Halloween haunting, a story by greg,(reader's discretion is strongly advice)+15

Episode 4

The crowd at the Harvest Festival in the Hilliard
Municipal Park had grown. As the day
progressed, more and more people found their
way to the heart of Hilliard to celebrate
Halloween. An older man walked side-by-side
with his granddaughter, holding her hand tight.
They walked through a crowd of kids fighting
with their fake weapons and up to an apple cider
stand
"Do you want a small one, sweetie?” the old man
asked the girl. She nodded and smiled, showing
off her teeth, which were stained blue from
cotton candy. “Two small ciders, please,” the
man told the young lady behind in the booth.
“Grandpa, what kind of costume is that?” the
little girl asked, tugging on her grandfathers track
jacket. “Where, sweetie?” he asked, looking in the
direction she was pointing. She was pointing at
one of the ponds off the right, just beyond the
festival barriers. He squinted to try and get a
better look. Someone was wading through the
pond towards the shore. “I don‟t know, but he‟s
going to get in trouble – you‟re not allowed to
be in that water.” They watched as the person
slowly walked out of the water and, little by little,
made his way into the grass. It appeared to be a
young man, but in heavy Halloween make up.
The skin on his face appeared to be deteriorated
and hanging off the bone. His clothes were
brown and tattered. The skin on his arms was
dark green and dripping off the bone as well. It
was a disgusting costume… The old man put his
hand out to keep his granddaughter behind him.
“Something‟s not right with him sweetie. Stay
here by the booth.” The old man made his way
through a group of festivalgoer‟s and walked
towards the boy coming out of the pond.
The boys‟ clothing was soaked and muddy. The
closer the old man got, the more unnerving
things became. “Young man, you must have
spent a lot of time on that costume,” he
nervously laughed as he approached the boy.
“You‟re scaring some of the little ones over
here.” The old man came face to face with the
boy and immediately noticed his eyes balls had
vanished into a pair of deep, shadowed eye
sockets. The boy opened his mouth and a steady
stream of muddy water gurgled out and spilled
into the grass. The old man stepped back and
the young man collapsed and crashed into the
ground, making a loud, wet „squishing‟ sound in
the grass. An overwhelming stench from the
boys‟ body rose and invaded the old man‟s nose.
He backed up some more and fell backwards. He
put his hand over his mouth and nose and stared
at the mysterious and gruesome corpse......
******************************
It doesn‟t necessarily mean this is some kind of
warning, Holly,” Kevin said to his sister as they
say next to each other on the couch in her one
story home on Wakefield Drive. “What else could
it be?” she asked as she stared at the pumpkin
they had picked out sitting on the coffee table in
front of them. It had yet to be touched. A movie
played on the TV – something about a killer doll
– but it was on mute. Kevin didn‟t know what to
say. It certainly was weird though – everything
that had been going on. The figures in the
woods, the cold touch on her neck at Abners, the
whispers – and this all just happened to be
happening on Halloween? There wasn‟t much he
could say to try to convince her otherwise. “Do
you want to carve the pumpkin?” he asked. Holly
shook her head. She didn‟t seem to be in the
mood anymore. She looked up at the TV and saw
the psycho-doll stab a janitor over and over with
a switchblade knife, and she turned her head and
winced. “Can we turn the channel, please?” Kevin
grabbed the remote and turned the channel. He
sat back in the couch and flipped through the
channels to find something good. He flipped right
past the news, but a glimpse of Hilliard‟s
Harvest Festival caught his eye and he turned it
back.
A young reporter was live from the festival. She
stood in front of police caution tape and spoke
directly into her microphone while keeping eye
contact the camera. “It was a shock to everyone
who was out at Hilliard‟s Halloween Festival this
afternoon – a muddy corpse, of what an
eyewitness described as a young man, was
discovered in the grass at the Hilliard Municipal
Park near one of the parks many ponds. The
boys‟ body was removed from the scene and the
festival was shut down. “There is still no official
word from local police as to what happened, but
a witness tells us that an older man discovered
the body, after believing it was someone dressed
in a Halloween costume.” “My God…” Holly said,
disturbed by the breaking news on TV.....
Officers York and Westman sat in their police
SUV at the end of the Watkins‟ gravel driveway.
York sipped a coffee; Westman, a hot chocolate.
“What‟s the big deal about this house anyway?”
Westman asked...
York swallowed a mouthful of coffee and looked
at his partner. “Long ago, there was a witch
named Raven who lived in this area. Supposedly,
before the Watkins family moved in, the witch
told one of the construction workers to kill the
other members of his team. Well, he did, and the
Watkins‟ moved in as soon as they could,
ignoring the murders.” York‟s attention drifted a
little as he looked out the passenger window and
saw the raven still perched on top of the barn in
the back of the house. He watched as it shook
its‟ feather and cocked its‟ head again. The
raven lifted itself off the barn and flew to the top
of the house, where it sat next to the brick
chimney. York continued, “These roads out here
in the country are infamous for strange things.
