It’s kind of hard to avoid thinking of Halloween when it becomes so prevalent this time of year 🙂 Plus, I keep remembering to oh-so-many-years-ago when I decided to run a slew of Fast Fictions during Halloween week (way before it became vogue to do so 🙂 ). Anyhow, I was kicking around the idea that I should put up a Flash Fiction (at 568 words, it doesn’t fall under my category of Fast Fiction which is 200 words or less) piece this year simply because it’s been so long. I initially wanted to run a new “My Eyes Burn” pieces… but decided I couldn’t just put one of those up as they tend to run in series.
I decided, instead, that for this year, I would just write a short/ cute little story. Nothing horrific, nothing bloody, just something that could make my wife smile 🙂 Of course, as she sat across from me doing her own work and saw me smiling to myself, she asked what I was up to. I told her I was simply writing her something and she immediately wanted to know if I was writing about Gnomes. Or Bunnies. Or Gnomes with Bunnies. Damn it. Now I *have* to do that. But before I get to that, let me at least share this quick piece with everyone 🙂
Mickey tried to be brave as Frank kept badgering him.
“I bet ya can’t do it! I bet ya can’t!” he kept repeating, literally turning it into a chant.
“I can, too!” said Mickey, sounding braver than he felt.
It was the same thing every year. October 30. Mad Night. The eve of Halloween, when all the so-called ‘bad boys’ come out to play.
Mickey wasn’t really a bad boy. Truth was, he never got into any trouble. Not because he was afraid of causing any, but just because he tended to not see the entertainment value that others, like Frank, did.
This year, however, he knew he couldn’t walk away. He was eleven years old now and in Junior High School. If he didn’t prove he could handle a little trouble, his next five years of school would be a nightmare.
“Watch. I’ll show you what I can do,” he finally blurted out as he screwed up his courage and lunged for the gate in front of him.
Frank ducked back onto the street and hid behind a parked car while Mickey crossed the walkway and made his way to the door of Old Man Boris’ house. This was it. No turning back now. He would ring that doorbell and take off before anything could happen to him. All that talk about giant spiders was just talk. No one kept pets like that! He’d show Frank that he wasn’t afraid.
As he got to the door, he took one quick look behind him to ensure Frank was watching him. If he was going to go through with this, he needed a witness. He saw Frank hiding but before Mickey could turn back to the door, Frank suddenly yelled out and ran away screaming.
Mickey whipped his head around and a yell escaped from him as he came face to chest with the monstrous Boris.
“Good evening,” he said, with a voice that sounded like heavy rocks sliding down the surface of a mountain. “How may I help you?” he asked.
Mickey, mouth agape and eyes bulging out, just stood there, literally shaking with fear.
“Yesss?” drawled Boris as he leaned forward and downwards, putting his face a few inches from Mickey’s.
Mickey tried to get his mouth to work but the only sounds coming out were little gasps and wheezes as he tried to get his breathing under control and slow the crazy beating of his heart.
Boris tilted his head and furrowed his brow at this strange boy standing before him. “Are you unwell?” he asked slowly.
Mickey finally managed to snap himself out of his stupor and in a surge of adrenaline he pounded his chest, took something out of his jacket pocket, and yelled, “TAG! YOU’RE IT!” In one quick motion he slapped Boris on the forehead and took off before Boris could react. Mickey kept running at top speed, never looking back, as Boris blinked in surprise and straightened up. He reached up, removed the sticker from his forehead, and looked at it blankly. It was a black cartoon bomb with the word “boom!” written on it in yellow. From behind him, inside the house, he heard laughter.
“He did it! He really finally did it!” laughed Frank hysterically.
“You have some very strange friends, son,” said Boris as he walked inside and closed the door behind him.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist 🙂