Bits of gooey slime and seeds dropped as I lifted my feet from one patch of guts to the other. A bubbling couldron lay a few steps ahead, attended by a gnarly skinned witch. “This mixture will be sure to make this night unforgettable!” The deep grotesque voice offered a sizzling cup of liquid.
“I’ll pass, thank you.” I had gotten used to denying the offers from non-humans. Choking down the meals served here was already enough, I didn't have a need for anything more.
I made my way to the central plaza. Here, the goop was much less dense than the outskirts of town. Walking became much easier. Besides the shops selling witch ingredients or odd foods and drinks, most of the items sold were rather normal. Literature (although, quite outdated), clothing, art, and furniture (although made of materials I’d rather not know of), were all fairly standard and functional. After you spend years confined here, you start to get used to the unorthodox lifestyle non-humans live in.
I reached the bloodfall and sat down on a bench. A pile of bones blew in the wind, circling around each other like a tornado, and gliding across the plaza’s ground. The bones rest at a patch of grass where there sat a grouping of bushes, and began to take shape into a pelican. The bone pelican pecked around a bit, and presently got a hold of a worm, then dissipated into a funnel of bones once again, flying off into the distance. Your average non-human would find little things like these not the least bit amusing, though experiencing things that had once seemed extraordinarily impossible happen so timidly and naturally gave me excitement and a sense of belonging.
Of course, however, those feelings were temporary. Soon enough the feelings of hopelessness crept up again. Every day, even after two years, the feelings kept pulsating, getting stronger with every hour that passed. Soon enough, even the miraculous feat of flying bones becoming a living pelican and then soaring back away in the sky would become mundane.
“Halloween is happening soon! Attention all citizens! Halloween is happening soon! The yearly gatherers are heading out in just under an hour! Halloween is happening soon!” The speaker boomed through the plaza and the volume and intensity of voices rose and shops began to close down. Every non-human and human began running toward the parade which was held every Halloween day to celebrate the new arrivals. Witches flew high in the night and poured a bright mixture in the sky. The mixture sizzled and then exploded into brilliant colours. A choir made of vampires played music that screeched through all the chatter and explosions. Non-humans, humans, and everything in between danced through the chaos. The scene played out the exact same as it had last year, and the year before, when I arrived. I stayed back at the plaza.
“Ashton, we’ve tried twice already. This time is no different,” Madeline approached me as usual, coming from the art shop holding a painting.
“Once we stop the gatherers we can return to civilization.”
“Have you ever thought of what would happen if we return? We aren’t the same as we were years ago. This place changes us,” Madeline motioned toward her jaw, which could now come completely loose, and then to her scar, which opened to reveal the veins and arteries that pulsated through her leg. “It’s better if we accept our fates and adjust to this new world.”
“I refuse to give up that easily. If you want to stay in this shithole for the rest of your life and more than go ahead, but I refuse to give up.” I began treading through the guts and seeds towards the parade.
“We’ve never gotten pass the first set of guards, and they are just skeletons! How the hell do you think we’ll get to the gatherers!” Madeline began to follow. There was a familiar unanimous and silent agreement that her initial rebuttals were to be dismissed. The first year she said it was too dangerous, and the second she said we were too late. She is nice to have on my side, however. Not just because she looks cute - or looked cute - but rather because she always analyzed every situation and problem, and could always deliver a sensible resolution.
“I’ve got another plan. Instead of trying to fight our way through the guards, we’ll pretend we’re newcomers. As long as you cover up your scar and I hide my teeth, we can make it seem like we are normal. We’ll wait for the first group of arrivals, and then dive into them with the help of this,” I held out a potion that was tightly quarked, it let off a bit of steam and shone a neon pink. “I got this from a black witch vendor; it temporarily hides our small bits of creature essences long enough for us to sneak in with the arrivals,” we stopped near the arrivals’ entrance. “The gatherers won’t be able to detect us long enough to get to safety.”
“This sounds great and all, but, even if we do manage to escape we will eventually lose the effects of the potion and the gatherers will be able to soar towards us and re-capture. Imagine how we’d have to live our lives here then; the two idiots who thought they could escape three times!”
