I'm ba-aaaaaaaaack!
Yeah. Seven days in the hospital. That's right. SEVEN DAYS. People have open heart surgery and get out in less time than I did.
But I'm out, and I'm thankful for that. Also, many thanks to N7, Rai, Cat, Showers, daymon34, Andrea, Mary, Todd, MistyCat, and Kurt for their thoughtful messages. And thanks to anybody who sent me some 'good vibes.'
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Well, truthfully, he wasn’t much of a devil. Whoever the kid was, he stood almost half a foot shorter than Dill. He wore a red cape over a black turtleneck sweater, black corduroy pants, and black tennis shoes with yellow stripes. His pink hands grasped a cheesy toy pitchfork that looked hollow, like it had come with a bunch of candy inside.
The only thing cool about the outfit was the mask: glossy red plastic, with curling ram horns that sprouted from either side of his head. The teeth were long, white, interlocking fangs that stretched out in an impossibly wide grin, like a cross between a wolf and the Joker. There was no nose. The forehead bulged over two slanted, pitch black sockets; no trace of the kid’s eyes could be seen in those deep holes.
The costume was a weird mix of creepy and laughable.
“Cool mask,” Peter acknowledged.
“I know, right?” the kid said, his voice muffled behind the teeth.
“Crappy pitchfork,” Dill said, obviously trying to take Devil Boy down a peg. Dill didn’t like anybody to be super confident unless it was himself – which was difficult when you were wearing a flowery bed sheet.
“Oh yeah? What are you dressed as, dirty laundry?”
“W – wh – ” Dill stumbled as he searched for a good comeback. Not finding one, he snapped impatiently, “What do you want? We gotta hit another house.”
“Oh, you don’t wanna go down there,” the kid said. “You definitely don’t wanna go down there.”
“Why not?” Peter asked.
“They took my candy.”
“What?! Who did?!”
“The people in that house down there,” the kid said as he pointed with his pitchfork.
“Serves you right,” Dill muttered under his breath, low enough that only Peter could hear it.
Peter ignored him. “You should call the cops. They just took it? Grown-ups?!”
Devil Boy slapped his hollow pitchfork repeatedly against the palm of his other hand. “Yeah, but don’t worry. We’re gonna mess ‘em up. We’re gonna mess ‘em up real good.”
The sinister tone in his voice sent a shiver up Peter’s spine. He had no idea exactly what the kid meant, but there was no doubt in Peter’s mind that the kid really was going to do it.
Dill, however, was evidently not affected the same way. “Yeah, right – you and what army?” he scoffed.
Devil Boy pointed his pitchfork right between Peter and Dill. “Them.”
Peter looked around, and his blood froze.
He hadn’t heard them walk up, but there they were: five other kids, standing in a semicircle in the street, ten feet away from – and completely surrounding – Peter and Dill.
<< previous page | next page >>
Copyright © 2009 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
8 comments:
YAY! Welcome back!
And oh boy.. creepy kids.
Seven days filled with those extra-long hours reserved for use in hospitals and waiting rooms, no doubt.
Remember, if the doctors said "No writing" then writing is what you don't do. We'll survive.
And, what Andrea said. Real creapy kids.
MistyCat
Oh thank whomever you're back!
*sigh of relief*
But I guess I should get rid of those virgins I was about to sacrifice.
Remember how I said your stories keep me sane? Well this week as truly proven it, and if you don't take care of yourself and get sick again I'll probably turn into Godzilla or something.
But I'm glad you're alive and well.
:D
Know what i can do with a few virgins and a sacrificial altar?
:P
~N7
Glad you're back! Hope you're feeling better. Hospitals can be so demoralising, even if you're not ill to begin with!
N7 - Virgins and a sacrificial alter...? I'm not going to touch that one even with a 10' barge pole :P
Oh they are sneaky, most young people can't move quite to save thier lives.
Have a good weekend and take a nap. Though I am sure after being in for a week the last thing you want to do is lay in bed.
Glad you're back! You said only a day or two, and when you didn't show up after that I began to worry. Don't scare us like that. :)
~Rai
Andrea - thank you!
MistyCat - naw, they didn't say anything about writing.
N7 - I don't know about the virgins, but there's always eBay for the altar.
Cat - I know what you mean. Wearing the no-back gown was making me feel ill, even after I was well on the way to recovery.
daymon34 - actually, naps where I'm not interrupted by people trying to poke me for blood are AWESOME. And they're not even vampires.
Rai - don't worry, I'll try to leave the scares to the story for awhile.
Welcome back! Was starting to worry. Can I stop now?
Post a Comment