10 - October 31, 5:30 P.M., 26 seconds - Tammi
"Is it time yet?"
"No,"
"Now?"
"No,"
"What’s today?"
"October 31,"
"Oh goody it’s Halloween and I can go trick-or-treating!"
I watched in vague amusement as my younger brother danced around the kitchen, clapping his hands together.
I rolled my eyes and went back to concentrating to figure out how much time we had left until my father came home, and until we could go trick-or-treating. Every kids favorite part of Halloween. The candy. The one time of year where everybody’s parents let their children run loose like banshees collecting free candy.
In the meanwhile while my brother danced around like some damned idiot, I stood underneath the clock watching every tick of the hand while occasionally tugging on my costume. We were all ready to go out the door it was just that a very important parental unit had to come home.
I looked down at my costume and sighed. It was sort of a last minute choice. I had a decision between a vampire, punk rock star, and a motor race biker. So yesterday I stared at the array of costumes at the party shop in town for about two hours until my mother finally yanked a costume off the rack. Her exact words were along, "Honey you have been standing here for two hours now we are going to buy the costume and you are going to be the happiest little boy on Earth okay?"
Of course I couldn’t argue. I mean she’s my mom. No one argues with her. But I’m happy. Other than the fact that I have to wear these really ugly tight, plastic looking black pants that cut off the circulation in my entire lower region, and I have to wear this huge shield/armor type thing, life’s just peachy.
As I itched my leg I analyzed every tick and tock that came from the clock on the kitchen wall.
October 31, 5:30 P.M., 26 seconds
Suddenly it was just me and the sound of that torturous noise getting louder and louder..
I found myself bathed in a golden glow around me once more as the world I had just encountered faded away from me. I closed my eyes and opened them again and…
"Honey will you please watch where you step?"
I shook my head and blinked. I was outside standing on the sidewalk a street sign just a millimeter away from my face. I looked up to see my mother holding my brother’s hand at the other end of the street.
"Oh sorry mom." I said blankly and walked over carefully to the other end.
She frowned though. "Maybe you should hold my hand." She said uncertainly.
My eyes widened at the thought. "No!" I said sharply. Then I whispered in her ear, "Mom I’m too old to hold your hand!"
Evidently my brother heard me and giggled. "If he’s too old to hold your hand than so am I!" he said clearly.
Mom looked down at him and rolled her eyes. "No, dear you aren’t, now come along."
All Hallows’ E’en
I stopped at the sound of the mysterious voice. Almost sounded like bells.
The night where the deceased come back
Ew deceased? A bunch of old dead people with rotted skin, and eye balls hanging out of their sockets?
For a moment I stood their listening to the voice. It was a soft whisper sound. An enchanting voice that lured you in deeper and deeper until you were trapped in your own little world. Nothing but you and the voice.
It was odd. The voice was so loud yet nobody seemed to hear it but… I gulped and looked around. The noise which had been soft and musical now was getting louder, and louder, and louder until it almost sounded as if.. As if someone was crying. A small child crying.
Why did everyone act as if they couldn’t hear? Were they all deaf. I stared quizzically at the backs of my brother and mother. They didn’t seem to hear anything.
It was almost as if I was in a little room covered by glass windows, isolated from the rest of the world.
I had once read in a book for school that Halloween was the night where the dead came back to haunt beings on earth. Maybe I was being haunted by a ghost! My eyes widened at the thought. Or, maybe I was just paranoid.
Shaking my head of the thought I continued to follow my mother and brother in collecting the sweets.
Walking away from the house I looked up at the streetlight, blinded by the white light.
I watched in curiosity as she walked up to me. Her eyes shone brightly as she took her hand in mine.
I closed and looked away from the harsh light just as the vision flashed from my brain.
Opening my eyes I stepped forward to cross the street. Instead of stepping forward on the street I fell face forward onto the ground.
A bit dazed I looked up. Instead of being sprawled in the middle of the road waiting to be run over by some mad driver, I was lying in the middle of a huge cloud of steam. Sort of like in those haunted houses how they will spray out the steam in your faces. Only this steam looked oddly gold.
