Phantom Chained

Chapter 27. Night of Terror. Ingrid.

"Yeah, it's warm enough. Although... alright, now we can go."

I broke out in laughter. Matty put on a red hat with a pom-pom, which made his painted face even funnier.

"So, you havin' fun?" Asked Matty as we stepped onto a path leading away from the wharf, which was illuminated by garlands and paper lanterns.

"Sure am!" I replied. "Thank you, mister red hat skeleton!"

"It's nice to be a skeleton, you don't have any ears to freeze off." He stated. "You know, you look quite lovely even with that face paint! And that girl was right, black hair really suits you. From now on you have to always colour it like that, deal?"

"Gothic romance?" I smirked, gazing up at the night sky. The Halloween moon glowed through the eerie web of black branches that swayed menacingly in the wind. My candy ball, which I named 'Pumpkaboo', glowed a different colour depending on which light we passed. The further we went, the closer the bushes and trees grew, until the path became so narrow that I had to step exactly where Matty had in order to not trip on anything.

"Guide us, Pumpkaboo, I believe in you!" I chanted and immediately tripped, managing to grab onto Matty's back at the last moment. For a moment I thought I saw a white humanoid figure duck behind a tree a few steps away from us.

"Careful," Matty said. "We're out in the wild, there are no paved paths here."

I continued to stare into the darkness but quickly gave up and chased after Matty. To explain my awkwardness, I told Matty what I saw and all I got in response was a shrug.

"Probably some idiots from the party trying to scare each other... and people like you."

"Maybe, maybe not..." I pondered. "In any case, we should stay on guard. They say all sorts of psychos come out during Halloween."

"And they're right. Why else do you think I would be bringing you to a dark and deserted place?"

"You better quit it before I cut you with a machete or a chainsaw!" I swung 'Pumpkaboo' at Matty's back. He turned around and made a face at me.

"Don't fool around, babey!" He rasped. "A maniac can sense another maniac from afar! A maniac won't hurt another maniac!"

Even though there was nothing funny about what he said, I went into such hysterical laughter that I began feeling dizzy and had to lean against a tree until it passed. Matty patiently waited with a smudged black smile across his face. This made me go for another round until my stomach hurt too much to continue.

"I love watching you laugh." He started once I regained enough energy to move on. "You're finally back to normal; you've been way too spacey lately. Just a shell of the old you."

"What do you mean, a shell?" I sulked.

"It was like your head was somewhere else entirely. Everyone noticed, not just me."

"Strange, never knew my persona was popular enough for 'everyone' to be discussing it."

"Well, they are. You just refuse to notice that. If you didn't, then by now... oh, we have arrived. Great place, don't you think?"

The path ended abruptly at a small creek, splashing small waves onto the rocks. A few roots extended out of the water, resembling eldritch monstrosities peacefully sleeping under the starry night. To my right, the forested cape flowed into a lake, and a narrow moonlit path ran parallel to lit.

"It's beautiful!" I excitedly agreed and ran down to the shore.

"We can start a fire if you're cold." Suggested Matty.