Once Upon a Halloween (3 page)

    "Just tell us what happened," Shannon said.

    "Is the door locked?" Hunter asked.

    "It's locked," Laura said.

    "Okay. Well, we went to the graveyard right after supper tonight."

    "We?" Shannon asked.

    "Who's we?"

    "Me and Connie."

    "Who's Connie?"

    "Sorta like my girlfriend."

    "You took her to the
cemetery?"

    "Yeah. We just thought it'd be a neat place to go. You know, cause of this being Halloween. It'd be something kinda spooky to do."

    "So what happened?" Laura asked.

    "Well, it looked like nobody was there. We didn't see any lights or anything. So we just started wandering around. It was real quiet and nice. And you know that bench?"

    Laura nodded.

    "Bench?" Shannon asked.

    "It's a concrete bench at one of the graves," Laura explained. "Across from the Kneeling Girl."

    "Oh. The
Kneeling
Girl." Shannon didn't recall the bench, but she certainly remembered the Kneeling Girl: a life-size statue of a teenaged girl, down on both knees, a bowl of some sort in her hands, and her granite mouth wide open.
What's this, the grave of Fellatio?
she'd said to Laura.

    
Oh, real nice,
Laura had said.

    
If you like that sort of thing.

    
You're awful.

    "I know the statue," Shannon said. "So there's a bench there?"

    "It's a few yards away. Don't you remember it?"

    "Hey, I might've seen it once. I'm not big on bone orchards." To Hunter she said, "So what about the bench?"

    "We sat down on it for a while. Me and Connie. And... you know." One of his shoulders hopped slightly. "Talked and stuff."

    
"And stuff
huh?" Shannon said. Laura cast her a peeved look.

    "We weren't doing anything
bad."

    "So what happened?" Shannon asked.

    "These
people
came. They weren't talking or anything, and they didn't have flashlights. We just heard them walking. The ground was all covered with dead leaves, so they made all these crunching sounds. They weren't very far away from us. They would've heard
us,
but we'd just been, you know, mostly kissing. So I guess they didn't know we were there.

    "Anyway, Connie heard them first and went, 'Shhhh. Somebody's coming.' We sat real still, then, and didn't say anything. Pretty soon, these people walked right past us. I think a few of them even looked at us. They might've thought we were statues, like part of the bench or something, because they didn't say anything or start trouble. They just kept on walking."

    "How many were there?" Shannon asked.

    "I don't know. A whole bunch."

    "Five or six?"

    "More. Maybe eleven, twelve. Maybe even more than that. It was hard to tell. They were all sorta clumped together and wearing these dark robes."

    Laura grimaced.
"Dark robes?"

    "Yeah. With their hoods up."

    Shannon scowled at the boy. "You're kidding, right? Hooded robes? Gimme a break."

    "They
were."

    "Okay, whatever. Go on. What happened next?"

    "Me and Connie, we just sat on that bench and didn't move a muscle. I was hoping they 'd keep on walking. But what they did was go over to the Kneeling Girl. They made a circle around and held hands. Then one of them started to chant something. She sounded like a woman. I guess she was probably their leader. Anyway, she wasn't very loud but we were close enough so I could hear her. Thing is, the words didn't make any sense. They were like in a foreign language."

    "Spectacular," Shannon muttered.

    "It was all really quiet except for the chanting. Well, it was windy, too. The wind was making a lot of noise sometimes. But not enough, and it sort of came and went. If we'd tried to make a run for it, they probably would've heard us. You know, all those dry leaves everywhere. So I thought we'd better just sit still and wait. Maybe they'd start making some noise... or they'd get done and go home.

    "Pretty soon, they all started chanting. It still wasn't very loud. They did it like they were whispering... it was sort of spooky, the way it sounded. I mean, I got goosebumps. I was about ready for me and Connie to head for the hills, but all of a sudden they didn't have their robes on anymore. The robes were down on the ground by their feet. And nobody had anything on."

