#75: Spooky Season #14 (Happy Halloween!)
Prompt: jack o lantern, lurking, vampire
A cursed scarecrow lurks in the shadows of his cornfield and has a surprise run-in with a fledgling vampire.
"Caw, caw! Caw, caw!"
Starrk wakes up to the unpleasant sensation of a large black beak poking him in the side of his head.
"Hey, stop it." He grumbles, waving one gloved hand absently over his head. The crow takes off in a flurry of black feathers and panicked croaking.
Starrk grumbles and tilts his head back, waiting until the fey light flickering in his empty sockets evens out and he's fully settled in his normally-inert body. It's not that he minds sleeping all day, that's part of the curse, after all, but he wishes he had some idea what happened to him while he was asleep when he wakes up. Take now, for example. When he shifts to jump down off his post, there's something surprisingly heavy in place of his normal head and he takes an ungainly tumble instead of the graceful hop he was anticipating.
He grunts irritably and sits up, using straw-stuffed hands to feel the dimensions of his new 'head'. He finds smooth roundness topped by a short, hard stem with rough triangles carved for sockets and a grimacing slash carved for a mouth. Without looking, he knows the fey-light of his cursed soul is visible through the carved openings.
A jack-o-lantern. Huh. Must be close to Halloween.
After a moment, Starrk shrugs and stands up. It can't be any worse than being cursed to inhabit a scarecrow when the sun goes down. With that in mind, he ambles slowly further into the cornfield. The rest of him works okay; the metal and wood structure that acts as his bones is intact, the clothes have a few more holes in them from the crows but are otherwise the same, and the straw hasn't changed at all.
He doesn't really have anywhere to go; there's no one waiting of him and he's not looking for anyone. He could try to escape, but he's tried that multiple times and no matter how far he runs (even if he hitches a ride in a passing truck or train), he's always back in place the next night. It's not worth trying again. And the cornfield isn't so bad; it's a hundred acres right on the edge of a city, an island of calm right next to a source of chaos
It's just…boring. He's been here for at least six months and nothing's happened. He doesn't even know who did this to him – all he got was a note the first night he woke up, telling him to 'sit tight!'. If he remembered anything about himself or his past before being cursed, he'd probably be a lot more upset and worried.
Instead, he's just wandering aimlessly through the corn. A rat pauses next to a stalk and stares him down with beady little black eyes and two bats swoop low overhead, chittering their love songs to each other for the world to hear. He hopes they don't have a run in with the barn owls on the other side of the field; that would cut their love story short.
The nocturnal animals don't seem to know what to think of him, an oddly moving inanimate object with glowing eyes, but he doesn't bother them so they return the favor.
It's a typical quiet night until Starrk reaches the border of the field closest to the road and hears something he hasn't heard since waking up: a human voice.
It's cursing up a blue streak and complaining to…no one?
"God fucking damnit! Why do I have to be the one cursed to be a kid? What a fucking joke. I'm probably older than him! And he's got the nerve to say I'm a handful? I'll show him a handful! The next time I see him, I'm going to tell him to shove it so far up his-."
Starrk easily scales the fences and drops down on the other side into the weeds, taking note of a small shadowy figure a few yards away. The glow from his eyes illuminates the scene: it's a young girl with green hair, wearing black clothes and glaring down the road as she yells.
Starrk interrupts her when it becomes clear she isn't going to notice him or say anything constructive.
"I don't think that will convince him."
"Who the fu-" She whirls, fury on her face that shifts to panicked shock with comical speed. "What the fuck?!"
She jumps a good ten feet in the air – not an exaggeration – and stays there. Her mouth opens to bare small, needle-sharp fangs and she hisses at Starrk like an angry teakettle.
"Huh." He eyes her with interest, guessing the implication of her fangs. "I thought vampires could turn into bats?"
"We can! I just…can't…yet…." She drifts down a foot but not within his reach. "What the fuck are you?"
Starrk shrugs. "I scarecrow, I guess. For now." He cocks his head. "So you're really a vampire?"
"Uh, yeah? Didn't you see my fangs?" She bares them as clearly as she can, trying to make them look more impressive. "And what do you mean 'for now'?"
"I wasn't always like this." He replies, turning back to scale the fence again. This time, he pauses at the top and sits down to look at her. After a moment, she drifts over to stand on top of the nearest fencepost, eyeing him closely like she can't quite decide what to make of him.
"….Yeah?" She prompts.
He shrugs again. "I woke up this way. Maybe I'm dead?"
He's already worried about it enough; there's no emotion left to put in the words and that clearly makes an impression. She shifts with discomfort then sits down in a mirrored pose to his. She's a good foot and a half smaller, it turns out.
"Oh. That sucks, I guess."
"Eh. I'm dealing with it." He tilts his head at her. "But I've never seen you here before. Where'd you come from?"
She seizes on the subject change with relief and a scowl. "The city. My sire dumped me here; said I needed to learn to fend for myself or let the sun take me. I don't know what his problem is – I'm a perfectly good vampire! Even if I can't find people to eat. I'm gonna find that guy and show him just who's the better vampire!"
She smacks one small fist into the other with an unimpressive little 'thwack!'.
"…Good luck." Starrk looks up at the sky and sighs. He's been wandering the field all night and now the horizon is starting to lighten. He tips back and falls off the fence, landing easily on his feet and calling over his shoulder. "I need to get back before dawn. Nice meeting you."
"Wait!" Her nearly-panicked yell halts his footsteps and he turns to look, cocking his head in question. "I…uh…Can I come with you?"
She drops down next to him as he blinks in surprise.
"…What?"
"You, uh, you know that thing about vampires and sunrise? It's…not really a problem for old vampires but I'm not…well…I guess that's why he left me here." Her words shift into a snarl halfway through and Starrk picks up on her meaning right away. Her sire hadn't left her to make her own way in the world; he'd left her to die. The scarecrow's jagged mouth pulls down at the edges.
"I won't be awake." He tells her gruffly. "I'll just be a scarecrow during the day." As her face falls and the fear grows, he considers her plight and slowly continues. "But this field is attached to a farm…maybe you can find somewhere to hide there?"
"Great!" She pounces on the offering. "Where?!"
He gestures to the west, further into the field. "Around the center."
"Thanks!" With a last panicked look at the lightening sky she turns and zooms away, vampiric speed carrying her faster than Starrk can run. Her final words filter back on the breeze. "I'll see you tomorrow night!"
"…You too." He mumbles, but apparently her sense of hearing is enhanced, as she waves one hand in acknowledgement before she's out of sight.
This time, Starrk ambles back to his post without interference.
As the sun rises past the horizon and he falls asleep, he actually finds himself looking forward to the next time he opens his eyes.
All that's left now is the finale!
Happy Halloween, everyone!
