Free Halloween story

Please enjoy a free story in the Halloween spirit. This exists within the Snow Globe universe, so readers of those books may recognize some lore and locales. Happy Halloween!

Stories Within Walls

Aaron Gudmunson

 

From the road, the house resembled a brick of melty mint ice cream, tilted and wobbly. A wasp nest hung beneath the eave like a tumor, the only sign of life about the place and even its inhabitants had died with the summer. Most of the windows had been broken out years ago, victims of kids hurling gravel from the edge of the lawn—none dared creep closer.

 Hilly Mascal had been one of those kids. He'd heard the legend of the old place practically from birth; anyone who'd grown up within thirty miles of Ashford had. The house had been the site of the Kern murders. Allegedly, Mrs. Ida Kern had woken up one Halloween night after taking her kids trick-or-treating, stepped into the kitchen, found the butcher knife her family had used to carve pumpkins that day still drying in the dish rack, and had gone room to room stabbing her family while a late autumn thunderstorm thrashed outside.

            Rumor had it (based on a supposed police report that leaked and had since woven its way into the Kern legend), Ida slashed her husband's throat so viciously he'd been nearly decapitated. She'd gone next to her daughter's room before visiting the twins on the ground floor.

When she'd finished, she repeatedly asked her kids who among them wanted to help her carve one last pumpkin? But when Ida received no reply from her slaughtered family, she purportedly sat on her front porch and carved the final pumpkin alone using the murder weapon before stalking through the storm to the police station downtown. She'd brought the knife and bloody jack-o-lantern with her and seemed more upset that her family refused to answer her than about the atrocity she'd committed.

            It was that final image that had always struck Hilly hardest: a blood-spattered woman in a bathrobe and slippers, hair wrapped in yellow curlers, trudging up Church Street, gripping a knife in one hand and a sputtering jack-o-lantern in the other. Thinking of it forced a shudder through him and he almost turned his Schwinn around and pedaled home.

            Almost.

            The train tracks ran a hundred feet from the back door. They were rusted and long disused, at least by locomotives; kids often walked the rotted ties from Ashford to Murdoch, a more direct route than biking out on Red Pointe Road. Of course, biking was half the fun of Indian Summer, but if it meant shaving off half an hour getting to Arch's Market to buy bottle caps and baseball cards, the sacrifice was well worth it—at least that's what they told each other. The real reason was that almost everyone in town understood Red Pointe to be a haunted road.

The Kern house had become the usual starting point since it stood removed from the rest of town as if quarantined and thus served well at bike hiding (sometimes as necessary an activity as bike riding). The place had been abandoned since the murders and the county seemed content to let it rot over spending valuable funds to raze it. Or perhaps they hadn't been able to find a contractor with guts enough to come tear it down.

Hilly walked his Schwinn into the weeds flanking the tracks and scouted around. Sure enough, half a dozen bikes lay like dead fish on a riverbank, baseball cards clipped to the sprockets with splintery clothespins. He recognized Jason Bandy's BMX Raptor, which meant the others belonged to his gang of goons. Jason held the two-time title of master bully of Ashford Middle School. He was also the starting quarterback for the junior high team, which made him the most popular kid in school.

"You can't spell starter without star," he often bragged.

And truth be told, he was probably right. It simply wasn't fair.

Hilly made up his mind to head back to town—being in the vicinity of the place on Halloween seemed catastrophically stupid even in broad daylight, and besides he wanted to grab a Coke at Buddy's Pump & Go, where his brother worked.

He gave it one last look, thinking, I'll come back, you mean old biddy—and then stopped. Something occurred to him.

When kids left their bikes on the tracks, they didn't bother to lock them up. The ragweed grew tall enough to hide them from the road, so no one worried about a would-be thief ambling along. Hilly felt a smile split his face as if pulled by puppet strings.

He unwound his bike chain from the seat tube of his Schwinn. He had an extra chain at home—an assortment of them, really, lying in a coiled heap in one corner of the garage like nesting asps—and wouldn't miss this one.

