The Witch's Pumpkin
Denalia and Jaxson stood in front of Gage as they stared at the impossibly large pumpkin, so tall they had to crane their necks up to look at the top.
It was in the middle of an open field, past the suburban houses and small farms. They had followed the signs at the end of a block they were trick or treating on. It was a rickety old sign that pointed in a certain direction saying, “This way for candy!”
And like the dopes they were, they followed the sign. After several yards another sign had popped up, just as old and rickety with the same words sprawled on it with dripping white paint. This continued on for a good thirty minutes before they finally came upon the gigantic, orange pumpkin.
A new sign thrusted into the ground stood next to the pumpkin, right outside the tall gaping hole covered by a curtain made of pumpkin guts. This one was slightly nicer, but the paint splatter was still seen on it and also seemed to be still wet.
“Enter for candy,” this one said.
“I do not like this,” Gage mumbled. “We are too old for this shit, why are we even out on Halloween? We could be at Tasha’s party, getting drunk and banging some girls in skimpy costumes!”
Denalia rolled her eyes. “Give it a rest Gage. No one wants to mate with you. Besides, partying till you get a horrible hangover the next day sounds awful. I would rather have a stomach ache from candy than booze.”
Jaxson looked back at Gage who was waiting for his reply.
He shrugged, “I do what Denalia wants to do.”
Throwing his hands in the air in frustration, Gage rounded on his best friend. “How much of a pussy could you be? For Fuck’s sake man, stand up for yourself!”
Another shrug. “I don’t mind. Most of the time I enjoy what she wants to do. And I have to admit, she has a point about you.”
Gage clenched his jaw, the muscles bunching up so tight Denalia was sure his jaw was going to break.
Before he could release his anger, Denalia put up her hands. “Alright, alright. How about this? We go in and get the candy, then we go to my house. My parents are out of town so we would have the whole house to ourselves, and I will call my best friend, Kaci, to come hang out with us.”
Jaxson nodded immediately at the plan, but Gage was not sure.
“How do you know your friend will hang out?” he asked skeptically.
Denalia smiled a sinister yet innocent smile. “She owes me a favor.”
Sighing, Gage caved in. “Ok, fine. Let’s just go in and get the stupid candy.
“WOO! FREE CANDY!” Denalia screamed as she ran right through the pumpkin guts, giggling happily.
Jaxson smiled at his girlfriend’s childishness and ran after her.
Gage waited awkwardly outside, shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously. The night was bathed in the full moon, making everything seem incredibly eerie.
Shadows from the far-off trees danced on the empty field, random animals darted in and out of the grass and bushes and trees, while the scent of the wilderness filled his nostrils. He breathed in greedily; actually glad it was not cigarette smoke or too-sweet alcohol or teenage body odor. But he would never admit that to Denalia, not the way she gloats when she’s right.
After nearly ten minutes of his friends entering the pumpkin, they came out. Both of them were flushed in the face and laughing happily with each other. Their jacket pockets were stuffed with different kinds of candy, some were falling out they were so full.
Gage crossed his arms and scowled at the too happy couple.
“What took you so long?” he shouted, tapping the toes of his shoe at them.
They looked over at him and burst into giggles at the sight of him.
“I’m-I’m sorry, Gage,” Denalia gasped out, gripping onto her boyfriend’s shirt to keep her from falling.
Jaxson was the first to recover after another fit of laughter took hold of them.
“We weren’t gone that long, geez.” He said while wiping a tear from his eye.
“Uh, yeah you were. You guys were gone for ten minutes!” Gage waved his phone in front of their faces.
They both squinted at the bright screen.
“Oh, sorry,” Denalia said nonchalantly.
Rolling his eyes, Gage turned to leave.
“Wait a minute!” Jaxon’s girlfriend yelled as she grabbed Gage’s arm. “You still need to go in.”
Gage turned his head around with an eyebrow raised in question.
“Yeah,” Jaxon nodded in agreement. “She said ‘we’ which includes you.”
Grabbing him with both hands, Denalia swung him around so he was in front of them and facing the pumpkin.
“Go on. Get us more candy,” she shoved him hard. “Kaci likes candy.”
Taking a deep breath to calm his temper, Gage walked towards the large pumpkin. He looked behind him to see his friends grinning like hyenas, not feeling the ominous energy that the fruit was suddenly giving off.
A nervous shiver rippled through him, but he pushed away the feeling and stalked through the curtain of pumpkin guts.
Once he was on the other side he looked back, hoping they could see him give them his middle finger, but he only saw the curtain looking thicker than it previously did.
“What the hell?” he muttered to himself.
He lifted his gaze to the rest of the scenery. The inside started out like a regular pumpkin, the round walls made of thick orange skin, but as he looked in front of him there were changes that he should have seen from the outside.
There was a long hallway with tall standing candelabras every few feet. With the dim light, Gage could not tell if the walls were still pumpkin or if they were something else.
