Introduction

Ever wonder what happens to all those villains we dread at the end of a movie or book? The ones that are still alive when the credits start rolling or you close the cover. Then you go to bed wondering: Are they in my closet? Under my bed? Or waiting for me outside so they can grab me? It’s a very threatening thought to know that all those monsters are still out there waiting for their next victim. Here’s another question to think about then. What if you knew you were going to be the next victim for all of those villains? Would you run and hide or face your fears and become their friend in an attempt to save you life?

Chapter 1

It was moving day for Miles Rivers and his family. They were leaving the small town of Southport, N.C. After all the events of the past summer including the murder of Miles’ sister, Helen, his parents didn’t feel they could live there anymore. So they were moving to a place Miles dreaded learning more about. The Rivers family was moving to Fear Road in Salem, MA. His parents didn’t seem to notice the creepiness of their new hometown but Miles certainly did. Around Halloween there were always stories of Salem being told in his classes. It was full of witches and ghosts and goblins and other unimaginable horrors, so why on earth would Miles’ parents want to move there after everything? He had no idea! Since there wasn’t much of a choice, Miles packed up his things and put them in the moving van. Then he went off to his last day of school at Southport High.


Chapter 2

Miles arrived at school just as the bell was ringing. He didn’t mind though and doubted any of his teachers would mind either. It was his last day at Southport High. Tomorrow was the weekend and instead of spending it with his friends, he’d be spending it driving and moving into his new house (he refused to call it home because to him Southport would always be home). Then next Monday he would be the new kid. It was going to suck to be the new kid as a sophomore. At least as a freshman no one would have noticed he was new because they were all new. Now he would be the sore thumb sticking out to the whole world to be made fun of. He wished Helen were here. She would have known exactly what to say to make it all better, but if Helen were here then they wouldn’t be moving so there wouldn’t be a problem anyway.

Just as Miles got to his locker his friend, Nick came over to say goodbye. Or at least that’s what Miles thought. When Nick came closer he had a crazed look in his eyes.

“Don’t go Miles. The horror will be too much for you. You will die. I’ve seen it,” whispered Nick in a creepy voice. Miles jokingly punched Nick in the shoulder, laughed at the joke, and walked off to his homeroom. The rest of Miles’ day was a blur of teachers and friends saying goodbye. At the end of the day Miles had almost forgotten about Nick’s frightening warning. Out in the parking lot, Nick was just about to get into his car but as if hearing Miles’ thoughts he stopped and turned to look up the front steps, directly into Miles’ eyes. Miles felt a shiver go through his entire body and quickly looked away. He grabbed his bike and rode home as if the devil was behind him…and maybe it was.


Chapter 3

The next day was moving day. Miles grabbed his backpack and sulkingly went to sit in the car. He put his iPod on full volume and ignored his parents’ requests to turn it down. He hoped they got his message that he was not happy about this move, and eventually they stopped pestering him. The next 15 hours and 29 minutes were spent in silence as the family drove off to their new life in Salem, MA.

When they finally arrived, Miles jumped out of the car and ran for his bags, hoping to escape the family speech of their wonderful new life that was about to begin. But he wasn’t quite quick enough. His father grabbed him by his backpack and pulled him into a group hug. After his father’s speech, which seemed to go on for hours, Miles was finally permitted to get his things, pick a bedroom, and sulk there until dinner.

It wasn’t until he was inside the house looking for a bedroom that he realized there were 4 bedrooms. His parents had wanted to leave Southport to move on from Helen’s death yet they unknowing (or knowingly maybe) had bought a 4 bedroom house for themselves, Miles, and Helen. Miles knew he should’ve been happy that Helen had spiritually come with them but he just couldn’t seem to make himself feel it. He was angry! Angry with Helen for leaving him alone, angry with his parents for making him leave everything he loved, angry with them for making him leave Helen…and there it was. He wasn’t really angry at the move; he was angry that they had left Helen behind. They were here starting a whole new life without her while she was rotting away in a grave alone in Southport Cemetery. Miles picked the bedroom with the porch because he knew that if she were with them, Helen would’ve picked it too. Then he sat down on the floor and cried until his mother called him down for dinner.

Chapter 4

Monday morning Miles woke up with a start. He had forgotten to set his alarm for school! He rushed to get ready, ate a quick breakfast, grabbed his bike, and raced to school. He already knew he was going to be late and that was definitely not a good way to start off at a new school. When Miles arrived at the school he rushed into the main office to get his schedule. Sitting at the front desk was a young woman with curly brown hair and as Miles stood watching her he could almost swear her hair was…crawling. Shrugging off the weirdness as first day nerves, Miles approached the desk. It was then he noticed the woman was also wearing dark sunglasses.

