Terror Lane: Collection of Horror Stories

The Moving Pumpkin

"All done!" Evelyn, mother of two, and a housewife exclaimed on a Sunday evening as she placed the final piece of decoration in its place. 

"Finally," she signed and looked around her front yard "All the preparations are complete." Halloween was just around the corner and Evelyn had coaxed her sons and husband to help her with the house decorations. The front yard was sprawled with pumpkins that were meticulously carved with scary faces and spread across the lawn. The main gate of the house was being guarded by Melissa and Harry, two angry skeletons. The main door to the house was decorated with stickers of spiders and ghosts. As they were leaving, a fly flew inside through the mouth of one of the pumpkins and came out of the right eye. The fly hummed around the pumpkin and flew in through the left eye and came out the other. What no one noticed was that the third time the fly went inside, it never came out. 

 After dinner, Evelyn looked out of the living room in the front yard to admire her hard work one more time before retiring for the night. They had turned on the fairy lights placed in the hollow pits of the pumpkins. Her yard was illuminated with a spooky orange glow. Evelyn was about to leave when she noticed that one of the pumpkins was out of order and had somehow rolled away from its friends. Evelyn made a click sound with her mouth. She was irritated. 

"I'll take care of it tomorrow," Evelyn said to herself as she drew the curtains and went to bed. Later that night, Evelyn got in the middle of the night to use the restroom. 

 "Ahhh!" Evelyn stretched and fumbled in the dark for the switch light. Suddenly a scream pierced the silence of the night. 

 James, Evelyn's husband woke up violently and looked around for the source of the scream. Evelyn was slumped on the floor. Her face was plastered with fear and she was pointed towards the window. James turned to look at what Evelyn was pointing at. He too gasped in horror. There was a face staring back at them through the curtain. The face had two sharp eyes and a menacing smile glowing with the flames of evil. James quickly turned on the light, ran towards the window, and flipped the blinds out of his way. A soft thud was heard. James peered outside in the dark. The object was still rolling after falling from the window. 

"It's a pumpkin, honey." 

 "What, a pumpkin?" Evelyn looked at her husband perplexed. 

"Yes. Someone must have left it here today and forgotten about it." Evelyn went to the window and looked outside. There were scores of glowing pumpkins outside except one small baby pumpkin that was lying a few feet away from the window. 

The next morning, James returned the baby pumpkin to its original position before leaving for work. After the kids had left for their school, Evelyn went outside and stood outside on her lawn staring at the baby pumpkin. She stood there for a while. Something was not making sense to her. Evelyn was sure that when she had drawn the curtains last night, there was nothing on the window sill. There was also the other pumpkin that was misplaced when she had looked from the living room. So, where are the pumpkins moving? Evelyn laughed at her own thought. How can a pumpkin move? 

Evelyn's reverie was broken by her neighbor, Harper's call. An old retired man with a walking stick was walking up to her. 

 "Why were you looking at the pumpkins so intently?" 

 "It's nothing." Evelyn blushed and waved her hand in dismissal. "How are you doing today?"

 "I'm fine. I came here to ask if you have seen my cat. I can't find her anywhere since yesterday."

 "No." Evelyn shook her head. "We were so busy with the decorations that even she had visited us, we didn't notice." 

"Oh!" Harper nodded and looked around her lawn. "And it all looks very lovely." 

Suddenly, the pumpkin in front of Evelyn shook. They both got scared by the sudden movement and jumped. They were recovering from the initial shock when the pumpkin moved again. They exchanged worried glances and looked at the moving pumpkin. The pumpkin tumbled and rolled towards them. Evelyn cried and held on to Harper who took another step back. The pumpkin was swaying and suddenly something black emerged from the left eye.  The black thing came out from the right eye as well and stretched towards them. Evelyn shrieked and ran towards the house. Harper sprang into action and landed his cane on the head of the pumpkin. The pumpkin quickly withdrew its black thing inside and shifted towards its right. Harper hit the pumpkin on the head with his cane, harder than the last time. A small cry came from the pumpkin. 

"Lily?" Harper's brows drew a valley on his forehead. Harper picked up the pumpkin and peered inside. A little creature was writhing in pain. "Lily, how did you get inside?" Harper ripped the pumpkin apart and pulled his cat out.