The jack-o-lantern was lit and laughter from the eyes could be seen bouncing inside its shell. Ghosts were hanging from the trees blowing softly in the winds. Orange and black lights lit the driveway. Treats were over flowing the bowl. She was ready for the cute little trick-or-treaters.
Each year, this grown woman brought the child out in herself. She got excited and giddy about the holiday, Halloween. She would start shopping the goodwill stores a month before the night of the living dead. She would look for items that matched the night, and then take them home, and when she had enough collected, she would spend a couple of days putting her costume together.
The night did come, and she fed her family, and helped her own kids get ready for their own fun night. Her husband went to the den and read the evening paper and then drifted off to sleep in his easy chair, but not her. The excitement would begin. She would put her newly put together out fit on, and then along with her bowl of treats, she would go outside to sit in her lawn chair awaiting the arrival of her little visitors.
As she was sitting outside, the sun had just set, and the shadows of the trees cast odd shapes against the sky and homes next door to her. There was a light breeze blowing, sending the home-made ghost fly to and fro through the air, making them come to life for anyone walking by. Howling dogs could be heard down the block, and even a stray black cat made its way across her driveway. She was thankful she didn’t have any ladders standing close by, as her non-belief of superstitions also brought her hairs to stand on end on her arms.
She was gazing out over the neighborhood when she noticed her first bunch of trick-or-treaters. They came up to her door and stood a few feet back from her, not expecting to see a big witch sitting in front of them.
Her voice cried out a scary sound and when you heard the words following them, the kids relaxed and came up closer to her, as she echoed the words of happy Halloween my pretties. The kids started giggling and held out their bags to be filled with candies. Soon all disappeared from her porch and made their way to the next house.
Time went by too quickly as she was entertaining group after group. Word had spread between the kids so most were not startled when they came close to the real witch. By now, most kids had disappeared into their own homes, as the hours of treating were coming to an end.
Then one trick-or-treater walked up to her and said the familiar words and she pulled some last treats from her bowl and started to place them into his bag. This one was a big kid for sure. He must have stood over five feet tall, and his voice was a little raspy. She asked him if he was catching a cold, and he nodded no. She had placed the goodies in his bag and was taking her arm away when he reached out and grabbed it, holding on to it and with raking claws drew blood causing streaks of red to slowly drip down her arm. With his other arm, he reached up and grabbed her around the back of her neck and jerked her quickly up to his face where he bit her nose completely off. She began to gasp as she tried to breathe but the only thing she could do is gasp for air using her lungs.
She started to scream, asking him what he was doing and who he was, and as her words came out he took a bite from her tongue and spit it out on the ground. His eyes drilled into hers and she could feel anger and hatred speaking to her. She tried to fight and escape but her lawn chair kept her in place, and rasping breaths were making her weak. With her good hand left she raked her nails across his mask and yanked it off to see the familiar face of a kid down the street.
This kid was a disturbed kid, who she had at one time watched for his mother. He was suffering from an emotional childhood, and carried his past into his presence. While watching him she had many times laid him down on the couch and told him to rest, so that she could get her wits back while he had spent many moments trying to torture her with his mind. She eventually after exercising every idea she could, had let the mother know that she could no longer take care of him, that she would have to find another sitter.
Tonight he had decided to take back his control over her. He taunted and teased her. He tortured her mind. He used his mechanical claws and continued to draw blood in areas that had once been untouched by blood. After she became so weak she could no longer fight, he drug her by her feet and took her out to the trees.
With him he had brought barn rope and he flung the rope across a nice solid branch and then proceeded to make a noose. He placed her feet in the noose and then wrapped them securely, and then raising the rope, brought her up off the ground, leaving her to hang up side down, and he cackled and snorted,and the soul that was lost, was no found bearing its existence here in her front yard.
He took one more glance at her, making sure she was not slipping to the ground, and then he told her to have a happy Halloween and he raced into the darkness, leaving her to die. Her husband had waken from his after dinner sleep and went through the house looking for his wife, so that he could ask her if she had enjoyed herself on this hallow night. He didn’t see her anywhere, and he kept calling her name but no answer returned.
He opened the front door and gasped as he saw red splashes of blood on the porch. He glanced both ways to see if he could see anyone around, and seeing no movement, he made his way off of the porch and then a glimpse of the flowing ghosts caught his eye and he walked over to where they were hanging from the tree and in between the ghosts hung his wife.
Her face was white, and he knew she was dead. He quickly ran to the shed and grabbed his cutters and the ladder. He ran back to the tree, almost tripping over one big tree root, but caught himself and made it safely to her. He leaned his head into her chest, and he heard a faint heart beat. She was alive! He quickly set the ladder up and climbed up and began to cut her feet loose. He knew he had to be careful though, or he would cut too far, dropping her on her head, so he cut half way through the noose, and then removed himself from the ladder and following the rope with his eyes, found the end of it, that had been tied to another branch on the tree next to this.
He ran over to it and slowly, using every strength he had, gently let the rope slide up letting her softly be lowered. He finally had her down. He raced over to her screaming at her if she was alright. She could not talk, and then he turned his head away from her and vomited all over the ground, as he observed that there was only half of a tongue.
Her heard her gasping and then noticed in the dark that her nose was gone. He raced into the house and called for an ambulance. He explained briefly what he had discovered with his wife and soon he could hear the screams racing down the road to his house.
Once there they stated she was alive, but barely, they immediately placed oxygen over her mouth, and then covered her face to keep as much dirt off of her face while they transferred her to the hospital.
He picked himself up off the ground and left his ladder and cutters lay where they were. He went inside the house and washed his hands erasing the blood stains from himself. He cursed himself for not being awake, for taking non needed naps after supper. He may have been able to prevent this torture from happening. He got in his car and took off for the hospital, and after he disappeared out of sight, claws reached down and were grabbing the cutters.
41.238100
-85.853047
Who I am 