“The gatherers know their limits. They would never reach past the patch; once we get back to our homes, we’ll be safe. We’ll be happy,” I opened the potion and poured half of the liquid into a flask and handed it to Madeline.
“We’ll also still be supernatural. Ashton, life would suck if you had to hide the fact you aren’t a full human. Life would suck much more than living here; even if it’s a distant relative of the society that we’ve grown up in. I’m willing to come with you, but only if we find a way to kill every damn creature cell that festers inside of us. I want this place to blow to shit; I want this place to be a mythical story we tell little school children to scare them on Halloween, not a reality,” Madeline pocketed her flask and pulled out a map. “I’ll assume you went to Mila Blackcaster. She’s one creepy bitch but if anyone can help us she’s the only one,” Madeline scanned the map and identified a black spot on the southernmost area of the land. “Shit. She’s moved to the south,” Madeline handed me the map and we both grunted. The south, a dead uninhabitable wasteland of thickets of sludge and the cries of tortured souls.
“Let’s go, we’ve got less than an hour.”
The screams of souls and muggy stench reached our ears and noses. “The wind blows too hard... the sky is never bright... my loves have disappeared...” the haunting souls kept repeating the same lines over, and over again. As if on signal, the cries began picking up tempo each step we made closer and closer to the black dot on the map. “The wind blows too hard... the sky is never bright... MY LOVES HAVE DISAPPEARED!!” The cries were now piercing. We gripped each other’s hands. The muck travelled up our legs, reaching our knees. “THE WIND BLOWS TOO HARD... THE SKY IS NEVER BRIGHT... MY LOVES HAVE DISAPPEARED.” The voices were now beating as quickly as my heart beat. The whistling sound of wind screeched while the souls echoed. The wind blew violently. The darkness became an impossible shade of black. Madeline disappeared from my sight.
“You two should know better.” Mila let out some tsks and offered us a drink. The cup emitted gross, barf-inducing smells and even though I wanted to say no, I was too cold to let down a hot drink. I took the cup, plugged my nose, and swallowed it in a gulp. I heard Madelines breath, which gave me temporary relief. “Don’t worry. I only put 20% vampire blood, you shouldn’t feel woozy. You are little kids, anyways. Haha, I remember being a kid your age, I thought it was so romantic that the boy of my dreams would take me to the wicked south. But, let me tell you young girl, you don’t want to turn into me. The south became an addiction. A place where I could relate to the souls that screamed and mourned daily. They were much tamer back then, not as violent as they are now. But, now look at me. I am no longer a maiden witch; I’m a wrench who studies forbidden magic! No man for me but the odd warlock who wants to use me for- well, I’m sure you could take a guess, who wouldn’t of slice of this saucy little thin- never mind,” Mila couldn’t even lie to make herself feel better.
“Actually we came here because I told this boy to come. We need to escape this place, and I know you can help,” Mila spit her drink out onto her moulded floor. It stained red. “We need something to kill the creature essences that are festering inside of us,” Mila put down her cup and walked close to Madeline.
“Little girl, trust me, go back to the parade and have a good time. Killing those essences means killing your spirit. These essences are intertwined with your soul; you’ll be no more than a vegetable if we do that. You need to forget this crazy idea and live your life as it's supposed to be lived.”
“No life in this place will ever be anything more than dreadfulness. You should know that better than anyone else,” Madeline motioned toward a book that sat on the witch's cabinet. Life, in death. A book everyone is introduced to when arriving here. “That book explains that life is just us preparing for an endless eternity as dead, soulless creatures. My life is certainly not supposed to be lived like that and I am willing to kill my soul rather than put it through an eternity of suffering!” Madeline glanced back towards me, and waited for my nod of agreement.
“You children may regret this for the rest of your life - and death - if you chose to go through with it. I can for sure make you a full human again, however, depending on how much you’ve already changed you may be completely unresponsive when returning to the real world. If you are lucky and do become responsive, your emotions will be dampened to an extent to doubt,” Mila stepped away. “It’s your choice.”
