The Halloween Gourd, a Halloween Story

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Left to right: Nico Sugar, Christopher pumping carving

October 21st, 2013

We carved the pumpkin for a Halloween fright, but little did we know that the jack-o-lantern would wake up in the wee hours of the night. It must have been the spookiness of the evening sky filled with dread and despair from all the trick-or-treaters lurking out in the night. They filled their bags with lots of yummy candy and shrieked with delight from all the scary getups they witnessed.

Just outside my front door was a house light, that was lit. The light was a beacon, a signal to the freakish ghouls and happy children that candy was to be had. The kids would come up, knock on the door, ring the doorbell, and request a treat while showing 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 who the little boy or girl was. But they were so well covered, and their attire was freakish. I was always curious about who they were because their costumes were so clever. But it didn't matter if they couldn't make the kid out under that custom because the one they should have been worried about was the Halloween Gourd that rested just beside the entrance of my house. That creature, disguised as a pumpkin, knew who they were, and he would later seek them out before Halloween was over! 

"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 eat all the candy in one night," I said.

I shut the door and turned off the light. This shop was closed until next year's 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 getting started. His carved-out eyes began to flicker through the candle light he was alive. 

The orange pumpkin skin began to ripple as the gourd came to life. The pumpkin's head started tiling back and then rolling to the sides as if 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 started to give birth to a body. The gourd's facial expressions showed the appearance of pushing with all his might while his legs began to form, and he would 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 mindless creature. 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 would search for the last little girl, who lingered too long by the door. The wind picked up quickly and howled through the holes in the gourd's ugly face, but the candle remained eerily in place.

The sounds of the kid's laughter drew his attention as he moved ever so cleverly, 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, unsure what to do, before attempting to take her along with him.

"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. Hence, the boys and girls reached into their bags and began to throw lots of candy, even the good ones, at him, causing him to turn back and run in the opposite direction.

It wasn't in the gourd's 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, which grows out of the pumpkin patch picked for the stores. He may be the one who decides to carve you instead. 

875 words

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