The Halloween Cannibal

Chapter 1)This is Halloween

~Everybody in their own imagination decides what scary is.~ Yvonne Craig

Dedicated to C200398 for the awesome trailer!
***

Fear possesses a different definition for everyone who encounters it. What it might be for one individual will not necessarily be the same for another. What it comes down to, is everyone defines what their own definition of what fear is.

What personally frightens me more than anything, is the seventeen-year-old girl with the outrageously curly blonde hair that I consider my best friend.
"Halloween falls on a Friday, and you're going to be babysitting." Jessica stares at me, her expression as baffled as if I had just announced I was off on a decades long trip dedicated to finding the holy grail.
It's almost comical how high her blonde brows have gone. They've nearly disappeared past her hairline. I suppose can understand why she's stunned. I'm an anomaly of a teenager. I'm considered popular and likable enough to always be invited to parties nearly every weekend. Halloween was no exception to the number of invites to parties I received. What made this year different than others is that for our senior year, Halloween is on a Friday with the weekend following. Everyone in our senior class would be taking advantage of partying hard on a Friday night in order to nurse their hangovers or tiredness during the weekend.
I would even believe everyone in our small town has a party to go to after the Halloween parade that takes place every year. Heck, even my own parents had plans at a Halloween party for my mother's office. They'll be spending time mingling with middle-aged folks, dressed in lame costumes, sipping on alcoholic punch. Still, they have plans. I was probably not only the only high school senior who had nothing going on for the night, I was probably the only person who was blowing off multiple party invitations all in the name of babysitting.

"Mrs. Stern called this morning. I said I could watch the kids," I explained once more. The silence that came next was palpable. Jessica's large blue eyes magnified by navy eyeliner bore into my hazel ones as if trying to analyze what was wrong with me. I neglect to add that babysitting will be far more entertaining of a concept to me than going to the party Jess wanted to attend. It's not that it would hurt her feelings. I would simply then be trapped into listening to Jessica argue with me that it was not going to be the loud and outrageous madness that I was anticipating it being. We've been friends since middle school, so I knew her well enough to know what to expect from her.
But my babysitting answer does not satisfy her. Jessica continues to watch me with a blank stare as if I had somehow grown into a three-headed monster in the course of a few seconds. "Oh please...The Stern's are like...Friggen millionaires. They can't hire nannies to watch their kids?" She asked with a pout.

It was true, the family I was going to be looking after were wealthy. The Stern's had plenty enough money to afford professional caregivers, although millionaires might be pushing it. Thomas Stern has made a decent living working for a pharmaceutical company. To some it must be confusing why such wealthy individuals don't have paid nannies to watch their three children, but I've never minded watching the kids. I've babysat the children for years. I started working for the Sterns the summer I turned thirteen, and I had unofficially started babysitting for them when my parents would spent time with the Sterns at their house and I entertained their children that had been babies or toddlers. The Stern's have always been like family to me. Spending time with their kids was like hanging out with the younger siblings I didn't have myself growing up. It also didn't hurt that the Sterns were overly generous with handing out babysitting money. They always gave me a hundred dollars whether I was babysitting for seven hours or as little as two. By now I had more than enough money to have a nice chunk saved up for when I start college this fall.

I ignore Jessica's questioning and her scrutinizing gaze. "Did you hear about Jaxon and Chloe's breakup? It sounds like it was a pretty epic fight in the hall." Jessica has always loved a bit of gossip; I hoped this trivial information would be enough to satisfy her. But it isn't.
"You're seriously ditching me to hang out with kids?" Her disgust was poorly hidden. We were standing in the lunch line of the cafeteria. I made a grand gesture of making it seem like I was analyzing the limited options available for salads.
"I'm pretty annoyed myself, but I already agreed to it." This was a lie on my part. I've been looking forward to the prospect of carving pumpkins, watching scary movies, baking cookies for happy kids, and handing out candy to trick-er-teaters ever since I got the phone call from Mrs. Stern early this morning. Personally, I felt I was in for a far more interesting night compared to my friends.

