Here is the conclusion to my (rather long) short story, "Happy Halloween! 2." The battle with Professor Apo comes to an end. Will the Halloween friends be victorious, or will Halloween be lost forever? I hope you've enjoyed this holiday journey. Thank you for taking the time to read a small part of a series that has been dear to me for so long. As always, I would appreciate any feedback you have on this section, or on the story as a whole. Thanks again!
“It’s time to feed, my
children,” said the professor.
“This is cheap, Professor Apo,
and you know it!” Pumpkin shouted. “You
let us down and we’ll finish this!”
“Cheap, indeed, Pumpkin!” the
old man retorted. “Cheap! Any real
warrior knows that you should use any tools at your disposal to claim
victory. These zombies, and these claws,
are mine.”
“You can’t fight, so you get
others to fight for you!” Awana screamed.
“You’re a coward, Apo!”
“More of a coward than your
boyfriend?” The professor laughed. “My
my, just look at the sniveling freak, crying in the corner. He knows that you will soon be dead, and that
he can do nothing to stop it. He knows
that I’ve already won. No one can stop
me.”
The zombies closed the gap that
the friends had previously filled. They
moaned and groaned, reaching toward their hanging treats. One of them managed to grab Awana’s
feet. At that moment, the door before
the tunnel fell forward with an earsplitting bang and Frankenstein’s monster erupted into the room. He bristled with rage once he saw the
predicament of his allies, and he stampeded forward with inhuman speed. Skulls were crushed between his bare
hands. Legs were broken beneath even the
weakest of his kicks. Multiple creatures
were tackled at one time and squished to a pulp. Spines were shattered with ease. Frankenstein’s monster roared and stomped,
forsaking his humanity so that he could rescue his dearest friends. He stomped and roared, thinking of nothing
but clearing the room of anything trying to harm those he loved. Soon everything around him was dead, and he
was unscathed. Awana and the Halloween
friends hung overhead, their cheers louder than the professor’s earlier
laugh—which had now stopped completely.
The professor stood in the same
place, staring at Frankenstein’s monster incredulously. His mouth was gaping. In the corner, Jonathan stood up and wiped
his face. He looked at the mess of dead
creatures on the floor and shuddered.
The professor did the same. Then,
trying to shake it off, he cleared his throat.
“I—um….I—It’s no matter, of course.” He leaned against the table, this
time out of a need for support rather than out of cockiness. “Um….Yes, no matter whatsoever. I didn’t throw anything against you that
couldn’t be spared. Everything is quite
all right.” He swallowed, straightened himself out, and reached under the table
again. “Well, excellent, my
friends. You’ve conquered the first
wave! But let’s see what comes next….”
“No, professor!” Jonathan
demanded. “No, not this time.” He walked steadily toward the old man. “I led the expedition here. Your fight is with me.”
“Well well, good morning,
sunshine!” the professor greeted him with a sarcastic smile. “Would you like a plate of eggs and waffles?
Maybe a side of bacon? It’s so very sad that you cried yourself to sleep. Did you remember to bring your teddy bear?”
“Funny.” Jonathan smirked. “But you’re going to die now, and your sick
creations will die with you. Face me!”
The professor took off his
goggles and laughed. “You’re serious?
Because I have no qualms about killing a kid.”
“Oh, well that’s good, because
I have no qualms about killing an evil old man.” Jonathan was now twenty feet
from his foe. “Now come here and face
me.”
Professor Apo opened a drawer
connected to the table and revealed a dagger.
He took the weapon and approached Jonathan, making his way around the
cauldron. Jonathan continued to walk
forward.
“You know, it’s not the best
idea to fight another person bare-handed if he has a weapon,” the professor
informed him.
“Just shut up,” Jonathan
ordered, “and let’s do this.”
The professor arrived at the
front of the cauldron and tapped the dagger repeatedly against one palm. His overconfident smile scalded Jonathan’s
heart, but he came on. To everyone’s
surprise, he started sprinting. The
professor dropped into a fighting stance, his legs spread shoulder-width apart,
and his dagger held out straight before his body. As he had done previously, Jonathan jumped
over two tables. He released a battle
cry that put his earlier one to shame.
As he closed in on his opponent, Professor Apo hurdled forward and
thrust his weapon toward the boy’s abdomen.
It was a poorly executed strike.
For at that moment, Jonathan managed to leap and dodge to the side even
in his swift assault and avoid the blade completely. Professor Apo gasped. Jonathan’s battle cry continued. His shoulder crashed into the evil man’s
chest with amazing force, launching him more than a yard back. Jonathan landed and slid a few feet across
the diamond floor. Professor Apo’s back
foot landed on Ms. Unicorn, and he lost his last bit of balance. He slipped, smashed against the cauldron, and
flipped over the rim. The steaming
solution absorbed him and bubbled, and he was gone.