He dropped his bike into the overgrown lawn and hurried to the tracks to wheel Jason Bandy's Raptor a few yards away to a spot where the iron rail had pulled up from the gravel bed. Working quickly, he chained the Raptor down, snapped the lock together, and spun the digits in all directions. That would slow down Mr. Star Quarterback faster than a linebacker blitz. He jogged back to his bike and slung a leg over the crossbar.

A sudden clamor arose and Hilly spun toward the house. All too easily he imagined Ida Kern stepping out, butcher knife clamped in one gnarled fist, mousy hair twisted up in curlers, bathrobe hanging open to expose a blood-spattered pink nightgown and matching slippers.

Instead he saw Jason Bandy and his hoodlums bolting helter skelter out the door. Apparently, Arch's candy aisle had been forsaken today. They launched like great apes into the sawgrass. Never had Hilly seen this bunch of tough guys look so panicked. They didn't even seem to notice their potential victim straddling his bike near the edge of the lawn.

"Go-go-go!" Jason screamed. Witnessing their terror jumpstarted Hilly; in an instant he was standing on the pedals and pumping hell and gone up Church Street. Distantly, he heard the others grabbing up their bikes and joining the exodus. All except Jason Bandy, he of the incapacitated Raptor.

It wasn't until Hilly reached the corner of Jackson that he heard Ashford Middle School's star quarterback begin to shriek.

 

#

 

Hilly didn't stop until he reached Buddy's Pump & Go. Jake's battered Plymouth dozed in a back parking slot. He had no idea what exactly had happened at the Kern place moments ago, but seeing his big brother was all he wanted to do right now. And that said a lot.

            Jake sat on a stool behind the counter, smoking and skimming the current issue of Penthouse. Buddy Fredette allowed neither on company time, but Buddy happily left his managers in charge while he vacationed in Maui from Labor Day through Easter. The job paid next to nothing, Jake informed anyone who would listen, but the perks more than made up for it. Anyway, he might as well get used to it; it was probably the best work he was going to find after dropping out of school last year.

            "Well, well. Look what the puss dragged in," Jake commented. Then, noting his kid brother's pallor, stubbed out his smoke and said, "Jesus, kid, what's the matter? Someone kick your ass again?"

            "I was down by the Kern place and—"

            "Didn't I tell you to stay away from there?"

            "—some kids came running out scared to pieces."

            "They probably saw a raccoon. Those mamas will do anything to protect their pups."

            "I think it was Ida Kern," Hilly whispered.

            Jake laughed. "Dude, you are so stupid. Ida Kern went up to the nuthatch, like, forty years ago. If she's still alive, she'd be pushing seventy now."

            Hilly swallowed and whispered, "Maybe it was her ghost."

"Man. Who would've thought the kid brother of Jacob Allan Mascal would be such a moron?"

            Hilly opened his mouth to explain the prank he'd pulled—and its aftermath, whatever that was; he still wasn't sure whether Jason had screamed in frustration because of how he'd found his bike or for another reason—but stopped himself. He'd gone unseen, so no one could pin the deed on him. For now, he'd keep it to himself.

            "I'm serious, Jake."

            Jake licked his teeth. "Tell you what. After work, you and me'll go take a look. More'n likely we'll just find that raccoon and her pups. I'll bring my .22 just in case."

            A gun wouldn't make a damn bit of difference against a ghost, Hilly thought, but didn't say. His brother remained steadfastly convinced he and his peashooter could take out the entire Russian Army if called upon to do so.

            "It'll be dark by then," Hilly said. No one went to the Kern house on Halloween after nightfall. Not anyone with any sense, anyway.

"Just be here at six." He picked up a bottle wrapped in a paper sack from beneath the counter and sipped before returning to his literature.

"Gimme some of that," Hilly said. A little nip of whatever it was would probably be enough to settle his nerves.

"You don't get to taste of the good stuff till you've earned it. Now get out of here before I call the cops and report a shoplifter."

