Hey everyone! I just love Halloween, don't you? It gives you those chills that someone might be watching you. You scare yourself just enough to believe anything you hear. And of course, there's the costumes and candy! Here's the last chapter of Scarecrow. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Visitor
Hey!
Tidus yelled into inky darkness, trying to scare off whoever had tossed his finely carved pumpkin. A light breeze made the treetops dance in the moonlight. Tidus heard a slithering rustle.
Must be leaves, he thought to himself.
But he knew better than that. All the leaves had been off the trees a week ago. And that he and Yuna had raked the last of them out of their yard two days ago. It could be more leaves from next door, he thought to himself. Then he thought for a moment. That's not right, he thought. My neighbors raked their leaves yesterday...
The wind made a rustling sound again, and Tidus felt the hairs on his arms prickle. Rubbing them against the chill, he stepped inside. He took of his shoes and headed into the kitchen. He was just about to call the police to complain a second time when he heard the rustling sound again.
Sssssssssssssssssss...
It was coming from the front porch.
Sssssssssssssssssss...
Much closer than it had been before.
It was followed by a clumping sound. Like something hitting the floorboards at regular intervals.
Pok...Pok...Pok.
Tidus turned off the lights.
"What's going on!" he heard Yuna scream from upstairs.
Tidus leaned into the stairway. "Yuna, grab our weapons."
Yuna appeared at the top of the stairs. "Why?" she asked, concerned.
"Just get them!" he roared.
Yuna sobbed, then went into the bedroom to find Nirvana and Caladbolg.
On tiptoe, he advanced toward the front window.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssss...
Whatever it was, it was being dragged across the front screens.
Sticking his fingers between the slits of the blinds, Tidus peered out. Nothing there, he thought.
Sssssssssssssssssssssss...
It brushed over the screen on the window near the door. Tidus tried to smile. "Someone's going through a lot of effort to put a Halloween scare on us," he said, trying to cheer himself up.
Pok...Pok...Pok.
It sounded like footsteps outside the front door. Or someone was tapping the porch with a pole. Tidus moved silently upstairs into the doorway of the bedroom.
"Did you find them yet?" he asked Yuna.
"Not yet," she said as she was throwing stuff out of the closet.
Great, just great, he thought as he headed towards the foyer. Tidus peeked through the window panes.
Someone was standing on the porch. He could just make out an overcoat and a slouch hat on the head. The person was carrying a walking stick in his hand, thumping it on the porch planking. He could also make out that nasty odor from before.
A late trick-or-treater? he thought to himself.
Tidus clicked the light on as he pulled the door open. The odor almost driven him to shut the door on this kid's face. Now it was ten times stronger and nauseatingly potent. Concentrated, it reminded him less of wet straw and more of the stench of decay and death. The person on the porch was dressed as a scarecrow, with shocks of loose straw sticking out around his wrists and neck. He turned his face up to look directly up at Tidus.
And Tidus realized that the figure wasn't wearing a costume.
Black holes marked where its eyes should have been. Its mouth was stitched shut, but Tidus could have sworn the cheeks puffed in and out, huffing and puffing as though it was alive. What Tidus had first thought was a nose was actually a field spider the size of its hand. Other things he couldn't quite see wriggled in the straw jutting out beneath the figure's hat.
The scarecrow stepped forward. Tidus stepped back. He saw that what he mistook for a walking stick was actually a weathered wood stave. It had a crossbar at the top. Its other end was a pointy stake.
It stepped forward again. "Stay back!" Tidus yelled, and shut the door. But the thing was able to stop the door from shutting. Tidus moved back. "Yuna! Get those weapons now!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
The thing moved fast. Tidus never had a chance.
Yuna heard screaming. "Tidus? What happened?" she shouted as she stepped out of the bedroom and at the top of the stairs. She gasped as she saw the thing.
Yuna didn't have a chance either.
The next day, the neighbors saw two scarecrows up on poles at the new peoples' house. They didn't look like the other scarecrows around the neighborhood. They wore Tidus and Yuna's clothes. And they weren't stuffed with straw.
But everyone agreed from the way they flapped loosely in the wind that they did a good job of scaring things away.
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Well, that's it! I hoped you enjoyed the story. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.