The silver moonlight shimmered upon the roofs of the cottages and terraced homes that made up a large quantity of the village hidden amongst the grassy hills. The shadows wrapped around the homes, obscuring the light as best as they could as they cradled their unsuspecting prey. Amber and gold light shone around the windows of the cosy nooks they called homes, the calls of voices, both young and old, swirling around their little world hidden away from everyone else on the planet.
With little technological advancements, I had to make sure that my spacecraft was out of reach of the townsfolk. Thankfully, when I made a sweep of the map of the planet, I found that the landscape was mostly culminated of fields of green that stretched for miles, hills and mountains surrounding the little villages that were dotted around and kept away from one another. It wouldn't have surprised me if any of them didn't know of their counterparts.
It took me the best part of half an hour to get to the top of one grassy hill where I had parked my ship to the other that overlooked the town. Now, it seemed I was in for another half hour of my feet begging me to stop walking. Yet, I was used to my job taking me from one place to the next, least of all having to travel on foot for part of the journey.
Inside of the town, the voices called louder, stalls surrounding the middle where the houses circled inwards. Stalls were set up with various handmade dolls of vampires, witches, werewolves and the like. There were a few serving pumpkin juice and pumpkin pie along with other assortments. Some stalls there were people crafting pumpkins and stirring barrels of butter and milk.
Children swirled around, running through the throngs of people that stood by dummies being hung by ropes wrapped around their necks. They were designed to look like witches who had been placed on trial with paper mâché warts stuck onto the stuffed sacks that were their heads and straw used for their hair. Though their faces were disturbing to look at, as though they were staring into your soul, it seemed to attract many a citizen who jeered and threw rotten food at the dummies as though re-enacting previous traditions.
As the night began to end, the silver moon was cast into shadow, blood red flickers jutting out at odd places. Everyone gathered in a circle in the middle of the festivities, even those running the stall. An ominous chant echoed around the village as the church bell called midnight onto the next day.
Whilst the bell clanged, spectres made of smoke and mist flew out of the ground and into the air, screaming and wailing above the chanting. They went through some of the citizens before continuing their upward pursuit for salvation. Then the clanging ceased and so did the chanting, the village becoming quiet once more.
Word count = 496 words
Written for the BeyondSol prompt for the Halloween Vault 3D.
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Spookerella | Horror Short Stories
Horror- Created for the Halloween Vault contests hosted by Wattpad - On Halloween, things always go bump in the night in the lonely pages of Spookerella. Whilst the dead wander the earth, haunting those still among the living, Spookerella waits for a fool...
