The Witch of Halloween House

by Jeff DeGordick

  Stacy's eyes slowly fluttered open and she groaned. The boils that had covered her whole face and hands had receded, but a few red marks remained. She slowly sat up, and looked around, not knowing where she was. "What's going on?" she asked.

  Carmen tried to help her up, but Stacy batted her away, getting up to her feet on her own.

  "Don't touch me!" she cried, holding her hands up in the air in disgust. "I'm finding Brett and then getting out of here," she said, then she turned and walked toward the tunnel leading to the tall shaft.

  "Stacy, wait..." Carmen saved the rest of her breath, realizing it was worthless.

  As Stacy came to the opening of the tunnel, the witch dropped from the ceiling and slammed onto the floor behind her. Stacy turned around and screamed as she saw the horrid creature. Then the witch charged, lifting one of its legs in the air, ready to stab it through her.

  "Don't!" Carmen cried as she jumped and tackled Stacy out of the way. The sharp end of the witch's leg cut through the top of Carmen's shoulder, giving her a nasty gash and making her spin like a top on the floor. She hit the cement hard and grunted, whimpering from the pain.

  Stacy got up to her knees and looked at Carmen in disbelief. A moment ago, she was sure she would be dead, but Carmen had saved her life. She never in a million years would have imagined that Carmen would do something like that for her. "You... You saved my..." Then she fell quiet, because she simply didn't have the words.

  Carmen weakly pushed herself up to her hands and knees as the witch made a circle around a few of the columns, and then she came around for them again. "Our brothers are tied up down that tunnel," Carmen said, pointing and wincing from the pain in her shoulder. "You have to free them."

  Stacy was still speechless from Carmen's heroic act, but she got up to her feet and quickly made her way for the tunnel, glancing over her shoulder for the witch.

  But the witch set her sights back on Carmen. She lined herself up down the aisle of pillars and came for her, keeping her spells to herself now that she knew Carmen had the witch mirror, and instead just physically attacked her.

  Carmen ducked as another leg swept by, trying to take her head off, and it burst through the edge of a pillar, knocking concrete everywhere. The children screamed below and shielded themselves as a dusty rain fell on them.

  The witch swiveled around again, and Carmen took off, trying to tie up the witch and keep some pillars and distance between them. It was a cat and mouse game that played out repeatedly as she tried to hold the witch at bay, but she was fast and agile, despite her size.

  "Carmen!" Tommy cried from the mouth of the tunnel.

  She pointed the flashlight at him and saw him standing there in his now-filthy red sweater. Brett and Stacy were behind him, and they all watched in horror as the witch cast another spell at her, this time her green ensnarement spell, while she wasn't looking. The green cord wrapped around her ankle, and she fell on the floor. She spun over on her back and watched in horror as the witch dragged her closer, holding up her arms and twirling her talons through the air as she gnashed her teeth.

  Carmen looked around, not knowing what to do. She reached inside her coat and pulled out the dagger that she'd wrapped up in cloth at the church. Frantically unbundling it, she held it and tried cutting the cord with it.

  And it worked; the green cord snapped immediately and flung back at the witch like it was made of elastic. The witch shrieked in displeasure and charged at her again. But Carmen got up to her feet and backed up, holding the knife out in front of her.

  The witch skidded to a stop, understanding what she was holding and not wanting to charge into it. They came to a standstill, and they slowly circled around each other, one of them occasionally putting a pillar between them and coming out the other side still staring at each other.

  Carmen glanced over at Tommy who was still standing dumbfounded at the edge of the room, and she called his name. He perked up and watched her reach into her coat, surreptitiously pulling out the box of salt and the bag full of garlic bulbs that she'd brought. She kept these hidden from the witch as she backed up, pulling their duel toward Tommy. She circled around as the witch watched, putting a pillar between them, and Carmen quickly bent down when she was out of view. She set down the items behind it, then she stood up again and walked out from the pillar as if she hadn't done anything. Then, in an act of incredible bravery that she didn't know she possessed, she ran at the witch, thrusting the knife at her. The witch backed up and swung two of her legs in a scissor motion at her head.

