I Scared Her. I Did.

When was the last time you were scared, I mean, really scared? When was the last time you scared someone, I mean, really scared them? To answer the first question, I would say, I can wake in the night to a noise and become quite scared, but house noises are usually just that. Now, if you asked me when was the last time I really scared someone? Well, I know exactly when that happened.

I was dating my wife in the early 80’s and we would love to go to the drive-in theater. We could watch some great movies and get a few smooches in too. One night we were invited to tag along with Carrie’s older brother, Tim. He had a big old car the size of a boat. He invited Carrie and I along with his sister Teresa and Cousin Paul. We were going to see the scary movie Friday the 13th (original version). I had just seen it the week before and although it was really scary, it was going to be a lot easier to watch the second time around. “Sure, let’s go” I said.

The drive-in theater was the same one I mentioned in “Rolling Down & Dropping Popcorn”. The sun was setting and we were picking our parking spot. Tim threw the car into park and unpacked his first cigarette for movie night. Two more of Tim’s guest had piled into the back seat. I wasn’t sure how interested they were in the movie, but they were glad to be in the back. Carrie and I felt a little uncomfortable about being back there. Tim offered up a blanket from his trunk and we opened it in front of the car on the ground and got settled in. It was comfortable enough, but Carrie was a little cold. So, I went back to the trunk and found another blanket when I spotted an industrial size flashlight. I had a passing thought and decided to reach out and grab it. I returned to the front of the car and got Carrie comfortable with the new blanket. I reserved the flashlight along side of me, for later…

Popcorn arrived. Trailers started. The setting skies were clear and stars were emerging. It was the end of summer. Soon it would be too cold to sit outside into the wee hours, but for now, this night it was perfect. The movie was starting and Friday the 13th was one of the soon-to-become all time scary movies. The opening scene is unforgettable. A young woman is being chased deep into the woods. Her stalker is fast behind on foot. Tree branches are slapping her as she pushes faster and faster to get away from her assailant. She has seemed to have lost track of his location. Suddenly, a hand from nowhere grabs her forehead and pulls it back to a tree she is standing in front of. Then a knife is drawn across her neck, spilling her life-giving blood onto the forest floor and her life and her scene in the movie is over. Pretty scary stuff, huh? I think so. But I figured out how to make it scarier.

It was fully dark as this scene was playing out on the big screen. I grabbed the flashlight and excused myself, leaving Carrie and Tim at the front of the car behind me. I was moving to the driver’s side. I knew Teresa was behind the driver’s wheel and her cousin Paul was sitting shotgun. Tim’s car did not have bucket seats, rather it was one long seat like in the old days. The car next to us was watching me and suspected foul play. I raised my finger to my lips to appeal for cover. I saw a nod and went back to my task at hand. I was directly below Teresa outside the car. I watched the chase scene in the woods playing out on the big screen. I knew, mostly by the music, when the exact moment the hand would grab the forehead. And at that exact moment I flipped on the flashlight and placed it facing up just below my face casting a ghoulish and contorted face. I raised up my body and reached in the window and grabbed Teresa’s forehead.

She responded immediately. She pushed her body to the other side of the car, crushing Paul in the process. The two in the back seat screamed! I smelled urine. I could hear Tim in front on the ground laughing so hard he started a coughing fit. Yep, that’s probably the best time I ever scared anyone.

It took Teresa a few days to get over it.

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