As I hopped out of bed onto the plush carpet, I felt tired and dizzy. I lived in an old Victorian style house, it had been in the Hult family for centuries, and it was in a small neighborhood outside of Salem. Outside my window was the vibrant colors of the Salem forest, I went to open the curtains, and revealed the soft golden rays of the salem sun in autumn. I went into the bathroom to untangle my chestnut colored mane, I noticed a slight cut I had on my forehead, covered in dried blood, then the memory of the night before flooded back to me. But enough about me, this is the story of my best friend, Maya.
Let me start from first period, two days ago, we were in math class, sitting next to each other, and working on our geometry homework. For weeks Maya and I had been talking about having a halloween party with just a couple of friends, we were planning what food and treats we should serve, and who we would invite. After eighth period, Maya and I walked home together with our other friends, Jenny, and Sara. Jenny was a short girl with long black hair, and light brown eyes. She was one of my best friends, she was a very kind and funny, who could make you day a millions times better. And Sara was a tall girl with a platinum blonde pixie cut, she was a very crafty person, and had a huge imagination. Jenny was going to bake the cupcakes, and Sara was coming up with decorations, Maya and I were in charge of the invites. After two hours we had the the decorations up, and all of the ingredients for the food, was ready cook the next day. The last thing that had to be done was the invitations. While Maya and I were choosing people to invite, Maya insisted that we invite Megan, and Janis - the popular girls.
“No way, are you crazy?” I snapped.
“Well I was just thinking that maybe, we could make some new friends.” Maya replied with a huge, beautiful smile, I just couldn't say no.
The following day we handed out all of out invites, and everyone said they would be there, even Megan and Janis!
When it was time for the party there was a knock at the door, it was Jenny and Sara, and they were holding plates of delicious cupcakes. The next knock was followed by another knock, and another, and a little later, everybody was there.
“So what do you guys want to do?” I asked everybody.  “Scary stories, movies, games?”
“I say we do scary stories.” said Janis in a voice that seemed to say, i’m cooler than all of you.
About five minutes later we all sat in a large circle with a lantern in the center,
“Alrighty, who wants to go first?”, questioned Jenny..
“I will, ” replied Maya. She started telling her story about the alien who killed a bunch  people in a hotel, which I had heard about a billion times.
“Oh my, I'm so scared.” whispered Megan sarcastically.  “That was the lamest story I’ve ever heard.” This time with not a trace of sarcasm.
“Alright Megan, do you have a better story?” I snapped in my friends defense.
. “Actually I do, Grace.” Megan snarled in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Here in Salem there is an old abandoned house in the woods, the woman who lived there was believed to be a witch. Late one night a bunch of villagers came to her house, they broke her windows, and chased her out of her home. The villagers went into her home and smashed some of her dishes, set fire to some of her furniture, and ripped her clothes. While they were destroying her house, one of the villagers found the cold, bloody, lifeless bodies of three missing village children. So . . . the villagers  hung her from a nearby tree, because she lured the children in and killed them.  Legend has it that the witch put a curse on her house so nobody would disturb her again.” I have to admit, that was a pretty scary story.
“Why don’t we go find the house?” suggested Janis,  “You know, to see if it’s real.” 
I really didn’t want to go find the old, rundown, supposedly cursed house, but I was out voted. While we all got ready to go and search for the witch's house, I was talking to Maya.
“Are you sure this is safe?”,
“Ya, sure why not? What could go wrong?” Maya said in a reassuring voice.
I trusted Maya, and if she was going I was going. About thirty minutes of hiking later, Jenny finally broke the silence.
“Does anyone know where we are supposed to be going?” asked Jenny, who like the rest of us were getting tired of hiking in the dark.
. “It should be up the hill a little further.” Megan yelled back, “according the the story the house is about a quarter of a mile away”. After ten more minutes of slowly trudging up the steep rocky hill, we made it to the top, and the abandoned house was now in sight.
“Okay cool, we’ve seen it, now we can go right?” I asked anxiously,
“Um, no way, we have to go inside.” Maya said as she dragged me by my arm towards the house.
“You’re not scare are you Grace?” giggled Megan.
“No way, I’ll go into the house.” I said, with determination in my voice.
The trees around the house were grey, not like the beautiful golden leaves we have here in Salem this time of year. Just the sight of the house made my blood run cold, it was grey and run-down, the shutters were hanging by the windows, and the windows were broken. It looked as if it had barely survived a tornado. The one thing that gave my chills was the looped, worn, rope hanging from the nearest oak tree. As we entered the foyer things started to get creepy, books fell off the shelf by themselves onto the dark oak floors, broken lights started flickering, and things were shaking ever so slightly, but that didn’t scare us away, and we entered the next room. While we were in the dank smelling bathroom, I smelled the metallic scent of blood, I looked over to the bathtub to find blood coming out of the old rusty orange drainage, in the dirt covered, porcelain bathtub. And when I looked in the cracked, dirty mirror, I didn’t a small, brown haired girl, I saw someone else . . . a tall woman, with jet-black matted hair, and dark black eyes, and, around her neck there was a thick purple bruise. Then suddenly, without any warning, the mirror shattered, all of us raced out of the bathroom, and into the kitchen.  Glass was flying, cabinets were slamming, and more blood can flooding out of the rusted drainage. A laud, piercing cackle came roaring through the house,
“I warned you, I warned you all! Now it’s too late!” screamed the dark voice.
