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Halloween's Child |
| Written by mike counselman | |
| Tuesday, 12 August 2008 | |
HALLOWEEN'S CHILD
The three boys sat on their bikes, spat into the dirt, and stared up at the house. They fidgeted, cursed and did brodies and burnouts in the loose gravel at the end of the driveway. They acted tough, but nobody mentioned last year. A year ago, a cluster of dying oaks surrounded the house as it sagged on its foundation. A year ago, its doors flapped in the wind. A year ago, the house tried to kill Tony's little brother. Last year, the boys had clustered in this same driveway. A fearsome gathering of ghouls and monsters, their pillowcase sacks bulging with candy. That night, the wind howled, slamming the doors with the slow, uneven rhythm of a dying pulse. That night, the broken windows glared impossibly black, lost in the damp darkness of the trees. Dead leaves carpeted the overgrown tunnel of branches that hunched over the driveway. That night, there nerves singing with the high-pitched adenaline surge of freedom and wildness, the breathless running from door to door, ended in front of this abandoned ruin. The closest thing to a haunted house this valley town possessed. They paused on the weedy sidewalk, a gang of make-up smeared, home-made costumed, hooligans who lowered their voices without realizing it as the shadow of the house loomed over them. The wind blew whispered threats through the few leaves remaining on the bare bones of the tree branches. The older boys waited for Tony's little brother Joey, to catch up. Joey was two years younger, overweight and clumsy. He was made up like a cat, but Tony said he looked more like a rat. They'd teased him unmercifully. Now, they waited for him. "C'mon Rat Boy, we can hit one more block, if we hurry." Tony yelled at his brother. "Tony, you promised." Joey whined, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm tired; you said we could go home two blocks ago." He sat down on the sidewalk and poked morosely through his bag. "You baby, what's the matter don't you want more candy?" Tony said, trying to cajole his little brother along. "No, I'm tired, I want to go home." "Then go home," he said disgusted. Why had Mom made him take this little baby along? Tom and Jim swung their pillowcases impatiently. Joey was embarrassing him again. "So great, me, Jim, and Tom have to miss out cause my little brothers a baby." "I'm not a baby." Joey said angrily. "Besides, it's dark, I can't go alone. You guys got enough candy. Can't we go home?" he pleaded. Tony looked at his friends and shrugged his shoulders, and then he saw a smile slide onto Tom's face. Tom was the oldest of the boys by almost eight months, and the leader by silent agreement. "I got an idea," Tom said, his eyes moving from Joey to the house on the hill. "You say you're not a baby, right?" Joey nodded. "Fine, then let's make a deal. You prove it and we'll call it a night, if you can't do it, we do another block." "What do I have to do?" Joey asked a tremble of dread in his voice. "See that house." Tom said, giving a conspiritorial wink to his buddies, "You go up there and go inside the front door and we'll go home." Their eyes drifted up to the old house moldering on the hill. It sensed their presence and gathered the darkness about it in a cloak of foreboding. The door slammed at sporadic intervals and no light dared penetrate the dark void that was the porch and steps. An involuntary shiver swept through the group. "I ain't going in there." Joey said, shaking his head. "Then I guess you are a baby, and we get to do another block. Right, Tom?" his brother exulted. Joey didn't remember agreeing to the deal, but the rest chimed in that now they got to do another block. "I am not a baby, but you guys are too, if you don't go." Joey said, defending himself. "We went last year," Tom said quickly, glancing at Tony and Jim. "Yeah," Jim jumped in, "it was a piece of cake." Joey looked at his older brother, "You never told me that you guys went in there, Tony." "Of course not, you'd blab to Mom and get me in trouble." he said looking at Tom for reassurance. "Really?" Joey said. "Yeah, really." Tom answered. 'Now come on. You going up there, or do we start hitting more doors, it's getting late. I'll tell you what. We'll all go up the driveway with you. Then all you got to do is go to the door, step in, and bring something back." "Why do I have to bring something back?" Joey said, alarmed. "‘Cause you'd just ***** out and hide on the porch." Tom said, "If you're not scared, what's the problem?" "I'm not scared." Joey said, hiding the tremor in his voice. "You guys really went in last year?" "Yeah, it was nothing" Tony said the lie almost real in his mind. "Now, are you going up there, or do we get to do another block?" Tony asked, knowing his little brother would chicken out and they'd get another block of treats. Joey surprised all of them. "So all I got to do, is step inside, grab something, and come back?" he asked. "What did you guys get last year?" "A phone book." Jim blurted out, drowning out Tony saying they had grabbed a vase. Tom smoothed out the glitch. "Jim grabbed the phone book, your brother got a vase, and I got a watch that was just sitting there. You won't believe it, man, it's like they just got up and left. There's stuff everywhere." Joey looked up at the house, and they followed his gaze. It sat there, a darker shadow against the backdrop of clouds that scudded across the sky. The wind whipped the trees into a macabre dance as they moved to the insane tempo of the building storm. Joey studied the path he had to take. The driveway was a slash of shadowed blackness, leaves glistening wetly in the dappled blackness, the sliding clouds alternately covering and revealing the moon in a stroboscopic monochrome. The wind whipped the dead leaves into a chattering cacophony of noise, the first pattering of rain dotting the dusty sidewalk. A gust as cold as the pharaoh's breath swept across them. The older boys regretted their dare, but Joey's mind was made up. "Okay, all I gotta' do