Halloween Story

For my Halloween story, I’m going way back to the creature features of yesteryear. Yes, the yesteryear of the 1950’s, where monsters were made of house-hold material and leading men were stiff actors but had distinctive clefts in their chins.

It’s Horrible….

It’s Terrifying….

It’s………

The Thing with a Thousand Butts!

Just kidding. I have a real story. This spooky gem is entitled:

 Mr. Malcolm greeted his class with a half-suppressed smile trapped behind his lips.  “I hope you all had a relaxing weekend because we’re gonna get a little creative this morning.”

                Kayleigh beside me groaned.  Yeah, we all knew what that meant.

                “Come on,” said Mr. Malcolm.  “This one’s gonna be a cake walk.  You’ll love it.  You know how we’ve been studying Ancient Near Eastern religions?”

                “How could we forget?”  Shayna asked, dryly.

                “Thank you, Shayna, for being so diligent.  And so free from sarcasm.  Well, we were going to have a quiz today…”

                The chorus of boos and groans drowned out Mr. Malcolm.  When the half-asleep protest began to wane, he continued, “We WERE going to have a quiz until I cam up with a much better idea.”

                “Boo?”  Jamie Franklin asked through emo-stained lips.

                “Boo indeed, Mr. Franklin,” added Mr. Malcolm.  “My idea, which you can now feel free to boo, is that we form groups of four and, using the examples we’ve been studying for the past week and a half and make our own god.  Or…you can take the quiz.  It’s completely up to you.”

                I raised my hand, even though I knew that doing so could open me up to all sorts of derision.  “Mr. Malcolm?”

                Mr. Malcolm smiled.  “Ah, our resident theologian.  I figured I’d hear from you.”

                “Yeah.  Well, I don’t think my pastor, no to mention my God, would be happy if I went around creating idols.  It’s kinda a commandment.”

                Mr. Malcolm began handing out instructions as he countered my concerns.  “There won’t be any creating of idols, unless you’d like to do submit a picture or some other visual aid to help in your presentation.  No, the main purpose of this creative experiment is to see how well you’ve absorbed the information from the Ancient Near East religions chapter.”  He winked as he handed me the paper.  “No one is asking you to worship your creation.  But outlining worship procedures would definitely assist in the development of your god.  So, for the rest of the hour, get together in your groups, you know who you are, and get cracking.  You’ve got until Friday and then every member of your group will assist in the presentation.”

                After the requisite rusting of desks and muttering, Kayleigh, Shayna and Jamie were gathered around my desk.  Not that I was some sort of leader, far from it, but my desk was centrally located, you see. 

                “All right,” I said, “let’s get this heresy over with.”

                Shayna favored me with a pout.  “What’s a matter, Saint Bartholomew?  Gotta feed the poor and visit old ladies?”

                “That’s this weekend.  No, Shayna.  I’d rather just be doing anything else.”

                “We’ve reached a quorum,” echoed Jamie.

                Kayleigh reached into her backpack and whipped out every handout from the past week and a half.  “Well, I think this is awesome.  Much better than a quiz anyway.  First, what’s her name gonna be?”

                “Why’s it gotta be a she?”  I asked.

                “A female god would show this misogynistic world who’s boss, especially if she was slightly cracked.”  Shayna added.  “And mostly violent.”

                “Whatever,” Jamie said.  “Just come up with the evil broad and attach my name.  I’m gonna rest.”  And with that, he exited the group mentally.  

                “We don’t need him anyway,” Kayleigh added, rolling her eyes.  “So, what’s her name and what’s she the goddess of?”

                I attempted to lighten the mood.  “Her name is Agnes, the goddess of plastic cutlery.”

                Shayna yanked out a paper and started drawing.  “No, she’s got to have swords with blood all over them.  And blood’s matted in her hair and running in her eyes.  Oh, and she has blood foaming out of her mouth.”

                “Brittany, the goddess of blood, blood and more blood?”

                Kayleigh pointed at the page where Shayna was furiously working.  “Ooh, and give her these yellow glowing eyes and wrap her feet in clouds.  That’d be majestic.  And bat wings!  Maybe she could be like the goddess of war and storms.”

