After my first flash fiction horror contest, I received a request to share Yvette’s horror story.
I have gotten Yvette’s permission to publish her winning entry on my blog. Her familiar characters Doth and Justin never cease to make me laugh.
Without further ado here enjoy Doth and Justin trick or treating!
Justin and Doth – Halloween
By Yvette Davis
“This place is creepy.” The little fart had of course picked the only house on a deserted un-lit street to go trick-or-treating.
Doth turned his head and flashed a mouthful of misshapen teeth. “I know! Isn’t it great?”
The door creaked, then rattled on its hinges as a luminous bluish-green fog seeped around the frame. Justin’s hand hovered over Doth’s shoulder, ready to pull him back. Before he could decide, the door burst open.
Black. Fathomless. Formless. Sinister. The being in front of them was no human, no angel, and no demon that Justin knew. Demons at least had arms and legs. This smoky form oozed warnings of sure death. Justin feared if he gazed at it too long, it might just eat his tattered soul. His hand squeezed Doth’s shoulder and tugged. “Come on.”
Doth refused to budge.
“What’s my name?” the entity roared, its voice rough as broken glass and razor blades.
An idiotic grin lit up Doth’s face and Justin’s insides turned to jelly.
Oh no…
“Rumpelstiltskin?” he chirped.
“NOOOO!” the beast bellowed, its form shimmering and growing larger by the second. “Try again.”
Justin wracked his brain but couldn’t come up with a viable answer to get them the hell out of there. He had the bad feeling that once three tries were up, they’d be toast anyway. Burnt toast. He grasped both Doth’s shoulders and pulled him onto the step below. “Let’s go. Now!”
Doth flapped his hands, waving away his concerns like they were as airy as cotton candy. “Just a second. I think I know this. I can do this…”
“Doth! Damn it. Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Name!” the creature howled. “Name!”
Justin gritted his teeth as Doth’s toes tapped a staccato rhythm of annoyance on the cement step.
“Oh, come on, Mr. Beasty. Can’t you at last give us a hint? What are you scared of?”
Time stood still and began to smell a lot like sweat. Justin’s hands shook as he yanked Doth down another step. “Doth, we have to get out of here. I mean it.”
“It’s okay,” Doth whispered back. “He likes us, he’s just playing.”
“Like a cat plays with a mouse.”
“Tsk.”
A form coalesced within the haze. A chubby goblin-green head glowed, hovering over a body impaled by a long spear. Where the spear rent the flesh, images of murder and mayhem swirled in the fog. Within, floating faces hissed, laughed, and beckoned – cajoling them to join. Justin had a terrible thought. Was this what happened to those who guessed wrong?
“Howard Wells,” Doth blurted out. “That’s it. That’s who you are.”
“Noooooooo!” The house shook on its foundation. A blinding green beam shot from the dark mass, burst through the roof and shone halfway to Mars. Pieces of house rained down around them. “I am not Howard Wells!”
Justin barely stifled a hysterical scream. Another guess gone, a few seconds closer to death.