The claws snapped. The companions fell to the ground in a heap,
and Frankenstein helped them stand.
Everything started to shake, and stones fell from the ceilings and the
walls. Glass from every corner of the
room broke into countless pieces.
Together the companions, joined by Ghost, walked over to the cauldron
and peered inside. The solution
evaporated. Professor Apo was nowhere to
be seen; only a few stray ashes lay scattered across the base of the large pot.
“Johnny boy…” said Awana, “I
totally love you right now. More than
usual.”
“That’s good to know,” Jonathan
responded. He knelt down and picked up
Ms. Unicorn. “My goodness, girl! I’m
sorry to have used you for such mundane purposes! That man’s dirty feet had no
right to touch you! Yes, I know. I owe
you one. Listen, maybe I’ll give you a
bath later. Get the smell of evil-foot
off you.”
“Uh…how sweet,” Pumpkin said,
scratching his head—er, body. A glass
cabinet exploded behind them. “Look,
Jonathan, I need to tell you something.
I’m sorry about the way I treated you and the things I said about
you. You’re a better leader than I
thought. I was wrong to doubt you. Please accept my apologies.”
“I do, Pumpkin,” Jonathan
replied with a bow. The cauldron cracked
in half. “Thank you for saying that.”
“Oh. My.
Gosh.” Awana began to get excited.
Chandeliers dropped like bird feces.
Really dangerous bird feces. “Today’s
Halloween! I remember! Oh, and I got an awesome costume for later. Unfortunately, it’s in the garbage. You can’t blame me, though. I mean, if you don’t know that Halloween is a
real holiday, finding a strange outfit can get you pretty confused.”
“Hold on, guys,” Jonathan told
them. Test tubes rolled off counters and
tables, cracking and blowing apart. “We
haven’t thanked Frankenstein’s monster.
Without him, we would all be dead right now. Seriously.”
He looked at the creature and raised his hand. “Good game, dude!”
Frankenstein’s monster smacked
it with a smile and broke the boy’s wrist in the process. “It was nothing, and I would rather forget
it, if at all possible.”
“But you said you were going to
stay out there,” Awana reminded him.
“You said you didn’t want to kill again.”
Frankenstein’s monster looked
at the ground. “Killing humans is
wrong. It is missing the mark of what
the Creator of creators wants for us.
But perhaps some killing may be justified—I do not know. If you do it to save a loved one, it may be
different.” He shrugged. Half the
ceiling caved in on the other side of the room.
“And the question may be posited: were those creatures still human? They
were mindless.”
“What is humanity?” Awana said
with a sigh.
“All right, people,” spoke Jonathan,
nursing his wrist. “Humans have been
asking this for thousands of years. We
don’t have that kind of time. Look!”
“Oh, would you look at that,”
said Pumpkin, turning everyone’s attention to the chaos surrounding them.
“We need to get out of here,”
Jonathan suggested. “Now.”
“Ok.” Pumpkin brandished his
sword. “Right behind you, boss.”
They rushed toward the tunnel,
and just as they were about to enter the darkness, a few of them half-noticed
that Witch stopped to lift something from the ground. She stared at the object for a moment while
dust and debris rained down behind her.
Then, with a frown, she placed it in one of her pockets and raced after
the group. Jonathan was perplexed by
this, but he knew that it was not the time to ask questions that could well
result in a long conversation. They rushed into the thick dark of the rumbling
tunnel, Ms. Unicorn serving as their only source of light. Ghost, who hovered alongside Jonathan, wore a
puzzled expression on his face.
“What is it, Ghost?” Jonathan
asked.
“Well, I was thinking about how
you seemed to take care in where you dropped Ms. Unicorn,” said Ghost, scratching
his head. “Did you drop her, then
retreat to the corner on purpose?”
“Maybe.” Jonathan
chuckled. “That would be something, wouldn’t
it?”
Epilogue
Halloween
“I have to admit, Awana, I did
not expect this.”
Jonathan could not help but get
a little…excited when he saw Awana in her costume. She was a unicorn. A pink unicorn. And she had a slot for her head, so she would
not suffocate and die.
“What do you think?”
“I think….” Jonathan tripped
over his words. “Ms. Unicorn is proud to
know you. She says you do justice to the
dwindling unicorn population.”
“Aw, how sweet!” Awana took the
toy from his hands and drew it close to her.
“Maybe she and I can be pals!”
Jonathan snatched it back from
her, mortified. “I don’t think anyone
here is ready for that.”
