing a whale mask, and holding a knife. Avery screamed and ran. The killer jumped over the counter and chased her through the aquarium.
Hiding behind one of the tanks, Avery had thought she lost the killer, but it was only for a moment. The killer popped out when Avery least expected, swinging the knife hard. Avery ducked just in time, causing the killer to stab into the aquarium glass, allowing Avery to get away.
Just before exiting the aquarium, Avery turned to see the killer pull their knife out of the glass, breaking it, causing the tank to burst. Water and tropical fish rushed over the killer, knocking them to the ground. Avery ran for the exit, screaming for help.
Sheriff Myles was posted right outside the exit of the high school. Avery brought him to the school aquarium, but the killer was gone already.
“You’d better come with me to the station, so we can get a description”, the sheriff said to Avery.
Avery and Sheriff Myles made their way to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff tried to call Avery’s parents, but no one was home. Avery described everything that she could remember about the attacker.
“It all happened so fast”, Avery explained.
Avery had just finished giving her report when Laura arrived at the station.
“She’s ok to go, Laura”, Sheriff Myles said.
Avery followed Laura out of the sheriff’s office, and onto the street.
“Are you ok?” Laura asked.
“Yeah, just scared, I guess”, Avery responded.
“Well duh, someone just tried to filet you”, Laura said plainly. “Come on, we’re going to Aaron’s”.
“The party? I don’t know”, Avery said, shaking her head.
“You shouldn’t be alone. We shouldn’t be alone. So let’s be with people” Laura responded, with a slight smile.
“I guess”, Avery said, unsure.
“Besides”, Laura continued, “it looks like no one’s really gonna go now. It should be a nice, safe, and quiet night”.
Avery thought about it, and gave in. “Fine, let’s go”, she said.
They both set out walking down the street, heading towards Aaron’s house.
Avery and Laura arrived at the house to find people scattered everywhere, on the lawn, and in the house. It became very clear this was not going to be a quiet night. They made their way inside to find their friends, greeting everyone they passed along the way.
They finally found Aaron and Dani in the kitchen, arguing about whether monkeys were good at typing.
“It’s a matter of motivation”, Aaron was saying.
“So bananas?” Dani responded.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Avery finally asked.
Aaron and Dani both stopped arguing and looked at Avery and Laura. “YOU CAME!!!” they both shouted in unison.
“I didn’t have a choice”, Avery responded, indicating to Laura.
“I couldn’t let Avery’s almost-murder ruin our Halloween fun”, Laura replied, giving a sarcastic smirk.
“Alright!” Aaron shouted. “Well there’s scary movies playing in the living room. There’s soda in the fridge. And there’s games in the dining room”.
“Mark should be here in like half an hour”, Dani added. “I’m gonna run to the bathroom”, she said as she walked away.
Opening the refrigerator, Laura went to grab a soda, but realized they were all gone. “The sodas are gone”, she said to Aaron.
“There’s more in the fridge in the garage”, he replied.
Laura closed the fridge and started towards the garage, walking through the living room to get to the door.
Back inside the house, Aaron and Avery were in the kitchen when they heard loud knocks at the front door. Aaron ran up to answer, and was surprised to find Sheriff Myles on the other side.
“I heard there was a party tonight”, the sheriff said. “I wanted to check on you all”.
“We’re fine sheriff”, Aaron assured him.
“There’s a killer on the loose”, Sheriff Myles went on, now slowly pushing his way into the house.
The party guests decided it was time to call it a night when the sheriff arrived, and left, leaving Aaron and Avery alone with the sheriff.
“Thanks for stopping by, Sheriff Myles”, Aaron said, annoyed.
“I’m going to check around outside and make sure everything’s safe before I leave”, the sheriff replied.
As the sheriff was walking out the front door, Mark slipped inside, holding his trombone and backpack.
“Everyone left?!” Mark asked, looking surprised.
“Where’d Laura go?” Avery asked, looking around. “And Dani? Did they leave too?”
Aaron shrugged, and shook his head, looking frustrated.
“I’m gonna look around”, Avery said.
Avery first went to the garage, opened the door, turned on the light, and looked inside. No one was there. She decided to check upstairs, and maybe find a phone, and made her way to the stairwell.
Meanwhile, while Sheriff Myles was looking around outside, he came across a broken window.
The sheriff rushed back into the house where he found Aaron and Mark, and told them about the broken window. Aaron led the way to the downstairs bathroom, where he thought the window the sheriff mentioned was located, but the door was locked.
“Stand back”, Sheriff Myles said, and then kicked the bathroom door in.
Aaron walked into the bathroom to find the window was, in fact, broken. The sheriff followed him into the small room, both looking around on the floor, and on the counters. Looking at the broken glass, confused.
After a moment, Sheriff Myles reached out and pulled back the shower curtain, gasping at what he found. Dani was laying in the tub, eyes wide open, but there was no life behind them. So much blood had drained from her body that it had flowed around and down the tub drain. Aaron stared in shock.
Mark stepped into the bathroom to see what they were looking at, but when he saw Dani’s body, he simply said “Whoa”.
Sheriff Myles turned to look at Mark with disgust. “Whoa? What the…”, he started to say, but he wasn’t able to finish his thought.
Mark raised up the whale bone knife quickly and stabbed it through Sheriff Myles’ left eye, killing him instantly. Mark pulled the knife out, and the sheriff fell to the ground. Now Mark was face to face with Aaron.
“What the fuck?!” Aaron managed to get out before Mark lunged at him.
Burying the blade deep in Aaron’s chest, Mark explained “Valerie was too good for you, buddy. You HATE so many GOOD FOODS. I could have eaten so much more of her cooking than just LASAGNA!!!”
Aaron looked so mad, but couldn’t get out more than “Fuck yo…” before Mark stabbed him a few more times.
Aaron’s lifeless body slid down the bathroom wall, while Mark left the bathroom to find his last victim.
Avery had just come back downstairs. She couldn’t find Laura anywhere, and no one answered when she called her house. Avery was worried.
Avery started for the front door to keep looking, but something caught her eye. Mark’s backpack was sitting open by the door. Right at the top of the bag was a weird mask that looked kind of like a whale with one eye. Before she could get a closer look, she was hit in the back of the head.
Now, laying on the floor, Avery looked up at Mark standing over her. He was holding the knife, carved from whale bone, and looking back down at her. Mark raised the knife high above his head, holding it with both hands. Just as Avery started to scream, Mark said “Ruh-roh”, and brought the knife down into Avery’s throat…
Avery woke up suddenly on her couch. She looked at the tv, and saw that her movie had ended. She was a little confused, but she realized she had just been having a nightmare.
“Those edibles were so strong”, Avery said to herself, turning off the tv.
Avery put the popcorn bowl in the kitchen, turned off the lights, and made her way to bed. Despite her nightmare, Avery slept peacefully through the rest of the night. So peacefully, in fact, that she never knew that while she had been asleep on the couch, someone had quietly broken into her apartment….or that they had slipped into the back of her bedroom closet….or that they watched her sleep for hours. Avery slept peacefully, unaware of the danger about to befall her.
Averybody Writes 
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