Left to right: Nico Sugar, Christopher pumping carving
October 21st, 2013
We carved the pumpkin for a Halloween fright but little did we know the jack-o-lantern would wake up in the wee hours of the night. It must have been the spookiness of the evening sky that was filled with dread and despair from all the trick-or-treaters that were lurking out in the night. They were filling their bags with lots of yummy candy and shrieking of delight from all the scary getups that they were witnessing.
Just outside my front door was a house light, that was lit. The light was a beacon, a signal of sorts, to the freakish ghouls and happy children, that there was candy to be had. The kids would come up and knock on the door or ring the doorbell and request a treat while they showed of their grotesque disguise. As I placed the candy in their bags I’d look ever so closely and examine their costume to see if I knew whom the little boy or girl was. But they were so well covered and there freakishly attire I was never quite sure who they were. But the Halloween Gourd that rested just beside the entrance of my house knew. The pumpkin wouldn’t forget the one he decided he’d select to seek out later in the night.
“Trick-or-Treat,” a group of kids shouted while they rang my doorbell and banged on my door.
I was relieved since this last group of boys and girls would take the remaining treats from my candy bowl.
“Here you go kids. Remember don’t it all the candy in one night,” I said.
I shut the door and turned off the light. This shop was closed until next years Halloween fright.
The kids ran off to the next house. The remaining light that lingered on my front porch was consumed by the thickness of the black night. My night was complete it was time for a drink but the Halloween Gourd was just waking up. His carved out eyes came alive while he looked about looking out for the last kid who couldn’t keep up with her friends.
The orange pumpkin skin began to ripple as the gourd came to life. The head began to tilt back, and then roll to the sides, as if he was stretching from a long night of sleep. His lifeless eyes shifted mischievously as he began to manically think of his next victim. The pumpkin rattled and shook. The gyration of the head began to give birth to a body. The gourds facial expressions gave the appearance he was pushing with all of his might while legs began to form and he would start to rise upright. Higher and higher he would raise his growth being fed by the dead.
“Arrgh!” he gurgled while he looked more human. If it weren’t for the pumpkin head he’d fit right in with the human race. The candlelight inside his head gave a hideous glimpse into a soul that was mindless. He would search and maim without a care, so all the trick-a-treats better beware.
The Halloween Gourd took his first steps towards the street looking for death. He was going to search for the last little girl, the one who lingered too long by the door. The wind picked up in speed and howled through the holes on the gourds ugly face but the candle remained eerily in place.
The sounds of the kid’s laughter drew his attention as he moved ever so clever, mingled in, with the other Halloween dressed population. He moved closer to his target. But she was unaware of his intentions, while she looked in her candy bag for life’s guilty pleasures. She continued to look down without paying much attention to the large 6-foot man lurking in her direction.
The gourd reached out with his thin, slimy hands as pumpkin seeds littered the ground as they fell from his body. The sound of his head was making an eerie noise as he tilted and contorted while moving within her grasp.
“Hey what’s that!” a kid in her group shouted, “Mary run for your life there’s a Halloween creature ready to eat you!”
Mary took her head out of the bag and saw the permanent evil grin of the Halloween Gourd. He paused for a moment not sure what to do before continuing on in an attempt to take her along.
“Get him!” Someone shouted in the group.
The yelling caused the mass dash towards Mary’s aid. The gourd hissed, stammered and cussed the children as they ran his way. Mary was too in shock to move out of his fatal approach so the boys and girls reached in their bags and began to throw lots of candy, even the good ones, at him, causing him to turn back and run the opposite direction.
It wasn’t in the gourds nature to retreat but he had no choice but to hide himself. He knew there would be other Halloweens to seek out others to fill his homicidal needs. So the next time you carve your pumpkin you better hope it didn’t come from the seeds of the Halloween Gourd who grows out of the pumpkin patch that are picked for the stores.
© Copyright 2013 Captain Imperfecto, LLC. All rights reserved.
https://twitter.com/FusaCmee