Vengeance: A Halloween Novella

Chapter 10

October 29, 2023

Elias Pettersson's Limbo

Elias Pettersson, Clayton Keller, Kailer Yamamoto, Tyson Jost, Jason Dickinson and Connor Zary sit down in the weird billowing cloud room known as limbo. They sit in a circle, similar to a seance, placing a lit candle before them.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Elias asks.

"We need to get answers. This is how the book suggests that you get them," Kailer remarks, closing his eyes. "Just so happens to be the similar to the way you conjure ghosts and spirits up in the real world."

"We just want the simple answer to the question of 'Who killed Matthew Tkachuk?' I don't understand why we can't just ask the air and get a response back?"

"That'd be too easy," Kailer remarks, smugly grinning while keeping his eyes closed. "Also you can get tricked easily and it can lead to a whole slew of messes. Trust me, by the book method, is the best way to do this. Now, close your eyes."

Elias sighs and closes his eyes.

Connor, Clayton, Jason and Tyson follow suit.

Kailer begins to recite a weird spell, "I call upon the energy the flows through space. I call upon the facts that come from this case. I call upon the full harvest moon that shines brightly in every Halloween tune. The elements of air and earth. Please let me be able to see back to Halloween Eve of 2020. Take me to the Rogers Arena."

Elias feels a chilling breeze sweep through him, causing the hair on his arms to stand up straight. He keeps his eyes closed and finds himself standing at the top of a set of stairs on the main plaza that would lead to the western side entrance.

Cars zoom by on the highway that races along parallel to the arena and hotel megaplex. They are ignorant of the scene unfolding below.

Elias glances to his sides, finding that the others are there with him.

They are all watching two people in front of them.

One of them pushes back a hood. Elias recognizes who it is at once. His breathing catches in his throat. When the second pushes back his hood to reveal cury hair, Elias' heart rate quickens inside of his chest.

It can't be.

But it is.

His eyes snap open and he finds himself back in the circle in the middle of the creepy lightning-cloud projection room. He lets out a startled gasp, which seems to shake the rest of the group from the vision as well.

"I know who killed Tkachuk!" Elias blurts out, jumping up to his feet. "We need to return to Earth ASAP!"

October 29, 2023

Vancouver, Canada

Matthew Tkachuk pulls up the ends of his black leather gloves. Roughly three years ago, he'd put these on because he was going to get rid of Elias Pettersson. He couldn't fulfill his mission, because someone got in his way.

Ironic how tonight, the gloves would be put to use on the man who tried to stop him before.

Tkachuk smirks and slips up to one of the first floor windows. He peers inside. Then he spots a car pulling into the driveway. No mistakes this time. He presses himself against the side of the house and behind a tall bush.

The car's engine cuts off and the lights flash off. He can hear the sound of the doors opening and closing and the beep of the car locking. Then there is a muffled conversation that follows.

Tkachuk slides along the wall to the corner and peers around the corner, spotting two men walking up to the front door, along a neatly trimmed sidewalk. He recognized them as Quinn Hughes and Jake Virtanen.

Without a hesitation or second thought, he whips out a pistol and aims it at them.

Bang! Bang!

He takes both of them out in the blink of an eye. The bullet hitting one in the heart and the other bullet hitting the other in the head. They both hit the pavement and that's when Tkachuk makes his move.

He jumps around the corner of the house and sprints up to the front door, snatching the key from the dead wavy brunette man.

No turning back now. Revenge is about to be completed!

The Flame skids to a halt and finds that the door is already unlocked. Oh, you idiot, Tkachuk thinks to himself, shaking his head with wicked amusement at the stroke of stupidity on his victim's behalf.

He then slips into the house, finding the familiar blond haired man sitting on the couch. He seems oblivious to the gunshots outside and the intruder in his house. Tkachuk utilizes the shadows and stealthy tip-toe maneuvers to makes his way over.

No wonder the man didn't hear him, he'd had a TV show on with the volume up.

Tkachuk recognizes it. It's a paranormal show called Destination Fear. Tkachuk figures that when he'd shot the two outside, the people on the show must have been screaming about a ghost.

The man sitting on the couch was about to scream out of fear too. How cleverly ironic of the situation?

The Flame lets a soft snicker slide out under his breath.

The man on the couch gasps and looks around.

That's when Tkachuk lunges for the couch, surprising the man.

As soon as the man turns his attention back to the TV and his show, Matthew Tkachuk holds the pistol he'd used on Quinn and Jake to the blond's head and whispers with a mischievous smirk on his face, "Miss me, Brock Boeser."