| Vicky Webb & Kelsey Rogers English 2 Adv. Honors per. 4 1-2-07 A possessed demonic pumpkin has been passed down from generation to generation of the Calhoun family. Each one has died a horrible, unexplainable, suicidal death, and now the only one left of this tragic family is Marie Calhoun. She sits at her window, everyday, watching and waiting for a sign that the next keeper of the pumpkin will appear. As the days of October pass, she hears a voice say, ‘your time is coming soon.’ Halloween is steadily approaching. “What?!” I yelled, frantically searching for something large to throw at my mother’s perfect curly mug. Just one time, that was it! A person does something wrong and they’re condemned for eternity! Okay, I snuck out way past curfew to go out with a few friends, but that doesn’t mean my mother should subject me to torture! Oh the cruelty of parents. “Oh come on dear, it should be…fun.” She replied sweetly, but I could tell the ‘fun’ part was forced. “But Mom! You know the woman living there is psychotic! Crazy! Completely mental!” I tried swaying my punishment with whatever might work. ‘Just let me stay at home alone…’ I prayed. “Now that’s a very rude thing to say, what if Mrs. Calhoun heard you? You should stop believing what your friends tell you and then maybe you could be going out tonight with Dave and I, Now go get ready.”
Sighing with defeat, I trudged up the stairs into my room. I looked around and tried to decide what I might need. After all, I was going to a crazy person’s house. I grabbed a few things and walked back down the stairs, straight past my mother, and out the door. I shivered, the cold night air slapping me in the face. ‘Why did all this have to happen in October, on the one day everyone wanted to scare you, on Halloween?’ I thought as I strolled down the street to the most foreboding house on the block. Looking at the house, I finally understood why no one came here. The house was very tall, but thin in a way, and was also covered in vines.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped up to the large front door and rang the doorbell, half expecting it to sound like a scream. A chiming sound echoed through the house and a tall woman with a black bob haircut opened the door. “I’ve been expecting you,” She said smiling, and made room for me to enter her house. At that very moment the thought struck me, why couldn’t my mother have killed me herself? “Th-thanks Mrs. Calhoun,” I stuttered out as I stepped into her home. The woman started nudging me to her kitchen, saying she needed my help with something. Upon entering the kitchen, I noticed a plump glowing pumpkin sitting on the counter. “What is that?!” The words popped out of my mouth before I realized what a stupid question it really was. Her reply was something mumbled about being rich and famous, which only proved further how crazy she really was. She smiled that same creepy smile again and started digging through some of the drawers.
Mrs. Calhoun finally found what she was looking for, a very big, very sharp, knife. I started to take a step back, but caught myself. That had better be for the pumpkin. She turned towards the pumpkin and readied the knife to cut; I breathed a sigh of relief. As she lowered the knife, it glowed even brighter. If she cut that pumpkin, something terrible was going to happen, I could feel it. Suddenly, I heard a raspy, low, deeply pitched voice in my head saying ‘cut me! Pick up the knife and I will make you rich and famous; you have anything in the world that you want!’
I looked around hysterically, trying to find where the voice was coming from but the room was empty save for the pumpkin and Mrs. Calhoun who was stone-faced. Suddenly Mrs. Calhoun said, “Ahh, so you hear it now too don’t you?” I watched as the woman sighed and put the knife down. “And now it’s your turn, keep it safe but never do what it says, it will unleash unspeakable evil to the world you know…will make you crazy listening to it…just think of how happy I would be if I would just have listened to it…I could have been very happy…”
She rambled on some more, and turned to walk away. “Wait!” I yelled, dreadfully confused from the whispers of the pumpkin trailing in my head. “What do I do with it?”
The woman turned and looked at me, smiling the creepiest one yet. “Keep it safe, or else you’ll be in sorry!” She said tauntingly and laughed. Mrs. Calhoun walked away and I soon heard a loud slumping noise in the house. I ran out and looked around with wide eyes. There, on the ground in front of me was Mrs. Calhoun, somewhat peaceful with her unusual smile. I bent down to check her pulse and my hand touched the icy cold of death. She was dead, and I was left as the new keeper of that pumpkin. Would I also go insane?
I felt a sense of foreboding as I went back to the pumpkin, still hearing promises of untold treasures and the like, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t cut something that felt so evil, no matter what the reward. While I still had my sanity, I hid the pumpkin in that house so that no one would ever find it, and ran out, hoping to never see it again. To this day I still hear a faint whisper of a better life, of world riches, of happiness, and of all my dreams being made true, and that is why when I look around today, I see a bright room with white padded walls. |
