Glitch

There was only one rule: don’t open the door.

You could step on the overgrown lawn, toilet paper and egg the house to kingdom come, videotape it like it was the setting of a kid's shaky Halloween video. You could even go, knock on the door, and run away from whatever supposed urban legend the kids said was supposed to come out.

The point was, don't open the door for any reason.

Of course, there's always one person who decides the rule is nothing more than some old wives' tale to scare people away from the home.

Enter Jenna, a sweet kid with a rebellious streak. She has walked passed the door hundreds of times before, pausing for a couple seconds longer each time, debating to fall for the allure of breaking such an insignificant rule. Jenna decided against it every time.

Maybe it was the fact she was leaving tomorrow, possibly never to return that made her finally open that door. One last childish hurrah before the rest of her life began.

Jenna opened the door and in the next second, she's violently dragged inside.

***

When she walks through the door at home hours later, barely avoiding the storm rolling in, Jenna hugs her parents goodnight, saying she needs to finish packing.

Lightening illuminates the room.

Her eyes are vacant, void of any life, but it goes unnoticed. So does the evil smirk gracing her face as she goes upstairs.

***

Elsewhere, a man returns to his family after a long day at work. In another house nearby, an aunt tucks her nephews in bed, while a little girl across the street tiptoes into her parents' bedroom. A familiar evil shows on their faces with another flash of light, then disappears like a glitch.