The End of Halloween: Four Tales of All Hallows' Eve by Chapman Greg

Author:Chapman, Greg [Chapman, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Midnight Theatre Publications
Published: 2016-09-29T18:30:00+00:00

“Everything okay there, Tom?” Vernon asked.

“Uh… yeah. You folks sure do get into Halloween.”

Vernon chuckled. “It’s our favourite holiday. And here we are.”

The old man turned into the main road of the town. A great sign, immaculately carved from a single piece of wood in the shape of pumpkin, and still retaining its clean, hand-painted lustre, read: WELCOME TO OCTOBERVILLE, POP: 10,031.

There were trick-or-treaters everywhere: children and adults in full costume, vampires, mummies, aliens, devils with pitchforks, and sea monsters, all laughing and running in the streets, giving each other candy. For some reason, the sight made Tom’s heart pound. A line of dead-looking oak trees dominated the street and hundreds of orange lights dangled between them on clumpy lines of cobweb. Adults wore painted monster faces, while some children wore monster masks. Elsewhere, a group of men in queer robes lead a procession, handing out treats and cakes to the children. Tom saw one child bite into a cake to find a large eyeball inside. The child swallowed it whole. Tom was amazed at how realistic the candy and costumes all looked. The truck pulled up on the side of the road and at first, Tom was afraid to get out.

“I’ll take you up to the sheriff’s office and you can phone from there,” Vernon told Tom.

Tom climbed out of the truck and everyone stopped to stare at him. Werewolf children, with their witch mothers and fanged fathers.

“Well, who’s that you got there, Vernon?”

A rotund man, dressed as a zombie, complete with exposed intestines, stepped up to them. Tom took a step back when he got a look at the man’s shredded form.

“Well hey there Mayor Kirkman. This here is Tom. I found him on the Highway just past the cemetery. He had himself an accident.”

The Mayor’s torn lips drooped. “Well, ain’t that a crying shame.”

Tom scanned all the Halloween revellers. “I… uh, was hoping to use a phone, to call home. My wife and son will be wondering where I am.”

Mayor Kirkman smiled, but his bottom lip still hung low. Tom thought his makeup was astounding. “Of course, of course,” he said. “I’ll take you up to see the sheriff.”

“Uh… thank you.”

The Mayor addressed the crowd. “Okay everyone, back to it now.”

The crowd dispersed; the laughter and frivolity coming back on like a switch. The zombiefied Mayor put a decrepit arm around Tom’s shoulder and led him into town. Tom didn’t know where to look; he’d never seen so much Halloween in all his life, particularly amongst adults.

“So, Tom, you had an accident you say?” the Mayor asked.

“Yeah, I was driving back home from a conference and this… animal ran out in front of my car. I tried to swerve to avoid hitting it and ended up colliding with a tree.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry to hear that, Tom. I see you’ve taken a knock on the head. We might have to get our town doctor to take a look at you.”

“If it’s not too much trouble?”

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