His dad, sitting beside his mom
on the couch, had been chortling for about an hour after they had recounted the
details of their adventure. His
chortling was now louder than ever. “Oh,
come on, now, son! Why don’t you just give her a kiss already?”
“Yeah!” his mom chimed in. “Where’s your holiday spirit?”
Jonathan looked at Awana. She drew nearer to him. “Um….” He took a step back. “I don’t think anyone is ready for that,
either.”
“Fine, Johnny boy,” said Awana,
sulking. “But mark my words: I will get
that kiss before the end of the year.”
“We’ll see.” He grinned.
The Halloween friends came out
of Jonathan’s room, each of them wearing his or her costume. Witch was a green dinosaur; Ghost was a
mummy; Frankenstein’s monster was Dracula, Bat was a ghost (not like Ghost; he
was much scarier), and Cat was a dog,
specifically a small, yellow Labrador.
Pumpkin walked out last, dressed like a Jonathan. Jonathan was rather put-off by this
fact. The similarities were unsettling—except
for the fact that the outfit was about three times shorter than he was. He repeatedly asked where Pumpkin had
acquired it. The squash refused to
answer. In fact, Pumpkin was quite
shocked, himself. Jonathan was dressed
like a pumpkin, but not like any pumpkin; this pumpkin was a jack-o-lantern, and one that was cursed
to smile for eternity. Pumpkin did not
speak for the rest of the night.
“You guys aren’t going too far,
right?” Jonathan’s mom inquired.
“No, Mrs. Legcheese,” they
responded in unison.
“Good,” she said. “You never know what’s going to happen on
Valentine’s Day.”
The companions looked at each
other. Jonathan’s eyes grew as large as
donuts. Awana fell over. This was not from receiving the news; the
horn on her costume was an actual unicorn horn, and was extremely heavy.
“Just kidding!” Mrs. Legcheese
slapped her thigh. “April Fools! Ok, you
guys have a great Halloween, now.”
The group shut the door behind
them and made their way across Jonathan’s yard, scratching their heads—well,
those who were physically capable of accomplishing such a feat. Witch scratched her head a little longer than
the others did. Jonathan noticed.
“Something wrong, Witch?”
“I was just thinking about what
the professor sang,” she confessed.
“Remember the last lines? He mentioned something about two potions being
safe in the hands of M.D. Do you think
it’s true? And if it is, who is M.D.?”
“Isn’t that some kind of degree
you have if you’re a doctor?” said Awana.
“Maybe he was referring to himself, since he was a professor. Or maybe he had a doctor friend, and he gave
the two potions to that guy.”
Jonathan tried to rub his chin,
but the pumpkin costume got in the way.
“Hmm….Bat, did Kory say anything to you and Cat about M.D. when you flew
over there after our quest?”
“He had no idea what the
letters meant.” Bat flapped his wings steadily, which actually looked quite
ridiculous, because they were covered by the arms of his ghost costume. “The only thing he had to say was that he had
been thinking a lot about what you told him before…about the old lady who
stopped you in the street earlier. He
seemed a bit anxious, but told me to tell you not to worry about it. He wanted you to have a good Halloween. Isn’t that right, Cat?”
“Meow,” said Cat.
“Well, I plan to,” Jonathan
told Cat, petting her. He looked at the
group. “Happy Halloween, everyone!”
“Happy Halloween!” most of them
repeated.
As they came to the foot of
Jonathan’s house, they cheered wildly, for they noticed that families were either
finishing spreading their Halloween decorations across their yards, or had
finished and were looking upon them with fulfilled smiles. Scarecrows, fake tombstones, long stretches
of cobweb, machinery looping maniacal laughs, pumpkins, and other articles of
the holiday spirit draped the lawns, porches, trees, and homes of the small
town. Children, some terrified, and some
never happier, walked the sidewalks between their parents and longed for candy—or
more of it. Teenagers wove between
homes, laughing about some rebellious deed they had just committed, all of them
hoping to acquire enough candy bars to last them the winter. Each of the companions remembered the bleak scene
they had witnessed earlier: the streets were blank; the townspeople were hidden
behind the walls of their houses; the yards were bare and unimpressive. But now the town came alive, and the sense of
community was tangible. The long
celebrated holiday, as they had known it for so many years, had returned.
Ghost was one of the few who did not wish his
friends a happy Halloween. Indeed, from
the manner in which he floated beneath his mummy wraps, he looked
miserable. Witch pouted and asked him,
“What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“Well, Witch, if you must know….” He rubbed the phantom area of his lower body and looked at her
mournfully. “My legs hurt!”
Pumpkin tried to kick him. And failed.
T H
E
E N D
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