Hilly helped himself to a Coke and pushed out into the late afternoon light. He rode to the park at the center of town, brisk wind knuckling his jacket. The park was a square of grass with swings, a merry-go-round that had probably resulted in as many child deaths as Ida Kern, and a single sorrowful basketball hoop, silent as a cemetery. It sported a splintery bench at the far end. Hilly did his best thinking there.

He dropped his bike and plunked down, cracked his soda, and swigged, wishing he had a paper bag to put it in to look cool. A sparrow regarded him from the crossbar of the swing set with black BB eyes.

What had happened to Jason? What had he and his goons seen that had made them flee in terror? Had it really been only a raccoon, or had it been something else? Someone else?

Maybe Hilly ought to go back to the Kern house and see if Jason Bandy had freed his bike or whether he'd given up the ghost, as the saying went.

Hilly finished his Coke and flipped the bottle into the steel trash bin then climbed onto his bike. He rerouted to approach from the back. Fifty yards out (he could just see the slanted roof stripped of most of its shingles and one leaning wall, its windows dark and webbed over), Jason's bike came into view, still anchored to the track.

The back door stood ajar. The boys had not bothered to close it.

Hilly made for home, shadows deepening around him like the collapsing walls of a canyon. He arrived in time for supper, but found he had no appetite. What had happened to Jason? It was maddening, not knowing. He fidgeted at the kitchen table.

"Something on your mind, hon?" his mother asked, sliding a plate of spaghetti before him.

"Just school stuff."

"Math still giving you trouble?"

"A little."

"Well, Jacob should be home soon. He can look it over with you."
            Never mind the only math Jake ever had success at was counting empty beer cans. Hilly stared at the damp sprinkle of parmesan on Ragu. The clock stood at ten past five.

His mom wound noodles onto her fork while studying Dear Abby in the paper, one wrist tucked beneath her chin. Hilly had to abruptly fight hard not to cry. She looked beautiful like that. He wondered if Ida Kern's children had ever looked at their mother in such a way. What could cause a mother to butcher her family? Children she had borne from her own body and a husband she had vowed to honor and cherish? Hilly pushed back his chair, came around the table, and kissed his mother's cheek.

"My goodness, Hilliard, where did that come from?"

"Nowhere. Everywhere. I guess I just wanted you to know I love you."

"Why, I love you too," she said, beaming.

Hilly tried to smile too, but it felt as wobbly as the Kern house looked. He bolted out the front door, barely hearing his mother call after him. He dragged his Schwinn upright and pedaled for town.

A gaggle of boys huddled in the park. It took only a moment to register they were Jason Bandy's posse. Was Jason among them? It was hard to tell in the dusk.  

"Hey, Mascal, come here a minute," one of them called.

"I have to be somewhere."

"Seriously, dude. We got to ask you something," another hollered.

He knew he should keep going, but turned a wide circle into the park, pulling up short of the gang. Treachery often exposed itself too late for escape. It had happened to him at the hands of these kids more than once.

"What do you want?" he asked, preparing to be blitzed any second. But these guys weren't on the attack today. If anything, they looked like they'd been attacked.

"You seen Jay?" Greg Jessup, the football team's left guard, asked.

Hilly's mouth dried. "In science class yesterday. Why?"

"Not since then?"

Hilly made a movement with his head that he hoped appeared as negation. "Is something wrong?"

The boys glanced around, unsure whether to divulge information to one so low as Hilliard Mascal, a studious runt with the weirdo name who had no chance at playing a team sport with any measure of success.

Derek Francisco stepped forward. He played center for the Armadillos and as such was tasked with snapping the ball to Jason Bandy. They were best friends.

"We were all out to the Kern house today," he said quietly, as if that single declarative explained everything.

Hilly managed to keep his face neutral, he hoped. "You go in?"

The boys traded another round of glances. Finally Derek nodded. His eyes shined with some emotion Hilly couldn't translate. Fear, perhaps, or sorrow. Maybe both.

"What did you see?" Hilly asked breathlessly.

Derek opened his mouth, but Greg slugged his shoulder. Derek blinked. "Nothing, kid. We just wanted to know if you'd seen Bandy. Get on out of here now before we steal your bike or something."

