Ascend
Spooktacular Fall Edition 2019
Ascend
Halloween Edition October 2019 Editor: Jeanine Grant Art Directors: Gayla Dufresne & McKenzie “Jaye” Murk
Logo Created by: McKenzie “Jaye” Murk
Staff Bryan DeErbiti, Kearstin Frazier, Casey Wood, Samuel Egas, Nakia Jackson
Faculty Advisors Darlene Pistocchi - Editorial Kallie Dionne – Art and Design John McCoy - Layout & Production
Publication of Ascend Academy Charter High School Student Media. All rights reserved, 2019.
Paula Hidalgo
Table of Contents Art Work Cover art: Jahnoah Furbert Illustrations: Khalilah Exantus, Arianna Bencid, Antwon Paulk, Latiah Sinclair, Nelson Calderon, Paula Hidalgo
Stories
A Night of Bloodshed Khalilah Exantus Fangs Pablo Zapata The Call Annie Rosario-Gonzalez The Baby Clown Masked Killer Alexandra & Angelica Guzman
No Supervision Kayla Sheffield The Strange Things of Sickaport Drive ReNyshai Kelly
Odds & Ends Danna Parra, Nicole Bulla
No Supervision by: Kayla Sheffield
One foggy night, October 31, 2019, Jamya and Jimmy asked their mom if they could go trick or treating - by themselves this year. They always go with someone older than them and their mom agreed to let them go alone for the first time this year. Around 8:00PM that night they started to leave the house, but then Jimmy got a call from an unknown number. He never answers unknown numbers but he decided to answer and when he did, the man on the phone sounded really strange. Jimmy started to say hello but the voice cut him off. “HELLO JIMMY! I know what you and your sister are wearing...” Jimmy stuttered. “How do you know what we’re wearing? Who are you and how did you get my number?” In the creepiest laugh, the man abruptly said, “Jimmy, I love Jamya’s Freddie Crougar outfit… and your Jason outfit is just right for tonight. Until we meet again...” Before Jimmy could reply, the call disconnected. He quickly rushed out the door with Jamya, not saying a word to his mom or Jamya about the phone call because he just thought it was a big joke; but in the back of his mind, he had doubts about going trick or treating alone. Time passed quickly. Jimmy and Jamya didn’t even realize they had been to most houses in the neighborhood but when he looked at his phone for the time he realized they only had 15 more minutes before they had to go home. Jimmy took Jamya to one more house, the haunted house in the very back of the neighborhood. Jimmy got the chills when he rang the door bell. No one answered. He spotted a letter on the porch. He bent over to pick it up. He opened it and read it
“Hello, Jimmy and Jamya. No one is home. I told you earlier on the phone until we meet again and here you are with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide… BOO!” Jimmy screamed. Jamya is scared but Jimmy doesn’t say anything. Instead, he grabs her hand and shakes in fear. He pulls out his phone to call his mom but his phone is completely dead. Jamya cries not knowing why her brother is scared. She begs him to tell her what’s going on but he only says… “Jamya, I’m sorry but somebody is watching us and I don’t know what to do. I can’t call mom, my phone is dead.” Jamya starts to say something but screams coming from inside the house cut her off. The door quickly opens fast enough to shock Jamya and Jimmy. While the door is open, someone yells, “Jamya , Jimmy, HELP PLEASE HELP !” They both look at each other. “MOM IS THAT YOU MOM ARE YOU OK ?!” They run into the house screaming for their mom, but once they get in the house the door slams shut behind them. All they hear is, “BOO!” Then, there wer no more voices coming from the house. Khalilah Exantus
The Strange Things Of Sickaport Dr.
