Never Again-halloween Version 2

Never Again By Kathleen W. Redman 1 There

were only two of them.2 Just two words on the page.

3 Justin

didn't know what they meant. They made him feel afraid, though. He didn't even know why. How could words make you feel afraid? 4 He

looked at the paper again. He had found it in his locker. Someone had written those two words on the page. The paper had been folded into a tiny square. It had been pushed through the vent holes in the top of his locker. 5 Who had written those two words? Why had they put the paper in his locker? What did those words mean? 6 NEVER AGAIN. 7 That's what it said. NEVER AGAIN. Never again what? Was it something he wasn't supposed to do again? Was it something that would never happen again? 8 Justin couldn't figure it out. All he knew was that it made him feel creepy. 9 He folded the paper back into a little square and put it in his backpack. He closed his locker door and walked quickly through the dark gym. It had been a long practice and he had a long walk home. 10 The sky was darker than usual. Thick black clouds covered the moon and stars. The streetlights shone through the thick fog. They would light his way for a while. After the streetlights ended, though, Justin had a long walk past old, crumbling buildings and yards overgrown with weeds. 11 Justin pulled his backpack onto his shoulders and started to walk. He didn't know why he felt so afraid. He wasn't afraid of the dark. The fog wasn't scary. He had walked past those old buildings before. It was that stupid note. The note made him feel afraid. 12 Justin came to the end of the streetlights very quickly. He stepped across a puddle into the darkness. 13 "Never again," a voice whispered. 14 Justin stopped. His heart was beating wildly! Had he really heard a voice? He

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looked all around. He didn't see anyone, but it was hard to see anything in the dark street. Maybe it was his imagination. Maybe he was just worried about that note. He walked a few feet further. 15 "Never again," a voice whispered. It seemed a little bit closer this time. 16 Justin felt the hairs on his neck stand up. He had a hard time catching his breath. It wasn't his imagination at all. There really was someone out there in the dark! Who (or what) was it? What did it want? 17 Justin began to run. As he ran, the words began pounding in his head. Never again, never again, never again. Now his heart was beating so loudly he could hear it beating in time with the words. Never again, never again, never again! 18 Just as he thought he couldn't run another step, he saw the lights of a car on the road. If only the car would stop. If only he could get in the car and be safe. Never again would he walk down these streets in the dark. Justin kept running and waving his arms at the driver of the car. 19 The car slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. Justin grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. With one leap he was in the seat. He slammed the door behind him. 20 "Thank you, mister," he said. "These dark roads can be pretty scary at night." 21 The man turned toward Justin. His face was entirely covered with dirty bandages. Only his eyes showed. From somewhere inside those bandages came a whispered voice. 22 "Never again," it whispered. "Never again." 23 Justin screamed and screamed. 24 And then he woke up. 25 "What a nightmare!" he thought. "I have to quit watching those movies so late at night." 26 On the table by his bed lay the cover of the movie he had watched before he went to sleep. 27 "NEVER AGAIN: What Evil Walks the Dark Streets?" 28 In his backpack on the floor was the little square of paper. Mark, Justin's best friend, wanted to borrow the movie. He had written the words on the paper to remind MYPLACEFORENGLISH ©

Justin to bring it to school the next day. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TEXT: 1. What two words did Justin see on the paper? 2. Where had Justin found the paper? 3. What movie had Justin watched before he went to bed? 4. After he screamed and screamed , he… 5. Who had put the paper in Justin’s locker? 6. What happened to Justin in the end?

Witches Witches have had a long history with Halloween. Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the seasons changed, on April 30the eve of May Day and the other was on the eve of October 31All Hallow’s Eve. The witches would gather on these nights, arriving on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the devil.

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Superstitions told of witches casting spells on people, transforming themselves into different forms and causing other magical mischief. It was said that to meet a witch you had to put your clothes on inside out and you had to walk backwards on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch. When the early settlers came to America, they brought along their belief in witches. In America, the legends of witches spread and mixed with the belief of others, the Native Americans, who also believed in witches, and then later with the black magic beliefs of the African slaves. The black cat has long been associated with witches. Many superstitions have evolved about cats. It was believed that witches could change into cats. Some people also believed that cats were the spirits of the dead. One of the best known superstitions is that of the black cat. If a black cat crosses your path you must turn around and go back because many people believe that otherwise bad luck will strike you! What superstitions do you know? Write them down in your English notebooks and be ready to talk about them with your classmates!

The History of Halloween

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The celebration of Halloween today is a mixture of rituals and celebrations from a lot of different people. The earliest origin is from the Celts, who lived in Scotland. On October 31, they celebrated what they called Samhain (pronounced So-in). It was the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winters. The Celts believed that on Oct. 31, the Lord of Death released souls back to Earth. On October 31, the Celts wore scary costumes because they believed that then the evil spirits wouldn’t recognize them as humans and wouldn’t mess with them. This is probably where the tradition of dressing up in costumes on Halloween came from. When the Romans conquered the Celts in 46 AD (after Christ), they combined the Celtic rituals with their own harvest celebrations: this is where apples and corn came into the celebration. As Christianity spread, the church combined the non-Christian celebration with their own celebration of All Saints’ Day (also called All Hallows’ Day, celebrated on Nov. 1). To celebrate All Saints’ Day, young men went door-to door asking for food for the poor. This is one of the places Trick- or-Treating came from! One more thing. Wonder where the whole Jack-olantern thing came from? Well, before there were flashlights and such, Irish people used to carve out turnips and put a candle in them for a lantern. When they came to America, they noticed there MYPLACEFORENGLISH ©

weren’t many turnips, but lots and lots of pumpkins, so they used them instead! Translate the following words from the text: 1. Celebration:___________ ____ 2. Rituals: _________________ 3. Origin: _________________ 4. Harvest: _______________ 5. Released souls: ____________ 6. Costumes: _______________

7. Evil spirits: ______________ 8. Tradition: _______________ 9. Conquered: _______________ 10. Combined: _______________ 11. Flashlights: ______________ 12. Turnips: ________________

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An acrostic poem is a poem where each beginning letter in a name or word is used to tell something about that person or topic. Example: Sometimes when we go to the beach, I get a sunburn. Usually, if I put sun block on my skin, I will not burn. Noontime is when I'm really prone to burning.

Write an acrostic poem using the word below. H________________________ A________________________ L________________________ L________________________ O________________________ W________________________ E_________________________ E_________________________ N_________________________

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History of the Jack-o-Lantern People have been making jacko-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to MYPLACEFORENGLISH ©

bother him for ten more years. Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern." In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o’lanterns.

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