“We’ll do it,” on command Mila twirled her hand and ingredients began plopping into her cauldron. It fizzled, boomed, and emitted a rather pleasant smell. She snapped her finger and two flasks came flying beside her. Filling them up and quarking them, she handed one drink to each of them.
“Drink the entire thing and you will have no essence left inside of you. However, it only works once, so even if you get a single fragment of essence within you after drinking it you will forever have it,” Both Madeline and I nodded and we pocketed the flask.
“Can you take us back to the parade?”
“Of course,” Mila Blackcaster grabbed her wooden wand, dipped it into a black ink that sat on her desk, and began spelling words onto a piece of parchment. With the paper in hand, she chanted an incantation and threw the paper above our heads. It disintegrated and burst into dust.
“The gatherers have arrived with the first set of arrivals! Attention all citizens! The gatherers have arrived with the first set of arrivals! Nine more groups to go!” The speaker boomed once again. Madeline and I gulped the pink liquid.
“Remember our essences are only hidden, not gone. The moment we escape the patch we need to chug our removal potions,” Madeline gave me a thumbs up and we set out.
“Wow! This place is great!” The group of about six starry eyed children, ranging from ages six to twelve, walked through the crowd of non-humans, occasionally tripping on the thickets of guts, which caused them to clamber back onto their feet. A group of adult humans led the children. “This pumpkin is massive! They probably have lots of treats!” The group of children passed through the parade. “This parade is so fun! Mommy, can we go!” No response appeared on the woman the little boy was tugging on. The adult humans morphed back into their true form. Large winged beasts with scathing teeth and gargoyle like bodies. The children screamed, but were soon put to sleep by the gatherers drool.
“We need to catch the next batch, right at the entrance,” We walked through the parade and got as close as we could to the entrance. The skeleton guards stood sternly with swords attached to their sides. One skeleton seemed to recognize me and shot me a dirty look.
“Attention all citizens! We’ve got our second batch of children! Attention all citizens! Eight more batches to go!” The entrance boomed open. Now was our chance.
I jumped through the crowd and landed on an adult figure, which caused it to immediately morph back into its beast form. I looked up at its menacing teeth, which looked ten times bigger up close. I was terrified, but it’s drool soon hit my eyes and I pretended to fall asleep, along with the other children.
“Attention all citizens! It seems a child got out of control, but fret not for we have controlled the situation. Attention all citizens! Fret not!”
Madeline followed shortly behind me. The skeleton guard watched as she jumped through the crowd, and threw his sword. It pierced one of Madelines arteries, though it only slowed her down. She was limping and trying to reach the crowd of children, but was quickly stopped by the skeleton guard. The guard held her back with force, and Madeline couldn’t escape. “Little girl I stopped you twice before! I know you aren’t actually a human!”
“Ashton! ASHTON! I can’t make it! Help me!” I saw Madeline struggling to make it to the children with a slight opening in my eye and knew that I’d be able to kick the skeleton guard away for long enough, but the delay would be extremely risky. “Ashton! What the hell do you think your doing! Help!” I shut my eyes closed, took a deep breath, and ran off from the group of children. The gatherers reacted the instant I moved. I ran straight to the entrance, taking a final glance at Madeline, and then running outside.
The bright sunlight burnt my eyes. I could hear the nostalgic sounds of cars and birds, and I saw the colourful landscape that I grew up in. I glanced back at the pumpkin. It was small. I reached in my pocket to grab the potion. It was gone. “Ashton! Ashton! Jesus, you never listen. I thought you’d have grown out of playing in the pumpkin patch when you were ten. Now that you’re twelve you should be wiser.” My dad grabbed my arm and brought me home. “You were gone for hours! I said only an hour of trick-or-treating, not three!” He yanked me inside of my house where I smelt pumpkin pie being freshly made. I ran to the kitchen to take a bite.
“Hi Mila sweetie. You were right. He was in the patch again,” my dad kissed my mom on the cheek and sat down with a cup of tea beside her. “What happened to Madeline must have really left a dent in him. I suppose he didn’t take his anti-depressants or haldol before going out today?
“I guess he spit them out,” replies my mother.