We all raced out toward the large oak door, only to find that it was locked. We pressed all of our weight onto the heavy wooden door and broke the lock. We were about ten yards away from the house, when I noticed that Maya wasn’t there,
“Guys, stop! We are missing Maya!”, I yelled after them,
“Who cares, she can save herself!”, cried Janis, kind of like a little baby.
I panicked, go save my best friend, or save myself. I started to run away from the house, but then I knew that Maya would save me, and I had to do the same for her. I turned around and raced back into the house.
“Maya! Maya where are you!” I screamed,
“Over here, come quick!” Maya replied painfully.
I looked around for Maya in all of the kitchen chaos, then I spotted her, right in the middle of it. I ran as fast as I could towards her, avoiding being hit by flying cabinet doors, pots and pans, glass cups and plates, but most importantly the flying knives. Occasionally I was struck in the shoulder by a pot or a pan, but luckily, no knifes.  When I  was finally at her side, she revealed an eight inch deep bloody gash in her mid calf,
“I don’t think I can walk,” Maya said as she breathed out a sigh of pain, “It hurts too bad” .
“What happened?” I asked worriedly,
“ I was running after you towards the door, when a cabinet came flying off of the wall, and the floorboard beneath me broke, my leg went right through it.” Maya was clearly in some serious pain.
I needed to get her out of here. As helped Maya to her feet, we ever so slowly made out of all the flying chaos. Her and I had some close calls with the flying kitchen supplies, then suddenly a glint of silver flew right in front of our faces, a knife, and almost sliced off the tips of our noses.
When we finally reached the heavy wooden door I brought Maya over to the nearest oak tree, not noticing which one. The tree was so grey and light against Maya’s scarlet blood, which was seeping out of her faster than I could tie the hoodie.
“I’m going to run back to the house and get help, you stay here.” I told her,
“Well trust me, i’m not going anywhere.” she laughed.
How could she laugh at a time like this? I wondered. I took of my navy blue hoodie, the one that I got for christmas the year before, from my mom, and tied it tightly around Maya’s leg. She winced in pain, and almost immediately you could see blood creeping through my hoody.
Then without a word I raced away from the  house, using all of my speed I raced down the hill, although I mainly slid down the hills steep rockiness, avoiding the the trees and boulders. I stood up after all of my sliding action feeling dizzy, my head ached, and I reached up to touch it, when I brought my hand back down I noticed that my fingertips were slightly coated in dark red blood, I must have hit my head. But that wouldn’t stop me from getting Maya some medical assistance.
Finally our Victorian house on Maywagon street was in sight, and I ran across the weed field as hard as I could without passing out. I ran towards the back door, and I noticed a cloud of thick fog gathered in the living room, “that's weird” I thought aloud to myself. I opened the glass door, while it seemed like gallons of the fog were pouring out.
“Hello?” I shouted, “anybody home?”
No reply, the house was empty, no people, and no furniture. I was expecting for the group of girls to jump out and tell me that it was all a joke, and everything is just fine. But nothing happened. I stepped into the fog filled room,
“Anybody h---” my voice was cut off by an unmistakable cackle, I felt sick.
“You can't save her!  You’re too late!” The voice boomed.
I raced for the phone only to find that the cord had been cut off. I was terrified, I scrammed out the door, and across the street only to find that our neighboring houses had vanished. The street was covered in the same thick fog, I inhaled some of the fog, and broke into a coughing fit. I brought head up and spotted a tall black figure inching towards me. I ran back into my house and locked all of the doors,
“Mom? Dad?” I screamed “Somebody help me.”
I leaned against the locked door. Even though I knew it was of no use, because my parents were working the night shift at our local hospital. As I turned around the tall black was staring right at me through the cold glass, and I realized that it was the same women I saw in the bathroom mirror, back at the abandoned house. Then suddenly I remember Maya. I bolted across the room and through the field, not looking  back to see if I was being followed. The thought of Maya alone and hurt made me run faster than I ever thought I could.
I ran with all of my might up the steep rocky hill. As I got closer to the top, I heard the same booming voice saying the same phrase,
“You can't save her, you're too late.”
The thought of being too late to save Maya sent chills down my spine. The house was now insight, and I could see the tree that I sat Maya up against. Except this time there was no Maya, only a small puddle of blood underneath the grey tree. I heard a rustle in the bushes, and noticed a trail in the dirt, and it looked like someone had been dragged away from the tree. I followed the trail and it lead to an open field, and right in the middle of the field was a tall black figure holding my best friend.
“I warned you to stay away,”, the figure screamed.
“Maya, can you hear me?” No reply.
“Her time has come, and there is nothing you can do.” The women said. And then suddenly the women vanished with Maya.
“Grace!”, screamed Maya from behind me, I figured that they were back at the tree.
“Maya where are you?”, I screamed.
“Grace, help me--” her voice was cut of by a quiet sound that seemed so loud in the silence of the woods.
“THUD”
I violently pushed through the bushes and tree branches until I was back at the tree, then suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks . . . hanging in the old oak tree dangled Maya’s lifeless body, then . . . I felt tight hands grip my neck, and a crashing cackle in my ears, as the last bit a life was squeezed out of me.