"Okay, Cassie...Halloween party at Cody Siler's place. CODY SILER." Jessica says louder as if for emphasis. "This kinda party will only be one of a kind during our high school career...I mean it's our senior year, and Halloween is on a Friday. Do you know how lucky that is?? No having to worry about attending school with a hangover the next day because there's no school on Saturday!" She gushes, clapping her hands together excitedly.
I'm wondering if she's going to remember that considering I don't drink, this news is nothing special to me. It's comparable to telling a diabetic he's won a lifetime supply of free chocolate. Utterly useless. Besides that, Halloween parties at Cody Siler's have been known for him purposely inviting high school seniors along with his college buddies. You even need your drivers license to prove you're eighteen before you're allowed inside his house. "You don't find it pathetic that a junior in college and hosts high school parties?" I ask as we make our way down the lunch line.

Jessica looked indifferent as if struggling to see my point. "And?"
"And it means the horn dog uses it as an excuse to supply stupid high school girls with alcohol. "Remember Beth? She attended his party last year during her senior year. She slept with him, then, never got so much as a phone call the next morning."
Jess wrinkled her nose. "Beth was also a huge slut," she said, as if that fact made this news acceptable. She scoffed at my near eye roll. "But Cody is so mature...He makes sure girls are over eighteen before they can attend his party."
Now I did roll my eyes. "That's so he doesn't get in trouble by having sex with high school students."
I said the last part slowly as if to make her understand what I was saying. In all honesty, if I hadn't known Jess since we met first day of middle school when her family moved to Falls Creek, we wouldn't be friends to this day. We had grown into two different individuals the last year of high school. We were no longer bonded by glitter nail polish, Disney channel, and fluffy hair scrunches. Nowadays while my free time was often occupied with studying or babysitting, Jess had transformed into someone who constantly worried of the opinion of others. She was always near salivating at the idea of attending a party of anyone who threw one, regardless whether she was actually friends with the person.

This seems to be the first time Jess has even thought of such a thing, because her blue eyes pop open in wide surprise as it finally dawns on her. "Oh, my crow..." She recovers, wincing heavily. "Well, it's a good thing I'm good friends with a girl scout then. You keep me away from stranger danger," she says, pinching my cheek annoyingly, laughing as I slap her hand away. We make our way through the cafeteria to find a space to sit, hearing the freshman tables buzzing with excitement. Everyone loves a good scary story when this time of year rolls around. Listening in while passing the freshmen kids, they're telling each other urban legends or spooky stories to get hyped for the holiday. I'm not sure why they're bothering, not when Falls Creek already has its own frightening history.

"Okay, what about Melanie Foster?" Jess questions as I pay for my small lunch.
"You can name twenty other parties and I'm still not going," I snort, as I wait for her to now finish paying. As a couple people passing us relay the same story I've been hearing the last month, Jessica rolls her eyes. "Good God, if I hear of that Carling the Cannibal story one more time, I will slap someone," she declares. Her bitter mumbling subsides as she quickly hurries to a table across the café. Jess quickly plops her tray down before jumping to sit on the lap of her boyfriend Bobby. The Latino jubilantly accepts Jessica's impromptu interruption of the conversation he was having. "Jessie!" Bobby crows affectionately before the two of them engage in a small, yet cringe worthy make out session. Once they break apart, Bobby grins. "Just in time! I was about to tell new guy here about Carling the Cannibal."

I resist laughing as I watch Jessica's face glower at Bobby with annoyance. He doesn't seem to notice. I walk over with my tray of food to sit beside Jessica now that she's untangled herself from Bobby. Soon, I glance at the person across the table from us. He's a young man who looks to be maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. His brown hair is cropped short, while he has a black pair of glasses on that makes him appear older than he probably is. I recognize him as the new History teacher, replacing Ms. Dodger who has been seriously ill lately due to her heart problems at her old age. I'm doubtful Jessica realizes this young man is a teacher or else she wouldn't have proceeded to kiss Bobby so passionately when there could be a risk of the new guy providing her a detention slip. Bobby is simply too much of a harebrained individual to ever consider such a thing.