by: Re’Nyshai Kelly
Legend has it that if you were to walk pass the Laraints’ house in the morning, you will see Mrs. Laraint sitting in the upstairs window. Also, if you were to walk past the Laraints’ house in the evening, you would see Mr. Laraint sitting in the rocking chair, weirdly stroking the fur of their 15 year old cat, Fitters. Every year since Halloween of 1975, things have gotten weirder in the town of Spookdale. When you mention ‘The Laraints’ at the neighborhood diner, Luchey’s, everyone immediately stops and the diner is filled with silence. The Laraints were an oddly weird set of people (not to mention their son, Campbell). If you were to take a first look at The Laraints, you would think that they’re decent people. They were the type of people to look at you with disgust and the eyes of hungry killers. Mrs. Laraint was the prime suspect of a tripple murder that occurred on March 17, 1975. She killed a newly wedded couple and their infant daughter because she was caught sneaking in their toolshed and prior to that, she was caught looking into their daughters bedroom. When they confronted her about it, that’s when she lashed out and killed them. She only served 12 days in jail because somehow, the court didn’t have enough evidence to convict her. She was actually born Janel Robertson, but later changed her name to Marcia Linton in October of 1975, a couple months after she was allegendly accused of a tripple murder.
She met her husband, Mark at the local diner (Luchey’s in 1985). They later got married in 1989. She never thought to tell her new husband about who she really was or what she had done in the past. The Jenstins, who moved down the street (3871 Sickaport Drive) were new to the area. They also had a set of twin boys, Charles and Charlie.
Nancy decided to dig a little deeper into the investigation.
On October 28, 1994, less than 72 hours till Halloween, The Laraints were attending ‘Chicken Wing’ Wednesday at The Jenstins residence. That Wednesday night, the wind howled like a werewolf on a cold night, the orange fall leaves running around in circles. The trees swaying in the wind. George Jenstin was having doubts about having their neighbors over for dinner at their house because he’d heard some ghastly things
about Maria. Maria was also accused of killing The Calvertsons’ puppies, Jack and Sintle, but he believed that everyone deserves a second chance and plus, he wanted to get to know them for himself. When they arrived, Mrs. Jenstin (or Nancy I should say), was startled by something. Something that seemed weird and unusual to her. The Jentins moved to Palm Springs because Nancy was offered a position as a detective at PSPD and George was offered a position as a medical Arianna Bencid examiner at PSMC. Marcia over heard that a new detecive was looking into the tripple murder that she was accused of, so Marcia asked to use the bathroom, picked the lock that led to Nancy’s office that she kept a lock on, and started to snoop around. She snooped around Nancy’s office hoping to find anything pertaining to the tripple murder investigation. Marcia was caught by Charles and he went and told his mom. By the time Nancy came up the stairs, Marcia was coincidentally coming out of the bathroom at the same time. That made Nancy really suspicious. Dinner started at 7, and it was now a quarter til’ 10, when everyone decided to call it a night. When the Laraints left, Nancy had discussed with her husband, George what Charles had told her and he found it strange that she was snooping in his wife’s office. Nancy went up to her office and thought about what Maria could be looking for and it bothered her all day. It taunted her all day and it threw her off at work. Nobody mentioned anything to The Jenstins about Marcia Laraint and the things that she was capable of. Nancy decided to dig a little deeper into the investigation. She opened up a locked file about the murder that involved a individual named Janel Robertson. Janel Robertson had light brown hair with blonde highlights, green eyes, a piercing on her eye and lip. The mugshot of Janel Robertson didn’t sit right with her. Nancy’s gut was
Antwon Paulk
telling her that something wasn’t right about this Janel woman and she knew that recognized her, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. She overheard two women in Luchey’s diner talking about what “Janel” had done and how they thought that Maria was behind it as well. So what did Nancy do?? She decided to do facial recognition. She compared Janel’s picture and Maria’s picture…. And boy was Nancy in for a surprise! There was a 97.8% match that they were the same person. Maria Linton has blonde hair, but her roots were dark brown. Her original eye color was green, but she wore contacts to make them appear grey. Where she had her lip and eye piercing, the piercing holes closed. Now that Nancy knew the truth about Maria or whoever she was, she shared the shocking news with her husband, George. The next day which was the 30th, Nancy confronted Maria about the tripple murder and of course she denied it. Maria knew she had to do something because if she didn’t, her secret would get out. She invited Nancy in for a cup of tea and a slice of key lime pie. She secretly put rat poison in the key lime pie. Nancy knew what she was getting herself into and she also knew that she had to watch her back. Nancy knew that if she wasn’t cautious, she and her family were going to be her next victims. She texted her children and told them that she was at the Laraints’ house just in case something was to happen. Maria offered Nancy a slice of Key Lime Pie and of course she accepted because she didn’t want Maria to suspect anything. She waited until Marcia went in the kitchen again and she threw the cake under the table, but acted as if she ate it. Marcia’s husband Mark took their son, Campbell out to the museum. A few hours passed, three to be exact and George, Nancy’s husband was getting suspicious because his wife hadn’t come home. He asked the kids if they had seen their mother and Charlie told his dad that they’re mother said that she was going to the Laraints’ house and that if she isn’t back by dinner time, come and look for her. George knew exactly what that meant because the night before, Nancy had told her husband about the tripple murder that Janel Robertson (a.k.a. Maria Laraint) had committed and she even showed him the evidence that it was really her.
