Once Upon an Autumn

Once Upon an Autumn-Full Book

Once Upon an Autumn

Copyright © 2020 by Kerry Michael Steinmann
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 9798656172363
Imprint: Independently published

This book is dedicated to the people whose lives I have stolen some of the character’s characteristics from. They may or may not know who they are. Some do for sure.

Foreword
This book is merely an exercise in the process of manufacturing and putting in writing the imaginations of a fun Halloween tale. Just because I wanted to. (KMS)

Chapter 1

Once upon an autumn, there was a young boy who thought Halloween was the coolest holiday ever. He just couldn’t wait for the fall season to come. He was in a state of fanatical bliss when October 1st crept up each year. He was enthralled with all of the prospects and spookiness the holiday would bring with it. He truly loved the sights, sounds, and smells of the changing season as summer started to die. The appearing of pumpkins was as welcome and tantalizing to him as new blossoming flowers might be for someone else at the birth of spring.
It was no different this year of course, and fall was shaping up splendidly. The colors in the trees were already proving magnificent in places. The late September breezes were blowing wistfully in the evenings in such a way that set his heart a sail dreaming of what this October would conjure. You see, Halloween was not only the coolest holiday ever as far as he was concerned, it was also his birthday.  And, this year would be different, but he would never have imagined how different.
This young boy’s name is Benjamin, and this year would be different because he would meet Mr. August Moony, and face something that only in his young imagination had hoped to encounter many times. When he finally did, he found that he would regret it for the rest of his life; which he is quite fortunate to still possess I might add.
You see, young Benjamin was infatuated with vampires, and he always dressed up as a vampire for Halloween. He had all the vampire movies, or at least all the ones his mother would allow him to watch. He read about vampires in every book he could get his hands on. No, Mr. Moony is not a vampire, in case you are wondering, but Benjamin did meet a vampire. Lucky for him he met August Moony first.
It was on October 1st that Benjamin and August crossed paths for the first time; in a cemetery no less. Just about a block and a half away from Benjamin’s house sleeps a forgotten, old cemetery hidden near a grove of trees. The graves date as far back as the year 1822. It was Benjamin’s yearly ritual to visit the cemetery in the evening starting on October 1st, and returning each evening thereafter until Halloween night. He would arrive at the cemetery about six o’clock or so, and sit on the old, crumbling concrete bench just on the edge of the cemetery’s entrance. He would stay until the sun would disappear behind the houses across the road from the cemetery. Benjamin came hoping to see a ghost, or better yet a vampire.
Benjamin’s mom would not allow him to be out after dark accept during this time of year, and only ten minutes after sun down, then he had to be home. She only allowed this because she knew how much it meant to him and the path to and from the cemetery was safe enough. It ran between the homes of people his parents knew very well. Also, except for those who lived close to the cemetery, no one ever went there. Either they didn’t know about it, or it was forgotten to them long ago.
The exception was a man who came once every two or three weeks and mowed the grass. No one seemed to know much about him. He just showed up, mowed the grass, and left. Sometimes he would walk back and forth mumbling to himself after he was done mowing. He had been doing this for years and everyone who knew about him counted him as harmless. He never stayed after sundown though; if time got away from him and the sun was setting low, he would leave in a great hurry without his lawn mower and gas can. He would come back and pick them up in the morning.
On this first of October, Benjamin began his yearly ritual as he had been doing for the last three years. He started this tradition when he was ten. He arrived at the cemetery at six fifteen this night because his mom made him clean his room before he left, which was usually a mess daily. This was a good time of year for his mom to get him to do whatever she needed him to do. If she even mentioned that he could not go to the graveyard until he did this or that, she knew she had him right where she wanted him.
August saw him sitting there just after the sun had slipped behind the houses, and it was getting pretty dark. The night was clear and crisp. Under other circumstances August would have found it a lovely evening. August wasn’t paying attention to Benjamin or the evening; he was watching the creature he had been tracking for eight years. The tall, sleek figure was entering the graveyard on the far left side and Benjamin hadn’t noticed. That is not at all unusual, for this creature moves in such a silent, elegant manner that he seems to almost not be there at all. He just seems to fade into the scenery. His name is Leandro Belasaunte. August has been on his trail ever since Leandro fed on August’s beloved Anna. The beast left her lifeless body in a city dumpster, as though she was a paper plate full of chicken bones someone might toss in the trash after dining at a picnic. August has lost track of him a few times over the years but has always managed to find him again, for he is a creature of disgusting habits. He is slippery, but his trail is not hard to pick up if you have come to know him as well as August.
August knew Leandro was aware of the boy and had wandered into the grave yard because of him. Leandro could have smelled the youth four or five hundred yards away. He could have smelled August too, for that matter, if August had not properly prepared himself earlier for the night’s hunt.
August snuck up behind Benjamin, who was quite relaxed and twirling a stick in his right hand; he lightly tapped Benjamin on the shoulder. You would have thought he had blown an air horn in Benjamin’s ear the way he screamed and jumped straight up off the bench he was sitting on.
August had no need to do so, because Benjamin was already on the move in the right direction, but he hollered out after him anyway, “Run boy and don’t you stop until you get home! I mean it, you keep runnin! Your life depends on it!”
That is how Benjamin met, or rather experienced, Mr. August Moony for the first time and I can’t imagine what was going through his mind. August knew he would see the boy again; it would be inevitable. Maybe he would apologize then for giving the boy such a fright.
August had not taken his eyes off of Leandro throughout the ordeal. Even before he reached out to tap the boy on the shoulder he saw the rage begin to swell in Leandro’s fiery, red eyes. August was ready for a fight but to his surprise Leandro turned himself away as if to convey, you are not worthy of my effort, and disappeared among the trees. August did not catch up with Leandro again that night, but he took comfort in knowing that he had spoiled Leandro’s plan. He also reveled in the fact that Leandro knew once again, August had not given up his pursuit. August doubted Leandro was at all intimidated by that fact; he never has been before. Leandro considers August more of a source of entertainment than a threat.