The Deed Is Done

by Ronald Schulte

Part 1 appears in this issue.

conclusion

As his eyes adjusted, Charlie realized that there were more unmasked individuals lining the clearing. To Charlie’s immediate left was a witch, complete with dark robes and a traditional-looking witch’s hat. Her broom was wedged between a pair of saplings just behind her. Further away, Charlie could see a skeleton with yellowing bones, fully intact except for its lower jaw and a couple of rib bones. At the far end of the clearing, Charlie could just make out an enormous spider attached to the trunk of a large maple tree. And there were many, many others that Charlie couldn’t even begin to describe.

The entire group of unmasked figures stood in a rough semi-circle, staring expectantly at Charlie.

Charlie was plenty scared now.

Charlie’s guide, perhaps sensing his terror, tugged Charlie gently by the sleeve. Charlie glanced over; the guide made a downward gesture with his hands that Charlie interpreted as “calm down,” then pointed at Charlie’s sack and waved to the assembly of masked individuals.

Now it was Charlie’s turn to be shocked.

“They want my candy?”

A low rumble of laughter flowed through the crowd.

Charlie’s guide shook his head vigorously from side to side. He knelt down and picked up a small rock from the ground, then opened his own sack and dropped the rock into the sack. He pointed again at Charlie’s sack, then waved to the crowd.

“They want me to... trick-or-treat?” asked Charlie.

Charlie’s guide gave him a thumb’s up. Charlie was relieved to see that he actually had thumbs.

By now the other masked kids had resumed their own activities. Charlie watched them walk from one unmasked creature to the next, pausing at each station to open their sack. Charlie couldn’t see what kind of candy the creatures were handing out.

To Charlie’s right the horned creature beckoned. Charlie glanced at his guide uncertainly. The guide gestured toward Charlie’s head, but Charlie had no idea what the kid wanted.

“I don’t understand,” said Charlie.

The guide walked over to Charlie. He gently grabbed Charlie’s mask, removed it, and handed it to Charlie. He pointed at Charlie’s face, then at the other kids. And then Charlie got it. His own face was more similar to their masks than his mask was. It was almost as if the faces on their masks were meant to look... human.

The guide backed away and nodded. Charlie shoved the mask into his sack, took a deep breath, and walked toward the horned creature. He stopped a few feet away and cleared his throat.

“Trick or treat?” Charlie croaked.

The creature held out a small bowl. The bowl did not contain candy.

No, the bowl contained something wriggly. Charlie jumped back a little, thinking at first that they were snakes, but upon closer inspection he realized they were just earthworms.

Charlie noticed suddenly that his guide was standing next to him with his own sack extended. The tall creature grabbed a small fistful of the writhing worms and tossed them into the guide’s sack. The guide bowed toward the creature, then moved on down the line to the next unmasked creature.

Before Charlie could object, the creature had tossed a nice handful of worms into his own sack. Oh no! The candy! Charlie started reaching into the bag to remove the nasty things, but thought better of it when the creature emitted a low growl. Instead Charlie mimicked the movements of his guide before him, bowing before quickly moving on to the next station.

The next unmasked figure was also bipedal, but very hunched over. A long white beard protruded downward from its wrinkled chin. Charlie walked up and held out his bag, but the figure just cocked its head to the side and stared at Charlie. Charlie stood there awkwardly for a moment before he realized his error.

“Oh right. Trick or treat!” exclaimed Charlie with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

The figure nodded and held out a tray of apples. They were quite rotten, of course, but Charlie considered them to be a considerable step up from the worms. Charlie grabbed one of the smaller apples, then bowed and continued down the line.

The remaining stops were similar. Some of the items he received — mushrooms, berries, tree bark he recognized but couldn’t name — didn’t gross him out too much. Other things — maggots, entrails from some sort of small animal, a pile of nasty ooze that Charlie hoped was just mucus and not something worse — made him want to barf. The live frogs were okay, the dead ones less so.

Charlie worked his way around the semi-circle, and his bag became noticeably heavier. Eventually he found himself standing in front of the witch he’d noticed near the very start. She was the only unmasked creature he hadn’t approached; his last stop.

“Trick or treat,” said Charlie. He held out his bag.

The witch reached into a black pouch at her side, produced three objects, and handed them to Charlie. The first object was a folded sheet of yellowed paper. The second was a dark cape, dirty and ripped in several spots. The third was a pair of plastic vampire teeth. The cape and teeth looked very familiar.

The teeth were stained red.

Charlie turned the cape inside out and looked at the tag. By the glow of the masks, Charlie was able to make out the initials written on the tag in black sharpie.

JEF.

Jacob Eric Frye.

With a feeling of foreboding, Charlie unfolded the sheet of paper. He could just make out the words written on the page.

Your wish has been granted. The deed is done.

Charlie glanced up at the witch. She nodded, then drew her finger across her throat in a gesture everyone understands.

“No, you don’t understand! I didn’t want him dead, not really! I was just pissed!” shouted Charlie.

The witch shrugged.