"Just share the story before I report you two for kissing in front of a teacher." Mr. Harris sighed. It takes restraint to not laugh at the way Jessica's mouth falls open in surprise as she realizes she's sitting in the midst of a teacher. "I didn't peg you as a scary story person, Mr. H." I grin as Jessica blushes like crazy beside me.
"Indeed I am," Mr. Harris smiles, removing his glasses to wipe the lenses. The removal of them makes him look younger and causes me to notice that he obviously wears the glasses as to not to be confused with the teenagers here. They didn't seem to be regular prescription lenses. Maybe a type of reading glasses, but I didn't inspect them too carefully. Even though Mr. Harris was probably in his mid to late twenties, he looked younger than his years.
Jessica -clearly upset by Bobby allowing her to kiss in the midst of a teacher- huffed beside me before diverting her eyes to the floor. I could understand to a point why she was embarrassed. But there's a stronger part of me that doesn't feel too much sympathy due to this not being the first time she's displayed a heavy amount of PDA with Bobby. Sooner or later, she was bound to do it front of someone who held authority. She should just consider herself lucky Mr. Harris has been a moderate teacher these last few weeks that he's not really harsh on scolding or sending someone to the principal let alone detention.

"Brace yourself...For the terror that is Falls Creek," Tyler says, making his way over to the chair beside me before sending me a wink. I don't return it, I only resort to looking at the linoleum beneath my feet. Tyler and I have been dating since we attended prom together earlier this year, but lately, things have been coming to an end for us. His new-found flirting with any female who moves has been the final nail in our coffin. Before that, his mocking anything intellectual or anything I want to do for date night had been inspiring me to end things. It's gotten to the point where it annoys me when Tyler even tries touching me anymore.

Tyler ruffles his blond hair before taking over the story from Bobby. "Almost eighteen years ago, a screaming girl who was college age ran out of the forest and got the attention of passing motorists. She was kidnapped two months previously, locked away in a basement. She helped police find her abductor. Richard Carling. Police arrested him immediately...But, they discovered a terrifying horror movie scenario once they arrested him."
"Like what?" asked Mr. Harris, sounding intrigued.
"They found skeletal remains all over the large farmland his family owned down in Papler's bluff."
A few people that were passing our table have now stopped by, ogling Tyler as he tells the same story these kids have probably heard since elementary school. But it doesn't matter how old the story is or how often anyone has heard it. It's now a popular town tale for people to talk about every year when it rolls closer to Halloween.
Tyler smirks, clearly enjoying how all eyes are on him. "The terrifying part of all the skeletons found on the property, wasn't even that it looked like a good twenty people had been torn apart. The horrifying thing was the discovery of body parts in the refrigerator of Richard Carling. Kidneys. Livers. Hearts. Brains, parts of flesh...Turns out, he ate his victims." Tyler finished gravely.
Murmured voices overwhelm the table, where everyone seems to be enjoying Ty's story. "That's the scariest part." Ty declares, smirking slightly at the murmured voices.

I lightly shake my head to his words, silently disagreeing. My silently saying no doesn't go un-noticed. Mr. Harris clearly notices. "Enlighten the new person in town then, Ms. Ross. What's the scariest part of the story?"
Everyone soon turned their attention to hear what I have to say. Tyler is now slightly miffed I've stolen the attention away from him. He narrows his green eyes at me ever so slightly. Everyone else has shuffled around to look where I am, their eyes hopeful for more additional information as they lean closer. I've never been one to enjoy the attention on myself. I can feel my face turning crimson as I run a hand through my caramel-colored hair that fell in gentle waves . "To me, the scariest part wasn't his cannibalism."