By this time Nancy had been gone for five hours and her husband was starting to get worried, so he asked his mom, Martha to watch the boys. When his mom arrived, he walked down the street to the Laraints’ house and asked Maria if she had seen his wife. She said that she had left 20 minutes ago, prior to George coming. George had become really suspicious because his wife hadn’t been home in nearly 8 hours and she wasn’t picking up her phone. That left George no choice. He immediately called Nancy’s boss, Frank and asked him about the case she was working on. By law, he wasn’t able to discuss that type of information with George. George stood wondering what could’ve happened to his wife.
Danna Parra
A Night of Bloodshed By Khalilah Exantus
Darkness… that was all I saw when my eyes fluttered open. I was confused. Actually, I was more furious than confused. After I woke up I felt an immediate agonizing headache. Then I realized how I couldn’t move even an inch. “I must be tied down” I mumbled while groaning for the fact I was sitting down on something that I assume was a chair. I can feel the fiber of ropes squeezing into my wrist from the back of the chair that would most certainly leave a dark bruise. Having no knowledge of where I am or recall what happened before, I dreaded to admit I’m very agitated of what plan does my outcome haves for my unusual situation.
This will be a night of bloodshed.
After what felt like hours, something that was covering my face was removed revealing extreme yellow spectrum light that scorches my eyes. Finally able to look around, I took in my surroundings. It seems like it was an abandoned room since the walls were torn, Probably filled with mold by now. Also, I can see the rat crawling from the corners including only one small window demonstrating the dark foggy night. Once I had a good inspection I turned my attention to the ones who gave me permission to look around in the first place. It was quite an alarming sight, two figures that seemed like females wearing all black with a disturbing clown
mask you could find in some scary Halloween costume store. One female walked close to me while the other one left the room I was trapped in. The female walking towards me was what particularly stood out, it was very slow, it seemed more like stalking than walking to think about it. It was as if she was the predator while I was her prey that would soon become her dinner. “Hello, Mr. Verzo….It seems like you’re in a quite catastrophic situation… but fear not...soon you’ll be out of your misery… it’s quite unfortunate for you since it will be a…..SLOW and PAINFUL process.” The unknown female whispered in my ear, she said it in a way that would send someone shivers to their spine as well makes them sweat as if it was an extremely hot day. Rough, sinister, she sounded like someone who escaped out of a high facility asylum. From hearing her words… I was now terrified. I quickly struggle, wiggle, I almost did anything that was making my chair jump which had already tipped over to my left side which made me hiss in pain from the impact hitting the freezing hard floor. What was the most sickening part…. this woman….. in front of me... watching me ...as if she was enjoying my pain. “ Who are you, insane monster?!?!”
I yelled in anger to try to hide my fear. The female still standing in front of me started giggling that soon turned into sinister laughter. After a long chilling laughter, she grabbed my hair harshly forcing me to look into those cold eyes behind that clown mask. “Monster?...I’m much less of a monster compared to what you’ve done to others… you killed innocent lives...amused by the cries from the ones who were close to them... now we will do the world a favor by eliminating the source of all those suffering.” She said with a voice full of hatred. When she finishes saying her petrifying promise, the other female that left earlier returned with something seeming like metal in her hand. When I had a good look, my eyes widen in fear seeing a sharp chainsaw in her grasp. When she came close enough I look at her eyes behind her mask…..it looked empty as if she has no pity of what murderous act she’ll commit upon me. Soon after, the female who was gripping my hair pushed my head to the ground forcing me to stand still. My face was in ground so I couldn’t see anything. However, hearing the power of the chainsaw starting ...I knew… This will be a night of bloodshed.