    "Trick or treat," Shannon muttered.

    "They were all
naked? "
Laura asked.

    "Yeah. Except for... like shoes or boots or whatever. And
equipment.
The moon was really bright over where they were... We could see them really well. They didn't all have the same things... like a couple of them, I think they had coils of rope hanging around their necks. Most of them, though, they wore belts around their waists. And stuff was attached to the belts. Like hatchet cases and sheaths for knifes, like that.

    "Holy shit," Shannon muttered.

    Hunter nodded. "They had all kinds of knives and swords and hatchets."

    "You've gotta be kidding," said Laura.

    "I saw them with my own eyes."

    "Did they have guns?" Shannon asked.

    Hunter slowly shook his head. "I didn't see any."

    "Well, that's good news."

    "They must like to be silent when they kill," Hunter said. The doorbell rang. Shannon jumped. Laura flinched and squeaked.

    Hunter gasped, then whispered, "Don't open it again. Please."

    Shannon's eyes locked with Laura's.

    Laura slowly shook her head from side to side. "I don't know," she whispered. "Maybe we'd better not..."

    "Who's there?" Shannon called out.

    
"Trick or treat!"
shouted a chorus of child voices.

    "Your graveyard people," Shannon said. "They were adults, weren't they?"

    He nodded.

    "No kids?"

    "I don't think so."

    "Stay put," Shannon said, and opened the door.

    

    

    Shannon stood by the door, ready to slam it, while Laura opened the screen door and passed out candy to the children. "Here you go," Laura said. And, "Here's one for you." And, "Oh, aren't
you
scary!" After each quiet thump of a candy bar landing in a bag or plastic pumpkin, a little kid voice said, "Thank you." Then the children ran off, calling out, "Happy Halloween!"

    Laura stepped out onto the porch.

    "What's she doing?" Hunter asked.

    "Wants to make sure they get away all right."

    "She wouldn't be able to save them anyway."

    Shannon called out, "Hey, Laura, why don't you come back in?"

    "Just a second."

    "They're gonna get her," Hunter whispered. "Just chill, huh?"

    Laura came back into the house, shut the screen door and locked it, The moment she was clear, Shannon closed the heavy oak door.

    "Maybe the kids'll stop coming," Laura said, "if we turn off all the lights."

    "It might slop some of them," Shannon said. "On the other hand, lights are a good way to discourage foul play."

    "You oughta keep them on," Hunter said. "If it's dark, they can sneak up on us easier."

    "Let's leave the lights on for now," Shannon said. She turned to Hunter. "Why isn't Connie with you now? Where is she?"

    "I think maybe
they
got her."

    "You don't
know?"

    He shook his head. "We kept waiting on the bench, like I said. Figuring they'd go away sooner or later. But then they... you know how the Kneeling Girl's mouth is open?"

    "I know, all right."

    "Well, one of them stuck a flare in it."

    "A flare?"

    "A road flare. It really lit the place up. It even lit
us
up. Connie and me. I mean... God... we're just sitting there like an audience... with the lights on." He shook his head. He had a sick look on his face. "I figured we'd get seen if we moved, but they were gonna see us
anyway
as soon as one of them looked in our direction. I didn't know what to do, and Connie just sat there beside me like
she
was a statue. So we just sat and watched them."

    "What were they doing?" Shannon asked.

    Hunter shook his head and shrugged. "Well, they kept on chanting in that funny language. When the flare was going, they held out their arms and started turning around in circles."

    "They didn't see you then?" Laura asked.

    "Huh-uh. They had their heads tipped way back. I think some of them might've had their eyes shut, too. And then the chanting got faster and they started moving faster. Spinning and jumping and stuff. It got pretty wild. Some of them took out their knives and swords and things and started waving them around."

    "They were doing all this in the nude?" Laura asked.

    "Yeah."