Everyone looks baffled by my words, where even Mr. Harris cocks an eyebrow. "You don't find cannibalism scary?" He chuckles.
I shake my head. "Oh no, it's revolting. It's just...Because of the cannibalism, the media then left out very important pieces of information regarding police catching Richard Carling."
"Like what?"
I tugged at the sleeves of my green cardigan, not enjoying how the small group of people at the table as well as the individuals who had stopped while passing were now hanging onto my every word. I didn't enjoy being the center of attention in general, but I despised such attention on me by relaying a true story as horrifying as this one.
"To me, the scary part is how the guy was so very mentally impaired, he was afraid of the dark," I explained. Carling held the mental capacity of a six-year-old. How did he manage to kidnap, subdue, and kill all those guys?"
"What's your point?" Asked a pimply faced Sophomore who was listening in.
"Easy," I explain. "I don't buy that he committed the crime all by himself."

Everyone looks to me with surprise, before looking very confused. Even Jess bites at her upper lip as if in concentration. I made a good point, one that the group didn't seem to grasp previously. It was a point that not many people seemed to ever acknowledge. But I'm not done yet with pointing out the discrepancies of the facts and what authorities believe. I clear my throat. "All the skeletons or remains found at the scene, were all from male bodies. Carling the cannibal even admitted he only ate males."

It seems people are a little slow understanding where I'm going with this, because they give each other confused glances. It caused me to sigh with slight exasperation that they weren't understanding something staring them in the face. "Richard Carling was apprehended for kidnapping a young woman. He held her hostage for two whole months, but he didn't kill her, and he didn't eat her...So, what was he doing to her all that time?"
I've stunned the group into a small silence, before quiet murmurs take over as they realize I made a great point. Mr. Harris even looks a little disturbed before he frowns. "Well, what happened to the woman? What did she say happened while she was in captivity?" He asks, looking completely absorbed in the story.

"No one knows." Tyler shrugged as he took over. "Kathleen Davis disappeared...Never told her story of what went down during her kidnapping, went off radar and disappeared completely. It's said she went into hiding when Carling's trial started." But as the group of people start to shake their heads at one another, it causes Mr. Harris to look confused. "And you guys don't believe that?" He guesses, cocking a brown brow.
Jess shrugs beside me. "You don't spend two whole months with a cannibal and come out normal...Some people think she went nuts and ran back into the woods to live." She nodded seriously.

I roll my eyes by her saying this. It's not as much by what Jessica said, but that the few sophomores around the table nodded their heads in solemn agreement. As if a kidnap victim would lose her mind entirely and retreat to the woods to spend the rest of her life.
"Why did the guy kidnap her?" A random freshman asks.
"No one knows," said Bobby. "Carling never did say what he did to her. Didn't talk to the cops either. Before the trial got a few days into it, he was killed in prison by another inmate. Shivved," he said, jokingly stabbing the nearby Jessica with a plastic fork.
"Settle down," chastised Mr. Harris as Jessica squealed before wrapping Bobby in an embrace, causing people to laugh loudly.
Mr. Harris frowned. "But I'm confused...What does Halloween have to do with anything?"
"It's the day the girl ran out of the woods. She escaped on Halloween night," I replied. That was why her story was popular to relay during the entire Halloween season. It sickly made our small town of Falls Creek popular enough to garner the interest of hundreds of tourists every fall.