Hilly expected one of the others to make a crack about no one wanting a piece of shit Schwinn, but the boys only studied the ground. Hilly didn't have to be told twice. 

It was still too early to meet Jake, so he sailed around the town's older neighborhoods studying the quiet houses, gussied up with ghosts, witches, and pumpkins. Each of them had a story to tell, entire lives which had occurred within their walls. What could one learn if those walls could speak? Would they whisper of snowy school mornings and ninth birthday parties? Would they murmur of piano lessons and burnt pork chops and stomach flus and late night monster movies? Would the mirrors reflect glee and grief? Madness? Death?

What stories would the walls of the Kern house tell?

Hilly braked in front of a Cape Cod and stared up at the bay window hung with paper cats and skeletons in top hats. Who lived there? He checked for a name on the mailbox, but the decals had long-since peeled away. Likely he would never know a single detail about what went on behind that front door. A sudden deep sorrow rushed through him. The world was such a private place. No one knew a thing about you unless you wanted them to. Or unless you did something so horrific it warranted telling.

Where was Jason? Safe at home, living the story being told within his walls? Or was he living (or dying) an entirely different story within the walls of a broke-down house by the tracks? The idea that Ida Kern's bloodthirsty ghost chased him to the place where his BMX had lain on lockdown, only to drag him shrieking back inside her mint green prison seemed as plausible as it did ridiculous.

As the wind scattered leaves, the thought of revisiting the place tonight even with Jake and his pistol seemed bloodcurdlingly horrific. Maybe he would ride back home and ask his mother to reheat his spaghetti. Then maybe he'd put on a costume and troll the neighborhood looking for kids to scare out of their goodies. He was too old to trick or treat, but not too old for candy. Screw the Kern house.

But Hilly couldn't say screw Jason Bandy. He wouldn't sleep a wink until he knew the bully was safe. He turned onto Arapahoe Lane and sped to Buddy's.

Through the window, Jake was handing the keys to the next clerk on duty. He noticed his younger brother looking in and gave him the finger. Hilly tried to calm his pulse until the door jangled open.

"Ready, ding-dong?" Jake asked, striding for his battered Plymouth.

"What about my bike?"

"Lock it to the wall. Not that anyone would steal that deathtrap."

Hilly thought he could truthfully say the same thing about his brother's car, which he kept locked at all times, even at church. Instead he said, "You kidding? It's Halloween. Someone'll take it and throw it in the lake. Besides, I don't have a chain."

"Well, toss it in the trunk and get in. I want to shoot me a raccoon."

When they'd hit the road, Jake popped the glove box, pulled out his .22, and dropped it in Hilly's lap.

"Load that sucker."
            "Why?"

"No good without bullets."

Hilly found a small box beneath a creased state map and a box of condoms. The gold casings with their lead heads lined up in neat little rows of impending death. Guns didn't kill people; bullets did.

One by one he inserted them into the magazine which Jake had likely fired empty shooting at beer cans at the abandoned Jankowski farm out on Red Pointe Road, a teen hotspot. Legend had it something as bad as what happened at the Kern house had taken place on the property way back around the turn of the century, but no one seemed to know exactly what. As far as Hilly was concerned, he never needed to know. Having one murder house in town was enough.

Jake jabbed the car into PARK after skidding onto the Kern lawn. Hilly relinquished the firearm. 

"Let's have a little peek, shall we?" Jake asked, sauntering up to the back door and kicking it open like he'd lived there all his life. Something about that seemed strange to Hilly and it took a moment to place what it was. By the time it came to him, his brother was already inside.

"Jake, wait!" Hilly screamed. The last time he'd come out here, the door had been open. "Jake, come back!"

There was no answer other than the whispering of the wind through the leaves. Hilly stood a moment in frozen indecision. He needed to pee. Finally rushed to the door, stopping short of crossing the threshold. The jamb had splintered when his brother kicked the door in and long, jagged spikes of wood hung askew. Hilly selected the longest and stepped into the house.