Fangs By: Pablo Zapata
It was a dark and rainy Halloween night. Pablo had just left his house in his vampire costume, which he wears almost every year, and was waiting on his driveway to go to one of his friend’s house who was having a Halloween party. His friend lived pretty far away, so he had to take an Uber. His phone rang. It was the Uber driver. “Hello, I’m at the pickup location” said the Uber driver. Pablo looked around, but saw no cars in sight. He blinked and there the car was, sitting in front of his driveway. Pablo walked towards the car and got in. It was dark inside the car, too dark to make out anything in the car except two, what seemed to be, fangs. “Hello there,” said the fanged driver, “I’ll have you at your destination in no time.”, “Alright,” replied Pablo. So the driver started driving and around 5 minutes into the ride, Pablo noticed the driver was taking wrong turns, so Pablo said, “Sir,” you’re going the wrong way.” The Driver replied,“Trust me, I’m not. Look behind us.” Pablo turned and looked out the back window. Through the rain, he saw a dark black car behind them. “Are they following us?” Pablo asked. The Driver grunted, “Yes.” Immediately after that, the black car rammed into them, causing the car, Pablo and the Driver were in to tumble and flip over multiple times. Pablo woke up upside down, seconds later in the car wreck due to the rain hitting his face., He could hear growls coming from outside the car. So he started to attempt to get out of the car, his ankle was twisted but he managed to get out. In front of him stood what seemed to be a monster of a man floating in front of him and some men getting out of the
car that had just rammed into him. The man floating in front of him turned around and all Pablo saw were bright, red glowing eyes and the fangs, just like the ones from before, but longer - glistening from the constant lightning. He looked at Pablo and announced, “My name is Morbius and I have been waiting centuries for you to be born. Throughout your life, I have been watching over you until you became old enough. Your true name is Greep and you are of my royal blood, my heir, to the vampire throne.” The men beside the dark black car started to scream and fell to the ground. “This may hurt but it is necessary that I activate your powers so we may stand a chance against these beasts.” Pablo blinked and immediately he felt agony throughout his body. Morbius had bitten Pablo to awaken his vampiric bloodline. The men in front of Morbius were now enormous, tall, wild, vicious werewolves, saliva running down their long and revolting fangs. Pablo was still transforming, his canines started to form into long, sharp fangs, his skin turned grey and flawless and his eyes turned bright, glowing red. The werewolves start sprinting towards Morbius, he launched one at a car with just a single punch and started to wrestle another. Pablo now started to regain control of his body, standing up and stretching his newly defined body. He licked his fangs and looked towards a werewolf, getting ready to pounce. His new DNA pulsing through his veins, ready to attack the enemy.
Nicole Bulla
Latiah Sinclair
THE CALL by: Annie Rosario-Gonzalez
HE’S ALIVE!!! Screams the television as Bella lay’s back on the couch drowning in candy and soda cans. It’s Halloween, parents are out and house to herself, can her night get any better? RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! Echoes the phone down the hall into the living room from where Bella is. Must be her parents, she thought., Bella walks down the hall to the phone, “Hey dad!” she answers….. but no response. “Dad I think you butt dialed me,” she jokingly says ...only now low breathing could be heard.
Bella, standing there in fear as the breathing gets louder and louder and BAM! She slams the phone down, walks away in confusion, shaking off the nerves thinking its just her dad messing around. It’s getting late Bella thinks to herself as she looks over at the clock, 3am. “The devil’s hour,” she said to herself in a deep manly voice followed by laughter. As she makes her way up the stairs, RUFF! RUFF! RUFF! Oreo, Bella’s cream colored Yorkie, begins to bark aggressively when Bella goes to take a look Oreo is standing on all fours staring at the phone. Bella then wonders why the house is so pitch quiet that you can hear even the tiniest pin drop. “Maybe it’s time to call mom and dad” she says to herself, Bella picks up the phone dials the number and BEEEEEPPPPPP…...the phone is disconnected?! How?! Bella storms up stairs to get her phone and NO SERVICE big and bold on her screen. RING! RING! RING! Bella slowly creeps downstairs, Oreo barking uncontrollably, Bella full of fear reaches for the phone. Ring around the rosy, chimes through, “DAD! Yells Bella into the phone “This isn’t funny anymore something doesn’t feel right, hurry home!!! Ashes Ashes we all fall down ...chimes through before…. BEEEEPPPPP….disconnects. Bella in tears frozen, not a limb could be moved, wonders why the 2nd verse of the chime sounded manly and distorted. “No,” whispers Bella, NO! NO! NO! yells as she runs to the living room to find, “Ring around the rosy” chimes through the television while showing only static on the screen. “Ashes Ashes we all fall”...silence heard throughout the house. “Everything ok,” whispers Bella to herself…... DOWN! A manly disoriented voice creeps behind her, all that can be heard were the screams and cries of Bella. “NO PLEASE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Bella’s death was left unsolved and shocked the whole town, the myth of “The Call” still lingers. RING! RING! RING! Aren’t you going to answer that?
