TWO DAYS AFTER HALLOWEEN
There is a very strict rule among ghosts
and spirits and other creatures of the night. It is a rule they all must follow. This rule
has to do with Halloween and it has to do with scaring people and it has to do the day
after Halloween. You see, all of these ghosts and spirits and creatures of the night must
go back into hiding as soon as Halloween is over. If they didn't, people would soon get
used to them and they wouldn't be nearly as frightening.
Now this story is about one particular ghost named Edward
who broke the rules. The story starts on that most frightening of all nights, Halloween
night.
"Edward," called one of his friends. "It's
me, Micha. You are coming out, aren't you? Its Halloween night."
"I suppose," Edward said. "Time to go
spooking."
He pulled himself out of a crack in the door of a long
forgotten basement in a creepy old house at the end of the street. All ghosts live the
cracks of old doors. That's why those old doors sometimes slam shut by themselves when you
least expect it.
"It's Halloween," Micha said, "and I can't
wait to scare the pants off some little kid trick-or-treating in the neighborhood."
"Is that all you live for?" asked Edward.
"Live? Ha, ha! I haven't lived for 500 years."
"You know what I mean," Edward replied.
"Oh, don't be a drab bore this year, Edward," his
friend said. "We only get out once a year and you've started going on about this rule
again. Rules are rules, my friend. We are ghosts but even ghosts have rules."
"Well, it just doesn't seem fair," Edward said.
"Yes, I'm going to get out and do a little roaming this Halloween but I don't get any
joy out of frightening children. Where's the challenge in that. They are scared of their
own shadows, anyway. But I'll not be going back at midnight. You can live in the crack of
some old basement door if you want, but not me."
"Edward!" Micha pleaded. "Think about what
you're doing!"
It was too late. Edward zipped off over the trees and sailed
like a shimmering silver cloud through the Halloween sky. He was gone and Micha was left
standing alone in the brisk night air.
It was almost midnight when Micha found Edward hiding behind
a tombstone in a cemetery on the edge of town.
"Boo!" Micha said as he snuck up behind Edward.
"Did I scare you?"
"Terribly," Edward muttered. "I've been here
all night and I haven't seen a soul."
"It's almost midnight, Edward. Time to go back for
another year."
"Well, you can forget that," Edward said. "I
don't care about the rules anymore. Rules are for fools."
"Don't say that," Micha said. "I mean, rules
are there for a purpose and you know what will happen if you don't follow them."
"No, I don't."
"Well, I'm not sure myself, but I wouldn't want to find
out."
"What?" Edward said, "maybe we'd be haunted
by a ghost or something?"
"Edward, don't mess around. Look at the time. We've got
less than ten seconds till midnight."
"I am really afraid," Edward said.
"Suit yourself, but I'm not waiting around to find out
what happens," Micha said over his shoulder as he began flying back to his door.
"Good luck friend, but I wouldn't want to be in your ghostly boots."
It was deathly quiet in the grave yard. The moon slid behind
the bare branches of an oak tree and somewhere off in the distance, a dog barked at
something unseen. After a few minutes, a wind whistled around a tomb stone and then Edward
could hear the sound of footsteps crunching on dry leaves. A lone figure in the moonlight
came trudging along. From the smell, Edward could tell that this poor unfortunate was a
human, probably taking a short cut through the grave yard on this moonlit eve. This person
would be just perfect for a little spooking, Edward thought.
As the figure approached, Edward found himself extremely
excited, almost breathless with anticipation. "Steady," he told himself.
"Wait for just the right moment and . . . "
Wh-o-o-o-o-o-o!
"Oh, not another one," a young woman exclaimed.
"The fifth ghost tonight. Go away. Leave me alone. Halloween is over, brother.
Honestly, what is so much fun about trying to scare people? I'm not scared. You're
over-doing it!"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, the first couple times I was startled and a little
scared but you're the fifth ghost tonight," she said. "If you want to know the
truth, it gets a little old. Boo to you, too."
"Wait!" Edward called, "don't you find me a
little scary? A little unnerving? Somewhat frightful? Unsettling?"
"Boring is more like it!"
Edward was crushed. This had never happened before. Never.
People usually ran in fright at the mere sight of him. Now, they were yawning.
He spent the next day at the cemetery, too, planning on
doing a little more spooking the next night. Yes, it was against the rules but he didn't
care. Only that night, as the winds blew through the grave yard, Edward could feel the
presence of something in the area. He had a feeling it was something dark and evil and
sinister. Suddenly the moon was blotted out an a huge misshapen monster took form in front
of him.
"What are you doing out here?" the creature spoke.
"W-w-who are you?" Edward asked.
It takes a lot to scare a ghost but Edward was very
frightened at the sound of the voice.
"I will ask again, what are you doing here?"
"Oh no," Edward said. "Is that you, Count
Toten?"
"Yes, it is I, Count Toten, Demon Master of this
county, and I demand to know why you, a common ghost, have not returned to your door. Do
you not live in the crack of an old door like the rest of the ghosts?"
"Well . . . " Edward stammered, "I do but . .
. you see . . . I mean . . . "
"We had a report of a human being wandering through
this cemetery, after Halloween, and a ghost tried to scare her. It didn't work. Do you
know anything about this?"
"Nothing," Edward lied.
"And they said it was you!"
"Well, mistakes happen, don't they!" Edward cried.
"As a matter of fact, I'm headed right back to my door now."
"And I believe," Count Toten hissed, "that a
terrible mistake has already happened."
The creature raised its finger and Edward could feel himself
changing. He could feel the power of Count Toten's black magic surge through his ghostly
body.
Suddenly, Edward the Ghost dropped to the ground. Now he was
no longer ghostly. Now he was human again.
"You like to be out afternoon Halloween so much, now
you may be out all the time. What do you think of that? And just in case you didn't know,
I put the fear of everything in you. You will fear the dark, the light, the day, the
night, the sun, the rain, a squirrel in a tree—EVERYTHING! Now go!"
Edward was suddenly five years old again. He ran off through
the night, frightened of every shadow and scared of light. It was only the second day
after Halloween and Edward quickly decided he would break no more rules—ghostly or
otherwise.
The End |
