The value of friendship is a great thing to treasure. When its put to the test, youd think that it would be able to uphold anything, even death...

Glowing Embers

October 31, 1973 six friends were walking home from tic tacking, egging, scaring little kids, and whatever else fifteen year old kids do on Halloween night. Bobby saw the cemetery ahead.

He said to Rick, " I dare you to walk into the cemetery and go to the statue." The statue is said to possess red eyes and if you enter on Halloween night the fiery eyes will haunt you for a year.

Rick being the macho man that he is replies," Fine, but Julies coming with me."

Julie screams all the way to the cold, steel gates. They enter the cemetery. As they walk to the statue, they see red eyes in front of them. They turn around and theres red eyes. They look left and right and theres red eyes.

Julie said," Oh my god Rick. We gotta get out of here."

Rick responds," Theyre everywhere. We cant escape."

Julie replies," Rick run. Ill manage to escape. Just go get help."

He looks at her and she looks at him with a look that shes serious. He kisses her and dashes off. Rick gets to the gates of the cemetery.

Bobby said," Rick, wheres Julie?"

Rick replies," Red eyes, red eyes, they were everywhere. Julie needs our help. She told me to run and get help."

Just then they hear a scream. Rick, Bobby, Kirstin, Tyler, and Lizzie run to the spot where just minutes ago Julie had been standing.

Rick screams," JULIE! Oh my god, I shouldnt have left her alone."

Kirstin and Lizzie start to look around yelling," JULIE! Nice joke Jules! JULIE!"

Tyler looks at his watch. He said," Its after midnight."

Bobby said," and your point is..."

Tyler replies," If what Rick is saying is true about the red eyes, then they have Julie and considering it was Halloween, she wont return till next Halloween night.

Kirstin said," Youve been reading one too many horror books."

Tyler responds," No, its the truth or at least thats what the legend is believed to say." Rick said," Well what should we do? We cant exactly tell the police the truth. Theyll think were nuts or worse that we killed her."

Lizzie said," We can tell the police that we were all suppose to meet in front of the school but she never showed. We waited but she didnt come."

Kirstin replies," So what your saying is that we lie about our best friends disappearance?" Bobby said," Whatelse can we do not to incriminate ourselves..."

Rick said," Shes my girlfriend, (pause), she was my girlfriend and I wont lie."

Tyler replies," what other choices do we have?"

Rick responds," Fine, thats the story that well go with, (pause), at least till next year."

What the five remaining friends didnt know was that the red eyes knew they were there and the eyes would strike revenge for disturbing the peace of their world on their night. The police, Julies parents, and the rest of Fort Wayne, Indiana believed the teens story. Two weeks went by, Kirstin and Bobby were rollerblading at night. They came up to the cemetery. Just then a truck driver came the other way on the street aiming at the two helpless teenagers. Before they could escape the truck hit them and both were killed instantly. The trucker vanished into thin air but not before his eyes turned glowing ember.

The next day at school everyone was mourning the deaths of the two young students. Rick, Lizzie, and Tyler sat in the cafeteria discussing the night before.

Lizzie said sobbing," I cant believe it. First Julie, now Kirstin and Bobby, whos next?" Rick responds," What do you mean whos next? We didnt have anything to do with the hit and run last night."

Lizzie said," Well if you think about it, there should have been some trace of evidence that a truck hit them."

Rick said," Why are you guys so sure that a truck killed them?"

Tyler responds," The impact of their bodies... A car wouldnt have been able to do that much damage."

Rick said," Ok, so what if what your saying is true, the truck vanished. We cant exactly stop the deceased from killing us."

A few months past. Lizzie, Tyler, and Rick are still alive but not for long. Tyler was driving home from work April Fools night. He drove up to a stop sign at the cemetery. Tyler looked over into the creepy, dreary place where lifeless bodies decay remembering his friends and the nights of their deaths. When he looked back in front of him red eyes were there. He slammed on the gas but the red eyes created a flash blinding Tyler, making the car drive into a telephone pole throwing his body from his vehicle.

When the police arrived on the scene, they found a poem written by Tyler to his deceased friends. The poem was titled," Good-Bye my Friends". The poem said,"

I didnt know what to say,

when you told me you had to go away

with all the time we spend together

I thought our fun would last forever

Now youre going far away,

I dont know what to tell you to make you stay

But the time is almost near

I cant hold back my fear.

Youre the best friends I ever had,

you were with me through good times and bad

I didnt know what to say,

when you told me you had to go away."

The poem went on his tombstone. After Tylers funeral, Lizzie and Rick went to Lizs house. They discussed the deaths of their friends. They went to the library to find information about vampires, ghouls, spirits, and the rumor of the town. Lizzie says," Rick, we gotta beat this thing, whatever it is." Rick replies," Dont worry, we will."

Time passes, its October 31, 1974, Lizzie and Rick return to the cemetery. They walk to where Julie disappeared a year before. A couple minutes pass and no sign of their friends, just then Julie appears.

She said," Rick, Lizzie Ive been waiting for you."

Rick and Lizzie reply in unison with a sense of shock," Julie."

Rick runs to her and kisses her. Julies eyes turn red while Rick gives her a passionate kiss. Rick and Julie then face Lizzie. Their eyes turn red. Throughout the cemetery all you could hear was the scream of Lizzie.