Everyone remains quiet. Tyler smirks at the group, sensing the fear from them. "Now, no one goes past old Carling farms without being reminded of the grisly horrors the farm held...And every Halloween night, it's said that you can still hear the screams of the girl running away from the cannibal."
Murmurs take over before a few of the freshmen clapped approvingly. Mr. Harris nods in approval as well, clapping his hands together. "Very nice story, guys. I approve. I mean, I now completely lost my lunch by just even hearing the word cannibalism, but nice story displaying some town history."
Jess laughs. "Greatest town story ever, huh?"
He grimaces. "Most cringe worthy, that's for sure. He pulls himself from his seat to stretch. See you guys on Monday, Happy Halloween!" He made his way back to the faculty table.
Everyone who had gathered around our table was still buzzing animatedly by the time they left. It's understandable. Richard Carling was probably the biggest crime to ever hit the lovely town of Falls Creek, ever. Before then, there had never been a reported burglary let alone a murder in the small town. The investigation into Richard Carling's background discovered that he had a father and two other brothers. They never found them or discovered if they also had an appetite for human flesh. That's the scary part of the story people always seem to forget, myself included.
"I wonder what ever happened to the girl," Jessica murmurs while picking at her salad. I took a bite of my own raspberry vinaigrette coated lettuce and chewed slowly. I had barely noticed who else was seated at our table before Lacey Stewart spoke.
"Easy," she answered Jess. She leaned across the table. "He probably made her cook all the body parts and then clean up the mess afterwards."
"Thanks for that misogynistic image, Lace," I grimace, not feeling up for the rest of my chicken salad now.
"Alright, I gotta get going. See you later Cass," said Tyler, planting a kiss on my unsuspecting lips before hurrying away. I have to resist wiping my mouth from the unwanted contact in front of my friends. That would have garnered unwanted questions about our relationship I didn't feel like answering. It didn't seem like Tyler had even touched his cheeseburger and fries. It almost felt as if he merely wanted to get away from the table to avoid having to interact too much with me. I knew he could tell things were off between us and that I wasn't happy in the relationship. It seemed like he was in the mindset that if he could avoid being around me, he could avoid me ending things.

"And where's he running off to?" Jessica wonders aloud, frowning as Tyler hurried away. She was more perceptive than I had given her credit for.
"I'll...See you guys later, too," said Lacey, soon standing up to adjust her clothing. Her eyeliner was winged on the sides of her cat-like eyes; her light brown hair so straight, there was no way she achieved such a look without a long time of using a flat iron each morning. Even with such perfect straightness, Lacey fixes her hair, and even pushes her bra upwards before taking her tray over to the garbage area. Once she dumps it, Lacey pulls out her phone to check her look with her camera. Part of me felt this confirmed my silent thoughts wondering if she and Tyler were seeing each other behind my back. Lacey had dumped a near untouched salad, apple, and fries into the nearest trash bin. She also headed towards the same exit that Tyler did. I decided not to think too much into it. Did I really care even if they were seeing each other behind my back...?

I gently nibbled by bottom lip.
"Don't know, don't care," I answer Jessica honestly, taking another bite of my salad while trying to forget about the gross aspects of the Carling the Cannibal story.
Jessica frowns, scooting closer so we can't be overheard by Molly Hunter who had come over to take Tyler's seat. She greets us before Courtney Shroder joins her. They start to talk about Cody Siler's party. Jess talks in a low voice. "Everything okay with you guys.... It's not Ben giving you trouble again, is it?"
I cringe ever so slightly remembering that name. How can I not? Ben Fallon and I had been best friends our entire childhood before our falling out earlier this year. It's been six months of not talking. I tilt my head up a tad to look across the cafeteria for the guy the name belongs to. I always know where to find him nowadays, as far away from me as possible. Ben Fallon sits at a table, talking to a boy I recognize from shop class. His back is to me, but I recognize his unruly brown hair instantly.
"Ben and I don't talk anymore," I mutter, more to my food in front of me then to Jess.
"I know you're the good girl who doesn't like confrontation, but your home girl will go hood-rat backwoods on his ass if necessary," said Jessica, sending a loyal glare to Ben's direction. He didn't notice it for he wasn't facing our direction.
Sparing her a small smile, I shake my head. "Seriously, he hasn't done anything. We haven't spoken since prom," I mutter, fighting the stupid hurt feelings that tug at me every time I see Ben or even hear his name.
"Alright," Jessica allows. She takes another bite of her food before looking back to me. "So, there's nothing I can do to convince you to come with me and not babysit rich snobs?"
"Fraid' not."
She sighs. "Fine. Then good luck tonight."
I laugh. "Thanks, but I'm not going to need luck for babysitting."
***