I know, it's November first. W h a t e v e r.
I'll do a oneshot for each holiday this year I swear, I didn't get to do a Christmas one last year which kinda made me sad but it was way too late so I'll make sure to do one this year, but for right now, here's a Halloween special :D but it works a different way than the others do. For this I'm making each ship I have into their own Halloween oneshot but just like a collection of them so this chapter will be super long, kinda like eight chapters long, have fun reading :)
Also WARNING: blood and violence and swearing so if you don't like that stuff then you probably shouldn't read Halloween stories :/
#1. Graveyard screams
Shawn was a young man that loved adventuring. He was either brave or stupid, most likely the second option.
He lived in small town alone in a cabin surrounded by trees, which he found quite nice.
He usually enjoyed exploring the forests around his cabin, and liked looking at any forest dwelling animals he happened to cross paths with. He even liked that bear that he'd once ran into that clawed his arm and caused him to need to go to the hospital. Good times.
One night Shawn lay tossing around in his bed, not being able to fall asleep. He kept thinking he heard a sound outside. He tried ignoring it, but it was very clear something was there.
Shawn finally slipped on his shoes and went outside to the back of his house and near the forest where he'd heard the noise.
It sounded like clicking, and shuffling through leaves. Shawn squinted into the trees, but a sudden flash of white under the moonlight caught his eye and he chased after whatever had just ran away.
He could hear rapid clicking footsteps, as if the creature itself was causing such an odd noise.
Then it suddenly stopped and Shawn looked around himself before realizing he was lost. Not to mention, the creature was nowhere in sight.
Shawn turned in a circle, wondering which way he'd came from. But the darkness pressed on his eyes like a cloth, and he couldn't see anything but a patches of leaves under a sliver of moonlight.
There was rustling in the bushes all around him, and he turned and turned but couldn't see who or what was running in the bushes.
He felt a sudden thump to his back and he fell forwards, and turned around on the ground, covered in dirt and leaves. He let out a scream at what he saw.
There were skeletons. Real live skeletons surrounding him and pointing various weapons at him. They had on remains of ancient armour and there were glowing red eyes in pitch black sockets.
Their bones clicked as they moved, and their rusty swords and axes all pointed at the man on the ground.
Shawn's eyes were wide in fear, and he stared up the blade of who appeared to be the leader of the group.
"It's just a stupid human." The skeleton chief sighed, lowering his sword a little.
"What do we do with him chief?" One of the skeletons asked.
"Hmm...he's seen too much, let's feed him to the zombies." The skeleton chief decided. So they got some rope and tied Shawn's arms and legs so he could barely move.
"HEY! YOU CAN'T FEED ME TO ZOMBIES, I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Shawn cried.
The chief turned around and ordered one of the skeletons to tie a rope around Shawn's mouth.
The group carried him all the way to the town's graveyard and shoved him over the tall gate, leaving him tied up.
He realized he had landed on a grave that wasn't near any other graves. It was a small town but a large graveyard, and there weren't many graves because of the lack of people, and if people did die, they'd usually get buried somewhere much more nice.
Shawn desperately wriggled around in his ropes, trying to get free. However, he could barely move and soon gave up, falling limp.
His eyes travelled to the gravestone he was in front of and read an unfamiliar name. Grant Cohen. Well, if this Grant happened to be a zombie, he just might get eaten soon.
There was a weird rumbling in the ground underneath Shawn and a hand shot up right by his face.
Shawn shrieked through his ropes and tried to move, but just couldn't. Another hand shot up, and soon a head and torso.
Shawn stared at the zombified man as he shook the dirt from his hair. He refused to believe a zombie could look that handsome. Yet, here it was, right in front of his eyes.
Grant's eyes laid on Shawn, and the Irish man suddenly realized he should be scared. Grant pushed at the ground and removed the rest of his body from his grave.
His clothes were a bit torn, but he didn't look like he was falling apart like Shawn pictured a zombie would. Sure he had stitches and wounds in various places, but altogether he wasn't falling apart.
Grant reached out to Shawn, the human responding by struggling and screaming through his ropes. It was muffled and didn't make much of a noise.