  Carmen ducked and rolled on the ground, then she dove for a pillar as the witch cast another spell. She got up and ran to the opposite end of the room as Tommy snuck in and grabbed the items, knowing exactly what to do with them. With Carmen drawing the witch away toward the other corner, Stacy and Brett ran into the room, hurrying to untie the nearest children to them, who were all sobbing in sheer terror.

  Tommy ran through the tunnel, climbing up the stairs as quickly as he could for the cauldron. He saw the red glow dancing on the wall as the liquid bubbled. But then he tripped over the last stair, falling forward and dropping the items on the ground. The box of salt hit the cement and split open, spilling out onto the floor. "Crap!" he said, pulling the box upright. He stuff the broken box and bag of garlic under his arm, then he tried to scoop up as much spilled salt as he could. He waddled over to the cauldron and dumped his handful of salt in. He poured the rest of the salt from the box, and then he ripped the bag open and watched as the garlic bulbs tumbled out and splashed in the red murk.

  The liquid bubbled and flashed, and its color turned a little darker, but still stayed red. Tommy gulped, hoping the witch wouldn't notice.

  Out in the large room, Carmen stood at one end of it, shining the flashlight down a row of half-broken pillars. The witch stood at the other end, and the two of them stared each other down. Then the witch charged. She carried the front two of her legs in the air as she came for Carmen, and she held her arms out too, reaching out her clawed talons for her and gnashing her teeth as her eyes swam crazily in her head and she shrieked an unintelligible string of words.

  Carmen stood her ground, ready to duck behind a pillar, like she was a matador with a bull. But as soon as she wanted to move, her shoe slipped on a layer of dust on the floor, and her legs came out from under her. She hit the cement, and knocked her chin against it, disorienting her.

  The witch closed in, and before she could get away, one of the witch's legs came down and stabbed her in the thigh.

  Carmen screamed and squirmed around on her back in pain. She looked down at the large, sharp end of the leg digging into her, and she gazed up at the witch as she closed in on her, ready to devour her. Her mind was running at a frenzied pace, and in her desperation, knowing she was about to die, all she could think to do was to slash the knife at the witch's leg.

  The blade of the knife cut through it like it was butter, and the witch immediately retracted it and shrieked with such force that the walls shook. Carmen covered her ears, and the witch held her injured leg up in the air and stared at it in horror. Then she turned and fled for the tunnel leading to her cauldron, keeping it off the ground.

  Tommy was just coming around the corner in the tunnel, and he had to dive toward the wall to avoid her.

  "Carmen, are you okay?!" Stacy asked, rushing over to her aid. Both she and Brett helped her up, and she limped over to the tunnel where the witch had gone.

  Tommy watched from the edge of the room as the witch's legs clicked up the stairs for the cauldron. When she got there, she immediately plunged her injury into the liquid. Her body bent low over it, using her taloned hands to scoop up some more potion into her mouth, feeling relieved now that she had her elixir.

  Then the witch's eyes went wide. She yanked her mutated leg out of the cauldron as if it were lava, then she scuttled backward like a bug. She shrieked again and all the tables and implements on them rattled and tipped over.

  Carme
n, Stacy and Brett came into the room, and Tommy looked over his shoulder at them, then he pointed out the witch.

  "I think it worked," he said.

  The witch spun around and held a gnarled hand to her chest. She looked at the four of them in shock, like she had just experienced the ultimate betrayal. She began coughing and sputtering, and her legs weakened. Her whole abomination of a body stumbled around the upper area of the room like she was drunk. She retched, trying to spit out the potion she drank, but it was too late. Her body started to wither, like a dead bug being baked in the sun. In desperation, she stumbled back to the cauldron, trying to take another drink of it, but then she spit it out and backed away from it, unable to stop the terrible disease coursing through her.