“Hello. My name is Miles Rivers. I’m supposed to be starting school here today. Can I please have my schedule?”
The women looked up and with a sickeningly sweet smile handed Miles his schedule. She then went straight back to typing on her computer. Miles looked at his schedule and saw he was in homeroom 666. So after locating a map in the front lobby he hastily rushed up the stairs and down the hall into his new homeroom. Miles arrived just as the teacher began attendance.

“Frankie Stein, Clawdeen Wolf, Clawd Wolf, Draculaura, Deuce Gorgon, Spectra Vondergeist, Miles Rivers” called out Miss Victoria. The names were each followed by a rustle from each student. All were now too busy staring at the strange newcomer in the classroom. Miss Victoria though was undisrupted by Miles and went right on teaching History.

“Today class we will be starting a new project. It will be a class project but you may still have to work on it outside of class also. We are each going to do a family tree and then present them to the class in 2 weeks. Sound easy enough?” The class grumbled their agreement and began jotting down what they already knew of their family trees. Miss Victoria then took Miles and seated him next to Frankie Stein. As Miles was reaching into his backpack for his notebook he glanced a look at Frankie’s paper. So far on her family tree she had written down Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Miles laughed at her joke and went back to writing his family tree.
Miles was excited to go home and talk to his parents about his first day of school and his history assignment. He knew they would love to help him because it would take their minds off the moving and off of Helen. So when the final bell rang, Miles ran to the bike rack to get his bike. Standing next to his bike was Clawd Wolf. Miles remembered him from history class. He smiled and went to unlock his bike but Clawd was standing right in the way. Clawd glared at Miles and for the first time Miles realized how furry Clawd really was. A little bit disgusted Miles quickly grabbed his bike and rode home.


Chapter 5
When Miles got home, he gave his mother a kiss and ran upstairs to do homework, but as any teenager knows homework is quickly taken over by Facebook. Miles was telling his friends from Southport about his new school and the freaks within it when a new notification popped up. Spectra Vondergeist wanted to be his friend it said. Miles accepted for he thought she was cute even if she was REALLY pale. After talking to his friends for another couple of hours they had to log off so he said goodbye and was going to do his homework but decided to check out Spectra’s wall first. He learned some very interesting things about her that day. He learned she was 16, which was perfect because he was too. His parents wouldn’t mind him having a new friend the same age as him. He also learned that her parents were named Casper and Bloody Mary. For some reason those names sounded familiar and he figured he could ask his parents about them at dinner. On a whim he decided to friend everyone in his history class. They might need some help on their projects and he might need help on his. When he logged back on later after dinner everyone had accepted. He decided to look at the walls the next day because he was awfully tired for some reason. Miles set his alarm and crawled into bed.
The next morning as Miles was eating breakfast there was a knock on the front door. Unsure of whom it might be he looked through the peephole. What he saw was a pink and black swirl of color as Draculaura was spinning around on his front porch.
“Hey Miles,” she said, “I was wondering if you wanted to walk to school together today?” Miles couldn’t help but smile. He went to grab his backpack and the two walked off together. A few minutes later a car pulled over next to them. It was Deuce Gorgon and his mother. He offered them a ride to school with him. They accepted and climbed into the back seat. As he was getting in Miles noticed that Deuce’s mother was the lady from the front desk in the office.
“Hey guys. Miles this is my mother, Medusa.” Now there was a name Miles knew. His friends back home would die at the jokes these people played, but then he realized no one else was laughing with him. Maybe, just maybe these people weren’t kidding him. Maybe Salem was a lot more like the Halloween stories than anyone else knew. Medusa parked in the teacher’s parking lot and the kids all thanked her as they went running off to homeroom.
Once in homeroom Miles took his seat next to Frankie. When he looked at her he noticed that the stitches in her arm were coming loose. He was a little shocked but he politely told her and she fixed them quickly. Then she smiled at him. Miles was, for the first time since Helen’s death, starting to feel a little bit happy.
That day at lunch Miles thought he would sit with his classmates, but when he approached their table he heard them talking about him.
“I know we aren’t supposed to like them but he’s really cute,” said Spectra.
“I agree. He seems harmless. Besides there must be something about him or Medusa wouldn’t have put him in our class,” said Frankie.
“He lives 2 houses down from us. I saw him moving in the other day,” Clawd said.
“His family chose to live on our street and put him in our class. There must be something we just have to figure out what it is before our parents kill them,” Clawdeen said.
“Kill us! Why would your parents want to kill us? They don’t even know us! What could we possibly have done wrong?” screamed Miles.
Everyone in the cafeteria turned to look at him. His classmates looked very upset, but he didn’t care. Miles did what he did best. He turned and ran away. He ran until he was in homeroom. Miss Victoria looked up when he came in but didn’t seem to mind as he grabbed his stuff and ran back out of the room. Down the stairs and into Deuce who for the first time since Miles had met him wasn’t wearing sunglasses. Miles knew his mom but didn’t believe she was the real Medusa. Those were just myths and legends. So he kept walking, right up to Deuce and looked him in the eyes.
Miles woke up in the nurse’s office a few hours later with a splitting headache. Deuce had turned him to stone! For the past 2 hours he had been a stone statue because Deuce, son of Medusa, had turned him into one. Those myths and legends were true. The characters and their families were living on Fear Road in Salem, MA and so was his family. Miles knew he had to warn his family so when the nurse wasn’t looking he ran out of the school and all the way home. As he was mounting the stairs he stopped to think. His parents wouldn’t believe him. A few days ago he wouldn’t have believed it himself. Next week was Halloween. He would convince his parents to throw a Halloween party and invite all the neighbors. Then they would see for themselves all the horror that was surrounding them.


