The Trickster. A Halloween Story.

This kid loved to scare people.

Timmy would trick people into seeing something that was not real. He loved his projects.

His mother was beside herself with worry as Timmy loved to scare the next door neighbor girl. He had done it for years. She ran home screaming every time he was up to no good. He splashed her with fake blood a lot.

It got to a point her dad was fed up with it. He captured Timmy one day after a more disgusting than usual caper, took him home, and banged on his door. Tim’s Mom answered and was shocked at the neighbors reaction. She apologized and Timmy was let go.

She begged Timmy to keep it in the house. He drew scary monsters. He carved scary monsters from clay. He had all kinds of animatronic figures that he had built to scare off many school kids. He was great at Halloween! Their house was the place for scary.

He had no friends! They thought he was odd.

He was also small for his age and gotten beat up by the bigger kids. He was made fun of because of his size. There were three that hung out near a grocery store near his home,

His mother called him “Timmy”, which he felt was degrading, especially in front of a girl he liked that worked at the store. He stopped her from doing that. His name was “Tim”.

After one really good beating he was walking home, since he did not have a car. He eyed a strange, orange, pumpkin that was growing out of the ground in a fallow field. He was so angry from being hurt by three boys, that he was not being very observant.

He took the pumpkin home and carved it. Blood accidentally dripped from his nose into the pumpkin. Then it started.

Anger festers when it is not released, he thought. Was it his thought?

It just so happened to be Halloween night as well. He was handing out candy like a good guy. His mom was at work. Then it happened.

The Appearance

A little guy popped up and came out of hiding behind a piece of furniture. He asked Tim if he wanted to get those people back for hurting him. Tim agreed he did. It seemed logical that that was the way to go.

One of Tim’s drawings came alive. The logical side of Tim was glad, but The Trickster had his ear for now. He would get them back for making him feel like a loser.

The Forest

1. Fat-boy: One of the kids that beat him up landed in a dark forest. There were pigs oinking and running around. Since this boy was always eating and could never get enough, he noticed a lot of left over food and wanted it.

The pigs became gigantic and had sharp instruments.

He was terrified of the darkness and the sounds. There was a lot of slurping and the knives were ringing. He wanted to run but didn’t know the best way.

Finally, the pigs became massive and cut him open and ate him.

The Fun House

2. Stoner: He was in a fun house and accepted a joint from a Jack-in-a-Box. He got really high and watched a puppet show and saw witches, gnomes, and other beings watching him.

He was not worried about them. He was stoned; they seemed harmless and didn’t bother him. Then, the puppets cut their strings and all the others pulled out blades. He was stabbed to death.

The Sex House

3. Brian, the Boss: He was the worst of the worst, since he always instigated the beatings and he treated the girl, April, badly. Tim did not like that she was treated so badly. Brian hollered at her and told her to shut up. Tim also did not like getting beaten up each day by Brian.

Brian was in a room with music, shadows, and saw many sexy images and bodies. He couldn’t get enough. They licked him and rubbed on him. They kissed him until he couldn’t take it anymore. Then, one of the girls transformed into an old, ugly, hag and cut his throat.

And then, there was April. She was afraid of spiders and guilty by association to those jerks. Tim liked her but . . . she had to be taught a lesson.

Underneath, he wanted it all to stop. He remembered a book about “The Trickster” and how he could stop it. It said something about the “tallow wick and it should be put out to stop The Trickster.” He realized it was the jack-o-lanterns that he had to kill or extinguish. The Trickster realized it as well, but diverted Tim into thinking about April and where she was.

April was locked in a room and could not get out. She had somehow gotten into a dark hole and there were spiders. She screamed and screamed. Tim found her and pulled her out but she got caught in a window. The window crashed and cut her to pieces. The lit pumpkin was sitting beside her.

Tim woke up! He had a bloody knife in his hand. There were four dead bodies on the floor. His mother came in from work. . .

Jo Ann Harris is an author, parent, book devotee, writer, copywriter, and film fanatic. She is an autodidact who learns about everything and rows her own boat. She grew up and worked in Atlanta, Georgia and lived there sixty years. She writes articles about love, hope, personal life stories, advice and poems. She is a published author with an article in Woman’s World magazine in October, 2017.