Found... Before the Beginning
A lot of things could have happened differently, we know that now. But then what could we have done?...
We only had experience as one very weird teacher, and experience as we know... Rings no warning bells...
Night time around Moha town is usually very quiet. Being quite a small town where almost everyone knew everyone, one was likely to find little or no major activities going on once dusk fully settled in.
That fateful night was no different. Apart from a few friendly visits which had happened to somehow last long into the evening, almost everywhere in Moha was quiet...
Except the cemetery... Where he had worked...
George was one of the few persons who didn't seem to fit in at Moha at first. Being a terrible introvert, he was always at odds with the family atmosphere which the town breathed. That was until he became the town's mortician. And George did truly love his work, almost too much...
That night the stereo in his work space blasted away with country songs from Kenny Rogers' Eyes That See in the Dark album. And according to the story, if you were within fifty yards of there that night, you were certain to have heard George whistling along to the various tunes old man Kenny steadily dished out.
With a completely nude, clean, yet lifeless old lady as his only physical human company, George seemed perfectly satisfied with his evening. With practiced gloved hands, he went about his job with comfortable dexterity. All in all, nothing about that night looked or felt out of place. Nothing at all...
Until the lights across all of Moha went out...
At first nonplussed about the power failure, George reached out for his flashlight. Only to find it wasn't there, where he thought it should have been. Then he felt his way to the emergency power switch, only to flip it and find no power forthcoming. That was when it hit him; the stereo didn't stop playing.
George's first assumption was that it was probably a joke being played on him. One which he wasn't finding funny in the least. He adjusted his glasses, though quite useless in the darkness, and he slowly made his way back to his work table.
"Hello..."
Kenny Rogers was the only voice that came close to offering a response.
"Anyone there...?"
Beginning to panic, George made his way to the stereo in the darkness, and fumbled around for the stop button. Then on finding it, he pushed...
Buried Treasure blared on...
He pushed again...
And again, and again...
Then he smashed it on the floor...
But the music wouldn't stop. What was hitherto his only soothing auditory company, had turned into his nightmare...
If only he could see something, anything. Just a tiny bit of light would restore some of his sanity at least.
So George again felt his way out of that strange room. Step after slow step he navigated the darkness, and finally he came out into the light of the night. Only it wasn't the light he had envisaged...
He recognized each and every one of them, even without their faces. In the thirteen years he had called Moha home, he had attended to every inch of every one of their bodies, and he knew them on sight. Only that he had known them to be dead, lifeless. Now they seemed to be anything but...
Their hands hung limp by their sides, and their clothes were crispy clean, just as he had dressed them. But their heads, their heads were empty. Literally...
They had round holes for eyes, triangular ones for nostrils, and the most gory shaped hollows for mouths. And bright orange lights shone from the emptiness that were their heads...
Just like Jack-o'-lanterns...
They all came alive...
No one saw or heard from George again after that night. And no one ever found out where all the bodies went.
And the story? We heard it over that smashed old stereo. Yes, it was still playing when the first of us arrived at the scene the next morning. At least that was what I was told...
But this I know, that every year since that night, on exactly this date, one little boy in Moha goes missing. And tonight I intend to uncover the mystery behind it all...
Written for @mctiller's Twenty Four Hour Short Story Contest and @calluna's Tell me a story
Buh I just may be submitting for mctiller's alone....
Just aint scary enough yet...
I love the Kenny Rogers detail. Nice touch.
Thanks. I love his songs.
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Nice- well done :)