The spirit of Halloween really only centers around one day of the month – October 31, Halloween. On this day we can hear the shrieks of frightened children dressed up as princesses and power rangers. We can smell the sweet scent of chocolatey goodness in the air, and we can feel the spirits of Halloween running through our veins. To help students get into the creepy and somewhat unsettling spirit of Halloween, here are a few books to make your scream, or at the very least make your skin crawl.

“Numbers” – Rachel Ward

While this book does not rank as one of my favorites, I can admit it gave me chills.

“Numbers” centers around the main character Jem, who has a special gift to say the least. Whenever she makes eye contact with someone a number pops into her head, a day, the day the person will die. Jem has kept this gift a secret most of her life, and because of this awareness has avoided any relationships. That is, until she meets Spider. A boy full of life, energy and happiness, but deep down, she knows the joy of Spider’s company cannot last.

The idea of someone seeing the exact second a person will die, and having the ability to change that fate can unsettle a person. Even though the book had much room for improvement, I can not deny Rachel Ward put together an eye-opening, heart wrenching, and overall spooky story.

“Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock” – Matthew Quick

One of the most frightening things about this book is the fact that it all bases off reality.

High school student Leonard Peacock has a plan for his eighteenth birthday. By the end of the day he will have given a gift to the only four people he cares about in life, he will shoot his best friend with his grandfather’s World War II pistol, and then he will kill himself. To say the least, Leonard Peacock has a disturbed mind, but throughout the novel the reader learns a lot about why Leonard feels the need to resort to taking his own life.

Going into this book, I already knew Matthew Quick’s writing style and grabbed a box of tissues in preparation for tears, but did not realize I would want to pull a Pat Solitano from “Silver Lining’s Playbook” and throw the book out of a third story window while screaming profanities. Oh no, I do not think anyone saw that coming. Quick’s novel not only brought tears to my eyes, but also made me want to scream louder than a frightened five year old on Halloween.

“The Cellar” – Natasha Preston

When Natasha Preston first published her story on Wattpad, I doubt she knew how successful it would end up. I also doubt she knew how many people her book would give nightmares to. Sixteen year old Summer Robinson has a great life: the perfect boyfriend, a loving family and overall a fun life. Then she goes missing. All of a sudden Summer’s world flips. Her new name – Lily. Her new family – three other girls in the same situation as her. Her new mission – to survive and maybe, just maybe get out of this twisted psychopath’s house alive.

Throughout the duration of this book I actually had to put it down a couple of times out of sheer fear. The situation Preston put Summer and the other girls through in this novel were all-too realistic, and for a teenage girl in high school it made the kidnapping and events in the story all the more terrifying.