The kitchen wore laces of cobwebs along the countertops and in the corners. One cabinet door hung ajar on a broken hinge and a single ancient can of Carnation condensed milk peeked out. Jake's footprints on the dusty linoleum could not easily be picked out because Jason's crew had tromped through it already.

"Jake?" Hilly called. No response. A sound issued from someplace deeper in the house, a sort of shuffle-step across shag carpet. That would be Jake looking for a place to hide, waiting to jump out as a little Halloween prank on his kid brother.

Hilly looked over his shoulder at the overgrown lawn. The sawgrass bent in the wind as if in worship of the house. Two blocks over, the sound of kids shrieking "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" rode the wind. He had half a mind to return to get his bike and leave Jake here to shoot the stupid raccoon on his own. If Ida Kern showed up, well, the jerk deserved it. Except the bike was in the trunk and Jake had locked the car like always, so there would be no popping it. From his place, Hilly could just make out the handlebars of Jason's Raptor lying like a skeleton on the tracks.

"Jake, this is stupid," Hilly called. His hand stung and when he glanced down, he realized he'd been gripping the sliver of door jamb hard enough to break the skin. "I'm outta here."

Hilly turned and jumped down the four steps to the grass below, pitching the wood into the yard. He took slow steps, giving his brother time to catch up, but when Jake did not appear, he ran the rest of the way home.

 

#

 

He listened for Jake's car to come squealing into the driveway. Most evenings, Jake would cruise out to the Jankowski farm to see what kind of trouble he could cook up. Halloween would be a guaranteed visit—the place would be loaded with thrill-seeking teens hoping to catch a glimpse of some long-forgotten ghosts and scaring themselves stupid in the process. People found the farm a more appealing place for Halloween mischief than Ashford's other spook house; the Kern place repelled troublemakers the way rubber repels rain. No one wanted to get close to that more recent, more tangible history. Every so often, some idiot would stand on Church Street and stare through the windows, but no one ever got closer than the sidewalk once full dark fell on October's final day (although he'd heard rumors John Carpenter had found at least some inspiration in the Kern story for his Halloween film franchise). No one except him and senseless, fearless Jake and he'd only gone in because he thought a gun made him invincible.

            So Hilly told himself there was nothing to worry about when the battered Plymouth remained absent at eleven o'clock.

He probably went home with a girl, Hilly thought, hoping the thought would cheer him up, maybe even make him chuckle like an old lecher. It did neither.

By 11:30, Hilly knew he had to return to the Kern house.

 

#

 

Seeing the Plymouth absent from the Kern's side yard settled his mind. Jake had likely gotten bored with hiding and headed out to the Jankowski place.

            Hilly took a few steps onto the weed-choked lawn. The Plymouth's treads stood out plain in the moonlight. It looked like Jake had peeled out fast. Hilly would catch hell for ditching him. It would probably be the beating of a lifetime.

The back door stood open. Inviting. Welcoming. Thunder mumbled distantly.

            Jake might go easier on him if he brought something home, some proof he'd gone back to the Kern house. On Halloween night, no less. What could he take, though? What would be proof enough?

            The can of condensed milk, of course. It was right there in the kitchen cabinet: ten paces in, ten paces out. Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, as Jake often liked to say.

            Hilly took the steps two at a time without a second thought. He could see the outline of the ancient tin in the moonlight. The leaves made dappled patterns on the open door and the wind shushed through the sawgrass. In an instant he yanked the can out of the cabinet with the sticky kiss of a cobweb on the back of his hand, and spun toward the door. The first flash of lightning flickered through the window.

            Then the door slammed and Ida Kern stood behind it, dressed in curlers and a bath robe. The flesh of her face appeared stretched over her skull and her lips looked like strips of raw liver peeled back over teeth as crooked and eroded as Old West tombstones. Eyes the size of ping pong balls bulged from blackened sockets. She gripped a butcher knife in one knotted fist and cradled a pumpkin in the other. Hilly tried to scream, but found his lungs on lockdown.

            "Care to help me carve, son?" Mrs. Kern rasped, raising the knife, ready to write a new horror story within the walls of her wobbly green house.

 

The End