Nelson Calderon
The Baby Clown Masked Killer By: Alexandra, Angelica Guzman It was October Twenty-fifth, just a couple days before Halloween when four kids went to a carnival and only two came back.. -- Lily’s POV: I was dancing in a crowd full of people at a carnival that happens every year. The same rides and the same food got boring we wanted more to thrive on. It was a month full of ghosts, candy and scary stories. “Come on Lilly we want to go get corn dogs!” Rayleigh said taking my attention from what I was doing: Dancing. “Really Ray? We can get corn dogs any day of the week and yet you want them now?” I questioned walking towards her. “Don’t you get tired of doing the same thing every year?” I groaned not feeling the festival vibe everyone around me was feeling. “Hey ladies!” Casey said winking at us and walking towards us with both Fabio and Carolina in tow. “What’s up?” He asked. “Nothing Lily is just complaining as usual.” Ray said giving me the side eye. “Hey, it’s not her fault this place is boring.” I said defending myself. “We come here and do the same thing every year. I can’t believe you guys aren’t bored yet.” “I don’t see how anyone could be bored here.” Carolina said looking around in awe. “Bumper carts anyone?” Casey said changing the subject and walking towards the already long line of people in line for the bumper carts ahead of us. I followed them towards the line not
wanting to be here any longer. Everything I said obviously went over their heads. “You know Lilly if you really wanted to have some fun there is a Haunted house in the back of this carnival that’s off limits we could go too.” Fabio said walking next to me. “Are you talking about that house those four kids died in?” I questioned strangely interested but I mean anything was better than this. “They didn’t just die they were slaughtered.” Casey said in a scary voice that he thought would scare me but I wasn’t scared I was intrigued. “I’m down. How about you guys? You want to check this place out?” I asked. “Let’s do it!” They all screamed excitedly. We all headed towards the back of the carnival that had caution tape around it. As my friends crossed the line I watched to make sure no security or cops on site saw what we were doing. But then I felt eyes watching me and not the good kind these eyes felt like death and it made my heart race rapidly in my chest. I looked around for a pair of eyes only finding someone with a weirdly decorated baby clown face watching me. He was wearing a white shirt plastered with what looked like blood and a pair of blacksweatpants and dark red sneakers. I quickly turned away from him and followed my friends not wanting to be separated from them. “Are we sure this is a good idea?” I questioned not really feeling excited about this anymore. “You scared Lily? You’re the one who wanted more adventure besides this should be fun and that’s exactly what you wanted right? Fun.” Ray said shoving me playfully. She was right, this was the kind of fun I have been looking for all night and now that I had it I wasn’t so sure I wanted to keep it. I was scared and I had a bad feeling in my stomach. “I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.” I said watching my surroundings not wanting anything to pop out of anywhere without warning. We crossed the path from the woods and headed in the direction of the house. If this were a movie this would be the part where that stupid suspenceful music would play. We all stopped in front of the house just looking up at it. If I didn’t know what had happened in the house I would say the house was decent. You would just have to fix a couple things, like the windows and the
broken gate and cut the grass - then, the grey house wouldn’t look so... Grey. “Who wants to go first?” Carolina asked taking a step back from the house. That was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to leave and never come back. I would rather be at the carnival then be here right now. I was that scared. Our silence was soon cut short by the sound of a scream. We all turned our head and that baby clown face person was standing over Ray’s now dead body with his machete dripping in her blood. Nobody moved as we were all shocked until we weren’t anymore and we all ran towards the house. “What.. ``what was that?” Casey asked when we locked ourselves in the house. I didn’t know what that was. I was confused myself but I wasn’t confused about one thing.. They were here to kill us and I wasn’t ready to die just yet. Fabio was leaning against the door trying to hold it close when we heard a bang like something was hitting the door. We all screamed again when we realized what it was. Whoever this person was not here to play as he used his machete cutting a hole in the door and stabbing Fabio through his chest. We watched as the blood spilled from