is go inside, bring something out, and we get to go home, right?" "Yeah, that's it." Tommy said, the other boys gathering around him. "Just like we did last year." he added. Joey felt the lie in Tommy's voice, but the pull of the house was upon him. It was a palpable and evil presence that loomed over them on that sidewalk, but it was wrong. This was his neighborhood. He knew that this was as close as his brother and his friends had been to the house, and it bothered him. This was a personal affront, and he intended to do something about it. "I'm going in." He started up the driveway so quickly, that it took his brother and his friends a moment to catch up. He was past the overgrown gate, and half way to the door before they moved. A strange momentum overtook Joey, and his legs took him unbidden through the gate, across the lawn, and straight onto the overgrown porch. The door sprang open in the wind, and he tripped over the threshold sprawling headlong into the deserted house. The wind tossed the soggy curtains and he felt their wet embrace as they whipped across his face. In a panic he rolled to his left, the musty smell of carpet filled his nostrils. He banged his head hard against something in his headlong plunge, and red and white pinwheels exploded in the stygian blackness.
The storm felt the affront of the boy entering the house, and lightning chose that moment to strike the dead oak that towered over the ruin, shattering it in a flood of sparks and fire. A huge, long The cataclysmic flash blinded Joey as the shock wave blasted the cracked glass of the windows into crystal shrapnel that rained down on the astounded boys crouched in the driveway. Joey kicked free of the entangling curtains. He dove through the ruined doorway onto the porch, his right leg plunging into the yawning hole left by the giant oak branch. His momentum carried him forward and the weight of his upper body twisted the bones of his trapped leg into a bend that even the supple bones of youth couldn't support. As his femur cracked, Joey blacked out in a wave of nausea and pain.
Tony stood there dumbfounded as his brother charged up the dark driveway. He had known for a fact that the little baby would chicken out and he could save face in front of his friends. Instead, the little sucker stormed up the driveway like he was possessed. They had to scramble to make it to the gate by the time he hit the inky shadows of the porch. Then all hell broke loose. Something seemed to grab him as he approached the door, and he disappeared without a sound. They sat frozen at the gate for a dozen leaden heartbeats as Joey was sucked inside. Just as they started to follow past the overgrown gate, a huge stroke of lightning struck the dead oak. The madly swaying tops of the trees had caught Jim's eye, and he actually saw the lightning strike. The sizzling blast blew the bark off the ancient tree and dove underground. It seemed to pause, gathering its strength and then exploded in impossible fury as it shattered the dead heart and blew half the tree into a crater scooped out of the lawn. The boys hair stood on end, electricity filling the yard as the image of the exploding oak was etched on their retinas. The air surged and bucked caught in the backwash of the incredible energy displacement. There was a long moment of silence while the dead branches above the porch realized that their support was blown into match sticks across the lawn. The top of the tree collapsed in a bone shaking eruption, tearing the porch from the house like a scythe through wheat. The ragged branches tore gaping holes through the decking, and Tony saw his brother burst out of the collapsing doorway, lightening freezing him in mid-flight. He disappeared completely in the flash blinded darkness that followed. Shocked and stunned, they heard what sounded like the bleat of a dying sheep. They crept to the porch and found Joey, his leg twisted at an impossible angle through the decking. His rain and tear streaked make-up stood out in sharp contrast against the pallor of his skin. When he dragged his leg painfully out of the debris, the bone jutted through the costume. Jimmy lost the colorful mass of candy he'd eaten, and Tony hugged his brother close, as much to comfort him as to keep him from seeing the severity of his injury. He shouted at Tom to go call 911, and remembered him sprinting down the driveway, slipping in the rain-slicked leaves. The rest of the evening was a blur of ambulances, sirens, lightening, and the pounding rain. They sat in the emergency room together, the three families, the boys shivering in their rain streaked and muddied costumes hunched beneath thin hospital blankets. When the doctor came out to reassure Joey's parents that he'd make a full recovery, the mood shifted from concern to blame. Tony took the full wrath of his parent's fury. Why hadn't they come home? What in the hell were they doing trespassing in that dump of a house? Why hadn't Tony watched out for his little brother? Tony hunched his shoulders and took all the abuse. Worse yet, he spent the next ten weeks a slave to the whims of his injured brother. The huge cast Joey dragged about was a constant reminder and the slightest complaint from Tony, earned him a withering glance from his parents. Hadn't it been his evil friend Tom that had set up the painful consequences? It was all said in an arched eyebrow and frown from his parents. Joey made it worse by refusing to milk the situation. Now the little punk got to help the strange couple that had moved into the house on the hill. Tony spat into the freshly graveled driveway and took in the transformation of the house. About the time the huge cast was coming off Joey's leg, a moving van crept in during the night, and suddenly the old house was occupied. Rudy and Adeline were gypsies who had survived the death camps of World War II and immigrated to the States after the war. Rudy spent the boom years of the post war era as a plumber for the insatiable demand of affordable housing. Retired, they'd bought this derelict of a house, as a project. All this information was obtained