  "Help me up there," Carmen said to the others, and they ran to her sides and brought her up the stairs.

  The witch's back was turned, still in the throes of madness and desperation as her body continued to shrink and wither. Her once-thick legs had now shriveled up into thin and brittle sticks, and the skin on her body drooped severely. She spun around suddenly and was met with the blade of the iron knife.

  Carmen plunged it deep into her heart.

  The witch looked down with a look of horror. Then the look slowly faded as she lost the strength to do even that. The effects of the metal compounded what the potion had done to her, and she shrieked one last time, this time very weakly. Her whole body collapsed in on itself, and she pulled herself off the knife, stumbling back into the cauldron. She tripped over it and fell headfirst into the bubbling liquid as her body shrunk into nothing before their very eyes.

  The liquid splashed and black smoke came out of the concoction. It rumbled and splattered violently for a time, turning the liquid jet-black, then the smoke receded and the four of them watched as the liquid bubbled down to nothing, leaving a thin black film of viscous sludge on the inside of the cauldron.

  Carmen let out a sigh of relief, and she stumbled backward, feeling weak as the others caught her.

  A little laugh escaped Tommy's lips.

  They looked at him.

  "What's so funny?" Carmen asked.

  He looked at his sister, smiling. "We did it."

  The Spell Shattered

  Carmen finally reached the top of the long ladder, and she carefully climbed up onto the broken floor in the basement of the house. She moved through the doorway to the other room and watched as Brett and Stacy came up behind her, followed by Randy and Shawn and some of the older children. Tommy had elected to stay down with the rest of them, untying them and comforting them until help arrived.

  The group got up the ladder safely, and then they all went up the stairs and left Halloween House once and for all.

  They were greeted by the cold light of the November morning, and things immediately seemed more peaceful than they had been in the last few days. The birds chirped busily in the trees, and little critters scampered through the woods, looking for nuts. The kids stretched themselves out, working out the kinks and pains of their injuries, and they scanned the woods around them.

  A group of people moved through the trees down below. When one person in the group spotted them, they turned and called out for the others. Soon a whole mob of townspeople gathered around the house, and Robert stepped out in front of them, his eyes falling on his daughter. "Where's Tommy?"

  "He's in the house," Carmen said quickly. "Don't worry, he's fine."

  Once his greatest fear was assuaged, a smile—a genuine smile—came over Robert's face.

  He didn't say a word. He just walked in and hugged Carmen. She didn't even care about the pain in her shoulder. She hugged him back, tightly.

  He held his daughter at arm's length, looking down at the nasty gashes in her shoulder and leg, as well as the slashed arm of her coat. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah," she said. "A little banged up."

  "But you're alive."

  They smiled at each other and hugged again, and tears streamed out of Carmen's face now that she had her father back again.

  "Tommy's down there with all the other kids," Carmen said. "They're alive."

  A wave of relief rushed through the crowd, and many of them broke into tears, being the very parents of the missing children. Now that the spell had broken on all of them, they had remembered all of their actions vividly, and were struggling to come to terms with some of the things they had done.

  "How many?" Robert asked.

  "I don't know," Carmen said, "a hundred, maybe. All of them."

  Robert looked over at the house. "How on earth can that house fit a hundred in the basement?"

  "No, I mean down, down there," she said, bending over and holding her hand just above her feet.

  Robert's eyes widened. "Oh."

  It only took a few hours for the townspeople to get some equipment in the basement and bring the kids up safely on a pulley system. When the last of them was out, Tommy rode up in the little elevator and was pulled out of the shaft.

  Robert hugged him tightly and tears came out of his eyes, glad that his son was okay, and Tommy was glad that he had his dad back.

  "What are you going to do with this place?" he asked his father.

  Robert peered down the dark hole and brushed his fingers across his mustache. "I don't know. I guess we'll seal it off. Treat it like an old mineshaft and bulldoze the house."