Unexplained fires burn in the cornfields, strange
noises erupt in the night – someone was out
here jogging early one morning and swore up and
down that something large flew over top of her
numerous times before flying away into the
darkness.” “Like a bird?” York stared at the raven
on the roof. “Well, if it was, it must have been a
pretty big bird.” He turned his attention back to
Westman. “Most people in Hilliard know the
stories and have always tried to connect all the
witchcraft to the Watkins family – some people
even claim that Elizabeth Watkins is Raven
herself. Who else would move into a house on
such violent grounds......
I heard something about a group of kids getting
killed here, what, ten years ago?” “Sort of. There
was a group of students from Darby High School
and their teacher here interviewing Elizabeth and
Seth about the creepy history. No one for sure
knows what happened, but it‟s understood that
Elizabeth and Seth both blacked out, and
somewhere in there one of the students hung
herself from the chandelier, and the others all
dropped dead.” “How is that possible?” “There
was always the assumption that the Watkins‟
had something to do with it, but medical
evidence guaranteed us that five of the kids just
dropped dead from heart attacks – they were
not murdered. The only violent death was the girl
who hung herself.” “How could she get up there
without anyone seeing her?” Westman inquired.
York shrugged. “What about the caretaker?”
“Valerie was found unconscious in the kitchen.”
“Did no one think this situation was suspicious?”
“Everyone did. But it‟s hard to blame them for
murder when there is absolutely zero evidence of
foul play. When the case wrapped up, it felt very
unfinished – no one was happy about it.........."
No one was happy about it. Elizabeth and Seth
became outcasts that everyone looked at with
condemning eyes. We all know they‟re guilty –
there‟s just no proof.” York looked back up at the
Watkins residence and noticed the curtain in the
upstairs bedroom was pulled back. He could see
Elizabeth sitting in her wheelchair, staring out at
them. She closed the curtains once she saw York
look at her. York then turned his attention to the
raven on the roof. It hopped around on the
shingles for a moment before taking flight and
flying over the cornfield. York peered up the side
of the house at the barn behind it. “I‟m going to
go have a look in the barn back there. Stay
here.” “Okay.”
York opened the driver‟s door and stepped out of
the car. He zipped his coat up, but before he
could shut the car door, Westman grabbed his
attention. “What about Raven?” he asked. York
leaned back into the car. “What do you mean?”
“What‟s her story?” “I don‟t know. It‟s been a
while since I‟ve read up on her. There‟s stuff
online if you get bored.” Westman nodded and
York shut the car door. He walked around the
car and made his way up the driveway........
**************************
Detective James Miller stood in the morgue
staring at the decomposing boy‟s body on the
cold metal table. They had removed the clothes
from the boy and covered the bottom half of his
body with a white sheet. Miller studied the boy‟s
face – it was shredded. The skin was old and
brown with a thick layer of some sort of slime
covering it. The eye sockets were wide and the
eyeballs were missing. Miller could see right into
the skull where a mushy brain remained. The
boy‟s skin was deteriorated and the odor was
awful. Miller did all he could to avoid vomiting.
The door to the morgue opened and a middle-
aged woman walked in wearing a lab coat. She
wore her hair back in a ponytail and her square-
framed glasses sat down on her nose. She held
her clipboard down by her side and smiled at the
Detective. “Good afternoon, I‟m Betty Sims, the
senior medical examiner. Miller shook her hand.
“It‟s nice to meet you. You took over for Dr.
Richards?” “I did – two months ago. He retired.”
“He was a good man,
He was my mentor for quite a while. Everything
I‟ve learned, I learned from him. I‟m pretty quick
on my feet when it comes to my job.” “Then it
should be a pleasure working with you. What can
you tell me about this body?” Miller asked.
Betty pushed her glasses back up her nose and
referenced the clipboard. She read directly from
it. “Well, a DNA sample would take some time to
get here, but I can tell you right now who it is. I
knew this kid.” Miller was confused. “Who is it?”
“His name was John Kelly. My daughter dated
him in high school,” Betty said. Miller knew
exactly who that was. John Kelly was one of the
five students who dropped dead at the Watkins‟
home ten years ago. He didn‟t understand how
this could be possible. “I don‟t understand,” he
said. “How does his body end up out in the
open? Wasn‟t he buried?” “Cremated actually.
There is no logical reason for his body to be in
tact, and laying right here on this table for that
matter,” Betty explained. Miller looked back at
the muddy and soggy body. “This doesn‟t‟ make
any sense.” Miller covered his mouth and nose
as another waft of the odor made its‟ way into
his senses...........