and disseminated to the neighborhood by the G.F.N., the Girl Friend Network. A tightly knit group of stay at home mothers, led by Gladys, who lived on the hill opposite the newcomers. It was a major faux paux that she missed the evaluation of the furniture. On Dec. 31, the house was an abandoned eyesore. On New Years day, it was an occupied eyesore, and nobody knew a thing about the occupants. Gladys was truly pissed. January proved to be cold but dry that year, and Rudy was a constant presence on the hill. Bundled into a huge black coat that flapped madly in the wind, he cleared the debris and rebuilt the front porch, adding ginger-bread fretwork to the gable. The broken windows replaced, and a fresh coat of paint transformed the former dump into a cute little cottage, all in an amazingly short time. The overgrown landscape soon succumbed to Rudy's chain saw. By the last day of January, the orchard was an orderly sculpture of outstretched branches waiting patiently for spring. The sidewalks neatly edged and every leaf raked into a huge pile along with the tree trimmings. That night Rudy set the bonfire, and spent the night tending the blaze. His shadowy figure was illuminated by the flames and the towering clouds of sparks that erupted when he raked the coals. Long after midnight, he could still be seen in silhouette against the dying embers. The wind whipped his coat so that he seemed to be dancing in the fire. The neighborhood watched this with guarded optimism. Rudy would always wave and could be coaxed into exchanging a few words over the low wire fence that surrounded the property, but they always felt that they were stopping him from his work. Adeline was the opposite. Short and round with snow white hair pinned neatly into a bun. Pale blue eyes, peeked out over plump cheeks with a round knob of a nose. She looked like Norman Rockwell's grandmother. Just days after they moved in, she'd made the rounds of the neighborhood. She introduced herself and presented each family with an assortment of homemade cookies, neatly bundled in tinted cellophane and closed with a ribbon. The G.F.N. phone lines buzzed for days. As spring approached, the tireless Rudy dug out and replanted all the flower beds, coaxing the tired roses into another year of glorious blooms. With the heat of summer, the lawn glowed an emerald green. Plums hung fat and luscious on the trees in the orchard. A garden produced in abundance, Adeline, a common sight lugging fruit and vegetables to the neighbors. Green beans as long as your hand but still tender Tomatoes red and fragrant, and fat purple plums, huge and sweet. "Outdoor plums," she called them. So juicy it was impossible to eat one indoors without it dripping off your chin. All summer and into the early fall it continued. Rudy may have been a bit truculent, but his wife was as chatty and friendly as she could be. She loved children she said, although they had never been able to have any. There was nearly always a cookie or some kind of sweet, neatly wrapped in a napkin in the pocket of her apron. She insisted they all call her "Aunt Addie." They followed her like she was the pied piper. Then came the month of October. The garden slumbering under a layer of mulch, the apples neatly stacked in the basement, and a strange hammering and sawing coming from the old barn that was Rudy's workshop. Adeline hinted that where they came from, Halloween was a much bigger deal than here in the states. Two weeks into the month they knew what she meant. During the night, things appeared. A false, plywood facade grew across the front, converting the neat cottage into a castle, completes with towers and a turret with flames licking from the window into the night. A life-size witch rode a cable from a surviving oak on the hill to a smaller tree across the street. Each morning something new appeared. One day, there was a forest of tombstones marching across the lawn. The next, a guillotine with a huge blade glistening in the morning light. One day a rack and stocks, all life-size and exacting in their details. A motorized and illuminated ghost dropped frighteningly next to the sidewalk. The neighborhood watched as the friendly cottage transformed into a house of horrors, and Adeline rejoiced in every minute of it. She teased everyone as she moved from house to house, especially the children, and then she made the announcement. One child from the neighborhood would be selected to help for the last week before Halloween. They would also act as a host on Halloween itself, guiding the other children through the surprises produced in Rudy's workshop. Each child had to convince her that he deserved the honor. Dozens of papers poured in. Who wouldn't want to be the one? Every night something new appeared. After school they gathered on their bikes to see what else Rudy had built. Tony cringed when Joey's story of the previous Halloween's catastrophe won. Now, he, Jim, and Tom sat on their bikes in the gravel of the driveway, watching Joey disappear into the plywood maze. With three days until Halloween, it was all Joey could do to keep from revealing the secrets that waited on the hill. He'd already told them more than he should have about some of the effects. The flaming tower on the roof was a plywood box. Painted to look like stone, it had a fan and a light that illuminated strips of metallic wrapping paper, the fan making it move in a convincing imitation of fire. The witch that flew across the road on her broomstick was a witch-mobile, a cleverly constructed doll that hung from a pulley, illuminated with chem.-glow sticks safety-pinned to her skirt. The dropping ghost was a basketball, wrapped in gauze and lace, and strung up to a reversible motor looped over the tree branches. Rudy operated it with a set of toggle switches just inside the front door. A loud speaker lurked in the bushes outside the gate. A microphone and a tape of scary music wired in. These details slipped out, but there were some things he refused to divulge.All the coercion in the world couldn't drag another word out of Tony's brother. Then the big evening came.
