For October and the haunted holiday it brings, I thought it would be fun to tell some creepy tales. Keep coming back for more frights all month long.

< Part 2 or < Start from the beginning

Here’s part 3, the conclusion of the original story, entitled Trick or Treat:

Dennis looked down at the cleaver in his ribs. He hadn’t moved from the chair when Mrs. Jenkins came toward him. He just couldn’t believe this old woman would actually hurt him. He kept waiting for her to stop and cackle at the morbid prank, but she cut into him like a side of beef, only without the butcher’s grace. She’d snapped through several ribs and into his lung. Dennis was breathing erratically, the pain distanced through the shock of it all.

Michael was still shouting from the other room. “Dad! Help!”

“I expected more blood,” said Mrs. Jenkins, standing back to admire her work, waiting for Dennis to pass out or die.

Michael rattled the cage. Bobby Leatherface had shoved him in when they first reached the room. There was no candy. He would have taken Circus Peanuts had Michael known this was the alternative. His friend Melissa whimpered a cage over, her hope of rescue gone.

“Don’t worry Melissa, my Dad will help.” Melissa looked at Michael with disbelief and wet cheeks. “Or I will,” he said. Then the doorbell rang.

“Grandma?” Bobby shouted. “Should I answer?”

“Go ahead, dear!” she shouted from the kitchen. “We can do a few more.”

The old woman put her foot on the seat of the chair between Dennis’ knees and gripped the cleaver with both hands. When she pulled it, the bones crackled. Dennis groaned, dropping his fake vampire teeth to the kitchen floor. He was pale and sweating, and his head moved around like he was on a jarring amusement park ride.

Bobby lugged his chainsaw to the front door to greet the Trick or Treaters. He liked caging them and cutting them into bits, but the fear in their eyes when he first opened the door was his favorite part. There were no kids this time though. Just someone in a Mary Poppins wolf costume. Strange combo.

“I believe my husband and son are here,” Jo said, drool falling from her enlarged teeth. She scratched behind her long ear and tugged at her dress. It had ripped when she gave over to the change, but held uncomfortably tight in a few places.

“Mom, is that you?” Michael called from the dining room just off the hall.

Jo snarled and Leatherface stepped back, reaching for the cord on his chainsaw. Before he could pull it, Jo pounced, sinking her teeth into his shoulder, her paw forcing his head to the side with strength and speed enough to snap his neck.

“I don’t understand,” said Mrs. Jenkins, holding the cleaver to her side. “You should be gushing blood.”

Dennis stopped moving his head and smiled. Mrs. Jenkins looked to the ground. His costume teeth were there on the floor and yet he had a second set in his mouth.

“I just haven’t drank in awhile,” he said, floating out of his chair. He grabbed Mrs. Jenkins by the head. Too entranced to struggle, he pierced her neck with his fangs. Without a proper seal, taking blood from someone sounded like uncouth soup tasting, all slurps and bubbles. He put his lips tight on her loosened skin and drank her in.

Leaving the shell of Mrs. Jenkins in the kitchen, Dennis met his wife in the dining room. They helped each other wipe blood from their mouths. “You were right about Mrs. Jenkins,” he said. ” She was crazy.”

“I’m taking Michael out next year,” she said, her tail twitching behind her.

“This isn’t my fault, Jo.” She growled and Dennis quieted.

“Hi mom,” Michael said from within the cage, his Optimus Prime costume torn and dangling in pieces.

Jo grabbed the bars and spread her feet. “Scoot back. I’ll get you out.”

“Awww, can I do it?” Michael asked.

Jo glanced over at Melissa, the only witness to the monster attacks and gruesome murders. Melissa just stared, a hollow emptiness behind her eyes. Jo let go of the cage and stepped back.

“Ok, fine. I think this girl can’t see anything more shocking than she already has.”

“Cool!” Michael cheered, then he contorted his body into a snake and he slithered out the cage and onto the floor. His transformer costume and clothes stayed behind. Centering himself on Melissa, he shifted into a gorilla, tearing off her cage door. With obvious apprehension, she took his furry hand and stepped out from her tiny prison.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

The gorilla, werewolf, and vampire smiled at the girl and she screamed.

“Now she screams?” Dennis asked after Melissa ran from the house.

“Do you want to go talk to her, honey?” Michael’s mother asked.

“Umm, maybe tomorrow,” he said. “If I change back now I’ll be naked. Do I still get to eat candy when we get home?”

Dennis looked at his wife. When she wasn’t baring her teeth she was just an adorably large dog, but she loathed being petted. He swished his cape around and hissed. “Let us return home,” he said in his best Dracula, “my creatures of the night.”

“No more candy,” Jo said.

“Awww.”

“Let’s go for ice cream instead,” she said.

“Alright!” Michael said, clapping his gorilla hands together. “Should we go home and change first?” Dennis and his son looked to Jo.

“No,” she said, grinning so big her tongue wagged out the side. “It’s still Halloween. Let’s go have some fun.”

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