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

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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 30-
the eve of May Day
and the other was on
the eve of October 31-
All 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-o-
lantern 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

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weren’t many turnips, but lots and lots of pumpkins,
so they used them instead!
Translate the following words from the text:

1. 7. Evil spirits:
Celebration:___________ ______________
____ 8. Tradition:
2. Rituals: _______________
_________________ 9. Conquered:
3. Origin: _______________
_________________ 10. Combined:
4. Harvest: _______________
_______________ 11. Flashlights:
5. Released souls: ______________
____________ 12. Turnips:
6. Costumes: ________________
_______________

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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 jack-

o-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
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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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