Author's note: Do I realize it's almost December and not Halloween? Yes. Did I start this on Halloween, I did. Do I have poor time management skills? I do. Enjoy.
Chapter 3-Halloween
The afternoon sun burned bright over the deserts of Strangetown as Johnny, Ripp and Ophelia sat on the steps of the Smith's house, but in less than an hour, it would slowly begin its descent behind the valley hills. A smiling pumpkin carved by Johnny's little sister, Jill, grinned lopsidedly at them from the gate. A giant black cat decoration stood before them, ready to greet any kids coming early for the heaping bags of candy and odd goodies the Smiths were most famous for.
"Come on, you guys." Ripp scrunched his legs up close to him, pouting, "Let's go trick or treating one last time." He said.
"Aren't we a little old for that, Ripp?" Ophelia flicked a piece of chipped paint at him.
"Hey, you're never too old to con strangers out of free candy."
"Yeah, I'm surprised you weren't picked up in a white van as a kid." Johnny looked at him, disbelievingly.
"I gotta take Buck out anyway and you gotta take Jill." Ripp turned to Ophelia, "Hell, Johnny doesn't even need to wear a costume."
"Haha, very funny." Johnny said, deadpan.
"What, are you gonna paint your face green?"
Johnny punched him in the side.
"Where are we even going to go?" Ophelia asked, "I mean, no one in their right mind is going to go to my house. Olive'll probably hand out poisonous herbs from her 'garden' and watch the carnage. You go up to the Beakers, well chances are you won't come back. And what's your dad going to be giving out?"
"The general? Probably apples and free scholarships to military school or some dumb sh*t."
"Exactly."
"Point taken." Ripp pondered this for a moment, "What about the Curious house?"
"Pascal? He'll probably be handing out some weird health food nowadays."
"Hey, not a problem," Johnny said, "Just go around back, that's where Lazlo waits with the good stuff. He'll hook you up."
"Is Lazlo a drug dealer?"
"I mean candy, you idiot."
"Hey, I'm not the idiot, you're the one who referred to it as 'the good stuff'."
"Can we just agree you're both morons and move on?" Ophelia got up, brushing off her jeans and stood in front of them.
"I hear there's a party on Road to Nowhere tonight." Ripp stood up too.
"A party could work." Johnny said.
"Hey, you guys still have Buck and Jill to take care of."
"What, they love parties!"
"Ripp," Ophelia placed her hands on her hips.
"Fine, we'll take them to the city for a few hours, get them enough candy so they can share with us-"
"Ripp," Ophelia gave him a scolding look again.
"Hey, those little monsters don't have to hog all the candy. Besides, they'll get cavities, so really, I'm just looking out for there health, right Johnny?"
"Right," Johnny nodded beside him, "We don't want Jill or Buck to get sick either."
"Exactly! And the party doesn't start until nine anyway, we can still make it back in time."
Ophelia tightened her lips and stared both of them down, narrowing her eyes at their over-acted grins. Finally she let out a sigh and conceded, "Fine, but I'm coming with you," she put her hands on her hips, "I don't want you two goofballs losing the kids in the city."
"Come on, Phee," Ripp pouted.
"Yeah, have a little faith in your boyfriend," Johnny said, "Have a little less faith in Ripp," he tilted his head from side to side, "but have faith in me."
"Hey!" Ripp said, but then nodded in agreement, "Actually, yeah, he's right."
"Jill and Buck are inside," Johnny jerked his thumb toward the house, "We'll get ready to go right now."
"I'll be waiting," Ophelia said as they rushed in to get the kids.
The trick-or-treating went off without a hitch. They travelled downtown, the sky seemingly becoming instantly dark around them as they went from house to house, Jill and Buck using their undeniable cuteness to get extra pieces of candy from families and sweet old ladies, and Ripp using his charm to get extra candy from the younger ladies... not to mention, extra eye candy for him too.
Ophelia and Johnny helped Jill and Buck carry their bags of loot back to the Smith's home after they cleaned out all the families living outside of Strangetown. Johnny even received a small horde for himself from people thinking he was in costume when he came to the door with Jill.
They dropped Buck off at the Smith's too, Ripp not wanting to risk coming back to incur the general's wrath. He hadn't exactly been home for the past few days, electing to stay at Johnny's... without telling his father.
