The pumpkin kings

Corpse/Ash/Ricky 2023

        The room was dark and uncomfortably warm. I don't know what woke me up. I heard a sound from outside and the dancing shadows on the wall creeped me out. I sit in the bed, listening for the sound to happen again and it doesn't. I can't get back to sleep so I turn on the beside light and get out of bed.

      The small house was dark except for the kitchen light I always left on over the sink. I felt uneasy as I opened the fridge to grab the juice. The bottle of wine was taunting me from the cool shelf and shut the door before I snagged it. It was well after midnight, and I needed to make sure the doors were all locked. All you heard about right now was the killer on the loose. He was in and out and no one knew who he was. It was reminiscent of the Night Stalker, and everyone was afraid. But this was not the late 80s, it was 2023 and everyone was now a detective.

       Something moves in the shadows, and I feel my heart leap into my throat. I turn my head, my hand going to the heavy vase on the table. The ghost moves along with me, and I realize it's only me in a mirror. Get a grip girl. I do look like a demon girl, with black messy hair and pale skin. I needed to sleep more but the nightmares were starting to get to me. Always the same, tall dark and menacing and he wanted to hurt me. I always woke up sweaty and warm between the legs. The woman who rented me the house had said that no one stays long, she didn't mention the ghost.

"Ricky is that you? "   I whispered into the darkness.

      He's quiet tonight and that worries me. I am not afraid of him, and I think I amuse him, so he never does anything to harm me. I mean if the ghost stays in my house, he can't hurt anyone else right? I hear a crash from out back and the hair rises on the back of my neck. I sigh and pull back the curtain on the sliding door. The yard is dark and spooky. It's almost Halloween and it's still warm. I need to sleep. Nightmares or not. I pad down the hall to the bathroom feeling like i am being watched, it's not a new feeling. It started almost as soon as I had moved in.

          Exiting the bathroom I walked down the hallway, stretching as I yawned and was that movement? I freeze with my arm in the air. Breathing reaches my ears, heavy breathing. Slowly I turn around and almost scream bloody murder as a tall dark shadow slumps against the wall. He looks so much like my ghost I almost wanted to think that Ricky had found a way to return. Shadow man's head lifts, dark eyes fixing on my own. Shivers run up and down my spine.

"Fuck! "He growls.

        I take a step back, towards the bedroom door, my heart thundering in my chest. Panic moving my feet. I slam the bedroom door and push the dresser in front of it. Greeted with silence I wait for the dresser to fly across the room. When nothing happens, I almost convince myself I didn't see or hear him. That deep voice echoes inside my head, I know it but from were. He only uttered a single swear word, but I feel like I know him.

      Moving the dresser, I peek out the door. The house is quiet around me and the man is gone from the hallway. The thing I notice is the lit menacing faced pumpkin sitting on the coffee table. Had he brought it with him? And why leave it on my table?  Maybe Ricky really was messing with me, I had just never heard his voice other than on the TV. That would be new and not something I really did not want to think about.

     I get to the Livingroom and to my surprise he's sitting in one of my chairs. His long legs spread out before him, he's still breathing heavy, as if he's run a marathon. My hand curls around a bat I had meant to use with my Harly Quinn cosplay. It gives me little comfort as the shadow guy was tall and muscular.

"I won't hurt you. "He says softly.

My heart rate spikes. I know that voice and as I reach for the light he growls again, "Stop. Don't turn on the light. "