Prompt: The Spectre of death is an unwelcome guest at most holiday, all but all hallow's eve.
This Weeks Writes
Bryan Romero
Emmerson
Immanuel Ibon
Viennaween
Bryan Romero
I’ve been walking with these children for miles now. What feels like miles anyway. They’re telling each other all about what costumes they’re seeing this year. They keep pointing out others that look just like me. Other tall dark clothed beings that look just like me. Following another group of children. They haven’t tried to tell me to go away. They try to get me to talk but I just ignore them.
“Hey you like almond joys? I don’t want them.”
A boy with a long red hair wig reaches a blue wrapper candy towards my face and puts it back when I don’t respond.
“My knee hurts.” The girl next to me says.
“Should we take a rest?”
“No it’s fine. I think walking might help actually.”
“Hey let’s do that house! Across the street.”
They all run across and I maintain my pace.
“Hey come on.” A boy motions at me to hurry up.
There’s 2 boys and 3 girls. They’re all close from what I can tell. Much like any other group of kids out tonight. Something different does make them stand out. They’re all a bit taller than most of the other group of kids. Their voices are much deeper. And they all have phones they use to take pictures and play music.
“Trick or treat!”
“Hello. Oh you have such nice hair!” An old woman touches the wig placed on the boy’s head. “Can I borrow it?” She says, which makes all the kids laugh and the boy shyly laughing and thanking her for her compliment.
“You know I am so glad you kids still go out and trick or treat than go out partying like other kids your age.” She says with a laugh and hands them all candy. The kids just returned shy smiles and thanked her for the candy.
I follow them as they all exchange looks with each other.
“That’s like the fifth house to call us old.”
“Not only that she reminded me I gave up a party to be here.” One of them on her phone said.
“A party in Santa Vista….the same area where a girl got kidnapped.”
“Now you care about my safety? What about him?”
Everyone gave a glance at me.
“He’s the one scaring the kidnappers. And if not Angel will beat him up.”
“UH- Who am I gonna beat up? With this hair? He’s like seven feet tall.”
“You’re the tallest.”
“Denise is the second tallest and plays basketball.”
Denise. The last name I didn’t know. Angel the boy with the wig, Denise the girl who plays basketball, Gio the boy who motioned me, Nadia the girl who missed the party, and Nanette the girl who stopped her from going.
Emerson
Anger is a beast that seeps into the earth and poisons everything
The ghost of the past walks upon the earth and the villagers paint blood on their walls to avoid their entrance, leave food on the doors to appease their spirits, dress in costumes so that nothing otherworldly will recognize them and
And
Death watched Anger burn down everything as Hallow’s Eve waged on. The Pope swore that it would be a day for Saint’s--
(All Saint’s Day, as if the saints weren’t gripped in Death’s embrace)
And that nothing could harm them so long as they prayed
But God is not here to be kind or to receive praise
There is a reason Death is God’s angel
There are no gifts that can make up for the crimes taking place, no words uttered on lips that don’t believe that can appease. All everyone knows is fear for their own mistakes, and act as if the taste of jam and homemade bread will be enough for the lives lost.
Death is here to walk beside Anger, to remind them their true name. As Death walks through the graveyards and collects the souls, rearranging Anger’s body until it is once more grief.
And grief spills out from every pore of their body, making them so, and marking them as a reminder of the crimes of humankind.
In Death hands, children cling, and look up at them
(Death to the dead is such a pretty thing.)
As the night comes to an end, Death wraps their arms around Grief, and the two along with the lost souls look on to the burning village. Where the Pope says to pray to God and they will survive, that the Saints are watching.
(And they are watching, with
Disgust in their eyes.)
Hallow’s Eve draws towards its end with the moon meeting the center of the sky. Midnight whispers away the fear. But Death has one last life to take, and they draw near.
“Your life is over,” Death whispers into his ear, “The children will all remember.”
And the Pope
Falls
To
His
Knees
The crowd screams but
But
The man cannot escape Death’s grasp, will never escape. Death is not pretty to a man that has committed sins greater than any soul he has prosecuted. When he looks upon them he sees the weight of all the sins he has committed and knows
His soul will be dragged to hell.
And the children that burned will walk with Death to heaven, as Grief disappears into the night. As the crowd screams at the fallen men, as spirits run towards the light. And Hallow’s Eve turns into another night.
Immanuel
There is a heavy and piercing silence as Death walks down the street with no scythe clutched in a bony hand. Death is here and everyone is noticing. Death knew that this garb was too wretched even for a holiday dedicated to ghouls and goblins. Death should have opted for something less morbid, less deprived, less… Death, but the damage has been done. They have seen Death now, haunched, starved, and cold - that this celebration is nothing more than a misdirection to lift up a symbol. If Death was to be exalted, then Death must be all-powerful, and if Death is all-powerful, then there is nothing they could do about it. They have forgotten that Death is no master, no king, no conqueror. Death is an obligation. To follow through on the action and inaction of man. And Death is tired. And they continue to silently stare at the figure trudging down the asphalt.
Viennaween
Believe it or not, Death actually takes a holiday. In this world, Death does not come around, knocking at your door during these few times of common celebration. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even New Year’s. However, there is one exception to these rules which is Halloween. A holiday where children will not be the only one’s roaming the streets that night. This is the holiday where Death is prominent; wreaking havoc amongst the people. Overdue deaths that were put on hold until this very day; so many people dropping dead from left to right. For years, the townspeople were mortified of this and caused everyone to stay inside, make sure everyone is safe for no reason for death to come, and make sure their elders are laying in the master bedroom comfortably in case it is their last minutes that day. The ideology behind Halloween has been ruined. It was driven by a different type of fear, aside from the usual fun kind that derives from the spooky holiday. No, this fear was serious, a gut-wrenching, petrifying, paranoia-inducing fear that kept everyone looking over their shoulders and constantly on their toes, waiting for the man...