                “Sacajawea, the goddess of storms and bat wings and blood,” I offered to no one listening.  

                Shayna smiled.  “I’ve got it.”  She etched out a name above her monstrous creation.  It was “Scarab!  Ruler of the dead!  Goddess of revenge and…”

                “Quality footwear!” I offered.

                Shayna shook her head.  “Scarab, Ruler of the dead, goddess of revenge and Sender of darkness.”

                “Ooh, Emitter of darkness,” Kayleigh said.

                “Emitter?”  Shayna asked.

                Kayleigh shrugged.  “It’s gotta be better then Sender.  Ooh wait!  Spawner of darkness.”

                “Vomiter of darkness!”  I said to myself, apparently.

                Shayna held up a hand.  “Assigner of darkness.”

                “That’s good, “ Kayleigh said.

                Soon, the hour was over.

*                             *                             *                            

           The next day, Jamie was bouncing around like he’d had too many energy drinks (which he probably had).  He wasn’t necessarily bothering me (we didn’t hang in the same circles), but I could easily tell he wasn’t his depressed self. 

                “I hope they fleshed out our god last night,” he said to me.  “I don’t really want to mess with it.”

                “Yeah, I’m not crazy about it either,” I said.

                “What are you two talking about?  Scarab?” 

                We turned to see Kayleigh dressed head to foot in black, with black lipstick and basically circles around her eyes.

                “You’ve taken the look to an all new level,” I said.

                She favored me with a smile, which was unusual since the most I’d ever gotten from her was a polite frown.  “The high priestess has to look her part.”

                Jamie smirked.  “Well, first, whoever voted you high priestess?  Second,  the presentation isn’t until Friday.  And third, even though Halloween is right around the corner, Emo Queen isn’t really a good look for you.”

                Her anger threatened to smite Jamie right then and there.  “Don’t you dare disrespect me or my position as high priestess of Scarab, Jamie Franklin!”

                “Folks!”  We were interrupted by Mr. Malcolm.  “Is there a problem over there?”

                “No, we’re all good,” I said.

                “Then let’s keep it down.”

                I turned back to see Kayleigh attempting to burrow a hole through Jamie’s head with her gaze, as she directed a finger at him.  “You better watch your words, Jamie Franklin.  Before you regret it.”

                Jamie rolled his eyes.  “Whatever.  I don’t have time for your hormonal imbalance.  Wake me if you need me.  But don’t need me.”

                “I had the most amazing dream last night,” Kayleigh said to me.  “It was so real.  She just appeared out if this huge wall of smoke.”

                “Who appeared?”  I asked.

                “Scarab.  She was just how we described her.  She had blood all over her and these large bat wings and these piercing yellow eyes.”

                “Sounds terrible.”

                “Oh, but it wasn’t.  She was fearsome, but she was also so kind and gentle.”

                “Sounds like you were in love.”  Jamie muttered, eyes still closed.

                “Shut up, Jamie.” She snapped.  “She said she’d been waiting for me…for us.  And that I was going to be her high priestess and that Shayna…”

                “Yes?  What about Shayla?”

                We turned to see Shayna who looked like death warmed over.  There were huge bags under her eyes.  Her skin was amazingly pale and her hair looked like she had barely ran through it with a brush.  She was also kind of twitchy and anxious as she took her seat.

                “What happened to you?”  I asked without thinking.

                “I…I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

                Kayleigh continued.  “I was just describing the wonderful dream I had.  I saw Scarab.”

                Shayna sat up.  “You saw who?”

                “I saw the god we created in a dream last night.  She came out of this huge wall of cloud…”

                Shayna looked down at the desk.  “I saw her too.”

                “Oh my gosh.  Wasn’t she amazing?”

                “No.”

                Kayleigh ignored her.  “And then she started talking to me and it was like she was reading my mind.  She told me everything that I ever dreamed about as a kid was getting me to this point.  Right here.  Right now.  Like how I’d always wanted to be a dancer and I took that class but didn’t stick with it.  Well, Scarab said I could dance for her as her high priestess.”

                “Sounds great,” muttered Shayna.

                “It was.  And, this one’s kind of stupid, but I always wanted to be in a palace when I grew up and she said I could live in a castle, serving her for as long as I liked.”

