A Halloween to Forget

NEW PROMPT Due Wednesday, November 2, 2016, 11:59
AM Writing.Com Time:



After many years of giving out candy on Halloween, you've had
enough of it. You turn out the lights early and go to sleep,
ignoring the date. The next morning, November 1st, you find
something unexpected outside your front door.

Write a poem or short story about what you find and what you do
about it. Any genre will do.




A Halloween to Forget

     The doorbell rang repeatedly. “Go away. I don’t have any candy left.”

     “Your porch light is still on.” An older female sounding voice shouted through to door.

     Samantha groggily got up and staggered to her front door. She peeked through the peephole. “Teenagers again,” she mumbled.

     A few seconds later she shouted back, “I just forgot to turn the light out.” Samantha flipped the switched next to that door.

     “Only a few hours ago children showed up for trick or treating,” Samantha mumbled as she peeked out the peephole to see the four mid-teens leaving. “For the last couple of hours, it’s only been, teenagers.”

     Samantha glanced down at a big half salad bowl of candy as she turned and staggered back to the couch. She gulped down a glass of brown liquid then she poured another glass of liquid and gulped it down in one shot too.

     The doorbell rang again. “I’ve had enough of this. I have been giving out candy every year for the past forty years.” Samantha got up and turned off the lights in the living room. She headed shakily toward the stairs and started walking up them unaware or not caring that the television silently played on.

     “This is my first Halloween without my husband and children. If I feel like this now how am I going to feel at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

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     An alarm started ringing. About a minute later a hand swung up and knocked the alarm clock off a side table. The ringing stopped when the clock hit the floor.

     Samantha laid in her bed for almost fifteen minutes before she sat up in her bed. Her bedding fell into her lap to reveal the clothing she had on last night. “What happened?”

     “What day is this? How long have I been asleep?” Samantha slowly removed her bedding and slid over to the edge of her bed. She stepped down with shoed feet.

     “Where are my children? My husband?” Samantha walked out of that room and down the steps to her living room. As she reached the bottom of those stairs she saw the television still on. Samantha also saw the living room decorated for Halloween. “That’s right. It was Halloween yesterday.”

     Just then the doorbell rang. She wobbled over toward the door. “Just a minute.”

     “Don’t tell me it’s more teenage trick or treaters. How many times did they ring my bell while I was asleep?” Samantha used the peephole to see there was nothing out there that shouldn’t be there.

     Samantha opened the door and stared down at the front porch. “What are you doing here? You’re dead.” She stared at a male in his late twenties to early thirties and two preteen children.

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     A few hours later Samantha paced around her living room while a police officer asked her questions. “What can you remember? Who could have done this? Why did you do this? What happened last night?”

     “I don’t know what happened last night. All I remember is walking up the stairs and going to sleep. When I got up this morning and answered the door I saw them laying there. They looked dead. Blood was staining the porch beneath them.”

     “We didn’t see any bodies when we got here.” Said Officer Kyle. “Did you move them?”

     “Of course, I didn’t. I know you aren’t supposed to move bodies before the cops get here. What took you so long getting here anyway?”

     “The 911 call didn’t sound like an emergency. It sounded more like Breaking and Entering. You said whoever it was wasn’t there anymore.”

     “I didn’t say that. What I said was that my husband and children have been killed. When is murder not an emergency?”

     “What makes you think this was murder?” Kyle asked as he keyed his radio. “Officer Kyle Benson to dispatch, please play that 911 call.” A few seconds later the call came over the radio.

     “That doesn’t even sound like me. What’s going on here? Are you part of this cover-up too.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Just then Angela pushed her way past the officer at the door. She glanced down at the porch on the other side of the door as she entered. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Kyle asked as he walked toward her.

     “I’m Angela Kelvin. I am a psychologist. In fact, I am her psychologist. What happened here?”

     “We responded to a 911 call. I know you can’t give out any doctor/patient confidential information, I watch a lot of television, but under the circumstances, I think you should.”

     Angela didn’t say anything for several minutes. “I guess it’s okay to tell you. It was in the papers a few months ago anyone. Samantha’s husband died in a private plane accidently four months ago. Her adult children blamed her for a divorce and they haven’t spoken to her in years.”

     “They did come to the funeral but a big fight started up because of the fight their parents had before he took off in his plane. Her children blamed her for his death too. There was even an accusation that she might have killed him. They haven’t spoken to her since and vowed never to do it again.”

     “I think you just solved this mystery for us,” said Kyle. “She called about a Breaking and Entering, but when we got her she started calling it murder.”

     “I’m not surprised. She does blame herself for her husband’s death. Not because she killed him, but because of the fight they had. She has obviously been drinking. You can leave now. I’ll take it from here.”

     After the officers left Angela walked up to Samantha. “Show me what you found on your front porch.”

     Angela and Samantha walked to the open door. Samantha looked down at the full bowl of candy. She looked at the empty table by the door then back at the candy. “How did that get out there?”

Word Count = 989