He wouldn't be too happy about Buck returning alone and hearing about him trick-or-treating with 'the alien', but being the youngest, Buck had it easier. Ripp and his military brat brother Tank were usually the focus of the General's attention... and in turn, anger.
Of course, the party on Road to Nowhere was a costume party and he would have to go back home to find something to change into, but he would worry about how he would do that later. Right now, while Johnny was busy in his own house getting ready, Ophelia was inviting him to accompany her to the Spectre house to get her costume.
"I have to pop back home to get ready," she pointed behind her in the direction of Olive's foreboding, well, abode, "You..." she paused, 'Want to come?"
Ripp could tell it was less of an invite and more of a plead. There was unmistakable fear in her eyes and Ripp knew why. She had told him and Johnny weeks ago, about her suspicions. Suspicions a lot of residents of Strangetown shared. Olive was dangerous, the subject of many nasty rumours... which according to Ophelia were almost definitely more than just rumours.
He followed her, walking the streets in silence.
Ophelia twiddled her fingers nervously as they came closer to the Spectre residence. There were pale glowing lights floating around in the backyard and Ripp shuddered to think what that might mean.
The rumour was that Olive was a black widow, a serial killer. She ran the cemetery in town which could easily give someone that impression. But there were other signs too, according to Ophelia. Phone calls, sounds in the middle of the night. Voices heard in the garden.
The garden, that's what they called it, but it was no garden. It was a graveyard, and Ophelia didn't recognize any of the plants she grew there. Among the unmarked tombstones.
There was also the room. Ophelia had showed it to Ripp and Johnny one day, small, completely empty, yet it reeked of must and once, when Ophelia was cleaning, she had seen something red crusted to the floor, but Olive had shoved her out of the way and shooed her into the kitchen before she had the chance to investigate.
Finally they reached the edge of the lot and Ophelia halted in front of Ripp, unsure whether or not to continue. "She might still be up," Ophelia whispered, "ready to hand out poison to trick-or-treaters," she glanced around the yard, "We should sneak around back." She grabbed his arm and pulled them around to the side of the house... the graveyard side, but they rushed through quickly enough that nothing had the chance to spook them and alert Olive to their presence.
Ophelia slid the door open quietly, "Wait here," she said, but Ripp didn't particularly enjoy the idea of staying alone in a cemetery on Halloween night.
"I think I'll take my chances with Olive," he slipped in the door behind her, "Just make it quick," he said, eyeing the graves warily.
"I will," she whispered and padded off to her room.
Ripp tapped his fingers against his pant leg quietly, he didn't see or hear any sign of Olive, but he heard something else... no, he shook his head, just the wind. Then he thought, wind? In Strangetown? That didn't make sense, but he decided not to dwell too much on it.
Ophelia soon reappeared and his face lit up with relief, "So, what do you think?" She said twirling around to show him her costume.
It was a short, stark white dress, wrapped around her body, caressing her figure, with silvery white wings sprouting out behind. A fuzzy white halo hovered over her golden dread braids on the springs of a headband.
Ripp smiled, "I thought you were changing into a costume? Where is it?"
She laughed, then stopped herself, still worrying she might alert Olive, "This is my costume, silly."
"But you're already an angel."
"I don't think my boyfriend would like you saying that very much," she grinned.
"Your boyfriend would think the same," Ripp said, opening the door for her, "After you my lady," he shut it silently behind him, "Now let's see if I can sneak back home to get my costume."
Ophelia put her hand to her chest in mock shock, "You mean you're not already dressed in full clown makeup?"
"Haha, very funny, Phee," he stepped another foot into the graveyard, "You know, my quip was a compliment."
"Hey, so is mine. I love clowns," she gave him another smile, "Why do you think I'm dating Johnny."
"You know I'm going to tell him that."
"Go ahead," she said.
"I'm going to get you for that."
"Sure you will," she made her way toward the gates, "Now come on, let's get out of here."
Ripp was about to follow her out of the cemetery when suddenly something caught his eye, just a flicker of blue light that held him back.
"Well, are you coming?" Ophelia looked back at him and called, but he was frozen in place, his legs unable to move.
It was just an illusion, Ripp thought, nothing was there, nothing was there, nothing was there. But... something was. The eerie glowing shapes he had seen earlier from a distance...
"Ripp?" Ophelia was beginning to realize something was wrong. She stepped toward him and reached for his arm, but he pulled away.
Ophelia watched as he turned around toward one of the graves and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Mom?"