Carolina screamed before running at him with the wooden stick in her hand his mouth and a piece of his organ where he was stabbed fell to the floor, just looking at it made me want to throw up. His death was silent but still very much deadly and had us all wishing we stayed at the carnival. I felt guilty if I hadn’t been so selfish, none of this would have happened. Seeing as the killer had almost opened the door we all ran up the stairs not wanting to split up we stayed together locking ourselves in a room on the far side of the house, crying not knowing what to do? “What is happening right now?” Casy asked confused and out of breath. “I don’t know but we need to get out of here.” Carolina said with tears streaming down her face. I couldn’t mourn the loss of my friends until we get out of here alive. I needed to keep my mind clear and come up with something that helped us get out of here alive. “Does anyone have a connection on their phone?” I asked putting my phone back in my back pocket when I realized I didn’t have any data in
this house. We were running out of time and we needed to come up with a plan if we wanted to live through tonight. “No.” Carolina said trying to calm herself down. “I can’t find my phone. I must have dropped it outside.” Casey groaned. Just then Carolina’s started ringing and a picture with Casey’s face on it. We all looked at each other bugged eyed not sure what to do. The phone rang only a couple times before it stopped and a text came through. You’re all next.. “I thought you didn’t have connection!” Casey screamed grabbing her phone from her hands and trying to ring the police. A loud bang came from down stairs making us all jump. “We have to get out of here!” Carolina said starting to hyperventilate. “Calm down Carolina were going to get out of here alive.” I growled at her not knowing if I was telling her the truth or not. Even though I wanted to be. “No were not. I’m never going to see my family again.” She said tears streaming down her face and her heart beating rapidly in her chest. “Yes you are.” I said moving around the room trying to find something we could fight with. There was a dressing table in the room but I wasn’t sure that could be useful. I walked towards the table and shook it. The legs were loose and old so it made it easier to rip the legs off. I grabbed a leg for each of my friends and gave it to them. There was a bang on the door and then another and another and then he slammed through the door and slowly walked towards inside the room heading towards us trying to intimidate us.. Carolina screamed before running at him with the wooden stick in her hand. She didn’t do much damage seeing as he had the machete in hand and then he decapitated her with a quick swing. Her head fell and
rolled on the floor towards us where we were standing, before she could even touch him and killed her just like he killed all of our other friends. I screamed. We were losing and there was nothing we could do about it. I was pissed. No I was angry. I looked over at Casey and he nodded at me and we both ran towards the masked man jabbing him with the wood hoping we could at least get him on the floor or something. He swung his machete around trying to fight us both off and he managed to cut my right arm off with it when I wasn’t paying good enough attention to where he was throwing his machete around. I was bleeding I could feel the blood dripping and I was beginning to feel drowsy. I immediately fell to my knees as I watched Casey continued to fight off the masked baby clown killer. He managed to beat him and with his own machete he proceeded to cut the killer’s throat. Last thing I saw was Casey running up to me and told me to stay with him but I couldn’t fight it and I ended up passing out. Lilly I opened my eyes and everything was blurry. I rubbed my eyes to see better. I notice that I am in a car with all of my friends and I still had my right arm. Then it hit me like a slap in the face. “We’re alive!” I said while clapping my hands in joy. Casey looked at me through the rear view mirror and everyone else turned to me. I was then overwhelmed with a million questions. “What the hell?” Exclaimed Casey. “Huh?” Said Carolina. “Are you okay?” Asked Ray. Fabio looked at me as if I were crazy. I then told everyone about the craziest dream I had about all of us being murder and how I got my whole right arm cut off. Turns out that we were actually on our way to the carnival, and there was no such thing as a haunted house where children went missing and a baby clown masked killer.
THE END.
A Publication of Ascend Academy Charter High School