The Ghost and the Pumpkin

Going home

"You- You what?" Luna looks perplexed at Mr. Pumpkin. 

He turns his head ashamed away from Luna, "You brother, I- I killed him."

Luna stares at the water in front of her, completely shocked, "I don't... Understand. How do you know my brother?" She looks back at him.

"I was a... soldier. I was sent to your area to stop the uprising of a riot." Mr. Pumpkin takes a deep breath in, and looks at the water in front of him, "I was sent by the government. When I got here it was nothing like they had said. It was the people that were rising up against the government, not some crazy nationalist converting people. Still, I did my job. I needed to get back home to my little girl. I bombed most of the villages that were nearby and then I got assigned to be on the front line. After everything I had done. That was when I saw him..."

Mr. Pumpkin gets very sad, "I mean- I didn't see he was a little boy, I just... I saw a soldier. I saw the helmet, the gun. A soldier. So I just- I- I shot him."

His cut-out pumpkin face is twisted in sorrow, "I shot that little boy. Then I saw what I had... What I had done, I couldn't forgive..."

He hides his pumpkin head in his hands, "I couldn't forgive myself. I lost myself completely there. Holding his dying body in my arms."

Luna stares at him, and finally, he meets her eyes, "He kept saying Mom. And your name. Luna. After he died, I just kept holding him. It became the death of me. Another kid came along and shot me, with a gun almost double the size of him."

A tear forms and falls from Mr. Pumpkin's eye, "For- forgive me, Luna."

She looks down at the sand in front of her, "did he... Did he suffer? When he died, was he suffering?" Tears start falling from her eyes too. 

Mr. Pumpkin tries to take her hand, but goes right through her, "No! No, I don't think so. Maybe... Only a little bit. I hope."

He tries again to take Luna's hand, but she folds her arms in front of her, and looks at him with the tears running down, "Why?"

Looking confused he shakes his pumpkin head, which keeps shaking after he is done, "Why what?"

"Did you do this? How did you become a pumpkin and why? I don't understand"

Mr. Pumpkin holds out his gun hands and waits for Luna to put her hands in them. She looks unsure at him but decides to trust him and she puts her hands in his. 

"I... After I died, I saw your brother's ghost. He looked both scared, but also worried, and he hurried home. I couldn't understand why, so I- I followed him." Mr. Pumpkin looks straight into Luna's eyes, "When we got there, neither your mom nor you were there so, he kept looking around the area. We found your mom first. Dead, in the water, as you said. He started to cry and panic. I tried to comfort him, but he... He was so- so broken. He started to run again and after some days he finally found you-... your dead body. He was so angry."

Mr. Pumpkin looks down and squeezes Luna's hands, "After weeks, he finally found you. As a ghost. He looked at you, from a distance. See you try to make some friends. He... He didn't seem ready to face you then. Too ashamed. So I approached him. I told him, I would take care of her, of you. Please let go and go to the afterlife, I will take care of your sister and help her meet you there. "

Luna squeezes Mr. Pumpkin's hand back, "Did he agree?"

"No, not at first. Only after I had completely possessed that pumpkin you were talking to, and I could talk a bit. Then he left. Went to the afterlife, to wait for you." Mr. Pumpkin scans Luna's face for any indication of how she is feeling, but her face is completely blank.

"So...," Luna looks back at Mr. Pumpkin seriously, "Are you saying, if I go to the afterlife, my brother and mom would be there?"

Mr. Pumpkin nods, "Yes. Or at least your brother, I don't know about your mom."

Silence. They still look at each other, but no one says anything. 

Luna finally breaks the silence, after wiping away a tear, "What about your daughters? You said you wanted to go back home to her."

He looks back sad, "she- she died. Not long after me. I hear one of the surviving officers telling, that he was happy I had died before hearing the news about my family. A bomb had been dropped on top of my house. All were dead."

Luna looks sad at Mr. Pumpkin, "Then shouldn't you go find her? She must be looking for you?"

A faint smile finds its way to Mr. Pumpkin's pumpkin head, "One of the other ghost soldiers were going back to my hometown. I told him to find my family and tell them to wait for me on the other side. I needed to make this right. I needed for your brother to find peace. I couldn't live - or more die with myself otherwise."

"Thank you", Luna smiles faintly back to Mr. Pumpkin.

Mr. Pumpkin shakes his head again perplexed, "Thank you? Why?"

"For letting my brother leave. Giving him peace. For being my friend and go on adventures with me. Even though your family is waiting for you. Thank you. For staying with me." Luna lets go of Mr. Pumpkin's gun hands and hugs him, "Thank you. For taking care of me, and- and for holding my hand when I was scared. Thank you so much."

Luna can not hold back the tears and she cries loudly into Mr. Pumpkin's mine-chest. He sits still shocked for a second and then hugs her back, "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

They sit hugging each other for a while, crying. All the sadness and trauma disappear with every tear that leaves their eyes. When the tears slowly stops Luna lets go of Mr. Pumpkin and looks him directly in the eyes, "What will you do now?"

Mr. Pumpkin looks perplexed back at her, "What do you mean?"

Luna smiles, "I will be leaving now. My brother is waiting for me. But what will you do?"

He smiles happily back at her, "I don't know. I should probably let this body go and go back to my family, but... But I want to see, if maybe- maybe I can find another little girl, who needs a pumpkin friend."

They both laugh at that, and Luna gives Mr. Pumpkin another big hug, before getting up, "You are a perfect friend Mr. Pumpkin. I am happy you are my first and last friend. But don't let your daughter wait too long for you. I think- No... I know she is missing you. So, please. Go home soon too."

Mr. Pumpkin sheds a last tear, "I will keep that in mind."

Luna becomes more and more transparent and less than a minute later, she has disappeared, leaving Mr. Pumpkin alone. 

She has gone home. 

Mr. Pumpkin sits alone, watches the sun set and raise again, before he gets up and leaves the beach. 

The end.