The Old Comic Book
Lit Up Halloween Spooks

Mary found a copy of an old comic book resting atop a trunk in a dark corner. It was the first exciting thing she had found in the house since she and her mother had moved into their new home; sneaking into the attic had yielded treasure. Mary hoped the comic would have superheroes, but the comic’s cover depicted a ghoulish monster eating a frightened woman rather than heroic action.
The comic featured three stories. In the first, an orphan boy on his uncle’s country estate cruelly burns ants with a magnifying glass. The boy wakes up one morning to discover that his face now has antennae and mandibles like those of an ant. His peers bully him and he flees to the woods, where he is eaten by a nest of burnt, vengeful ants.
The second story was about a pretty woman kidnapped by a vampire, a werewolf, and a swamp creature; the monsters debate which shall have her for dinner. The woman manipulates the vampire into killing the werewolf and swamp creature, and then reveals that she is a succubus before driving a stake through the vampire.
The third and final story showcased a young girl who goes snooping in the attic of the old mansion to which she and her mother had just moved. The mansion has a dark past that the mother keeps from the girl, although the girl has her suspicions. (Mary found this particular story very creepy; her heart raced as she turned the pages.) The girl finds a comic book on a trunk and is soon so engrossed with the comic that she does not notice the trunk behind her slowly opening, or the dark, fanged thing that crawls from it.
Mary turned to the last page, and screamed.

