Chapter One: Opening
...
Things couldn't have been more better for Catherine Emily McKay-Waters. The strawberry blonde girl with sparkling blue eyes had a wonderful family, and was married to a man who loved and respected her and didn't view her as a freak. His name was Brian Waters. A couple of years ago, Cathy was going steady with a young man named Archibald Joseph, who met his demise at the hands of a masked killer on Halloween night.
It was ten days until Halloween and Cathy couldn't wait to celebrate. She loved seeing the decorations people put up in front of their houses, as well as seeing what sort of costumes people would dress up as. Although she was much too old for trick-or-treating, Cathy still made sure to follow the rules and traditions that came with celebrating Halloween. Each year, she always wore a costume, and even made up some of her own traditions, such as watching the Universal Monster movie marathon with her doting grandfather, who loved Halloween more than she did. Cathy's favorite holiday was actually Christmas, but she still loved Halloween, just as equally.
Walking out of the supermarket with her mother, Betsy McKay, Cathy helped push the shopping cart out of the store and over to her mother's car. Her mother picked up two grocery bags and opened the door to stick them in the backseat, while Cathy got the other two and put them in, as well. She then went to take the shopping cart over to the cart corral and wiped her hands on her pants and walked back over to her mother's car.
Suddenly, something caught Cathy's attention out of the corner of her eye, causing her to freeze in place and look over across the parking lot, seeing what looked like a small child dressed up in the most unusual attire, especially for the autumn season. The child was wearing orange footie pajamas and had a burlap sack covering his rounded head. The burlap mask had a stitched-on smile and two black buttons in place of where his eyes should be, making Cathy wonder how the boy could even see out of his mask. A car drove by, and just as soon as it went by, the boy disappeared, as though he vanished into thin air.
Hearing a horn honk, Cathy turned her head to her right and looked at her mother, who was waiting patiently in the car.
"Cathy, come on", said her mother. "Let's go."
Looking back at the spot where she saw the pajama-wearing boy, Cathy tried to understand if what she saw was real or not, before shaking her head and opening the door to climb into the passenger seat.
Mrs. McKay started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, driving them back to the house. "What were you doing?" She asked her daughter.
Cathy shook her head. "Nothing", she answered. "I just thought I saw somebody."
"Seeing things again, honey?"
"No, Mom, I am not seeing things again."
Cathy leaned back in her seat and looked out the window for a while, fiddling with the gold chain around her neck. The necklace she wore held two charms on it: a cross and a coin with an image of an old man holding a Shepard's crook in his hand. It was Cathy's good luck charm, and she had been wearing it for almost four years now.
Cathy looked at her mother again and asked her, "Mom, are you sure you don't mind watching Sapphire tonight?"
"Don't worry, Cathy, everything will be fine", Mrs. McKay reassured her. "You and Brian go out and have yourselves a good time. Me and your father will take care of everything."
"Grandpa, too?"
"Yes, your grandfather, too."
"Good. I like it when you three want to spend time with her."
"Mmm." Mrs. McKay hummed, not looking very amused.
Cathy noticed her expression and asked, "Mom, what's wrong?"
Mrs. McKay looked at her daughter briefly, then focused her eyes back on the road in front of her, shaking her head. "Nothing. I just know how your grandfather gets around this time of the year."
"What's wrong with Halloween?"
"Nothing's wrong with it. It's just that I know he takes it a little too seriously sometimes. He's been that way ever since he was a boy. Honestly, I don't know who's more obsessed with Halloween. My father or your husband?"
"Well, personally, I think this year is gonna be just as good as the others." Looking away, Cathy then thought to herself, Hopefully, it's better than what happened last year.
When her mother pulled up into the driveway, Cathy unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. She walked up to the front porch and rang the doorbell. She knew it was a silly idea, being that it was her parents' house and all, but when somebody came to the door and opened it, a person wearing a bloodied white shirt and rubber skeleton mask screamed in her face, causing Cathy to scream back in return. The person removed their mask, and revealed his true face to her: that of her handsome husband, Brian.
"Trick or treat, Mrs. Waters", Brian greeted his wife.
"Oh, Brian..." Cathy chuckled, throwing her arms around her husband's neck and giving him a tight hug, kissing him on the lips.
"Brian, would you help me with these bags, please?" Mrs. McKay asked him.
"Sure", said Brian to his mother-in-law. He looked at Cathy and said, "Go in, I'll help her."
Cathy went inside and walked into the living room, approaching her father, Richard McKay, who was sitting on the couch.
"Hi, Daddy", Cathy greeted him. "Is Grandpa around?"
"Yeah, he's upstairs in his bedroom", said Mr. McKay.
"Okay, great. Grandpa!"