Trapped in a gold colored steam, dust, whatever world. I put my hands in front of me in hopes to find somebody. Perhaps my mother or brother would be helpful.
I walked slowly through the gold steam world my footsteps making a soft patting noise as I walked on forward in hopes to find something.
I stopped as my hand touched something. A doorknob. Relieved I twisted the round knob and walked into the room. The steam cleared out of the air as I stepped into a room.
The thick, cream colored carpet cushioned my sneaker covered feet as I entered the cheery room.
The walls were painted a lilac color, with posters of cats and dogs, along with several framed pictures adorned the walls. A small white four post bed with a buttercup yellow bed spread, fluffy morning glory colored pillows with buttercups stitched on.
On both sides of the bed were two windows, moonlight pouring through the lace curtains.
My eyes wandered throughout what seemed to be a little girls room. My pondering eyes stopped at a small girl standing next to a small table holding a tea party set.
She was a pretty little girl about five or six. She had long curly blond hair, crystal blue eyes, and a sweet doll like face.
She was wearing a pair of red coverall dress with a white shirt underneath with a lacy collar. A pair of lacy socks and little red flower patterned house slippers adorned her feet.
She stood by the table, tears falling freely from her eyes. Her rosy mouth turned down in a frown.
"Hello?" I called out meekly.
"You promised." She whispered.
I frowned. "Excuse me?"
"You promised you’d come!" she said louder this time.
I winced and jumped a little. "I promised what?" I was appalled.
What was going on? I was terribly confused.
"You always promise but you never do!" she bawled, her tiny hands clenched in tight fists. She was stomping her foot down with every syllable and her face was bright red.
"Who are you?" I asked my voice wavering.
I immediately sensed something was terribly wrong the moment the words escaped my mouth.
The girl stopped crying her red rimmed eyes looking intently into my own eyes. She stopped sniffling and rubbed her small fists in her eyes.
I felt pity for this girl. Someone. Obviously someone who meant a lot to her had broken her little heart.
I opened my mouth to say something until I saw her lift up her head.
And we stared. For what seemed like an eternity her stare penetrated my eyes until I blinked..
CRASH!
"Oh no, mom!"
"What is it dear?"
"Ike, fell out of the plum tree!"
"He did what?" My mother ran out of the house and raced towards my side.
I winced in pain as I attempted to sit up. Failing I collapsed back down to the ground and closed my eyes.
Opening them again I saw that my brothers and my mother were crowding me.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Zac asked.
Taylor just rolled his eyes and smacked him upside the head.
"Ow! Mom he hit me!" Zac cried.
My mother ignore him and placed her hand on my cheek.
"Zac, Taylor get your father now!" I heard her say before I closed my eyes and blacked out again.
"It’s a pretty bad sprain. It’s fortunate he didn’t break it." I heard the doctor tell my parents in the other room.
"He’ll have to be on crutches for at least two and a half weeks."
I sighed and looked down at the ACE band aid wrapped around my ankle.
Aimlessly I looked around the room as I swung my good leg back and forth out and under the bed I was sitting on.
I was feeling very sad for some reason. For some odd reason I felt upset.
I didn’t know why, I just did.
Bored out of my mind and the pain in my ankle dulling with the painkillers I had taken I searched the room for a clock.
I spotted it right next to the calendar behind me.
October 31, 1994 5:30 P.M., 26 seconds
"What the hell?"
How could it have been 1994? It had been 1987 just a few hours ago. A few hours ago I had been trick-or-treating in my neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. A few hours ago I was still six years old not thirteen.
Now I was in Dr. Robert Hammond’s office in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a sprained ankle.
Confused I slowly slid off the bed and hobbled over to the mirror. I expected to see the face of a little six year old boy’s face. I looked in the mirror and saw someone completely unrecognizable from the face I was so used to seeing every day. It was so unfamiliar, yet so familiar in a deranged kind of way.
"Isaac, honey are you okay?" my mom asked.
I turned around, a scared look on my face. "I-I-I-I’m so old!" I stuttered.
"Doctor are you sure you gave him painkillers?" my father asked a wary of concern in his voice.