    "By the light of a road flare?" Shannon asked.

    Hunter nodded.

    "That's a mighty well-lit orgy," Shannon said.

    Looking perplexed, Hunter said, "I don't think it was an orgy."

    "There were men
and
women?" Shannon asked.

    "Yeah."

    "Dancing around naked?"

    "Yeah."

    "Sounds like an orgy to me."

    "Been to many?" Laura asked her.

    "Not yet. But I keep hoping."

    "This wasn't any orgy," Hunter insisted. "I think it was like a ceremony... like Devil worship or... I don't know, it sort of looked like a war dance or something."

    Laura frowned as if focusing on an idea. "How many did you say there were?"

    "I don't know, maybe like a dozen?"

    "Were there thirteen?"

    His shoulders bobbed. "Maybe."

    She looked at Shannon and raised her eyebrows. "A coven of witches?"

    "You asking me? I don't know shit about witches."

    "This
is
the Eve of All Hallows," Laura said. "It's what, like the autumnal equinox? I think it's like a special time of the year for witches and things."

    "Ghosts and goblins and headless horsemen." Shannon shook her head. "Screw it." She turned to Hunter. "I want to know what happened to Connie."

    "She ran for it."

    "Huh?"

    "We were just watching. I thought she was scared to move, same as me. But all of a sudden she jumped up and ran like hell. They saw that. Some of them did, anyway. They pointed at her and yelled and then some of them saw me. A couple of them had already taken off after Connie, so I couldn't go that way so I ran the other way. They must've split up and chased both of us. I know I had a bunch running after me. They couldn't catch me, though. I'm on the high school's cross-country team..."

    "Left them in the dirt?"

    "I left 'em behind, but I don't know how far."

    "What sort of runner is Connie?" Shannon asked.

    The look on his face was answer enough. But he said, "She's not very athletically inclined."

    "So you think they caught her?" Shannon asked.

    "She
might've
gotten away. I bet they got her, though."

    "Where does she live?" Laura asked.

    "The Estates."

    "Doesn't everyone," Shannon muttered. "You ran
this
way and she ran the
other
way," Laura said, "so she was heading
away
from where she lives."

    "Yeah."

    "Deeper into the cemetery."

    "Yeah."

    "Maybe she didn't
try
to outrun them," Shannon said. "Maybe she hid."

    "Maybe," Hunter said. "I sure hope so."

    Laura turned to Shannon. "So what should we do?"

    "Guess we can forget about the Halloween party."

    "And do what?" Laura asked.

    "Call the cops."

    Shannon led the way into the living room. She dropped into an easy chair, reached over to the table and picked up the handset of the cordless telephone.

    The doorbell rang.

    Alarm filled Hunter's eyes.

    Shannon grimaced. "Maybe you'd better not get it this time."

    "The screen door's locked."

    The doorbell rung again.

    "The faster I give them candy, the faster they'll go away."

    "Just make sure they're
kids."

    "I'll be careful."

    As the doorbell rang again, Laura hurried toward the foyer. Hunter started to go after her.

    "No." Shannon reached out and grabbed his wrist. "You stay here. You might need to answer some...
SHIT!!!"

    

    

    Hunter jerked his hand out of Shannon's grip and whirled around.

    And squealed.

    Out of the darkness of the dining room came a man with a Bowie knife. He ran toward Shannon. He was flanked by two women, a blonde with a saber, a brunette with a hatchet. Except for shoos, leather belts and sheaths - and a rope coiled around the neck of the blonde - all three were naked. Their skin gleamed with sweat. They grunted as they ran. Their eyes looked fierce.

    Shannon hurled the cordless handset of the phone at the man. It hit him in the mouth with a clash of plastic against teeth, then bounced off. By the look on his face, it must've hurt. But it didn't stop him.

    Laura ran into the living room, let out a cry of alarm, and brushed past Hunter as she dashed toward the attackers.