Cathy went upstairs to her grandfather's bedroom and opened the door and saw he was sitting in a chair by the window, a book resting in his lap. He looked like he was asleep, but when Cathy approached him to wake him up, she realized he was terribly still. Right away, Cathy feared the worst and put her hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. The old man roused out of his sleep and gasped, making her gasp, as well.
"Grandpa, you scared me", said Cathy. "I thought you were-"
"Dead?" Grandpa Leo asked. "Don't worry, darling. I was only sleeping."
Cathy placed a hand on her heart and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm glad. You really had me worried there for a minute."
Grandpa Leo caressed her cheek and assured her, "I'm all right, darling. Really."
Cathy smiled, then looked down and noticed the book in her grandfather's lap. "What's that book you're reading?"
Grandpa Leo looked down and picked up the book to close it. "Oh, just something an old friend of mine gave me once, a long time ago", he said.
"What's it about?"
"How about we discuss it after dinner?"
"All right. I'm gonna go check on Sapphire. See you downstairs."
Cathy kissed her grandfather's forehead, then turned around and left. Grandpa Leo sat there for a minute, then looked at the window and stood up and went to close it, but before he did, he looked down at the sidewalk and saw a child wearing orange footie pajamas with two yellow patches on it. He couldn't make out a face, as the face of said child was covered by an old burlap sack with a stitched-on smile and two black buttons in place of where the eyes should have been. He also wore brown, fingerless gloves. In one hand, the child was holding an old pillowcase, and a lollipop with a jack-o'-lantern face on it in the other hand. Part of it was bitten off.
Grandpa Leo was not the least bit frightened by this strange-looking child, but he could have sworn he had seen him somewhere before. He shut the window and closed the curtain, deciding to think about it later.
After dinner, Mr. McKay retired to the living room to watch a football game. Mrs. McKay retreated to the kitchen to do the dishes. Brian went upstairs to put his daughter to bed, while Cathy remained in the dining room with Grandpa Leo.
"So, tell me about the book you were reading, Grandpa", said Cathy. "What's it about?"
"It's about the history of Halloween", Grandpa Leo explained to her. "The book was given to me by a boy who loved Halloween as much as I did."
"You still love Halloween, don't you?"
"Of course I do. Just as much as you love Christmas, I still love Halloween. I follow the rules and traditions every year. I put on a costume and hand out treats to trick-or-treaters. I'm not so good at carving pumpkins as much as I used to, but I know people still keep the tradition alive."
"Do you believe there's a spirit who enforces the rules of Halloween?"
"Certainly. Of course, he's not as benevolent as other holiday characters, like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. No, this one's much more sinister than the others. If someone doesn't wear a costume or hand out candy, this evil spirit comes to pay them a visit and punishes them for refusing to follow the rules. If you so much as blow out a jack-o'-lantern before midnight, something terrible happens to you. You may not believe me, but it's true."
The funny thing was that Cathy did believe him, for she had come across a similar character four years ago. She never admitted it to anybody before, except Brian. If she told her grandfather about what she went through during her imprisonment in a far away land and what her captor had done to her, he was sure to fly into a rage. The holiday demon who spirited Cathy away four years ago was an enforcer of Christmas, and those who gave up in the Christmas spirit usually received a visit by this terrifying monster. Sometimes, he would kidnap and torture his victims for giving up in the most sacred holiday of all. Cathy remembered her time and horrifying experiences with the Christmas demon, but it was done with the best of intentions. Either way, she refused to let her family in on it, knowing full well that they probably wouldn't believe her, anyway.
Brian came into the dining room and asked his wife, "Hey, you ready to go?"
Cathy looked over her shoulder at her husband and said, "Yeah, just let me grab my coat."
"Where are you going?" Grandpa Leo asked.
Cathy looked at her grandfather and said, "Oh, Brian's taking me to a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
"How can you watch that rubbish?"
"It's not rubbish, Grandpa. It's funny."
"Well, just be careful out there tonight", said Grandpa Leo. "There's been a lot of freak accidents going on around here, and I don't want you staying out too late."
"Don't worry, sir, we'll be back before two o'clock", said Brian.
Grandpa Leo nodded. "All right, darling. Fun have."
"Thanks, Grandpa." Cathy stood up and gave her grandfather a kiss on top of his head. She walked to the front door with Brian and grabbed her coat from off the rack. She put it on and hollered out, "By, Mom! Bye, Dad!"
"Bye, sweetheart!" Mrs. McKay called from the kitchen.
After Brian and Cathy left, Grandpa Leo went back upstairs to his bedroom and looked outside his window. Seeing the child standing out there earlier brought back memories of the old man's years as a boy in Wales.