The Halloween Decoration

When I was 10 years old, I moved into a foster home. My deadbeat parents went out for cigarettes and beer one night and never came back. At least that was the story I've told for the past 30 years. But now I finally feel like I should tell the truth about what happened the night they disappeared.

My parents never wanted me. I was an unplanned mistake that they chose to keep for the welfare benefits. Growing up involved bruises, black eyes, the occasional cigarette burn, and daily verbal beat downs.

One day near Halloween, a flyer arrived in our mailbox about an arts and crafts fair at a nearby park. When I got the mail after walking home from school, I begged my mom to take me. She always let me put out our meager collection of decorations for the holidays and I was excited by the prospect of finding something cool for Halloween at the fair.

She said it was just a stupid fair, but that I could go if it would make me shut up about it. She wouldn't give me any money though because they couldn't afford it. Although they had no problem buying cigarettes and beer all the time, but last time I brought that up it resulted in a slap across the face.

When the day of the fair arrived, I grabbed my rusted bike and rode to the park with a pocketful of change I had saved from constantly checking payphone coin return slots.

I took the shortcut through the woods and past the rusted car frame littered with cigarette butts and beer bottles where the cool high school kids hung out.

The woods opened up into a grassy field with a baseball diamond, playground, and a couple soccer fields. Cars filled with happy families drove into the dirt parking lot and headed to the various tables.

I set my bike down against a tree and browsed the pictures, jewelry, and knickknacks displayed at the vendors tables. Everything was so much more than the $1.55 held in my pocket. I started to cry as I left the last table realizing I was too poor to buy anything.

Dejected, I headed back towards my bike with my head down wanting to just keep pedaling as fast as I could to get as far away as I could. All of a sudden I bumped into another table that I hadn't noticed before right beside my bike.

"I'm sorry" I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I didn't see you there."

The old woman sitting at the table didn't say anything. She just waved her hand in front of the trinkets on the table. Her thinning gray hair was matted down on her blistered scalp and her face was weathered and wrinkled.

I looked at the items on the table and they all appeared to be Halloween themed. There was a mummified corpse coming out of a tomb carved out of wood, a clay sculpture of a three-headed wolf standing on its hind legs holding a smiling severed head, a girl with a long flowing dress and long red hair sitting atop a broken oblong skull, and various other items.

These were so detailed and finely crafted that I was sure they were too expensive for me so I said, "thanks, but I don't have enough money" and turned around to leave. She started tapping her nails on the table to get my attention. I turned back around and she reached into a bag next to her, pulled out a new trinket and slid it towards me.

I asked how much it was and she shook her head no and pushed it closer to me. I reached into my pocket and tried to hand her what little money I had, but she just pushed my hand away and shook her head no again.

After thanking her multiple times, I picked up my new decoration to get a better look at it. There was a small house with busted windows and a boarded up door. On the back of the house was a small key.

I turned the key until it wouldn't go any further and let go. It emitted a series of clicks as the door opened up and a tall, thin figure wearing a tattered black suit with a top hat and leaning on a cane followed a track I hadn't noticed at first. It moved slowly and jerkily until it stopped a little ways in front of the house. A long bony arm reached up and took the top hat off of its ugly disfigured face. Skin was hanging off its left cheek and the right side of its head was missing an eye. Its jaw hung down in a big open mouth smile with long flat teeth and it took a bow before going back inside the house.

It was a little odd and creepy, but I was not one to turn down something free so I held it carefully, grabbed my bike, and turned back to wave bye to the old lady, but she was already packing up her things. She gave me a wave and a smile as I got on my bike and pedaled back home.

I set my bike down in the grass and ran inside, excited to setup the new decoration in my room. My dad was slumped over in his chair with the Lions game on. My mom was in the kitchen smoking her cigarettes and watching something on the free portable TV they got for attending some sales seminar. I walked slowly by them trying not to be heard and went in my room, closing the door quietly behind me.

I wound the key up again and set the decoration down on my dresser. Nothing happened. I wound it again, but still nothing. I guessed that it must have broken already and lied down to go to sleep.

I was awoken by a clicking sound and looked up at my dresser. The door to the little house opened up and the figure came out. It stopped outside the house and leaned on it's cane staring at me. The smile was gone from its face.

Just then my door opened and my dad stumbled in yelling at me for not doing the dishes. He smacked me a few times and then stumbled out. I heard a light tapping noise coming from my dresser and I wiped the tears out if my eyes to see the figure tapping its cane on the ground and staring out the door where my dad had gone. He then went back in the house and the little door slammed shut. This happened a few times over the next week with different reasons for my dad being mad (and once my mom) followed by various displays of anger from the figure.

The night before Halloween was particularly bad. My mom and dad were both drunk and had friends over. They thought it would be funny to use me as their servant. I had to keep bringing them drinks and they threw stuff at me whenever I took too long or accidentally spilled anything.

Late in the night my mom's ashtray filled up so she reached over and put her cigarette out on my arm. I ran crying to my room while they laughed. I noticed the figure had moved off the decoration and was standing on my dresser slamming his cane down over and over. He then pointed his cane at my bed as if to tell me to go lie down. I climbed into bed and closed my eyes as the little figure watched over me. Somehow I fell asleep quickly from the exhaustion and trauma of the day.

A piercing scream coming from down the hall in my parents’ room woke me up just after midnight. I quietly opened my door and leaned out to look into their room. The moonlight shone in through their windows and I could see the tall bony figure leaning over the bottom of the bed with his cane pushed down on my dad's chest. He had grown to about seven feet tall and his mouth was biting down on my dad's leg. His big flat teeth were grinding back and forth across the bone. The I heard a loud snap as its powerful jaws broke right through the bone.

My mom and dad were both screaming as the figure's mouth moved further up my dad's leg and began grinding its teeth back and forth again. My dad tried to pull away but the pain and the pressure of the cane must have been too much. My mom jumped out of bed and ran behind the monster. It forcefully swung the cane around tripping her and knocking her into the wall. She crumpled into a heap on the floor moaning in pain.

My dad looked over at me and let out a weak cry for help. But I just stood there unmoving and watched the violent spectacle unfold before me. After a couple of minutes one of my dad's legs was completely gone and he looked to be passed out from the pain. My mom slowly started crawling toward me. The monster walked over and lifted his cane high above his head. He then brought it down with so much force it went right through her leg pinning her to the floor.

The monster went back to work eating my dad's other leg, followed by his arms, torso, and lastly his head. My mom listened to the mashing and grinding of the bones until there was a short moment of silence as the last of my dad was gobbled up.

I felt nothing as I watched the monster walk over to my mom and bite each finger off one-by one as she continued to scream. He then devoured her with a similar methodical process and when he was finished, he walked over and stood in front of me towering over me. His eye and empty socket felt like they were staring into my soul. He stayed there for a minute and then removed his top hat and took a bow before walking out of the house.

I cleaned up the floor, threw away the bedding, and called the police the next day with my story about them going out for cigarettes and beer and not coming back.

I kept the house decoration without the figure and put it out every year except for the last few years. These last couple of years have been rough for me. I was laid off and unable to find work for a long time. I didn't mean to hit my son and yell at him so much. I promise, I'm not like my father, I can be good again. You have to believe me. You see, I just left my son's room and the house was sitting on his dresser. As I was walking out the door the familiar clicking noise caught my attention. The little door opened and the figure was back. He stopped just outside the little house and stared at me. He then began to grind his teeth back and forth. Halloween is almost here and I promise I will be good.

Submitted October 14, 2018 at 08:19PM by tropical_rabbit https://ift.tt/2pU6Ieu