One by one the trick-or-treaters merged with the darkness, until the last – a tiny silhouette with curling horns and a pitchfork – stopped and turned back towards the house.
Peter stopped breathing as the small shape regarded him for what seemed like ages…then wheeled around and disappeared into the woods.
Grandfather’s truck was halfway up the drive, gravel crunching under his tires. Peter waved the flashlight, then decided he should tell Mom and Dill that the psychos were gone.
He ran up the steps, huffing and puffing, his heart lightened that the danger had passed. As he got to the bedroom and opened his mouth to reassure Mom and Dill that they were safe, he shone his light on the door, and the words died in his mouth.
Choppy letters were carved in the wood, ugly brown gashes dug deep in the white paint. The words were unmistakable, and just as cryptic as when he had first heard them:
1 MORE YEAR.
***
“And that’s what happened,” Peter explained to Grandfather.
The lights were back on as they sat in chairs in the den. Mom, her eyes red and puffy, held a far more composed Beth, who was calmly sucking her thumb. Peter and Dill sat side by side on the couch. Grandfather held sway in his leather-covered recliner, but he wasn’t lying back; he was sitting on the edge of his seat, shotgun across his lap, as he listened intently to everything being said.
Now that the story was finished, the old man stared off into space, his wild, bushy eyebrows knit into a furious scowl.
“Dad, who were they?” Mom asked, her voice still trembly.
Grandfather broke out of his trance to look at her, then shook his head. “Just hooligans from the neighborhood.”
“But they looked exactly like the kids from twenty years ago, Dad,” Mom said forcefully. “Don’t tell me – ”
“Melissa,” Grandfather said, his voice soft for the first time Peter had ever heard – though he still didn’t smile. “Do you really believe that a handful of children from two decades ago never grew up? That they stayed like the Lost Boys in a Peter Pan story, only to return tonight to terrorize you? Do you really believe that?”
Mom hemmed and hawed. “Well, no…no, but – ”
“It’s silly. What probably happened was those children from twenty years ago grew up all their lives having a good laugh about how they put one over on crazy old Seamus Flannagan and his family. And of course they told their children the story for years and years, every Halloween, until the little brats concocted an even more elaborate plan to scare the dickens out of you. Which they did.”
“But – but they knew my name…”
“Part of the story. Plus, it’s common knowledge about town that you and the boy moved back in.”
“But…but they wore the same masks…”
“Saved all these years in those same idjits’ basements, hung on to just like they keep hanging on and retelling the same story.”
“I thought you killed all those kids,” Dill said.
Grandfather turned his steely gaze to Dill. His voice dropped all pretense of kindness. “No, I killed the ones who toilet papered my front lawn.”
Dill shrank back in the couch and whispered to Peter, “I told you, dude.”
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Copyright © 2009 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
6 comments:
I love that Grandfather told Dill he killed the neighborhood kids. At least we know now why Mom doesn't believe Peter at all. I guess Peter just saw too much to be told nothing happened?
~Rai
One of the things that drives me crazy in a lot of supernaturally-themed fiction is the constant compulsion of characters who have experienced whatever form of weirdness is happening to reassure all the "normal" people that it isn't really happening, presumably to "protect" them.
I know there are times when you'd need to, like when dealing with authorities who'd probably have you committed if you told the truth, but in a situation like this - the curse is on the whole family, his mom is at risk as much as anyone, as is Beth, so why on earth shouldn't she be allowed to know what's happening, so that she can help keep herself and her kids safe? Especially when she's just experienced some very compelling evidence. You don't protect people by keeping them ignorant - you protect them by giving them the information they need to take appropriate precautions.
I was really looking forward to having her finally have a clue what's been going on and that Peter isn't lying about it all. But no... *sigh*
Not trying to pick on you specifically, Darren - this particular trope seems to be a staple in the genre. But it's still aggravating, as is the underlying assumption that mothers are either the upholders of normalcy who can never wrap our brains around anything weird, and/or fragile little flowers that need to be protected from unpleasant reality. As a mom, if something were threatening my kid, I'd be the one holding a shotgun, ready to kick some supernatural ass.