He walked forward slowly with a hand outstretched, his fingertips brushing against the unusually warm, squishy wall. The feeling actually reminded him of animal innards from when he hunted with his father and brothers.
He pushed his fingers in further, the squish sound echoed in the hallway making the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
What is going on here?
Gage let his hand fall to his side as he continued down the long hallway. He did not know how much time had passed, but he knew he had to have been in there almost as long as his friends had been.
Unsure of what to do, especially since the hallway seemed never ending and he was starting to get confused after trying to back track several times, he called out.
“Hello?”
His voice did not echo. Instead, the words he spoke seemed to get swallowed up by the soft walls.
“Can anyone help me?” Panic settled into his chest. His throat was beginning to constrict, and his hands started to shake.
“Hush, child. Walk towards my voice,” a woman’s voice reached Gage’s ears.
With his vision blurred with tears and his breathing becoming erratic, he stumbled in a direction.
“That’s it, my child. Follow the sound. Do not be afraid, I will help you...” she cooed.
Gage continued to stumble, trying hard not to fall. He succeeded for a few steps but ended up crashing onto his hands and knees while he gasped for air.
A hand went through his hair in a comforting way.
“Shh, shh, child. Deep breaths. There you go. Keep taking those deep breaths until your heart is steady in your chest.”
Gage felt the panic leave him with each breath as he concentrated on the hand that was petting him like a cat.
When the tears had cleared and his heart a soft beat, he looked up at the woman who helped him.
“Are you better, child?” The woman asked.
Gage could not decide if he found her attractive or not. She was plain with dark brown hair and pale skin but had striking cat-like green eyes that were glowing neon in the dim light. She also seemed to be middle-aged, perhaps a little younger than his mother.
“I-I’m ok. Thank you,” he said with an awkward smile.
The woman stepped back as he got to his feet, nodding in response.
“Where am I? What the hell is wrong with this pumpkin?” He asked as he looked around him, realizing he had stumbled into a little room during his panic attack. The room had the same walls as the hallways, but in the center was a small, wooden table with an obsidian crystal ball on it.
As he stepped closer, he saw there was black lace covering the table and a rotting hand was acting as the stand for the crystal ball.
Gage gulped while staring at the hand, unease gripping his insides.
“Do not fret, child. You are safe here inside my home.”
Eyes widening at her words, Gage whipped his head around to her, “your home?”
The woman smiled with her eyes closed. “Cozy, is it not? I prefer the solitude it provides me.”
Not caring for the closed eye smile, Gage took a step back from the woman. “Ooookay. Well, thanks for your help but I need to get back to my friends. Which way is the entrance?”
She watched him as he fidgeted while waiting for an answer.
“You do not want to learn of your future? I could enlighten you, perhaps assist you in the right direction. I can see it in your fiddling that you are off your path.” The woman took a tentative step forward, then another. Then another until she was in front of him. She held her hands out to her sides, showing she was not a threat.
Gage slowly shook his head. “Yeah, no. I’ve seen plenty of scary movies to know where this is going. I am not going to become your little bitch or slave or whatever so find some other dumb kid to take advantage of.” He stalked past the woman with anger behind his steps.
“How presumptuous of you,” she whispered as he rounded the corner and back into the long hallway.
He walked as fast as he could, trying hard to put distance between him and the woman.
As the small flames danced along the walls, Gage could not help but wonder if he went in the right direction. If anything, he hoped there would be some kind of hole in the wall or a crack or something that could help him escape.
But before he could even question his plan, he came upon the woman again.
“Wha?” baffled, he decided running would be the next best option.
And again, after several minutes, he came back upon the woman. This time she was drinking tea out of a delicate cup while holding a saucer.
“Are you done?” She asked as she lowered her cup onto the saucer, the clink of the two connecting made Gage flinch.
Sighing, he nodded. He was not about to flip out when he knew his fate was written the moment he entered the damn pumpkin.
“Good. Follow me,” The woman said as she turned away from him and started walking to her crystal ball.
Two chairs had appeared while he was preoccupied with trying to escape. Gage studied the one he was supposed to sit in while the woman sat opposite of him.
“Where did these come from?” He asked while poking the weird looking fabric. It rippled under his finger like a leaf touching calm water, making him jump and yelp loudly.
“That is of little importance. Please, sit.” She motioned with a twinge of irritation in her voice.
Saying little prayers under his breath, Gage sat.
The chair was surprisingly comfortable, yet he could feel it moving, almost like it was breathing.
“Is this chair alive?” he asked, feeling himself move up and down, up and down. He shifted, trying to get comfortable yet seeing if the movement would stop. It did not.
“Yes. But again, that is of little importance. Try to relax while you are here, things will go faster if you do.”
Gage did not bother to answer, even with his pounding heart increasing its rhythm at her words.
The woman leaned forward and gazed into the crystal ball. The black of it reflected his face and the fires surrounding them, making it look like he was on fire.