  When they all left the basement and walked outside the house, Robert turned around and stood next to Don, and the two of them stared wistfully at the blackened remains of what the kids always called Halloween House. They thought back to just before that Halloween when the two of them came up alone and served the search warrant on the woman. It all seemed so long ago, and such a crazy incident when looked at through the filter of recent events.

  "Can you believe it?" Robert said to Don. "A single missing boy started this whole chain of events..."

  Don nodded. "Yeah, crazy, isn't it?"

  "Or maybe more like a single fire," Robert said. "A whole town went crazy on its own, without any spells or magic. All it took was a spark."

  "A single, vengeful idiot, you mean," Don said.

  Brett stood by, feeling embarrassed. "It was only a prank," he muttered.

  Robert was about to muse how they still never found out who set the fire, then his eyes sharpened on Brett. "What did you say, son?"

  Brett realized his mistake, and he looked at Robert in horror.

  "What did you just say?" he asked again. "Did you start that fire?"

  "I... um..."

  Tommy stepped forward. "I started the fire, Dad," he said. "I never told you because I knew you'd be mad."

  His father looked at him.

  "It was just supposed to be a prank. I told Brett about it after, and I made him promise not to tell anyone else."

  "Explain yourself, boy," Robert said sternly, anger arching his eyebrows.

  Tommy stuttered, looking for the words. "I... I saw everyone standing around, and I thought it would be funny to light a fire behind the house and make the witch come out. But she never did. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to."

  Brett stared at Tommy in shock.

  Robert looked down at his son with intense disappointment. "We'll talk about this later," he said. "For now, we've got to get home and recuperate."

  As the crowd started to disperse down the hill, Brett walked over to Tommy and nudged him. Tommy turned to him.

  "Why did you do that?" Brett asked.

  Tommy shrugged. "I knew it made you feel bad, and I didn't want you to feel bad."

  Brett nodded slowly, struggling to understand his reasoning. But he was thankful that Tommy did that. As he looked at Tommy, a strange, almost alien feeling rose up in him. "Thank you," he said.

  Robert, Carmen and Tommy stood in the woods, watching everyone else leave with their children. He notified the state level, and they were on their way with some help to rebuild, but for now he needed to get his children to safety. He turned and looked at his d
aughter.

  She saw him staring at her injuries, and she said, "It's okay, Dad. I can walk. I'm just going to be a little slow."

  "Nonsense," he said, then he bent and swept her off her feet, holding her in his arms.

  She giggled, feeling like Daddy's little girl again for the first time since her mother died.

  Robert crouched down and grabbed Tommy's hand, and the three of them made their way back to town.

  "I know you didn't start that fire," Robert said to Tommy.

  Tommy looked up at him. "How did you know?" he asked, dumbfounded.

  Robert smiled. "A good police chief always knows. But that was very brave of you to cover for a friend like that."

  Tommy nodded slowly, staring out into the distance and appreciating the wisdom.

  Carmen lay in her hospital bed, fiddling with the edge of her gown. She stared at the clock on the wall and watched the time tick away. She sighed.

  Her father and brother had just stopped in to visit her along with a couple of her friends from college. Even Peter stopped by with her father's permission, apologizing for being incapacitated and not able to help her defeat the witch. Carmen apologized for her father, and her father also apologized to Peter for mistreatment. All around, everyone in the town had a heavy cloud of regret hanging over them.

  The doctors performed some surgery on Carmen's injuries, and they said she would make a speedy recovery, but she didn't agree with their definition of "speedy" anymore. She picked up the remote off the bedside table and turned on the TV, mindlessly flipping channels. But it was all just noise to her, and she shut it off. Her head sank down against the pillow and she let out a long breath.

  There was a knock at her door.

  Carmen looked over and saw Stacy peeking in. "Oh, Stacy... What are you doing here?"

  "I just came to visit," Stacy said. "Can I come in?"

  "Yeah, of course. Sorry..."

  Carmen pushed herself up in her bed as Stacy opened the door and walked in the room, holding a bouquet of flowers.