On Halloween night, the small town of Maple was shrouded in thick fog. Children dressed as witches, vampires, and zombies ran door to door laughing and shouting, their candy bags swinging by their sides.
Amid the noise, Linh, a 17-year-old girl, stopped in front of an old antique shop at the end of the street — one she had never seen open before.
In the dusty display case sat a white mask, cracked slightly along the cheek. A sign beneath it read:
“Only $1 — Tonight Only.”
Linh smiled, thinking it would be the perfect prop for the costume party. She stepped inside. The air smelled of mildew; the only sound was the tick-tock of a clock somewhere in the back. There was no shopkeeper. She left a dollar on the counter, picked up the mask, and left.
As soon as she put the mask on, a cold chill ran through her skin — then a whisper brushed her ear:
“Thank you… for giving me a new face.”
Startled, Linh looked around. No one was there, only swirling mist. She told herself it was her imagination — until she caught her reflection in a window.
The eyes behind the mask were no longer hers.
They were hollow, black, and blinking slowly… even though she wasn’t blinking.
Later that night, when her friends called her to ask why she hadn’t shown up to the party, someone else answered the phone.
A girl wearing Linh’s clothes.
Her voice was soft and strange:
“Don’t worry… Linh isn’t going anywhere.”
The next morning, the antique shop had disappeared.
Only a wooden sign swung gently in the wind, smeared with faded red letters:
“See you next Halloween.”
i hope my turn
Stake username : vulehoang1408
