The Pumpkin Ate Me and I Died...Oops!

written close to Halloween.

     One Halloween night, when the harvest moon was high and full in the sky, I told the group of kids I was taking trick-or-treating the story of the headless horseman, also known as Sleepy Hollow. We were all settled around the bonfire in our backyard, swapping our goodies, and by the time I was done the swapping had halted and I had all of their attention. One child, a small blonde boy, stood up and said, "The pumpkin ate me and I died...oops!" We all laughed and he smiled nervously and walked inside. Later, as I gave him some punch to drink, he looked up, a little freaked out, and said it again, "The pumpkin ate me and I died...oops!" And again as he left with his mom, he looked at me with tears in his eyes, truly afraid, "The pumpkin ate me and I died...oops!" As I sat in my now quiet living room I thought I heard a horses hooves clattering on the driveway outside and heard the child say it again, clear as day though he was now miles away, "The pumpkin ate me and I died...oops!" I fell asleep with a bat in my hand and all of the lights on.

     In the morning I was awoken by a light, but urgent, knock on my door. I blearily opened the door to find two cops standing in the early light of the fall morning. "Hello, miss," He looked at his notepad, "Layland, there's been an accident, and we need you to come with us." So I climbed into the cruiser and they drove through the city 15 minutes away, and straight to the park. A gruesome sight assailed my vision. The child from the night before lay spread eagle on the pavement in front of me, broken and bloody. One of the cops handed me a piece of paper. "We were told you might recognize the significance of this." The paper had one line of childish scrawl.

"The pumpkin ate me and I died...oops!"

Reviews

[Craig]

That was a really fun story. I liked reading your work.