Friday, March 14, 2008

Scared Silly

* This blog entry is in response to the "Scared Silly" blogging contests that Shelly Tucker, from This Eclectic Life, is hosting. Kudos to Damien from Postcards From the Funny Farm for blogging about it!

When I was seven years old my parents moved our family from a small British Columbia logging town to the big city of Victoria, BC.

I loved our new house, our new friends and our new school. My sister and I used to walk to school from our house with our matching backpacks and braided brunette pigtails. (At one point I decided my five year old sister needed to grow up so I ran home while she walked by herself. I wasn't trying to be mean, I just thought she was old enough to do it on her own!).

Our walk to and from school consisted of several blocks, one hill, passing my crushes house...and then the corner. This particular corner was only a block from my house, I could see it across the two lane highway. This is what made the corner seem even worse. My house was so close, but yet so.....faaaaaar.....away!

My friend Christina had told me about the witch that lived on this corner. "That corner?" I asked, pointing. The house had old brown ivy crawling up the outside walls, chipping green paint and a deep front porch where the old witch sat and watched me as I walked home from school. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was watching. "She's got a wart," Christina said. "It's on her nose."

Every time I walked by that old house...well, I wouldn't walk. I'd run. I'd run as fast as i could until I reached the highway and then I'd take the first space in traffic and run the rest of the way home.

One terrible day I was walking home and I decided to be brave. I would walk past the ol' witches house. I would taunt her. So I walked slowly past, trying to stop shaking, and trying to look tough. Suddenly I heard a vehicle behind me. Right behind me. It pulled up beside me and drove slowly at the same pace I was walking. I didn't look over. I knew it was the witch. I walked faster. The vehicle sped up to the same pace. I broke into a run, whimpering, I knew she was going to get me. It honked. I didn't look back and ran as fast as I could across the empty highway and into my yard. I finally let go of the breathe I was holding as I slammed the gate behind me. That stupid witch.

A vehicle rolled into the driveway on the other side of the gate. "Katie," my moms friend Barb called, "why were you running away from me?"

12 comments:

Shelly Kneupper Tucker said...

Bwahahaha! Excellent, Katelyn! Just what I sought. Thank you for being the first to enter! Whoot! Good luck. You are going on my blogroll, too.
This Eclectic Life

katelynjane said...

Aw! Thanks Shelly!! Glad you liked it (: It's true too. I was scarred for life. When I go back there I'll have to take a picture of that old house. It'd probably be a laugh too, seeing how normal it probably looks in a grown-ups eyes!

Shelly Kneupper Tucker said...

I'm so sorry you were scarred by it (mppht). But, I'm glad it was in your recollection!
This Eclectic Life

Unknown said...

Great entry, awesome story.
I need to get busy on mine, and I'm not sure if I can top it though.

katelynjane said...

Ha (: I'm sure you have a great story too!! (: Thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

I love it! Have you seen "big Fish?" There is a witch house like that in there. Good writing, I could see the pigtails LOL.

katelynjane said...

Thanks! I haven't seen that movie yet, it looked interesting though, I love Ewan McGregor (have you seen his motorcycle trip across the world? It's a TV series on his real life trip, so great!).

Robin said...

Great story! We had a neighborhood witch when I was growing up too. No one ever knocked on their door on Halloween (which was probably alright in retrospect because it turned out they were Hungarian and didn't speak any English - not spooky at all).

katelynjane said...

Thanks Robin (: Yeah, the witch here was probably just some cute old lady (:

Anonymous said...

Okay! Again, a great story. I read it three times. My favorite aspect of this story was the description. Your colors and descriptions made it all come alive for me. I saw the house and I felt like it was me running neck and neck with the "witch's" car. Good job, I already knew you were an excellent writer and this is a nice short example of that.
-Damien ('here comes the judge' Riley! ;)

katelynjane said...

Wow, thanks Damien! Good luck on judging! It's always a hard job.

Anonymous said...

Thank you again for entering the contest, Katelyn!! I'm putting you in my Technorati Faves!