                “Sounds nice and delusional,” said Jamie.

                “Keep your mouth shut,” Kayleigh whispered at him.

                Jamie popped an eye open.  “You want to say that again?”

                Kayleigh narrowed her eyes.  “You need to learn to talk a lot less about what you know nothing about, Jamie Franklin.”

                Jamie rolled his eyes and stood up.  “Mr. Malcolm?”

                “Yes, Jamie?”

                “Can I run to the bathroom?”

                “Do you need me to hold your hand?”

                Jamie didn’t dignify that with a response.  He just left.

                Kayleigh watched him as he left.  “You just wait.”

                I turned to Shayna, who still looked mighty depressed.  “What was your dream like?”

                She wouldn’t look up.  “I saw her just like Kayleigh said.  She came out of this massive wall of fog.  She had two large cutlasses and there was blood all over her.  She had this large, forked tongue which kept poking out of her mouth and licking the blood off her lips.  And those eyes…they looked right through me like I wasn’t there at all.”

                “Did she tell you anything?”  Kayleigh asked.

                “No.  No, she didn’t aske me anything at all.  She just slithered over to where I was standing, swung one of those swords and cut off the top of my head.  My body slid to the floor and even though I knew I was dead, she used the other blade to carve my back in two.  Then she went in…through the cut in my back.”

                “She went in?”  I asked.

                Shayna nodded.  “She got into my skin.  Somehow, she fit in my body.  And the worst thing is that it was still me in my body but she was making me move around and I couldn’t stop her.  And she let me see her thoughts and all she thought about was war and death and killing and blood.  There was so much blood.”

                “Maybe we ought to tell somebody about this.”  I ventured weakly.

                “And tell them what exactly?”  Kayleigh asked.  “Are we gonna walk up to the counselor, maybe, and tell them something we totally made up is harassing us in our dreams, like a dollar store Freddy Krueger?”

                I didn’t have an answer to that one.

*                             *                             *                             *

   It was Tommy Bolger, the kid that used to live down the street from me but moved away back in elementary school, that gave me the news.

                “Did you hear about Jamie Franklin?”

                “What about Jamie Franklin?” 

                “Got into a wreck on the highway last night.  He was on his motorcycle and slid under a semi.”

                “What?”

                “He’s in ICU.  Still alive for now…just barely.”

                Unlike myself, who was pretty shaken by the news, Kayleigh appeared to get some grim satisfaction.  “Good.  He deserved it.”

                “He deserved to get into a wreck?  Deserved to go to the ICU where’s he’s barely hanging onto life?  What did he do to deserve that?”

                “Oh, quit being so dramatic,” said Kayleigh.  “I’m sure he’ll pull through.  Look, last night, Scarab told me what had happened, but she said he’d be okay.”

                “That’s very comforting.  It’s comforting that a god we created is telling you in dreams that Jamie got into a wreck, but he’ll be okay.  It’s not psychotic at all.”

                Kayleigh’s eyes narrowed.  “Are you saying I’m crazy?”

                I weighed her anger carefully.  “Look, isn’t concerning that right after we create this god, she shows up in your dreams.  Then the day that Jamie bad mouths the god, he gets into a wreck.  Isn’t that concerning to you at all?”

                “Of course, it’s not concerning.  Scarab caused the wreck.  She told me that last night too.”

                We were interrupted by the arrival of Shayna, who didn’t look so much tired and distressed as she did yesterday.  Today she looked calm, perhaps a bit sedated.

                  “What’s going on with Jamie?  I heard someone saying something in the halls.”

                Kayleigh munched down on that juicy bit of gossip.  “He got into a wreck last night as he was driving home on that stupid bike of his.”

                “A wreck?”  For some reason, she didn’t sound surprised.

                “Yeah, Scarab didn’t care for the way he talked about her, so she shoved him under a semi last night.”

                Shayna nodded.

                My mouth gaped.  “What is going on here, folks?  We’re talking about a human being…a human being that’s probably pretty close to death right now.”

                Kayleigh favored me with an evil smile.  “No, we’re talking about Jamie.  And Scarab said he’d be all right, so we just need to take her word for it.”

                I shook my head.  “Oh, I’m done.”