October 25, 1998 the students at Fort Wayne High School in History 9X have a history project. The teacher, Mr. Felder, assigned groups of four. The assignment was to find information on the town and present an oral presentation to the class. Four students- Denise, Jonathan, Allison, and Alex who dont exactly get along are thrown together in this project. Denise is a feisty, snobbish, class president, straight A girl who looks at life as a mind game. Jonathan is a nerd, brainy, weird like Steve Urkel kind of kid. Allison is a semi-popular, into sports (soccer, basketball, and track), and very smart. Alex is semi-popular, plays baseball, and straight A student. The four intellects dont speak to each other due to their popularity rank. Mr. Felder tells the class that they should get into their groups and discuss their project.

Denise said," Oh my god. I get stuck with these low lives, oh yeah, the unpopular."

Alex replies," Yeah well its no picnic here either, like I want to be in a group with you." Jonathan said," Guys, I really think that we should just work on our project. Maybe we could divide the assignment into four presentations and just do our own part."

Allison responds," Thats a good idea."

Denise said," Yeah, I agree. We can divide the project up by the past, the town legends, the population, and the climate."

Alex said," Ok, but who takes what?"

Mr. Felder is walking around the classroom asking the students of each group about the project. When he gets to the group that doesnt get along with each other, he tells them that it is a group project and they will not divide the project into separate groups.

Allison said," I have a book about the town. We can also look Fort Wayne up on the internet."

Alex replies,"Alright. When can we get together to do this project."

Denise said," The sooner we get together the faster we get this whole project done and then I dont have to look your way ever again."

Jonathan responds rolling his eyes," What is everyone doing afterschool?"

The three other members of the history project replied together," nothing."

Allison said," Ok then, well all meet at my house at 3:30."

The school day breezed by and soon enough it was 3:30 p.m. After the three students arrived at Allisons house they went into the computer room. They sat on the couch.

Alex said, " I think what Denise said earlier in history class well thats how we should do the project."

Allison said," Ok, well heres the book about the town and the computers right over there."

Denise replies, " We can split up... 2 on the computer searching and 2 skimming the book."

Jonathan said," Alex and I will take the computer and you two can do research on the book."

Jonathan and Alex start searching for the population and interesting myths on Fort Wayne.

As they are doing this Allison said," Where would you like to start, the towns legend or the past."

Denise responds," The towns legend sounds interesting."

"Ok sounds good to me"

"What page is it on?", Denise says taking the book off of the end table.

"136"

Denise starts skimming the page vigorously.

She all of a sudden said, " OH MY GOD, theres a legend about some statue that possesses red eyes. Oh yeah and like any of that is true."

Jonathan interrupts," Theres a news article on here and 6 friends and there odd disappearances after a fun of Halloween."

The four students look at each other with a look of scaredness, but yet lets uncover the mystery kind of look.

Denise said," If we can discover what happened that night then we could be famous. Maybe even a movie about it..." The other students glance at each other and finally respond," COOL!" Alex thinks to himself, "Yeah and maybe theyll call SCREAM 5."

Denise, Jonathan, Alex, and Allison didnt exactly know what they were getting themselves into. They decided to go to the school early the next morning so they could ask Mr. Felder if they could report on the information that they found. They were now standing outside Mr. Felders classroom. Jonathan knocked on the door.

Mr. Felder yelled," Come in."

The four students entered the boring, historical classroom.

The teacher looked at them and said," I already told you that this is a group project and you will work together."

The students stared at each other with bewilderedment.

Then Denise spoke up," No, were here to ask you if we could do our project on the towns legend."

Mr. Felder said," uhh... yeah, I guess."

Jonathan replies," We chose to do this as our project because we have reason to believe that the six students in 1973-74 were somehow tied into the legend."

The bell for homeroom rings. After the students leave the classroom Mr. Felder rolls his eyes and says outloud," Kids... the more I try to understand them, the less I do."

It was finally sixth period, history class for Denise, Allison, Jonathan, and Alex. Mr. Felder asked the students to get into groups and discuss their project some more. Alex says that they should go to the cemetery on Halloween night to see exactly what happened. Everyone agrees. They decide to meet again afterschool to gather more information before the big night. At the end of class Mr. Felder tells the students that the project is due November 2.

Afterschool the students gather at Allisons house again. This time they dont waste anytime. Denise and Allison go to the library and get old newspaper articles dealing with all of the teens mysterious accidents in 1973-74. Meanwhile, Jonathan is busy typing away on the computer. Alex is reading the book titled "Fort Wayne: Everything You DONT Want To Know". Allison and Denise return from the library with a handful of run-off copies of newspaper clippings.

During the next four days the students do all of the research that they can. When the 31st of October finally arrives they sneak out at 11:30 and meet at Jonathans house which is just a block away from the site. They walk to the steel, cold iron gates of the cemetery where 24 years earlier the obscure deaths took place.

Alex said," Maybe we should walk to the statue."

Jonathan replies," Yeah, just to recreate the moment..."

Allison says unsure," umm.... o.k. maybe we should."

Denise says," Its 11:50 p.m., if were going to uncover the truth we better do it now."

The four scared fourteen year olds stare at each other with anxiety, scaredness, and hope for the truth. Alex is the first one to enter. Shortly after the others follow. They walk hand in hand to the statue with glowing ember eyes. They look around, each looking in another direction.

Denise is the first to talk in the cemetery saying," Something moved... over there... I dont know what it is..."

Jonathan replies," Theres red eyes right over there."

Allison said," What should we do?"

Denise responds," For one thing we cant let history repeat itself."

Alex replies," Im speechless... theres nothing we can do."

Just then you could hear the laughter of six friends. The four, now called friends, turned to where the sound came from. They see six teenagers about the ages of fifteen and sixteen.

The one teenager said," Hi. Im Julie. Have you come to play too?"

Lisa
11th Grader
Lehighton, Pennsylvania