The Halloween Girl

by O'Brien, Jeff

  Tom’s arm twitched.

  “Go ahead, Tommy. Hit me. I bet it’ll feel real good after all this time. Not like it’s actually gonna do you much good, though. When you’re dead you don’t really feel that kind of pain.”

  A drawn out moment of silence stood between them until Tom finally broke it.

  “Why?” Tom demanded. “Just tell me why it’s you that’s here. Yeah, I understand the symbolism. This is my darkness and you’re the darkest thing there and all that. But what’s your purpose? You couldn’t have come back from the grave for no good reason.”

  Brent’s face relaxed into a frown, giving the monster a look of humility.

  “You’re right, Tommy-boy. I’m here to tell you a little bit of what you need to know.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Well, what you need to do to find Cassie, of course. You think I don’t know how many hours you’ve spent on the internet running searches for Cassandra Otis, your precious Halloween Girl. How many times you threw your fists down in anger and despair when your searches turned up jack-shit. I know, Tommy. And as much as I hate it, I’m here to help you. It’s all part of my punishment. But it’s not gonna be easy, Tommy. Oh no. I can’t spell it all out for you. Finding the answers still very much depends on you, buddy.”

  “How did you die?” Tom asked.

  “Ahh, good question!” Brent laughed for real now, no longer forcing a guffaw to taunt Tom. “I know I’ve been the subject of your internet searches as well, a time or two. You always thought finding out what happened to me would lead you to Cassie. But all you found out was that I was a dead man, and that I died right around the time your daddy did. And you were awful happy the day you found out I was in my current state. But the answer to that question is just another one of those things you’re gonna have to find out on your own, pal. It’s all part of the puzzle. The bigger picture, if you will.”

  “Well, I’m getting pretty sick of standing here looking at you. So if you’ve got something to tell me, say it.”

  “Easy, now. Don’t be so quick to bite the hand that feeds you. I am here to help, after all….not like I have a choice.”

  “What does that mean? You have no choice?”

  “When you die, son, you answer for your wrongdoings. I don’t know all the mysteries of life and what comes after, but I do know that judgment comes for ya’. And even for a soul like mine there is some form or other of redemption.”

  “You had a soul?”

  “We all do. Or did. Don’t confuse my soul with the person you knew as the girl-beating scumbag. The soul was there, hiding good and deep in the darkness. Sometimes I even heard it trying to tell me to do right. But I was too damn stupid, kid. It’s me who fucked it all up. The laws of the afterlife aren’t quite like those you know. Life and death are two completely different worlds.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Look, it’s a complicated matter. Best not to waste time on that now. And if you make me get any more philosophical than that, I might turn malevolent and haunt your ass worse than I already am. You’ll find it all out eventually. We all do. You’ve got things far more important right here in the living world to focus on.”

  “Whatever. Just tell me what you’re here to tell me and let me be on my way.”

  “Look into the shadows, Tommy.”

  “Give me a fucking break, will you? That’s what I came here for? To hear you say the same words that have been haunting me day in and day out since I was ten years old?”

  “Oh no, there’s more. I was just being a dick. Your quest to find Cassie is one that’s gonna lead you back home. Back to Leedham. You remember that place, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Think of the darkness, Tommy.”

  Brent’s corporeal body began flickering and fading from sight as he spoke those last words, like a dying bulb that was spitting out its last few shines of luminescence. “The places you hated. The places that haunt you in your dreams. She’s there.”

  “Is she alive?” Tom’s question shot out rapid fire, sounding like the desperate pout of a child.

  “It all depends.”

  “Where!” Tom demanded, passing on questioning Brent’s vagaries. “Just tell me!”

  Much to Tom’s surprise, Brent’s fading face looked sympathetic as it continued to flicker out and grow dimmer in the darkness.

  “There are so many places there that I hated. So many that haunt me! Just tell me, please!”

  “I wish I could, pal.”

