BOGEY-NIGHTS
Two boys made their way silently through the creeping shadows of the street, bags overflowing with candies and lollies clutched in their hands, oversized long black capes trailing behind them, silver-pale hair gleaming beneath the ripe full moon of the All Hallow's Eve.
"Why can't we trick or treat with the other kids, Vergy?" Dante grumbled, chewing on a jelly snake. As always, this year's Halloween cheer was dampened by Vergil's persistent antisocial behaviour.
"You can if you want." Vergil said nonchalantly, throwing an exasperated glance at his twin.
"Dante sighed and dipped his hand into his lolly bag, pulling out a random chocolate bar and unwrapping it greedily.
"Dante, stop that." Vergil hissed softly, dragging his disgusted gaze from his brother.
"Why?" The jovial twin asked innocently, cramming the rest of the candy bar into his mouth and munching with relish.
"By the time we get back home, you'll have eaten all your share of treats. Then you'll beg for mine. So stop pigging out and save some for later." Vergil said.
"Meh." Dante grinned. "You never eat your lollies anyway."
"That's because overindulgence is a foolishness that weakens the foundation of one's self-control. Every time you give into it, another brick falls from the tower, eventually reducing one to a pathetic, animal state. " Vergil said in a crisp, aloof voice.
"You're so weird." Dante uttered in perplexity plastered all over his chocolate-smeared young little face.
"Quiet. We're here." Vergil said lowly, pausing at the wrought iron gates that surrounded a crumbling mansion known only as the "Victorian" among the neighbourhood.
Dante's huge blue eyes fixed on the towering, run-down semi-gothic structure that obliterated the moonlight with its decrepit darkness. As far as everyone was concerned, no one had lived there for over a hundred years, and of course; as with every other old, abandoned house case, The Victorian was said to be haunted.
No light penetrated the tightly drawn black curtains; there was no vegetation in its vast garden, other than weeds, brown grass and decaying trees suffocated by clinging ivies. No animals went near it, and even the less superstitious adults warned their children to stay away from it.
Strangely enough, no children egged the old Victorian on Halloween, and they were more than happy to take their dares and trick or treating elsewhere, where there were warm, pumpkin coloured lights and cinnamon buns and smiling jack-o-lanterns.
"Verge, there's no point in knocking, you know no-one lives there." Dante advised, his voice dropping to a whisper. Okay, maybe he was a little afraid…
"I'm not of the same opinion Dante. Somebody, or something lives there, I've seen her before."
"What do you mean "something"?" Dante asked cautiously, cutting an alarmed glance at the darkened, uninviting building. Did a shadow move in one of the upper windows, or was it the playful wind animating the tattered curtain?
"I don't know." Vergil replied vaguely.
"You mean it's really haunted?" Dante pestered, intrigued.
"I think so…" Vergil said quietly, his voice taking on a solemn timbre. "I saw a girl here the other day, when we were walking from school. She had cropped black hair and looked kind of pale…like a ghost, staring out that window, staring right at me. I just couldn't take my eyes off her…"
"Lemme guess, she vanished?" Dante asked with a yawn, drawing out a licorice stick from his half-emptied bag.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" A slow, sly grin spread across Vergil's angular face.
"Stop making up stories Verge! Nobody lives in the Victorian."
"I would, if I could…" Vergil smiled slightly at Dante's Freudian slip.
"Yeah , cos you're a creep yourself." Dante sneered. "So, what happened to that ghost of yours?" He added indifferently, trying hard not to seem overly curious.
"Tonight is the perfect time to find out, don't you think?" Vergil said, a mischievous light flaring in his blue eyes as he regarded his horrified twin with satisfaction. "What, you're not going to go chicken-shit on me now are you? YOU of all people."
"Who're you calling chicken-shit!?! I'm just saying we should be careful, I'm tired of bailing your ass out every Halloween." Dante retorted peevishly.
"My hero! I'm curious how you are going to come to my rescue this time." Vergil snickered. "If you remember,it was I who had to sweet-talk Mrs. Apple last time, because you were too scared to own up to egging her backyard. Oh, and shall I remind you of the cemetery incident the Halloween before that?"
"Only because you thought the tramp was a ghost and nearly pissed your pants, so naturally I was a tad worried!!! And that Mrs. Apple is a bi…-"
"Shhh! Look over there!" Vergil cut in, holding up a hand to silence his annoyed twin. Dante fell into a sullen silence, looking toward the blackened mansion.
