Friday, October 26, 2012

Randomness

The laughter coming from outside brings with it great pain. The hard wooden rails of the chair dig into his spine. He rotates a miniature chocolate candy in his hand. The silver wrapper crackles as he looks for evidence of perforations. There are none. It’s impeccable. He drops it into the paper bag laying at his feet. There it joins the untainted. Randomness, pure randomness, just like life.

The tapping at the door brings him to his feet. He strides forward as his shoes make loud knocking noises on the hardwood floor. Once outside, he looks down at the monsters that stare back at him. Their eyes waiting for him to move.

“Trick or treat,” they yell. Among them are the quintessential ghost made with holy sheets, a witch carrying a cobweb filled cauldron, a dinosaur with razor sharp felt teeth, and a jack-o-lantern that waddles up behind them.
Counting them, he knows these are the last ghouls of the night.

He lowers himself holding the paper bag by the rolled down brim. He gives it one last shake, one last play with fate. He drops a chocolate in each bag as the children push them to the front. Past them he sees the smiling parents. One father kneels down and snaps photos of the pumpkin toddling towards a red wagon. The squeals of joy pierce his soul. They remind him of times long past, times removed by fortune.

He expects sirens, screaming, and crying. But all that follows is silence, cold dead silence, like the last three months. From his pocket, he pulls out one final chocolate. Slowly he removes the silver wrapper and pushes the bar into his mouth. He lays himself down on the porch. He closes his eyes. Now he waits.





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22 comments:

  1. Interesting. This piece leaves me with a lot of questions.

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  2. Wonderful! Like Michael, I have so many questions. What has happend to him that not only would he harm other but that he would also put himself in danger. This is full of awesomeness!

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  3. a true nightmare!! ah! well written!

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  4. Hi Von, nice to meet you. I assume we have a murdered ghost. Spooky and well done. Oh that last taste of chocolate.
    Nancy

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  5. Russian roulette, chocolate style. Excellent entry!

    Thanks for participating in our blogfest. :D

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  6. Wow. This is intriguing and disturbing. I love it!

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  7. I'm with the rest, disturbing and well done.

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  8. Very bizarre and disturbing-- but in a cool way. I like it! I'm a new follower btw. Nice to meet you!

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  9. Nice to meet you. A disturbingly haunting piece, but also left me with questions.

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  10. I love this phrase - "razor sharp felt teeth" - and damn, that ending was creepy.

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  11. That was a perfectly chilling tale, Dude. Well done. ::shivers::
    Mina's Resurrection Blogfest!

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  12. Thanks, everyone. Having my two boys going out and trick or treat, this story scared me as well. Have a safe Halloween!

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  13. Very creepy and disturbing! A great story for Halloween.

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  14. I can see why you're the winner. Awesome, and oh so creepy. Glad I don't have any little ones trick or treating tonight! After reading this, I couldn't allow any chocolate!

    Well done! CONGRATULATIONS! Well deserved!

    HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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    1. Thanks, Yolanda. I'll be checking my boys candy with a magnifying glass. You can never be safe enough.

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  15. Excellent writing, very well told, Sir. Kudos to you :)

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    1. Thanks, Mark. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

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  16. enjoyed the read. very nice and suspenseful! bloghopping and new follower, hi!

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    1. Thanks, Tammy. I'll be following you too. I enjoyed reading your 4 in 1 Halloween post.

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  17. Starting off, it sounded like purple prose. "one last play with fate" sounded like an elaborate way say to say 'who gets what brand'. That last bit changes the meaning; not a metaphor.

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  18. Thanks, Brian. I'll be honest I had to wikipedia "purple prose." I found it very interest as I love learning new terms and ideas. Thanks for that.

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