I turned around and looked back at the mirror. Bright lights reflecting off the glass blinded me with harsh white light. Blinded by the light I closed my eyes.
The fresh scent of wet grass and a different array of plants reached my nose. Inhaling I opened my eyes. I gulped. Why was I here? Why did this keep happening? I looked down at my wrist watch and almost fainted. The date was 10-31-66 5:30 P.M. 26 seconds.
Putting my hand down I found myself in the woods. The afternoon sun beat down on me as I searched the woods for a way out.
"Ike!"
I turned around to see two barely visible figures standing in a clearing of what seemed like a road. Two very familiar voices. They had called me Ike. When had everyone stopped calling me Clarke?
"Tay? Zac?" I called.
I soon noticed I was walking down a hill. Since when were there hills like these in Tulsa?
A rustle in the woods startled me for a second.
"Hello?" why did that sound so familiar?
I turned around in circles trying to possibly locate where the voice was coming from.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" I called again.
Someone was giggling and running. "Hello? Come out please this isn’t funny!" I cried flailing my arms in the air.
"Hello,"
I twirled around at the sound of the mystery voice.
Standing half hidden by the bushes and trees stood possibly the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on before.
"Um,-uh-I-I-hello." I stammered.
"Yeah, well could you possibly point me to wherever in hell the road is?" she asked.
It took me awhile to focus what she was telling me. She looked as if she was dressed for Halloween. A pair of shiny green short shorts.
Very short shorts. A pair of knee high black boots adorned her feet, with a turtle neck cream colored tank top. Her long slightly curled auburn hair was half way pulled back with a green silk ribbon, a pair of cat eye sunglasses on top of her head.
"Uh well," I frantically looked around to where I last saw the road. Well it looks as if we’re both lost." I said.
The girl sighed. "Great, I swear never let your friends dare you on Halloween to go all the way to Hollywood Hills and then get yourself lost." She said.
I gulped. "Hollywood Hills?" why did the name ring a bell?
She turned to me and looked at me strangely with her ocean blue eyes.
"Yeah, you know Hollywood as in California?" she said slowly.
I shook my head. "Oh yeah of course!" I shook my head in confusion.
"Oh sorry my name’s Emily." She stuck her hand out.
"Isaac." I shook her hand.
"So Isaac, what got you lost up here in Hollywood?" Emily asked as we both sat down.
I shrugged. "I don’t really remember, I was playing with my brothers and then the next moment I’m here." I said perplexed.
Emily nodded as if she heard that every day. "I know exactly how you feel, by the way how old are you?" she asked.
I was amazed at how someone could jump from subject to another so quickly. "Um six- I mean I’ll be sixteen next month."
Why had I said that? Maybe because only hours before I was still six years old?
"Really? Damn your lucky, I won’t be sixteen until next March." She said wistfully.
I nodded. "My brother’s birthday is in March he’ll be fourteen."
"Oh by the way you wouldn’t have happened to run into two boys about eleven and thirteen with long blond hair acting like banshees?" I asked.
Emily shook her head. "Nope, sorry, I’m guessing those banshees you’re talking about are your brothers’?" she asked.
I smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah they’re a hassle to look after, it sucks to be the oldest sometimes."
"I know what you mean, I have a bratty younger sister, I promised her I would play tea party with her before she went trick-or-treating." she said.
It seemed as if I knew her so well. Like I had met her so long ago.
Emily stood up and brushed the dirt off her shorts. "Hmm well it’s getting kind of late, I might as well start looking for a way out." she said.
I stood up also and nodded. "Yeah I better find my brother’s or else my parents will have a cow because we’re missing dinner."
For a few moments we stood in awkward silence. I put my head down and stared at the ground.
"Isaac?"
I lifted my head. "Yeah?"
I watched in curiosity as she walked up to me. Her eyes shone brightly as she took her hand in mine. She leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips.
I could feel my face flush and turn bright red when we pulled apart.
"Good luck in finding your brothers’." she said her cheeks turning a rosy pink color as she walked away from me.
"Yeah thanks," I called.
She kept walking away never breaking away our eye contact from each other. We finally turned away from each other.