                Kayleigh’s smile never left.  “And what are you gonna do?  Gonna tell Mr. Malcolm that the god we created came to life and killed Jamie?  And now you’re scared she’s gonna come after you?”

                “Yeah.  Something like that.”

                “Hey.”  It was a very calm Shayna.  “It’s gonna all turn out all right.  Trust me.”

                It was my turn to narrow the eyes.  “Why should I?”

                “Because it is,” she concluded.  “Look, we’re almost done with this project.  We just need a little help with the model and then we can turn it in and not worry about it anymore.  Okay?”

                “Okay,” I agreed hesitantly.

                “So,” Shayna continued, “let’s meet behind the school at 2:30 and we’ll go back to my house.  I’ve got a model of Scarab started but I could use some help in finishing it.  We’ll go over, finish the model and then we’ll be done with all this nasty business.” 

                I didn’t like it, but I agreed anyway.

*                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *            

                The last bell rand for the day and I made my way toward the back of the school.  As promised, there were Kayleigh and Shayna waiting for me back by the shed which housed the football equipment. 

                “You ready?”  Kayleigh asked.

                “Yeah,” I responded.  “Let’s just get this over with.  I called my mom and told her I’m going over to Shayna’s.  But I’ve got stuff to do.”

                “Of course,” said Shayna.  She started away from the shed and toward the woods.  “Come on.  There’s a path through here to the back of my subdivision.”

                We took about ten steps into the woods, Shayna leading the way and Kayleigh taking up the rear, when suddenly there was a massive pain to the back of my head.  Black clouds grew at the edge of my vision, pushing inwards and I could feel my body slumping toward the ground. 

                The last thing I remember before completely blacking out was the two of them talking.

                “God, he’s heavy,” said Shayna.

                “Scarab will help lift him,” answered Kayleigh.

*                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *

                When I finally came to, I thought I was still asleep as I couldn’t see a thing.  I could hear something though.  It sounded like low muttering or chanting.

                “Hey,” I croaked.  “I think something happened to me.  I fell.”

                I tried lifting a hand to feel my head but my hand wouldn’t move.

                “I can’t move my arms.”

                Suddenly, there was a soft hand caressing my cheek.  “Shhh.  Just be quiet now.”

                It was Kayleigh.

                “What’s going on?”  I asked, my voice wavering.

                “She’s coming.”  Was he only answer I received.

                And then I felt them.  There were some sort of ropes holding my arms and wrists.  I could feel the cloth over my eyes, brushing against the top of my cheeks. 

                “Guys, let me loose right now.”

                The chanting grew louder.

                They weren’t listening at all. 

So, like any good soldier in a foxhole, I turned to my last resort.  “God, if you can hear me, please get me out of this mess.  I know I haven’t been the best Christian before, but I could seriously use your help right now.  Please save me.”

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light that lit up the underside of whatever covered my eyes.  I heard two grunts and then the sounds of what must have been Kayleigh’s and Shayna’s bodies hitting the ground.  And then, every noise ceased.

“What’s going on?”  I asked.

Someone ripped the cloth off my eyes and I saw immediately I was in a clearing in the woods.  I looked down and saw my arms and wrists were indeed tied with some nylon rope.  Over by my feet, Kayleigh and Shayna lay on the ground as if they were dead.  And to my right stood a bright light.

I was forced to shield my eyes.  “Who…”

The light flashed toward me and the nylon ropes fell useless to my sides.  Quickly, I sat up, rubbing my wrists and the girls began to stir.  I could just stare dumbfounded.

“Quickly,” said a voice from inside the light.  “leave this place.”

I rose unsteadily to my feet as the girls began to move.  Kayleigh began to feel around the dirt beside her, as if she was looking for something.

“What happened?”  She asked.  “I can’t see anything.  Scarab?  Are you here?”

Again, the voice from the light spoke to me.  “Go.”

At the edge of the clearing, I glanced once more at the girls as the felt blindly around at the dirt, groaning.  “What about Kayleigh and Shayna.”

“Go.”  The light repeated.  “I will strike the scales from their eyes.”

And I ran, not knowing where to, just away.

“Do people make their own gods?  Yes, but they are not gods!”

Jeremiah 16:20