Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Horror Show




“It’s supposed to be scary”, said Ray.
“Well, it sort of isn’t. It’s more…annoying”, said Jeff.
“Bah! What do you know about scary. The most decorations you ever put up on your house are a few cardboard pumpkins and a skeleton”, said Ray.

Jeff stepped away from the fence that divided his house from Ray’s. Ray had been up since early in the morning hanging Halloween lights and strobes and speakers for scary sounds to eminate from. Jeff knew this because a recording of a witch’s cackle woke him at about five o’clock. He thought it was part of a dream, until it was quickly followed by the Michael Meyer’s Halloween theme music.  This bizarre alarm clock prompted Jeff to step outside and have a word with his neighbor of 13 years.

“I’m just asking that you not turn any of this stuff on until after like, 8:30 a.m. or something and maybe turn it off by like, 9:00 or 9:30p.m.”, said Jeff.
“Aw, don’t be a halloweenie”, said Ray and then stuck his tongue out at Jeff.

A light drizzle had started to fall as Jeff just shook his head and headed back into his house. Jeff normally liked Ray. He was a stand up guy. He had a lot of great summer bar-be-ques and was really good about keeping the neighborhood in shape. Ray ran the Northfork charity race every spring and encouraged all the other neighbors to participate. He did so by nagging relentlessly, but he usually got everyone to participate. Of course, during the whole race Ray kept ogling Jeff’s wife’s rather ample breasts in her running bra.  Jeff considered this as a deep, evil laughter now burst from a tombstone on the front of Ray’s lawn. Jeff looked back over at Ray who was chuckling to himself.

“That’s it. Ray has got to go”, said Jeff under his breath as he waved at Ray and made a shame on you gesture.

Jeff decided a wiring failure sometime during the night would be the perfect cover up for the fire that would eventually consume Ray and all that stupid crap hanging from his house. Jeff chuckled to himself. He’d never really do it. He didn’t have those kind of balls. It would be something though. Jeff always suspected there was something wrong with Ray anyway and the world might be better off without him. Even if the Northfork Charity Organization might suffer the loss of a few springtime half-ass charity runners.

Jeff checked on his wife who was still sleeping soundlessly in their bed. She was amazing. She could sleep through a war being swallowed by a tidal wave in a tornado, but if their daughter made a peep in the night, Gloria was right there. Now Gloria could sleep since Kathy went off to college. Jeff stopped to wonder what his college aged daughter would be doing for Halloween away at school. He hoped she wasn’t out, dressing like a slutty bee or something. He cringed at the idea.

Kathy was 22 now and the possibility of her going to some party in some revealing outfit was all too possible. Jeff hated the idea, but had to accept the fact that she was a young, determined woman. He went to the kitchen to get his coffee started before heading to his study. He stopped short when he 
heard glass break. It sounded like one of the kitchen door windows. He tensed and moved quickly around the corner and into the spacious kitchen.

 There was blood on the back door and glass on the tile floor. Jeff looked around the room wildly when he say Ray’s back to him sitting at the breakfast table.

“Ray, what the hell man”, yelled Jeff.

Ray didn’t respond. Jeff walked toward him. “Are you okay Ray”, asked Jeff.

Jeff stepped around the right side of the table and gasped. The whole right side of Ray’s face was missing. There were exposed teeth and bone of the upper jaw and Jeff could see part of what looked like Ray’s tongue struggling in a mostly missing mouth. The flesh around Ray’s right eye was shredded and burned black and a yellow puss was dripping from it. Ray somehow turned his head toward Jeff. He made a gutteral growl and collapsed onto the breakfast table. Jeff swooned and felt his knees cease to exist as he fell backwards onto his butt.

A fire truck wailed in the distance. Jeff could hear his wife coming down the stairs from the bedroom.

“Jeff, I think Ray’s house is on fire”, said Gloria as she walked toward the kitchen. 

2 comments:

  1. OK, that was creepy! I don't entirely get what has happened here? What is Ray? Who set his house on fire? What has the daughter to do with it. Promising but may need a wee tweak? ;-)

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  2. Me neither. As far as I can tell, Jeff planned/imagined burning Ray's house down, but then decided that wouldn't. Then it seemed, somehow, Ray's house was on fire and he was terribly injured and broke into Jeff's house to die. I don't know how the fire started, that's the mystery I suppose. The daughter part was just a side story, not really central to the story, or at least this snippet of a story. Thanks for the notes!

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