Rai -
Cuz Grandfather's a badass, as Dill would say.
And yup, with Peter, Grandfather no longer has plausible deniability.
Misslynx -
I agree with you to a certain degree. One of the things that always annoyed me about BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was that the mother was perpetually clueless. Well, actually, I wasn't too fond of the actress, so that colored my perceptions more than the character.
However...
In a story like this, as in most supernatural stories, there are several points that not only match up with reality, but build a certain amount of tension in the story:
1) Outside of religious beliefs about angels and demons (and witches, to a certain degree), most people in the real world don't REALLY believe in the supernatural/pararnormal. Ghosts, maybe, and aliens, too, plus Nessie, Bigfoot, and psychic phenomenon. Voodoo, I guess. But Mummies? Werewolves? Vampires? Fairies? (Okay, I know this guy who dated a girl who truly believed in fairies...) And there are lots of people who don't believe in ANY of that - ghosts, angels, demons, what have you.
2) Most people would find any and every excuse to discount ANY sort of semi-flimsy proof of supernatural matters. Or at least treat it as a curiosity, a kind of, "Wouldn't that be cool if..." Come on, every time a cool UFO pic or chupacabra pic surfaces on the internet, there are 10,000 people questioning its validity. And rightly so.
3) Most people who were presented with absolute proof of the supernatural would probably go into denial or shock - because it's so far out of their daily, normal existence - or they would run screaming from the room. And if the proof was threatening, double that reaction.
4) The only people who would probably be more open to this phenomena are children, who don't have preconceived rules and ideas about the world as firmly cemented as adults do, or adults with more open, childlike approaches to life.
Peter's mom is a pretty cool lady, I hope. I like her because she can take down Dill a peg or two, something nobody else can. (Grandfather has to scare him silly; the old man never cuts Dill down, just threatens him. And Beth is just VIOLENT.)
But she's a realist. She's a single mom who's struggled out in the real world to support her two kids without any monetary support from her ex or from her jerkbag father.
AND, as a realist...if she really WERE to be convinced that things were threatening her children, there's no WAY Mom would stay in Duskerville. No WAY.
So...Mom can't believe just yet. Or we gotta leave Duskerville.
Trust me, she'll be confronted with the very situation I'm describing in...oh...about 20 stories. There's also a pretty weird one she's going to have to wrap her head around in five more stories.
Some other things to keep in mind:
1) No one knows what the Curse is except Grandfather, and nobody knows exactly who it impacts, or how. Maybe not even Grandfather, although I think he does.
2) Past supernatural events in Duskerville haven't been NEARLY as bad as what we've seen for Peter. In fact, I'll just come out and say it: Peter's seen more bad stuff in two months than most of his ancestors saw in 20 years.
3) And something to consider: maybe Grandfather IS protecting people by trying to keep them in the dark. The question to ask is, "Why are these things happening? They're not happening to EVERYBODY in Duskerville...so who are they happening to, and why? And if Peter left Duskerville...are we really sure the bad things wouldn't follow him?"
So, I'm not saying Mom's clueless; it's that EVERYBODY's clueless except Grandfather, Peter, and Dill. A few people see or know about a piece of the puzzle - Mercy knows about vampires, cemetery keeper Old Man Parker knows about something creepy that happened a couple of years before, and Jenkins and the rangers know something else is up with the lake, although they refuse to believe what it is. Too far out of their concept of reality. But everybody only believes THEIR piece of the puzzle; they can't see the whole picture, nor would they necessarily believe in another piece unless they were given incontrovertible proof. And, like Jenkins, maybe their sanity or ego would keep them in denial even presented with the ability to obtain that proof.
And Grandfather is trying very, VERY hard to keep it that way, for reasons that will gradually unfold.
Even Mercy would probably be like, "Really? C'mon, REALLY?" if Peter or Dill told her about the Dead Men or the Changeling. And SHE came back from the dead as a bloodsucker.
Hopefully Grandpa will tell Peter mroe after they put his mom and Beth to sleep.
At least what they are or who.
I still think Granddad has an acute case of Dumbledoreitis. Tell the truth Granddad, tell the TRUTH!
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