On the day of Halloween, Joey pedaled his bike up the driveway. The wind whipped a few remaining leaves across the sidewalk, adding to the effect Rudy had achieved with the yard. He paused to take it all in. He knew there was a speaker hidden in the bushes just outside the gate, wired to a tape recorder loaded with haunted house sounds. As he pushed the gate open, he looked up to see a large rubber spider drop in front of his face. Tied to the gate with a nearly invisible length of monofilament, it retreated into the branches as he closed the gate. To his left, tombstones marched in orderly rows to the fence line. Divided into sections by the rows of leaves that delineated the paths, he tried to take in the names and remember who Adeline said they were. In the missing person's section, he knew who Amelia Earnhart was, but Adeline had to tell him that Fred Noonan was her navigator. Jimmy Hoffa had been easy, but he wasn't old enough to know who Judge Crater was. The rock-and-roll section held the expected, Elvis, Buddy Holley, Richie Valens, but Tony Orlando was a little comic twist. It was only his career that had died. Of course all the movie ghouls were represented. Frank N. Stein had an ornate headstone right next to Vlad the Impaler's. A small headstone with the name, "Carrie" on it, held a mannequin's hand thrusting up through a pile of charcoal, a subtle reminder of the last scene in the movie. To the right of the walkway was the chamber of horrors. The guillotine, its blade held threateningly at the top of the headpiece, glistened against the dark and weathered wood. The stocks were black with age, leather thongs dangling, in anticipation of the accused. The hole for the head, stained with a convincing smear of dark and crusted matter. The rack waited menacingly, it's chains and heavy notched wheel hungering for a victim. Joey shook his head. This was way too cool. Adeline met him at the front door "Ready to see your costume? Oh good, you brought your sleeping bag." She took the bag, and led him into the house. He'd been there every night that week and thought that he'd seen it all. While he was at school, the house had changed. The decor had always seemed dated and musty, but now it dripped with huge spider webs and blood splattered walls. The more he looked the more macabre details he discovered. Dead flowers hung in rotting and matted clumps in vases adorned with twisted and writhing figures obscured in the dark and muted glazes. Candles guttered in a variety of colors and fragrances lending the air a confused mélange that assaulted the nostrils. The lamps were draped with scarves and shawls, any luminance drowned in the swaddling. Dimly, he made out strange and vague shadows in the corners, a smattering of unsettling sculptures, moving in the flickering candlelight. Confused by all the changes, it took him a moment to realize that Adeline was in full costume. When he did realize the mutation it chilled him to the bone. She always seemed so warm and welcoming before. She of the apron and the cookies, the fresh veggies and the funny stories, now he suddenly wished he'd never won the contest. She was a witch, and the transformation was seamless. A half-foot taller, a towering and ominous figure, complete with hooked nose and peaked hat. Her teeth filed to points, revealed whenever her black tongue peeked out, trying to wet the thin, scabrous lips with an evil slick of moisture. Contacts must have obscured her eyes for they were a mucus yellow color, the pupils a vertical slit like a snake. Her skin was pale and leathery with oozing pustules. Her black, reptilian tongue flicked out, failing to moisten the cracked lips. She attempted a smile. A brownish residue of something recently eaten stained her chin. When she pulled him close, her breath was redolent with a mint mouthwash, almost concealing the unpleasant smell of something dead. "My gosh, you should see your face." She exclaimed slapping her taloned hands together, "If I'd known you were gonna' go this pale, I'd have picked out a ghost costume for you." The sound of her voice was the same, and her attitude, and her mannerisms, he relaxed a bit.