“Hmmm,” she hummed with amusement.
Trying hard not to take the bait she clearly set up, Gage crossed his arms while looking away.
“Oh my,” she gasped. “Oh no, good sir, this does not look good for you.”
With as much restraint as he could muster, he did not look at her.
Another gasp filled the air, then a tsk. “So unfortunate,” she said with sadness and pity in her voice.
The pity was what got Gage to look at her.
“What is it? What happens to me?” He finally asked while leaning forward, trying to see what she saw in the crystal ball.
The woman looked at him with her neon green eyes glowing brighter than they ever have.
“Your death…” she whispered.
Before Gage could respond, she leaped over the table and grabbed his throat, knocking the black crystal ball off the decaying hand in the process.
They fell backwards, the chair made a sickening squish sound when his back collided harshly with it. She wrapped her surprisingly warm hands around his throat and leaned in as he struggled feebly.
The woman cackled loudly while squeezing his throat.
“Your death is my life! Your death is my food! Your death is my entertainment! Come now, child. Succumb to your destiny!”
Gage’s eyes were wide with fear, but his body was calm and collected. He reached into his pocket while still pretending to struggle and felt for the dagger.
His fingers wrapped around the hilt made of a basilisk’s fang, and pulled it out, revealing the sharp blade made out of diamond stone. It sparkled in the fire light, but instead of being in awe of it when she saw it, the woman screeched loudly.
Fear was now in her eyes.
With her hands away from his throat and shielding her face, Gage took the opportunity to flip her around so he was on top.
He took both her hands in his free one and held them above her head.
She shrieked again, so high pitched that Gage could feel the blood trickling out his ears.
The woman tried to buck and roll and kick him off, but he put more of his weight on her hips where he was straddling her.
Before she could shriek again, something he knew he would not be able to handle a third time, he thrusted the dagger into her throat.
Blood spurted out her mouth and painted her cheeks.
Gage watched the red liquid leave trails on the woman’s face, glad to have silenced her but a tinge of sadness went through him at the realization that she would be dead.
It is for the best. That is what we do, we kill threats to humans.
Gage emerged from the pumpkin covered in blood and an empty look in his eyes.
His friends were still giggling and, from the looks of the open wrappers that were surrounding them on the ground, eating candy. It took them several minutes to notice that their friend was back.
“Gage!” Denalia smiled at him, her lips covered in chocolate.
“Did yo-” her question died in her throat when she saw the state he was in.
Jaxson noticed his girlfriend’s odd reaction and looked at Gage.
All three of them stared at each other, unsure of what to say.
Jaxson was the first to speak.
“Was this your first kill?”
Gage did not respond. Instead, he lifted his hand which was clutching the woman’s hair and severed head. Blood was still dripping from the open arteries, slow and steady as he looked at the woman’s face. Her mouth hung open and her green eyes no longer glowed, instead a white film had covered them, making her look like she’d been dead for a while when it was only fifteen minutes before he had killed her.
His friends flanked him on either side, each putting a hand on his shoulders.
“It is nasty work, but it must be done,” Denalia said solemnly.
“For the good of humankind,” Jaxon chimed in.
“For the good of humankind,” the three of them echoed.
They stared at the woman’s head in silence, no one daring to make a move until the Gage was ready.
“She did not appear for either of you?” He finally asked.
The two shook their heads. “All we saw was candy,” Denalia answered.
Nodding, Gage continued to stare.
Finally, he lowered his arm.
Jaxon patted his shoulder while Denalia put her smile back on and grabbed the arm that held nothing.
“Come on, let’s go celebrate at home with some candy and Kaci. She likes a good witch killing story,” Denalia said while wiggling her eyebrows.
Gage allowed her to pull him, still thinking about what had just happened.
It was not until they were nearing the edge of the field that it clicked in his head.
They did not see the Witch…
He pulled his arm away from Denalia to grab his dagger. He sliced her throat then turned to Jaxson. His friend’s eyes were wild and glowing a bright blue, his body crouched and ready to pounce. Gage tossed him the severed head, hoping for he’ll either catch it or dodge it.
He dodged. A mistake.
Gage did an upward slash that caught Jaxon on the face, making him howl in pain and clutch at his face.
With that distraction, Gage shoved the dagger into his friend’s belly so deep the bone hilt was partially driven in.
Jaxon attempted to speak but could not manage more than a groan.
“You did see the witch. She was not so powerful she could hide from the both of you… Thank you for being a friend to me, but it became obvious that the three of us could not stay this way. Even if we tried to deny that you two are witches and I, a witch hunter…”
A gurgle slipped past Jaxson’s lips in response, his body steadily growing heavy on the dagger and Gage’s arm.
Pulling it out, he let his friend fall to the ground while wiping the blood off the blade.
Not as traumatized by these kills, Gage began to twirl the dagger as he slipped past the bodies and the one lone head.
“Time to visit Kaci…” he whispered to no one.