"Those god damned skeletons just won't stop dumping live things on my grave! First a bunch of different animals, and now a fucking human?!" Grant huffed to himself, starting to untie Shawn.
Shawn made a muffled confused noise. "I'm not going to kill or eat you, I'm not a cannibal or insane murderer. I'm just a person...but dead." Grant explained.
He finished untying Shawn's mouth and moved onto his arms and legs. "The skeletons said you were going to though." Shawn said.
"They must think I do, when really I just free all the animals they throw on my grave, and now you, poor thing get caught up in all this too." Grant said. He was obviously angry at the skeletons.
"Does everybody turn to a zombie when they die?" Shawn asked, moving around his now free arms.
"Nah, you could be lotsa things. Vampires, ghosts, stupid skeletons, and others I don't even know about." Grant shrugged, continuing to untie Shawn's legs.
Shawn glanced at Grant's grave. He saw how that man died and instantly felt bad for him. On the grave it read died by suicide. He was a lonely man with nobody he could love.
He looked back once he felt his legs were free and saw Grant was staring at him. "Erm...I really should go back home now, thanks for untying me." Shawn said hesitantly. Maybe he could keep the zombie company?
Grant sadly looked to the ground. "Okay, goodbye." He said. Shawn hesitated then decided he could try and make an excuse.
Grant saw he hadn't left yet and curiously glanced up at him. "I just realized, it's too dark to see my way home, I'm stuck here until morning I guess." Shawn said.
Grant's face lit up. "You could stay and talk with me if you wanted?" He suggested hopefully.
Shawn smiled and sat down beside him. "I'd like that." He said. Grant smiled back. It felt nice for someone to want to talk to him for once.
"So, what dying like?" Shawn asked.
"Well...it's exactly like falling asleep, except when you wake up you aren't you or in your bed, but as an entirely different creature in an entirely different place." Grant explained.
"Huh, so no heaven and hell?" Shawn asked. Grant shrugged.
"I think there is only hell, if you're good you come back as a creature on earth, but if not, torcher time." Grant pointed down as he said the last word in his sentence.
"Ooh, sounds cool. I hope I don't go to hell, that would be terrifying." Shawn said.
"I highly doubt you would, you seem like such a kind guy. In fact, you're the first I've ever met that hasn't run away screaming from me." Grant said.
"I mean, sure, it's super funny to scare the absolute crap out of people, but it's also lonely when nobody wants to talk to you." Grant sighed.
Shawn reluctantly patted the zombie on the head. His hair was unsurprisingly super tangled and dirty. "Well I think you're nice to talk to." Shawn said, offering a kind smile.
"Thanks, that actually means a lot." Grant smiled back.
The two chatted all night long until the sun shone it's first rays of light onto the leafy autumn ground. "Are you only able to come out at night?" Shawn asked.
"Of course not, we're out at all times, we just prefer night to be more active because that's when humans are sleeping." Grant said.
"Ah, makes sense. So does that mean you're going back underground?" He asked, slightly sad that their time together was coming to a bitter end.
"I guess I'd better, I wish I could just keep talking with you though. But don't you have to get back home?" Grant asked.
"About that...I could've easily went back home last night, I just wanted to stay and talk. You seemed lonely like I am back at home and I thought you could use some company." Shawn explained.
Grants face broke into a smile. "Aww, that's so kind of you! It did make me feel a lot less lonely." Grant admitted, leaning his head on his arms and looking at Shawn with a stare that made his heart melt.
"Heh, same here. I really like being around you." Shawn said, glancing to the side. He brought his gaze back to Grant when the zombie suddenly leaned forwards and kissed him.
Shawn smiled against the kiss and put his hands on the sides of Grant's face. They eventually pulled away and stared happily into each other's eyes.
"So...could I visit you every night?" Shawn asked.
"I'd love that." Grant replied, smiling widely.
The two bid goodbye until that night, and Shawn decided to go for a long walk in the forest behind his house.
He found a beautiful bunch of colourful flowers and plucked them from the ground. He went by the graveyard and gently placed the flowers on the sleeping Zombie's grave.