"Pretty good, huh," she said, flicking the tangled mass of what must have been a wig over her shoulder. "When we lived in L.A. I used to do make-up. Did all the biggies, Lugosi, Chaney, all of them. Actually, he did know. His dad was an old movie fanatic. He knew they could do a lot, but this was incredible. "And lately, Rudy's gotten into latex," she continued. "Isn't it amazing." She fingered the supposedly rubber nose and dislodged a smear of what looked like blood and mucus. She wiped it on her filthy skirt hoping he didn't notice. He did. "Anyway, you must be thirsty after school. I took some of Rudy's ripest tomato and put them through the juicer. I bet you've never had fresh tomato juice have you?" she said while rummaging in the refrigerator, watching Joey over her shoulder. "It's a little thicker than what you're used too, but I bet soon you'll love it." She handed him the glass of viscous red liquid, and that black tongue flicked out again in a vain attempt to wet the ruined lips. Disconcerted by her appearance, he actually drank two large gulps from the glass. When his taste buds realized what was happening he spewed the vile liquid across the kitchen, choking on the rancid taste. "Oh dear," Adeline exclaimed, "Has it gone bad?" She snatched the glass from his hand and put her long witch's nose into the glass, sniffing the liquid, and getting a red stain on the tip of her appendage. Her black tongue stretched out impossibly long and cleaned the blob from the tip, pausing as the stain dissolved. A shudder passed through her body as the lizard eyes disappeared behind a look of sheer satisfaction. It fled her face before Joey was even sure it was there. "This has gone bad." she said, twisting her face into a look of dismay. "I'm sorry Joey; I must have let it sit out too long. How about some beef jerky instead?" She proffered two gnarled and twisted strips of meat from a pocket of her apron and Joey took them willingly. Anything to get the flavor of that rancid tomato juice out of his mouth. It was tough, but he worried a chunk off the piece and wolfed it down. It hit his stomach like battery acid, the fetid taste exploding back into his mouth, the acrid taste burning his membranes as he vomited. In shock and amazement, he felt her taloned and filthy hands clamped around his lips, forcing him to swallow the odious tidbit or suffocate. He convulsed and then retched again, a forceful expurgation forcing past her clamping fingers. "Oh my gosh," she said, her old persona at the forefront again. "Are you choking?" She found a towel from somewhere, and wiped the evil liquid from his face. When he wasn't looking, she licked the remainder off her fingers, a look of rapture on her face as her lips closed obscenely over her bony fingers. Joey was too busy retching to catch it, but he saw the hunger in her face as she loomed over him. "What did they serve you for lunch at that school? Something has your stomach in an uproar. Here, let me get you some soda water." She hurried off into the kitchen, in a rustle of black silk like dry corn stalks rubbing together. Joey sat down at the table and held his rumbling stomach. He couldn't be sick tonight. This was Halloween, and he was the host at the coolest house in town. For days cars slowed to a stop as he and Rudy worked, the noses of the children pressed to the windows, he couldn't miss tonight. Adeline returned with a fizzing glass of seltzer and he drained it in two long gulps. The bubbling liquid and the medicinal taste replaced the residue of foulness left by he beef jerky and the tomato juice. After two huge and embarrassing belches he felt his stomach start to settle down. Adeline had brought a pack of saltines along with the soda water, and by the time he'd eaten half the pack he was starting to feel normal. Then Adeline took his costume out of a large dark trunk. It was a vampire outfit complete with a red silk vest, heavily embroidered with black and gold threads, the pattern swirling and intricate. A black silk cape slithered out of the trunk so dark it moved in oily pools. Black patent leather shoes followed, the shine deep enough to see his reflection as Adeline passed them in front of his face. She held the gray silk shirt up to his shoulders to judge the fit. The last item from the trunk was a heavy gold necklace set with a huge diamond. She placed it around his neck. The diamond picked up the dim glow of the candles and reflected the meager light in a dazzling pattern. He looked up to see Adeline leaning over him, her eyes agleam. "Oh yes, Joey. It's you. You look wonderful. I can't wait to see you in the full outfit. Do you like it? How do you feel?" Truthfully, he'd felt better, but as he touched the heavily filigreed surface of the medallion, and absently fingered the rough silk of the cape, he felt different. Another huge belch escaped him, carrying the taste of the jerky and the rancid tomato juice back into his throat, but this time it didn't seem that bad. He swallowed a couple of times, and wondered what had been wrong with him. It had to be those darn beenie-weenies they served at lunch. At Adeline's urging, he went into the bathroom and changed into the costume. It fit him like a tailored suit. He lingered in the dressing, adjusting the scarlet cummerbund until it was just right. He had to re-knot the bow-tie three times to get it just right. The medallion was the final touch, and he held it close, trying to make out the details of the carving, but his eye was drawn to the large diamond in the center. At first, he'd thought it a dusty rose color, but now he saw a deep red in the heart of the