“Where is he? WHERE?!” shouted Charlie.

The witch pointed back in the direction from which he had approached earlier with his guide.

“Take me to him!” demanded Charlie, turning back to his guide. The guide made a noise that sounded too much to Charlie like a stifled laugh; Charlie swung the bag at the kid’s head. The kid ducked and held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“NOW!” shouted Charlie.

The guide glanced at the witch, who nodded in return. He started walking, glancing back after a few steps. Charlie gritted his teeth and followed.

The guide weaved a meandering path around the holes in the ground, just as it had done earlier. Charlie followed. At some point he’d started crying. He muffled his sobs, wiped his nose on his sleeve. It wasn’t fair! They had no right! He’d been abandoned in the dark; was it so wrong to yell out angry things? He wanted to pound Jake’s face, spit on him, kick him in the balls — yeah, PISSED!. But Jake was still his brother; Charlie would never wish him dead.

These — whatever they were — had murdered his brother.

The guide stopped so suddenly that Charlie almost ran him over. The creature glanced over its shoulder at Charlie, then pointed toward the ground in front of them. By the light of the creature’s mask, Charlie could see that they were standing on the edge of one of those strange holes.

At the bottom of that hole, about six feet down, was a body.

“Jake!”

Charlie shoved his guide out of the way, jumped down into the hole, and scrambled over to the body. It was lying face down. Charlie tried to flip the body onto its back but he couldn’t make it budge. Cursing in frustration, Charlie got down on his hands and knees, facing the body. He planted his feet on the wall of the hole and gently lifted the body’s right arm so he could wedge his own shoulder underneath.

With a shout of determination, Charlie pushed.

The body flipped over much more easily than Charlie had expected; adrenaline was a powerful ally. Charlie lost his balance and ended up sprawled out perpendicularly across the body. He just stayed there, eyes closed, utterly spent, weeping silently against his brother’s chest.

* * *

When Charlie finally opened his eyes, it was much darker. The glowing mask was gone; at some point, Charlie’s guide had abandoned him. Just like Jake had. Now Jake was dead. Charlie guessed he’d probably die out here. He should have been terrified, but he was too tired for that.

A flashlight switched on.

Jake’s eyes were open, and he was grinning.

Charlie scrambled away, confused and terrified.

“Relax, man! It’s just me!” said Jake as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. “Say, got any worms?”

Charlie opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Instead, he lunged forward and punched Jake in the stomach. Jake doubled over onto his side, holding his stomach in pain.

“You little booger,” croaked Jake.

Charlie couldn’t believe it. It was his brother, all right, and he was alive. Charlie sat down next to Jake. Jake put his arm around Charlie and knuckled his skull.

“You were so brave, Charlie! You should have seen me when I first met them. I cried like a little baby!” laughed Jake.

“Why did you leave me?” asked Charlie.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Jake with a slight wince. “They like to know that you can handle the fear before seeing them for the first time. It’s part of the initiation process.”

“There was blood on your vampire teeth. I really thought you were dead,” said Charlie quietly, handing Jake the cape and teeth from his sack. There were a few worms clinging to the cape. Neither Jake nor Charlie noticed.

“Blood? Nah, that’s not blood. That’s candy!” laughed Jake, pulling a cinnamon treat from his pocket and popping it into his mouth. “See? Turns your mouth red!”

Charlie punched Jake in the shoulder, nearly causing him to choke on the candy. Almost even.

“So... you were in on this? With... them?” asked Charlie.

“Yep,” said Jake, rubbing his shoulder.

Charlie swatted Jake in the head with his sack. He heard a big splat, followed by a slightly pained croak, as the sack struck Jake in his left ear. Jake wiped away some slime that had apparently leaked through the sack.

“Are you done now?” asked Jake with a smile.

“Yes,” said Charlie. Even. “Who... what are they?”

“I don’t really know. Andy’s older brother told me they’re an incarnation of fear that only appears in our realm around Halloween, when the fear is good and concentrated. I have no idea what that means. But I do know that they’re just as terrified of us — of people, I mean — as we are of them. On Halloween, they dress up like us. Like trick-or-treating in reverse. Weird, huh?”

Charlie thought this over, nodding slowly. Still, something bothered him.

“If they are so scared of us, why did they help you trick me? Why do they want us trick-or-treating with their kids?”

“It’s sort of like... they want to face their fears, you know? The longer they go without seeing people, the scarier people seem. Rumors start, stories get exaggerated, all of a sudden we’re these strange, fearsome creatures. But by bringing a few of us around once a year, their kids get used to us, and their fears go away... for a little while anyway.”

Charlie thought for a second, then smiled.

“We should do the same with their kids,” said Charlie. “Invite some of them to trick-or-treat, side by side, with us.”

“Interesting idea,” said Jake with a wink.

“Arrr, check out the cute siblings!” shouted a pirate.

Charlie glanced up. Jake’s friends from earlier were arranged around the edge of the hole, staring down: A pirate, a ninja, a wizard, and a ghost.

The ghost had no legs.