  Tom swore he saw a tear fall from the ghost’s face.

  “Go back home, Tom. Back to where you came from. Beyond me, you won’t find any answers here. Go back to your old shadows. Only there will you find what you’re looking for. The answers to all your questions, Tommy-boy, are all the fine details you’ve missed and left behind to turn to dust.”

  Tom knew that these were not Brent’s words. They had too great a meaning and poeticism to them to be his. They were coming from somewhere else entirely.

  “Go, Tom. Look into the shadows.”

  ***

  Tom’s attempts at sleep that night were feeble. Slumber came in bits and pieces, but his head was simply too haunted to rest. Each time he achieved somnolence, a vision of a woman clad in white came to him, startling him awake.

  And seeing Brent wasn’t even the half of it either. The sight of the dead man was troubling, but the real anxiety was of what would lie ahead. The future was riddled with mixed emotions. There was terror and there was hope. But somewhere back in that other world where Tom came from, there would be Cassie. Though he didn’t know if she’d be alive or dead, he knew that one way or another some form of closure would be coming to him.

  Tomorrow morning he would get right in his car and head back to Leedham. What part of town in particular he would go to first, he had no idea. What exactly he would find was a mystery, too.

  But he would find Cassie or die trying.

  ***

  Tom’s morning began with an unexpected turn when he heard his cell phone vibrating. That not being an abnormal occurrence, it was the number flashing on the screen that set things off in an odd direction. While he expected to see the name SAND lighting up his phone, he instead saw an unfamiliar number. It was not just a non-603 area-coded number that he didn’t recognize, but a big conglomeration of numbers and symbols that made no sense. The specter he spoke to the night before had spoken vaguely and cryptically about signs that he would have to follow. This could certainly be one of them. Timidly, Tom pressed the green button and lifted the phone to his ear.

  “Hello?” The word came out as a question instead of a greeting.

  “Hey, Tommy,” sang a familiar voice.

  “Bob?”

  “Who else, son?” The old man laughed his wheezy smoker’s laugh. “How you feeling this morning?”

  “You don’t know the half of it, Bob.”

  “Oh, I bet I do. I had quite a night myself last night.”

  “Say, Bob…” Tom began, ready to change the subject to a more pertinent matter. “What phone are you calling me from?”

  “What phone would you expect I’d be calling you from? Payphones don’t really exist anymore and I don’t have one of those fancy super-phones you kids carry.”

  “Well, anyways…” Tom paused for a moment to try and figure out how to explain himself in a way that an old man who doesn’t own a cell phone would understand. “My phone says you’re calling from some strange number that isn’t a real number.”

  “Tommy…do you really think anything you just said makes any sense to an old fart like me?”

  “No. I guess you got a point, old man. Anyways, how did you get my number? I don’t remember ever giving it to you.”

  “Now, Tommy, I may be an old fart who is completely blind to the nomenclature of those damn foolish cellular telephones, but I’m slightly more resourceful than you give me credit for.”

  “Fair enough. S
o anyways, to what do I owe the pleasure of this mysterious phone call?”

  “Well, Tommy, I’ve got some very important information to share with you. Are you near a computer?”

  “I can be in a few seconds.”

  “Very good. Now get over to it and do a Google search.”

  “Okay, gimme’ a second.”

  Tom lifted his tired body out of bed and moseyed over to the living room where his laptop rested on an end-table next to the couch.

  “Now don’t dillydally, son,” Bob warned him. “You haven’t got all the time in the world.”

  “Okay, Bob. I’m at my computer now.”

  “Okay, now go to Google and type in ‘Portsmouth New Hampshire news’ and see what comes up.”

  “You’re a strange, old man, Bob,” Tom said with a laugh as he typed the subject into the search field.

  The first hit that came up from the search caught Tom’s eye immediately.

  “Man found murdered on Islington Street?” he said, reading the headline to Bob.