"Oh and Isaac?"
I turned around maybe a little too fast. "Yeah?"
Emily smiled. "Just remember it’s the ones we love the most that we hurt the most." And she was gone.
What and odd thing to say. Whatever did it mean?
I followed her until I finally caught sight of the road.
She stepped out of the dusty road just as a car came speeding her way.
"EMILY!" I screamed.
I remember replaying the scene over and over in my head. Her body came in contact with the front of the car and then her body was flying through the air and then I closed my eyes and opened them again and she was gone.
The car was gone and her body was gone.
Confused I ran out to the road and walked around where her body had laid.
No blood no nothing on the road. I frowned. Could I have imagined the entire thing? Then I felt something in my hand. Opening my palm I saw a silk green ribbon with those words written on in black ink.
Just remember it’s the ones we love the most that we hurt the most
-Emily Logan
"Ike!"
I turned to see Taylor and Zac running towards me.
"Ike where have you been, mom and dad are going spastic right now!" Taylor exclaimed.
I only nodded. "It can’t be that late." I muttered as I looked down at my watch.
10-31-96 5:30 P.M., 26 seconds
"Ike?"
I looked up to see Taylor and Zac staring at me.
"Yeah?" I asked nonchalantly.
"We’re going out are you going to come along?" Tay asked.
"Either that or get candy duty." Zac chimed.
I shook my head. I was holding my guitar and we were downstairs practicing yet something so important was nagging at the back of my head.
"Just remember it’s the ones we love the most that we hurt the most."
Who had said that again? It had only seemed like seconds ago someone had told me those words.
I shook my head no. "Uh I’ll pass tonight, I have something to do."
They shrugged. "Okay whatever, have fun passing out candy!" Zac called as they left the house.
Racing upstairs I ran up towards my old bedroom and pulled out what I was looking for.
An old scrapbook filled with different memoirs of my childhood. I flipped to the middle of the book and pulled out an old photocopied newspaper article.
The date read 11-01-1966
I quickly scanned the article for some significance of what I was looking for.
The article was about the tragic death of a fifteen year old girl named Emily Logan who had been wandering around the hills of Hollywood Hills when she had been hit by a drunk driver on Halloween.
My fingers brushed the picture of the dead girl. Her black and white face staring up at me.
Then I fingered the now old and worn green silk ribbon.
Yet the words still imprinted on.
Putting the scrapbook away I headed down the hallway to her room.
Opening the door I saw a little girl about six years old with long curly blond hair and crystal blue eyes, and a sweet doll like face.
She was wearing a pair of red coverall dress with a white shirt underneath with a lacy collar. A pair of lacy socks and little red flower patterned house slippers adorned her feet.
The thick, cream colored carpet cushioned my sneaker covered feet as I entered the cheery room.
The walls were painted a lilac color, with posters of cats and dogs, along with several framed pictures adorned the walls. A small white four post bed with a buttercup yellow bed spread, fluffy morning glory colored pillows with buttercups stitched on.
On both sides of the bed were two windows, the late afternoon sunlight shining through the lace curtains.
My eyes wandered to a small table set up for a tea party. She stood by the table, a bright smile on her face her eyes shining.
"You remembered!" she exclaimed as she ran over to hug me.
"Of course I remembered." I laughed as I hugged Zoe.
"Come on we’re all ready for you to start the tea party!" she said happily as she dragged me over to table and pointed for me to sit down in one of the impossibly small chairs.
"Um you know what Zoey I’ll just sit on the floor." I said as I pushed the chair out of the way and plopped down on the ground.
"Okay, would you like sugar and cream with your tea?" she asked me innocently as she held up the plastic sugar bowl.
"I’d love to have sugar and cream in my tea, especially tea with such a lovely young lady such as yourself!" I said in my fake mock upper class British accent.
Zoe giggled as she poured the imaginary tea in the small cups.
I smiled as I took a small sip.
All Hallows’ E’en the night where the deceased come back.
I looked over and glanced at the clock on the wall next to the calendar.
October 31, 2005, 5:30 P.M., 26 seconds
Next
Previous
Archives