Terror Time Again (Venezia & Halloween Challenge)

Terror time again, the porch light’s on the blink Kids in plastic masks stop talking when they think It’s not the fake blood, it’s the door that won’t stay shut It’s the old house key nobody should have tucked Terror time again, hear the screen door rattle Costumes at the window, but there’s something in the hallway Jack-o’-lantern grin, burnt out by eleven Then the basement light comes on like somebody’s checking Not ghosts in the trees, not a guy with a chainsaw It’s the cold in your sink and the name on the mailbox It’s the laugh from next door where the blinds never move And your phone in your hand with no signal coming through Terror time again, the street gets real quiet Candy bowl gone empty, and nobody denied it A mask on the counter, a footprint in the mud A whisper in the vent saying, “don’t look up” The true terrors of Halloween Hide in the corners between what you see In the knock, in the pause, in the house across the street Terror time again, and it’s coming for me No costume can cover the fear in the room When the power cuts out at the top of the stairs And the joke that you laughed at from a passing car Feels different at 1:13 in the dark Terror time again, keep your windows locked Keep your trick-or-treat smiles for the kids on the block Because the real thing waits with a patient face At the end of the driveway where the street runs blank The true terrors of Halloween Don’t need a curse or a full moon scene Just one open door and a familiar name Terror time again, and nothing stays the same