jewel. It flashed and twinkled in his hand, ruby laser blast, blood-red and mesmerizing. He'd meant to take a last look at himself in the bathroom mirror, but Adeline couldn't wait, and dragged him out. She held him at arm's length, her taloned fingers digging into his shoulders. "Oh Joey, you look perfect, even better than I imagined." She hugged him close, her bony contours jabbing him. "You feeling better?" Truthfully, he did. His stomach had settled down, and if anything, he was actually getting hungry. Still, he felt dazed, confused. He kept flashing on things, and then losing them. Had Adeline actually forced him to eat the beef jerky, or had he imagined it? He remembered her wiping it from his lips with a towel, so why would she have forced it on him? He had to have fantasized her hip bones jabbing him when she hugged him. Adeline was built for comfort, not for speed. It would take more than make-up. Hell, a month worth of liposuction couldn't get those results. He looked at her, but she could hide anything under the voluminous folds of her dress. She did seem awfully tall though. His musings shattered as a wolf burst through the door snarling and snapping. It shoved past Adeline and pinned Joey against the counter. When he regained his senses, he was backed up against the counter, his hands curled into claws and a snarl as evil as the wolf's as they stood quivering nose to nose. He felt the animal's hot breath as it inhaled his scent, a growl coming from deep in the throat. When their eyes met, he saw Rudy's sparkling blue ones staring back at him from deep in the werewolf make-up. The growl broke up into a guttural chortle, and Adeline fell apart laughing at the scare Rudy had thrown into him. His make-up was every bit as good as Adeline's and they'd scared the hell out of Joey. It was hard for Rudy to talk in the heavy mask and Adeline translated. He apologized for scaring him and had him turn and pose in the vampire costume. He and his wife were beside themselves. Joey was dying to look in the mirror, but he was having trouble with the false fangs that came with the outfit. He was still struggling when a hideous howl shook the air. That cry signaled the first trick-or-treaters. It was Showtime. The rest of the night was a blur of noise and shrieks and screams. The displays had the most realistic dummies Joey had ever seen. He'd helped Rudy unload them from the black moving van parked behind the house. Each face was etched with a look of pure horror. They worked them into place in the dioramas. People showed up by the carloads to go through the maze of horror, and Joey was a star. Every kid from his class must have talked his parents into showing up. They went through two and three times each, screaming and elbowing each other in frightened glee. As it got later, the younger kids thinned out, and the teens dragged in embarrassed as to whether they'd stretched Halloween out one year to long. After they collected their candy and left, a group of parents showed up, margaritas in hand. They made Rudy give them the tour. The last group through was Joey's brother Tony, and his friends Tom and Jim. They pretended to be jaded and beyond being scared at anything as contrived as a haunted house, but Joey saw the fear in their eyes. The sight of Tom recoiling in horror when Rudy jumped out in the finale brought a smile to Joey's face. He rubbed the scar on his leg under his costume and thought about the previous Halloween.. Suddenly Tommy being scared wasn't enough. A hot and acrid roil of anger rose in him as he thought about the hospital and the long recovery. He thought of a million ways Tommy should pay. His imagination had him bathed in blood and suffering. Shocked at his own savagery, he couldn't stop thinking about it. When his brothers group walked out of the gate, the rage still filled him. He caught Adeline watching. Together, they shut down the displays and locked the gates. With the last light dimmed, they went inside. Joey was drained and ravenous. Adeline said the only thing edible was more of the beef jerky, and she went to the kitchen to fetch it. The sight of the dark, gnarled meat turned his stomach until the smell hit him. He took a tentative bite, but was soon wolfing down huge bites, following it with more of Adeline's fresh tomato juice. He must have finally gotten the rest of that noxious school meal out of his system. This was delicious. Adeline watched him eat, a huge and towering presence. He must have had ten pounds of the jerky, washing it down with gallons of tomato juice, before he even began to feel satiated. Adeline just watched and smiled as he made a pig of himself. Midnight came and went before he finally crawled into his sleeping bag. Adeline helped him out of his costume and carefully folded it back into the trunk, letting him wear the medallion to bed. His adrenaline was still pumping and sleep was slow to come. He drifted in and out on the verges of slumber, the comforting sounds of Adeline rattling pots and pans in the kitchen. He'd finally dozed off when the slamming of the door and a hushed mix of snarling and screaming woke him. From the kitchen he could hear Rudy and Adeline arguing, attempting to keep their voices down. At first it was an endichperable mix of guttural growling and shrieking, but eventually he was able to make out the words. Adeline was admonishing Rudy. "Same as last time. Same stupid thing. No. No, this time you're not going to do it. You already did the brother didn't you?" Joey couldn't hear the reply, just a wet growling like an angry dog, and then she took off again. "Just calm ******* down." Joey recoiled