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Halloween

Do not read this book
Short story

 


October 31, 2005
iranian.com

Here's a little story my niece Nyusha Samiei. It won a prize in a "scary story" competition at her school in Vancouver. -- Hossein Samiei

***

As she headed home, Claire glanced at the leafless branches swaying in the wind. She loved October. She loved the way the leaves turned brown and flew in the cool breeze and she loved the mysterious ambience of the month. That was probably why she adored walking past the Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery every day. On that day, she clutched her books to her chest and admired the cemetery.

Suddenly, she noticed a sinister man wearing a black overcoat walk in her direction. The hat he was wearing covered most of his face, but she noticed the torn-up state of his coat and the bulge in his pocket. He started walking faster and rather abruptly bumped into her, knocking down all her books. He groaned while he bent down to pick them up. Claire thanked him and he growled at her. She noticed that he now seemed very relieved and strangely enough, his pocket was empty. Claire pushed the thought out of her mind and hurried home.

Claire checked her watch, it read: Oct. 28th, 7:24pm. She wondered why her parents weren’t home yet. She grabbed her books to begin her homework and was astonished to see a very thin and rather moldy book amongst them! How did that get in there? she wondered. Claire suddenly remembered the sinister man and how his pocket had magically emptied. She pondered on how she hadn’t noticed him slip the book in. Claire read the title which was, ironically, “Do Not Read This Book”. She ignored this first warning and began reading the first page:

DISCLAIMER

Beware that once you begin reading
All that can stop you is the bleeding
Notice your quickened and shortened breath
That will precede your slow and painful death.

She rolled her eyes and thought: How lovely! She continued reading. It was a rather dull novel about a sinister man who constantly tried to get rid of a moldy book. She did not want to waste her time with it so she set the book aside. The second it left her hands, a surge of pain ran through her entire body. Once she picked the book up again the pain was gone. Again, she tried to stop reading it, but that unbearable pain returned.

At this moment, it dawned on her that the disclaimer should not have been taken lightly. But it was too late. She continued reading quickly, finished it and jerked it out the window. As she did so, an unendurable pain came over her and blood poured out of every orifice in her body. She cried in anguish as it became difficult to breathe. Claire could then feel death’s claws wrapping around her as she was surrounded by the darkness of oblivion.

Anyone awake at around 3:07am on October the 29th may have noticed a sinister man wearing a black overcoat walk past an empty house and sigh as he picked up a very thin and rather moldy book for what seemed like the thousandth time.

COMMENT
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To: Nyusha Samiei

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