Short Stories/Dreams

Human Jack-O-Lanterns

In 2035, in the small town of Redin, Halloween was coming up. This town was very excited about Halloween, and they decorated, and they trick-or-treated. Everyone dressed up.

On Halloween night, the only man in town who hated the holiday, slammed his gates and went inside. When trick-or-treaters found a way in to ask for candy, they were never heard from again.

The old man was always accused of murder, but there was never evidence of the crime. So he got away with it, every year.

That Halloween night in 2035, a few teenagers broke in. They thought it was a joke, that an old man couldn't kill all three of them. The jocks of the high school, no old man could take them down, they thought. Wrong.

As the jocks threw toilet paper over the mansion roof, the old man came up to them, silent and deadly. He brought his axe down on the first boy's head, cutting it off. The body crumbled as the head bounced off the ground and hit one of the other boys. The head rolled in front of him, and he screamed. The other jock turned to see what was the matter, but he was pleasured with the sight of the old man cutting off the other boy's head.

He screamed and backed away from the advancing man, right into a tree. The man raised his axe and cut at the jock's head. He ducked and ran.

"Don't run, boy," the old man called, his evil eyes were red and intent on the boy's running figure. The man appeared in front of the boy, ripping off his head. The body disintegrated, leaving just a pile of clothes.

The man rolled his eyes and started cleaning up the mess. "Told you not to run."

***

The next day, the police contacted him. He showed him that there was no evidence of his murdering spree, so they left, after giving him a warning.

The old man grinned as they left, before going into the secret basement. On the wall, several heads hung by hooks grinned down at him. He took the most recent additions to the collection and laid them down on his work desk. He picked up a carving knife and started carving them. When he was finished, he hung them up on the hooks.

Josh, Eric, and Henry stared down at him, their expressions starkly different. Josh's eyes were narrowed, with boredom, while his lips were missing, where a candle would be. Eric was staring with fright, his lips open in a scream, but his tongue was missing. Henry was painted a dark red from his own blood, and had a creepy grin on, that the old man carved into him.

This went on for years, until the old man died. When the house was sold, the new owners found the old man's collection. And finally the case of the missing children on Halloween was solved, however late, since it didn't prevent any of their deaths.