at her vulgarity but couldn't resist listening. She attacked Rudy in a furious tirade. "You've just lost control lately, haven't you?" she screamed in a losing battle with her temper. "You haven't hurt the other one have you? Cause I'll kick your hairy ass. That one's for the boy, he needs him. Hell, I need him. God, you piss me off. You're full though aren't you? Fifty years ago, ****, even twenty years ago, you were the best. I think you must be getting senile. Well, thanks to your greed, there's no time to waste. You get the other boy and I'll wake our son." Joey barely had time to jerk the covers up and pretend to be asleep before Adeline entered his room and snatched the blankets back. He was glad he slept in his underwear. "C'mon son, there's something you have to do." she said coarsely, hurrying Joey out of bed. Disoriented, she herded him into the kitchen. Why was she calling him son, she'd never referred to him like that before. She pushed him down in a chair and stood next to him, a bony hand holding him firmly by the shoulder. She looked thin, pale, and haggard. Older by decades than she'd appeared just days before, gone completely was the kindly pie baker, replaced by an evil witch. He was sure there was no make-up involved. He trembled in fear, his hands unconsciously clutching the golden pendant. Adeline ignored him, watching the back door, her impatience growing by the second. She was about to explode when the door burst open and Rudy stumbled through dragging something behind him. Joey nearly we himself at the old man's appearance. He was still in his werewolf costume, but the fur was matted and caked with mud and leaves. A dark red smear stained him from chin to chest. Where Adeline seemed drained and weary, Rudy rippled with energy. His eyes blazed a deep orange and his fangs gleamed long and sharp, saliva dripping off in a flood. He flung what he was dragging to the center of the floor and stood over it, teeth bared and an ominous snarl emanating from deep in his massive chest as he stared at Adeline. Joey looked from one to the other, paralysed by shock and fear. Time froze as the horror of the moment destroyed reality. The crystal paralysis broke as the wolf lunged, so fast that he denied gravity. Joey's last vision was going to be the slavering jaws of the beast as they closed over his throat, ripping and tearing the delicate flesh in a feast of savagery. There wasn't even time for a scream before the jagged fangs snapped a thin hair's breadth from his neck. The wolf's hard claws raked Joey's chest as the huge beast screamed in pain. As fast as the wolf was, Adeline was even faster. So quick was her movement, that Joey barely caught the flash of steel as she whipped a wickedly long knife from the folds of her gown and buried it hilt deep into Rudy's shoulder. His howl of pain nearly drowned out by her screech of anger, as she followed up the attack with a sadistic kick between the wolf's legs. He howled again and backed up against the door, fumbling with the lock as he tried to escape her wrath. She was advancing on him with murder in her eyes, when the door finally gave and he bolted out into the darkness, a blood-curdling wail floating after him. Adeline slammed the door behind him, and whirled to face Joey. She stepped between him and the bundle on the floor, her eyes gleaming with fire and venom. Her cracked lips pulled back from the black and broken teeth in an obscene imitation of a smile. Her sharp black tongue whipped out licking white flecks of spittle from her lips. Her breath came in rasping pants, fetid and warm as she leaned forward to look Joey in the eye. "I'm sorry you had to see that, son, but the old fool had already fed, and I'm starting to worry about him. I think his mind is going. And I'm hungry too, Joey. It's been too long since the last time. I can feel it. I'm weary, my minds not as sharp. Hell, ten years ago, he'd never even thought about challenging me. But he's fed, and I haven't, you see I had to do it, I had no choice. But don't you worry; he'll be back before dawn with his tail between his legs. By then we'll have fed too. You and me. I am so damn hungry. Are you Joey? Are you hungry, too?" She rambled on and on like this, a fervent and persistent monologue all laced around how hungry she was and how desperate she was that he be hungry too. She stood in front of him, filling the space from floor to ceiling as she harangued and cajoled, alternately pleading and commanding as her face mirrored a kaleidoscope of twisted emotions. He sat there dumbfounded and transfixed, and tried to make sense of it all. In fact, he was hungry, starved actually. He felt his stomach rumble beneath the medallion. It was loud enough that Adeline heard it too, and suddenly she was quiet, an evil smile growing on her lips. Without saying a word she stepped aside and let Joey see what Rudy had dragged in from the night. At first he thought it was just a bundle of rags, and then he saw movement and heard a low whimper. With a start, he realized it was a human. A boy, dirty, bloody, covered with mud and leaves. Totally terrorized, but a boy not much older than himself, huddled on the floor with his arms wrapped around his head, attempting to shut out everything. Low sobs shuddered through the small frame. Smiling, Adeline reached down and grabbed a handful of brown curls and jerked back hard enough that he heard the tendons in the boy's neck crack. His face came screaming from the nest of his buried arms. Eyes so wide and mouth distended in a shriek of pain and terror, that it took Joey a minute to recognize his brother's friend, Tommy. Their