Suddenly, a flock of bats swooped down with leathery wings flapping frantically as they disappeared into the nocturnal depths of an alley nearby.
"There are bats here!" Dante gasped excitedly.
"All old buildings have bats." Vergil remarked dryly.
"Not all."
"Well, most of them do."
"Not really, for example we have lots of rats in our house, but no bats." Dante said smugly.
"That's because you always leave leftovers all over the place, Dante! No wonder we have rats!"
"Verge, you're just annoyed because I'm right." Dante smirked. "Just get over it dude…" Dante trailed off, his wide eyes fixing past his older twin.
"Don't turn around. Whatever you do Verge, don't turn around!" He whispered urgently.
The older twin arched a skeptical pale brow in brief hesitation, and promptly frowned.
"Dante, try another one." Vergil said tartly.
"Shite! Behind you!" Dante gasped in horror.
Vergil could not take this idiocy anymore, with a deep, vexed sigh he turned halfway around to shut his twin up. He'd had enough of Dante's lame jokes. Strangely enough, however, his heart began to beat faster as he did so, but to his relief, there was nothing behind him except the moonlit darkness of the street where shadows shifted every time the wind blew through the line of trees and disturbed the gnarled branches.
"Gotcha!" Dante chortled.
"You're a loser extraordinaire, brother. I am speechless at your sheer-" It was Vergil's turn to trail off and stare over his twin's shoulder, his gaze intensifying.
"Dante…"
"Yeah whatever Verge. You're not funny." Dante rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious Dante, this is no time to be gauche." Vergil said softly, his eyes narrowing as he still stared past his twin. "Please excuse my brother's manners, or lack thereof…"
"What do you two little devils think you're doing in my property?" A dark voice interrupted the twins, and Dante whirled around in utter surprise, nearly dropping his lolly bag.
"Hey! It's not nice to sneak up on people!" Dante said, chagrined. He edged a little closer to his twin, staring up at the tall, bald man with a childish fascination. Ghoulishly thin and stiff in a black suit, the man seemed like one of those corpselike props out of a late night horror show. Judging by the hard, thin lips and the zombie-like expression on his long face, he was guaranteed to be a badass. His furtive, narrow eyes glowed eerily blue and brown for a split second as the moon hid her round pearly face behind the leaden mass of clouds.
"It's not nice to trespass. Now get lost before I decide to hand you over to the authorities." The bald spook said, apparently equally irritated by Dante's attitude.
"Who're you anyway?" Dante lifted his chin stubbornly.
"My name is Arkham, but that's none of your business.
"If you excuse us, we shall be on our way." Vergil said hastily, grabbing his twin's arm.
"Dude you're hurting me!" Dante whispered fiercely to his twin. What was Vergil's problem anyway?
The dark man was silent as he studied the boys intently; his strange, mismatched eyes riveting on the crimson amulets the twins wore.
"Trick or treat?" Dante grinned and held out his lolly bag eagerly, glaring at his silently fuming twin. "Can you stop pinching me already!!!?"
Arkham just stared at the boys.
"Mary, I told you to stay inside, little Lady!" He then hissed at a little girl that suddenly appeared in the doorway.
Vergil and Dante immediately looked toward the girl in white cotton dress and shiny red boots, carrying a pumpkin-shaped basket. She had cute chubby cheeks, and her short, wild black hair kept falling into her glittering round eyes as she approached them, unaffected by her father's rebuke. Vergil's suspicious gaze hardened, while Dante gaped mutely.
Quietly, she handed the twins a candy bar each, making little eye contact.
"Thanks…." An enchanted Dante mumbled, watching mesmerized as Arkham grabbed his daughter's little hand and disappeared back into the mansion, slamming the door shut behind them.
Dante glanced at the candy bar in his hand, then at the uppermost window, where a small pale hand was pressed against the glass, and raven-hair framed mismatched eyes flickered with a brief smile before pulling away from the window. Then she was gone, and darkness once again replaced the light, filling the old mansion.
"Come on Dante, let's go." Vergil tugged at his brother's hand.
"Do you think she was a ghost? I think that Arkham spook was the bogeyman allright!"
"I guess we'll never know. Maybe we'll meet her again." Vergil said thoughtfully as he pushed open the rusty gate.
Dante paused to glance over his shoulder, and smiled.
"Yeah, maybe next Halloween." He said, following his brother out.