Halloween Collection 2024

A Bump in the Night by: Bledsoe_Turnakitt

A Bump in the Night
Written by: Bledsoe_Turnakitt

It was mostly sunny as Kelsie bounced out the sliding glass door onto the back patio. She was excited! It was a Friday... school was over for the weekend... and Halloween was less than a week away.

Her sandy blonde hair fluttered softly in the gentle autumn breeze. 

The back patio overlooked a well kept back yard that went slightly downhill for about 50 yards to a small creek, and on the other side of the creek expanded a vast forest extending all the way to the distant mountains. The trees were all clothed in brilliant orange, red, purple, brown, and golden leaves. In the yard stood two things: an old oak tree with thick branches and a swing set complete with a tall slide, three swings, a lookout tower, and monkey bars. 

She was a 10 year old with an agenda...to tackle that swing set with full force.

"Come ON, Snaggles!" she shouted as she bound down the porch steps onto the green grass. "I'll beat you to it!" Snaggles was the English Bulldog who had been lying on the porch basking in the mild sunlight until he saw Kelsie running for the swing set. Then he gave chase.

Lacey watched out the kitchen window as Kelsie and Snaggles played. Her attention turned to her other child, her son Colton, as he yelled angrily. He was 2 and was showing it. Lacey found his favorite stuffed animal lying on the living room floor outside of Colton's playpen of which he was a prisoner of while she was preparing dinner.

She picked it up and returned it to him, which seemed to quiet him down. 

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Kyle. He had messaged that he might be about 30 minutes late getting home due to an issue at work. *That's fine* she thought. Now she has 30 minutes longer to work on dinner. Pot roast, boiled potatoes with onions and carrots, shells and cheese macaroni, and garlic bread. It smelled divine. 

She looked back out the kitchen window at Kelsie and Snaggles chasing each other around the Oak tree.

"Kelsie! It's starting to get dark." shouted Lacey out the sliding glass door. "Come inside and get cleaned up. Your Dad will be home anytime, and dinner is ready."

"Ok, Mom..." she said, and her and Snaggles raced for the steps. Up they went and through the glass door into the living room. "Eeewww... you STINK, Colt!" Grimaced Kelsie as she knuckle rubbed the top of his head. "Go wash your hands." said Lacey. Almost simultaneously, the front door opened, and Kyle stepped in. "Daddy!!" shouted Kelsie as she lept onto him. "Whoa! You ARE SWEATY, girl! What've you been doing?"

"Playing with Snaggles in the back yard." she replied.

"You HAVE?" he asked, looking down at Snaggles. The bulldog's lower teeth and one canine tooth stuck over his upper lip, and he cocked his head slightly as if to deny that he had nothing to do with it.

Kyle set Kelsie down and went to the kitchen. "You made it..." Grinned Lacey. "I thought you said 30 minutes. It's been an hour." Kyle removed his coat and laid it over the back of the couch, which was next to the kitchen.

"Be glad I'm not later than that. One of the guys at work tried to lift a load on timber material that was above the weight capacity for his forklift, and it flipped forward and then on its side. I don't know all the details, I just know he somehow got an arm pinned, and EMTs and the Fire Department showed up as well as the Police... so..."