Short Story: Nightmare on Alexis Street by Nicki Scalise
Nightmare
on Alexis Street
By
Nicki
Scalise
Halloween
has always been my favorite holiday. Just so you understand, how much
I love this holiday, I’ll share an example of my typical October
behavior. When I was eight years old, my mom made me a satin vampire
cape. It was the classic vampire look, black with a red lining and an
exaggerated, pointed collar. For weeks, I wore that cape and
practiced my vampire “skills”, just so I’d have it right come
Halloween night. I was very shy as a kid so I never used any of my
acting “talents” outside the house but I’d like to think I had
the Count Dracula act down pretty well. I wore that cape three
consecutive years in a row. It was lost during a move sometime in my
teens. I still miss it and have regrets that it’s gone. I just hope
it found a new home with another little kid who loved it as much as I
did.
Anyway,
point being, my love of Halloween runs deep. Naturally, this love
carried over when I grew up. My Halloween goal as an adult homeowner
is to be “that house”. You know the one… the house in the
neighborhood that gives out the best candy and has the coolest
decorations.
When
my husband and I first started our decorating traditions, we lived in
a very small, secluded neighborhood with few trick-or-treaters. As
such, our over the top decorations seemed wasted. To compensate, we
handed out grab bags full of Halloween themed toys and full size
candy bars to the handful of kids who darkened our doorstep. While
somewhat entertaining, the night usually felt like a letdown.
Then
we moved.
We
bought our new house in April 2011. Although we didn’t know it
then, our new neighborhood is loaded with children and neighbors just
as enthusiastic about Halloween as we are.
Now,
in addition to my goal, there’s a healthy dose of competition as
four or five houses at the end of our block try to one-up each other
every year. Last year, I built a small cemetery on our front yard.
The lady across the street dressed up as a witch and cackled from the
shadows beside their garage. There’s been talk of doing, at some
point, a neighborhood haunted attraction. What will we all do this
year? That remains unseen, but you can be sure it will inch me closer
to that ever unobtainable goal of becoming “that house”.
Here’s
a small preview of how our house looks for the entire month of
October.
This
isn’t all of our decorations, but you get the idea.
The
cemetery
A
few of the headstones.
*Note
there is no final date on Lestat’s headstone. Anne Rice fans know
Lestat lives.
Also
buried in our yard (not pictured)-
Buffy
Summers and Count Dracula
A
ghost
Erma
Jean and Henry Bob- They have a very co-dependent relationship.
Her
debut novel Prayer for the Dead, was released in October 2013.
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Now that is just too cool! I have always wanted to be the house that has the awesome decorations that leaves people going OMG did you see that house. Since we do not have a street light at the end of our road no one seems to come down there unless they are going to the highway! Halloween is always my favorite holiday I think it is because it is scary and plus all the candy I can get from the kids lol. Thank you so much for sharing your story and for being on my blog. Happy Halloween.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting me today! I love sharing all my Halloween shenanigans.
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