Spooktoberfest Post

Wotcher.

The very lovely Dani and Jackie over at Entertaining Interests and Bouquet of Books respectively are currently hosting Spooktoberfest. Basically, its a spooky 300 word piece of flash fiction with five mandatory words which are: Ghost, Cobweb, Jack o'lantern, Cauldron and Razor. Sounds simple you might think, but you would be wrong! My first pass at this came in at 450 words and it was murder to cut it down. I hope you enjoy.

The Halloween party was a let down. Peter had the flu and had been bundled off to bed by the rest of the party goers. As it was at his place, the jack o'lanterns were blown out and the cauldrons of punch were put into the fridge "...for in a couple of days maybe...". Couple of days my arse, he'll be in bed till Christmas.

I didn't even get to use my "Come on over to my lab, and I'll get you on the slab.." line on Linda from Accounts as she didn't turn up. No fruity Halloween bedroom treats for me with the lovely Linda.

Walking home past the toyshop, windows festooned with painted paper ghosts and cobweb spray, I noticed that the door was ajar. That was weird though, as it was nearly nine pm. Civic duty getting the better of me, I pushed it open and looked in wondering if everything was ok. I should call the police I thought, but pushed on into the shop, eerily lit by the streetlamps outside. The seasonal theme inside all the more macabre in the half light. Cardboard skulls and goblins with rictus grins, leered out at me from the shelves.

I found nothing and decided all was fine. I turned for the entrance, thinking that B-Movies were the only thing that would save my rubbish evening. As I turned, I heard the door shut and footsteps behind the shelves coming toward me. I rounded the shelves, looking to explain myself to the owner who had obviously come back, realising the mistake. That's when I saw it for the first time, the tall figure in the black coat and wide brimmed hat with the cut throat razor. 

I felt for the door. It was locked. 

-----

You'll find the list of contributors on either of Dani or Jackie's blogs and the winners will be announced on Halloween night. There are loads of lovely folk getting involved which means a lot of reading, but I think it will be worth it!

Rock on, 

W.