eyes met. "You know him, don't you, Joey? Remember last Halloween; remember who thought up the dare. You remember don't you, Tommy?" she screamed into Tommy's face, hauling the battered and bleeding boy to his feet and then dangling him near the ceiling as she dragged him face to face with her evil visage. "You remember what you did to my boy, don't you Tommy?" With a savage shake she hurled him back to the floor, knocking the wind out of him and silencing the screaming as the boy fought to breathe. As she said it, all of the pain and terror of that horrible night a year ago, came flooding back. Unconsciously, Joey grabbed his thigh and rubbed the scar where his femur had come through. The parallel tracks the wolf had left across his chest throbbed with a burning sensation that ebbed and flowed with his heartbeat. It wasn't painful, more like the claw marks were a living and writhing thing, burrowing into his chest. As if on cue, the cloudy night eclipsed into a sudden flash of sheet lightning and a low rumble of thunder, just like that night a year ago. A small voice in Joey's head spoke up. He didn't have to take the dare. It was drowned out instantly by the roar of the vengeful thoughts of all the pain and suffering he'd endured. If Tommy hadn't dared him, he'd have never gone near the front door. It was his fault. It was Tommy that had forced him to go to the door. It was Tommy that had caused all his pain. "He's the one that hurt my Joey, isn't he? Remember the pain, Joey, remember the blood? All his fault, all this evil, evil boys doing." She attempted to gather him into her arms, but Joey shook her off, his rage and anger building. It was all his fault.If Tommy had never dared him, he'd have never gone near that damn haunted house. He felt the pain and wrenching of his leg breaking and the warm gush of blood all over again. A hot wave of red hatred flooded his senses, drowning out all rational thought. Adeline sensed his thoughts and fed into them. "That's right, Joey. He's the one.Remember the pain, remember him laughing, remember the way he tormented you. He deserves anything he gets, doesn't he?" Joey's anger grew and blossomed, drowning out the voice of reason and normalcy that screamed that Tommy had been crying and guilt ridden at the hospital. All that registered in his consciousness was the dark and the pain, and the terror of that night. His soul cried for revenge. The huge and evil witch sensed this and reached out, the boy small and fragile in the grip of her bony fingers. She loomed over both of them, filling the kitchen and hunching over as she grew to fill the entire kitchen. She dangled the screaming Tommy by his ankles and caught Joey's eye. "Don't you think he should pay, son? Shouldn't he suffer like you suffered? He laughed when you were hurt, and it was his fault. He's the one who forced you to take the dare, you had no choice. And it was his fault; let's show him what happens when he messes with our family." She was right. Everything was his fault.If Tommy hadn't dared him, he'd have never gone to the door. His leg would never have been broken, he'd have never entered this contest, and he wouldn't be where he was now. His hatred for Tommy flooded out and washed away all reason. Yes, let's show him how it feels. He gave a barely perceptible nod, and a look of evil glee flashed across the huge witch's face. She shifted her grip on the boy until she held him by one leg, and then she gleefully snapped it in to, like she was breaking a chicken wing. Tommy screamed and passed out, the bones tearing through the skin as Adeline twisted the limb violently. A part of Joey was shocked and sickened by what he saw, but more of him became absorbed by the pattern of blood that splattered the kitchen. Adeline smiled and directed the spray from the femoral artery into his mouth, like you would treat the barn cats when you were milking a cow. He licked it from his lips and heard his stomach give another tremendous growl. He was incredibly hungry, and now he new what he was hungry for. He and Adeline's eyes met, and his tongue flicked out, caressing the razor edges of his fangs. He knew the first one would be the best, and Adeline let him have all the sweetest parts. He tried to savor the internal organs, but Adeline's hunger would not be denied and they ended up growling and slavering over the leftovers. She'd been right about Rudy. He'd shown up just before dawn. Back to his old self, only looking twenty years younger, his hair just starting to gray at the temples. The change in Adeline was just as dramatic. The giant hag had disappeared along with the benign pie baker. A barely middle-aged woman took her place, darkly beautiful. The three of them looked like nothing more than a family on vacation. Joey looked at his new father driving the big black semi across the desert night. The miles pounded away under the eighteen wheels. His new mother pulled strips of meat into smaller pieces, and they all balanced glasses of red liquid on their laps. They really didn't want to stop. Rudy had found them a beat up house in Florida, and they were anxious to get started on the renovations. Halloween was still twelve months away, but Rudy had some ideas he wanted to try. The new family munched and drove through the night, the black truck eating up the miles while they snacked. The next full moon was twelve days away, and the father and son needed a safe place to come back too after that magic night. Adeline smiled proudly. It was nice to be a family again.
Mike Counselman
Copyright 2008 mike counselman |
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