  “Oh, that’s the one!” Bob shouted. “Click on that. You’re not gonna believe this story.”

  “I hope it wasn’t anybody either of us knew.”

  “Well click on it and find out.”

  Tom clicked on the link.

  “Bob….is this some kind of joke?” Tom gasped when he saw the article.

  “Read the article out loud to me, son,” Bob commanded.

  “Robert Keller, lifelong Portsmouth resident and decorated veteran was found murdered in his backyard─”

  “─That’s good enough, son. You believe that? I knew I didn’t need to bother quitting the smokes. I never had to sweat the cancer after all.”

  “Bob, what the fuck…”

  “Forget your questions, Tom. Look at your screen now.”

  Tom saw a video thumbnail appear at the bottom of the screen.

  “Click on that video,” Bob instructed him.

  Tom thought about the events not just of last night but of the last twenty four years. What reason could I possibly have to not believe all of this? Tom clicked on the video. At first he saw only black, but then he saw some grass and trees. They appeared to be under a dark night sky, but it was hard to decipher as the video was illuminated in a translucent red glow, as if a thin sheet of blood covered everything in the shot.

  A creature appeared from out of the shadows. Some massive hulking beast like Bigfoot, only of a more demonic and malevolent nature. The monster picked some critter up off the ground, perhaps a skunk or raccoon, not that it mattered which, and began feasting on its guts. Tom saw the little animal’s flailing limbs and heard its whining cries until the monster bit out its entrails and began chewing furiously.

  “Bob…Bob!”

  “Just keep watching, son,” the old man said somberly, his voice slowing down and deepening in tone.

  Without taking his eyes off the screen, Tom reached blindly over to the end table, hoping desperately that his hand would find a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He felt it a small miracle that his fingers grabbed exactly what he was looking for, and he lit up and inhaled greedily.

  The next thing he saw was Rusty, Bob’s dog scampering over to the feasting monster. The video was too small for him to see the dog’s bared teeth, but he could hear the protective, defensive growls. He realized then that this was Bob’s backyard, and then saw Bob enter the scene. The motion sensor lights went on, making the scene harder to see through the red glow. A small blessing, really, as Tom didn’t really want a clear picture of Bob dropping dead and then being feasted on by this strange, hideous monster.

  “Well there you have it, Tommy-boy,” said Bob so slow and deep that his words were barely comprehensible. “That’s how I bought the farm. I hope you’re enjoying the show.”

  Tom said nothing, only puffed on his cigarette.

  “Don’t get all hush-hush on me now, boy.”

  “Bob…you’re dead…”

  “We all die, son. You will, too. Probably sooner than later, considering the mess you’re stepping into. Don’t get all bent out of shape about me.”

  “Why did I need to see this?”

  Tom stubbed his cigarette out on the end-table and lit another one up right away.

  “You don’t get it, do you, son?” said Bob, his voice almost back to normal.

  “What in the fuck is there to get, Bob?”

  “I guess the point is to warn you to be cautious.”

  “Cautious? Of what? Giant monsters?”

  “Figuratively, Tom, yes. Do I gotta’ spell it all out for you? Surely you realize this is all tied into what you’re going to do today. What you’ve been going through for the last twenty-four years. It’s the darkness, Tommy. The shadows! I heard them calling me and I walked right into them. I found what was waiting for me. What I feared most. And as you can see, it wasn’t pretty. Don’t go charging in blindly like I did. Be aware. Be thoughtful. And be prepared, son.”

  “You know about all that?” Tom started crying. Little sniffles came at first that gave way to sobbing.

  “I do now, son.”

  Tom inhaled deeply, preparing himself for the next question he had to ask.

  “Did you see a man with red eyes?”

  “Tommy-boy,” Bob said, laughing. “That video right there, that red glow…those are his eyes you’re looking through.”

  The phone then went deafeningly silent.

  “Bob? Bob!”

