THE LAST HALLOWEEN THE CURSE OF MR. GRIN
THE LAST HALLOWEEN
THE CURSE OF MR. GRIN
A Supernatural Horror Mystery Novel
Written by Shaurya
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COPYRIGHT PAGE
The Last Halloween: The Curse of Mr. Grin
Written by Shaurya.
An original work of fiction.
All characters, locations and events in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or places is coincidental.
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CONTENTS
1. The House at the End of the Street
2. The Midnight Invitation
3. The Room of Memories
4. The Man in the Photograph
5. Meet Mr. Grin
6. The Toymaker's Secret
7. The Voice in the Walls
8. The Forbidden Attic
9. The Last Performance
10. The Last Halloween
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CHARACTER INTRODUCTION
MEET MR. GRIN
Some toys are made to entertain. Others are made to remember.
Nobody knows exactly when Mr. Grin was created.
Some say he was built by an old toymaker named Elias Crowe. Others believe he was discovered inside a locked wooden box beneath the Hollow House.
Mr. Grin is an antique ventriloquist dummy with a pale wooden face, glass eyes and a permanent painted smile. He wears a faded black suit, a tiny red bow tie and polished black shoes.
His cheeks are painted pink, and a thin crack runs from his left eyebrow down towards his chin.
At first glance, he looks like an ordinary old-fashioned puppet.
But there is something terribly unusual about him.
His eyes seem to follow people around the room.
His wooden mouth sometimes moves when nobody is touching him.
And occasionally, people hear a quiet clicking sound coming from his direction.
Those who have seen him say that his smile looks different every time they look away and look back.
Some believe Mr. Grin is possessed.
Others believe something much worse.
They believe the dummy is not being controlled by anything.
They believe he is controlling something.
Inside the Hollow House, there is an old theatre with a dusty wooden stage. A single chair stands in its centre.
And sitting on that chair is Mr. Grin.
Waiting.
Nobody knows what he wants.
Nobody knows why he smiles.
But one thing is certain.
MR. GRIN NEVER PERFORMS FOR AN EMPTY AUDIENCE.
And when the curtains open, someone always has to watch.
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CHAPTER 1
THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET
October 31st.
The town of Blackwood was preparing for Halloween.
Orange lights decorated the streets. Pumpkins stood outside houses, and children dressed as monsters, witches and skeletons ran from door to door.
But at the end of Hollow Street stood a house that nobody decorated.
It was an enormous Victorian mansion surrounded by dead trees and a rusty iron fence. Its windows were broken, its walls were covered in black stains, and its front door looked as though it had not been opened in decades.
People called it the Hollow House.
Nobody knew who owned it.
Nobody entered it.
And nobody talked about what happened there thirty years ago.
Four friends, Alex, Ryan, Ethan and Noah, were walking home from school when they noticed something unusual.
A light was glowing in the mansion's second-floor window.
"Has that light always been there?" Noah asked.
Ryan shook his head.
"I don't think so."
Ethan laughed.
"Maybe someone finally bought the place."
Alex looked carefully at the window.
A figure stood behind the curtains.
It was tall, completely motionless and seemed to be staring directly at them.
Then the curtains closed.
"Did you see that?" Alex whispered.
"Probably a person," Ethan replied.
But Noah had already started walking away.
"Come on. I don't want to stay here."
As they reached the end of the street, a loud noise came from behind them.
BANG!
They turned around.
The sound had come from the mansion's front door.
BANG!
Another knock.
But nobody was standing outside.
Then a voice whispered from inside the house.
"You're late."
The four friends froze.
Alex looked at his watch.
It was 5:31 PM.
"Let's get out of here," Ryan said.
They ran.
None of them noticed the message appearing on the dusty upstairs window.
FOUR CAME.
ONLY THREE WILL REMEMBER.
That evening, Alex sat in his bedroom, trying to forget the strange incident.
His mother called him for dinner.
He walked downstairs, but something caught his attention.
On the dining table was an old photograph.
It showed the Hollow House.
Alex picked it up.
On the back, someone had written:
OCTOBER 31, 1996.
He turned it over again.
There were four children standing outside the mansion.
One of them looked exactly like Alex.
He dropped the photograph.
From somewhere upstairs came a soft wooden clicking sound.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Alex looked towards the staircase.
Nobody was there.
At least, nobody he could see.
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To be continued...
