Delima Kasih

Halloween Part Two: The House

'Hello? Would you like to buy some flowers?'
plink peered through the half-open door into the house. It was dark, so dark that it seemed to spill from the doorway and into the evening outside. She peered into her half-opened purse. It was dark, so dark that she could not see the single coin from her only customer that morning. Selling flowers was hard work, more so during Halloween.
plink pushed open the door. She was just about to set a tiny foot inside the house when a blood-curdling shriek pierced the air.
plink bolted.
Running out into the untamed garden, she hid among the weeds in what had once been a flowerbed. There she waited, wondering who it was that made that sound.
Once more, the house was silent.
Gathering up her courage, the little one tiptoed back into the house. Through the open door, through the darkness inside and into the run-down looking house she went.
'Flowers for you?' plink's question echoed down the unlit hallways. The answer was a shockingly loud groan. plink ran and hid behind a sofa, scattering flowers everywhere.
The hall was silent. For one long moment, nothing moved or made a sound, not even plink. When she finally worked up the courage to look around the sofa, there was nothing to see, nothing to fear.
'Flowers?' plink began again, before remembering that she had no more to sell. Outside, the evening fog rolled in and the house filled quickly with its wet, sickly odour.
Another sharp squeal, long and horrifying, cut through the air. plink felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and her heart start to pound. The sound was frighteningly close. It was in the next room. A light shone from under the door and as plink drew close, the stench grew stronger, the very smell of death.
plink reached out and as she grasped the door handle, one last shriek, fit to wake the dead, made her go weak with fear. She threw the door open and looked full upon the source of all the horror.
It was skunkie, wild-eyed and sawing away at.... a violin.
'skunkie! Why you practice viorin in the middle of the night?!?!?!'

Labels: Halloween

posted by plink @ 9:44 pm