  Tom slammed his laptop shut and jumped up from the couch. Looking down at his phone, the screen showed only his wallpaper background. A quick look at the recent calls log showed no record of the strange number he had just been on the line with.

  FOUR

  CASSIE

  Leedham, MA

  Halloween

  24 YEARS AGO

  Cassie sat on the front stoop of her apartment house smoking a cigarette down to its filter. The crisp, late October air chilled her to the bone in a refreshing, invigorating kind of way. A tingle rose in her stomach, a tingle that some often feel when anticipating good things. Within her were hints of something she hadn’t felt in a while, and wasn’t quite sure what to call it.

  Peace?

  Only recently had she gotten used to being able to sit outside and smoke comfortably, not confined in her protective cell of an apartment behind a door with multiple heavy duty locks to keep her safe from the monster she once called a boyfriend. That very monster of a man she never should have gotten involved with was locked up now where he couldn’t get to her. She had to remember that if she was to go on living a normal, happy life.

  So maybe this really is peace I’m feeling?

  Peace was a bit hard to come by, though. Between asshole drug dealers and sloppy drunks living up above her, and the abusive, alcoholic mess of a couple that lived next door, there was never silence in the neighborhood, regardless of what hour of the day it was.

  If the drug dealer on the second floor wasn’t arguing with a client or an employee about money, the slobs up on the third floor were shouting at each other while their kids screamed and cried. And when those upper apartments weren’t a cacophony of ugliness, there was always next door.

  Just as Cassie prayed for a nice quiet, peaceful day free of incident, the asshole wife of the asshole husband next door who had once come to her rescue stumbled down the stairs to her car, while her wheelchair bound beau belched out a stream of curses at her.

  “Thanks for the great fuckin’ breakfast again,” he screamed in a gravelly, phlegmy growl.

  “Fahhck you,” his wife groaned back at him from the bottom of the steps. “Last time I checked you had hands you could use for something other than drinking and smoking! Try using them to push your wheelchair around and open up the refrigerator yourself. Maybe even try wiping your ass. The house smells like a pig sty.”

  “You want to see what I can do with my hands, you fucking cunt?” he shot back like a true comedian, and punched the storm door open
like he could make his wheelchair fly to the bottom of the stairs and show her just what he could do with those hands.

  “I’m going to work, Ronald. Good bye.”

  Cassie’s throat tightened every time she heard the chaos that lived next door, more so than when she had to hear the buffoons who lived above her. Her heart sank for the poor, young boy who had to live under a roof with those two. She had a real soft spot for the kid. Her own upbringing had been quite similar to his, and every day she wished she could somehow intervene and get that kid the hell out of there.

  She tried not to dwell on these things too much that day, as it was Halloween. And Halloween was supposed to be fun. Cassie’s best friend Sammie, whom she had gotten much closer to since Brent’s incarceration, would be stopping by in the evening before they would head into town and hit up Man-Ray for the club’s annual Halloween dance party.

  While Brent was around, Cassie hadn’t been free to have fun like that. It had been a long time. Tonight she would leave those troubles behind and reclaim her boundaries; hopefully she’d wake up tomorrow having forever forgotten Brent.

  Her tension eased as the woman next door sped away up the street. At least she knew she’d go a few hours without having to hear them fighting. But then more violent vocal eruptions interrupted her supposed peace as the husband began taking his aggression out on his son, Little Tommy.

  “That poor fuckin’ kid,” she said to herself after blowing out some smoke.

  Little Tommy was really an adorable boy, and Cassie knew that were he strong enough to make it out of that house a sane human being, he’d grow up to be a strikingly handsome and tough man. She rooted for him every single day when she heard these spats, and wished she could somehow speed up time so she could see Tommy prevail.

  Moments later, the boy stepped out onto his front porch with his backpack on and hurried down the stairs. She couldn’t help but stare and admire the unshaken look on his face. While his father continued shouting names at him like pussy and faggot and queer, he just walked on looking determined.