Chapter 6
That night Miles talked to his parents about the Halloween party and surprisingly they thought it was a great idea. So the next day at school Miles handed out invitations to the party. All his classmates gave him a strange look but figured he had forgotten everything after talking to Deuce. So they all said they would love to come and would ask their parents.
There was only a few more days until their family trees were due, so they were diligently working on their projects during class. Miss Victoria was making her own tree as well but Miles didn’t know if she should be invited. In the end he decided there must be something about her too or she wouldn’t be teaching this class of monsters, so he gave her an invite as well. She told him she would come.

Chapter 7

It was finally Halloween! Everyone had agreed to come to the party and there were only 3 more hours until it began. Miles’ parents had dressed as mummies. Miles had refused to dress up, figuring it was best not to offend any of their guests with an immature costume of them.

At exactly 7 the doorbell rang. Miles ran to answer the door while his parents put out the last of the food in the dining room. Outside was Deuce with his parents, Medusa and Poseidon. Miles’ parents screamed when they walked into the foyer. Miles smiled with satisfaction but his smile faded when his mother began talking to Medusa. She was completely unfazed by the snakes and sunglasses. His father was busy fawning over Poseidon’s trident, which left Miles and Deuce standing in the hallway awkwardly. This was not going well so far. Next came Draculaura with her parents, Count Dracula and Katherine Pierce. When Miles’ mother offered them some food they politely declined saying they would rather some tasty blood. She laughed and walked away thinking it was just part of their costumes. Miles didn’t know what he had done. He had willingly invited a bunch of monsters into his house and now his family was in even more danger than ever, but the doorbell interrupted his thoughts. It was Clawdeen, Clawd, and their parents, the Werewolves. Miles wished that his family had never had to move and that Helen were still with them so they could be in Southport, but that was never going to happen. Frankie Stein and her parents, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein were the next to arrive. Miles’ father was enthralled by the bolts in Frankenstein’s neck and couldn’t understand how they stayed there so well. Only one family was missing and for some reason Miles found himself missing them. At the next ring of the doorbell Miles jumped off the couch where he had been talking to Frankie and ran over his mother to answer the door. Finally, it was Spectra and her parents, Casper and Bloody Mary. There was someone else with them though. Trying to look around Spectra, Miles almost had a heart attack. Behind her was…Helen. His parents really couldn’t miss what was happening if they saw Helen, but the look in her eyes told Miles that she didn’t want to see them. They wouldn’t understand; they would never understand. That was the point. They were safe if they didn’t understand. They thought it was Halloween. Draculaura’s parents were only pretending to be Count Dracula and Katherine. They weren’t really vampires. Miles finally knew how to save his family and save their new life on Fear Road in Salem, MA. He would pretend too. His family was full of mummies. The neighbors thought they were mummies and they thought the neighbors were dressed up. If they could just pull of this one night then there would be no need for worry because they wouldn’t have to see each other ever again and the adults wouldn’t want to kill his parents. His friends knew he was a human, but they didn’t care. They would cover for him for as long as he needed. His family would be okay living here. Miles had a ghost sister hidden in his room, his parents were considered mummies, and he had made a bunch of new friends. Fear Road wasn’t all that fearsome anymore. In fact, it looked almost peaceful…at least for now.