AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As they neared a turn in the path, they entered a brief patch of darkness and fog. Once around the bend, the sky lit up with jack-o-lanterns of all shapes and sizes hanging from the bare tree limbs. Octavius had seen it in daylight, and even then, it had been impressive, but at night, now this was beauty.
“Wow…that’s a lot of pumpkins,” Turney gasped in awe. The zombie’s gaze remained fixed on the trees as they continued to walk.
“I think the total came in close to five hundred.”
The zombie’s head snapped in his direction, eyes wide. “Five hundred?!”
“Well, five hundred here. There are of course more around and throughout the house. It’s a pity that I don’t get tricker-or-treaters out here. I’m sure they’d have so much fun walking through the woods to get candy from various costumed actors. Like, they could start at my house and then walk through the woods to get more candy from Scarlett’s…it would be so much fun!”
While the thought of candy was painful…the idea of giving it out to children sounded like a lot of fun—like something he’d enjoy thoroughly.
“I mean, you could always advertise and sell tickets. People would pay for this type of stuff. Though you’d have to remove the spells. They are a bit too realistic to keep up without humans asking questions.”
Eh, Turney had a point. The costumes and real decorations would be fine, but the spells…they would probably get him into trouble with the reapers. Though, depending on the ages of the children, he may need to have multiple days based on age, and switch out actors and costumes. Wouldn’t be good to emotionally scar some children...
But oh, what a great idea—a haunted Halloween candy walk! At least someone would get candy, even if it wasn’t him!
“I don’t need to sell tickets, as I don’t need the money. But maybe I could advertise multiple free haunted Halloween walks with candy for kids,” Octavius said with a happy hum, before quickly adding, “Not actually on Halloween, though. Cause that’s my party day. But maybe a few days before. Then I could add the spells after the children leave.”
“Maybe… Why are they in the trees?”
Octavius blinked in confusion. “Why are what in the trees?”
“The pumpkins, Octavius?” Turney chuckled. “Why are the pumpkins in the trees?”
“The reason is simple. It’s because they look so cool up there!” He eyed the jack-o-lanterns, just looking at them made him smile.
“Right…how silly of me to not realize. Isn’t that a fire hazard?”
Octavius laughed. “No worries, it’s just some super bright and fancy fake tealights. There are no real candles inside. The flickering fooled you, right?”
“A bit. Good to know that you won’t accidentally be setting the forest on fire.”
Yeah, been there done that. Octavius had learned his lesson. Candles in trees were a no-no. They turned another bend and Scarlett’s home came into sight.
Turney gasped. “When the hell did you have time? This was not decorated when I left like four hours ago.”
Octavius smiled brightly as they approached the house. “I have my ways,” he said with a giggle.
There were jack-o-lanterns lining the path to Scarlett’s front door—up both of her sets of staircases. Webs were placed on top of the pumpkins. Well, spiderwebs were pretty much everywhere now. They spun down from the roof, hanging intricately while also covering the roof itself. Giant black spiders, along with others of various sizes, were placed all around, with lights under the webs to illuminate them. The bushes were also covered in spiderwebs and strings of lights.
On the lower part of the house were silhouettes of a dead forest, with glowing eyes peeking through the branches. In front of the vinyl trees were actual physical fake trees, creating a mini forest to the right and left side of the house. These were also covered in spiderwebs. Of the windows you could see still, those on the upper floor looked as if they had been shattered. And in the center covered balcony there was a mass of spiderwebs, with a spider larger than all the rest hanging partly out of one of the windows. That spider moved, looking as though it was spinning a dead body in its web.
It was truly a feat of hard work…and money. Not too much, but probably a lot by Turney’s standards.
Turney lifted a brow at him and asked, “Do those ways involve magic or money?”
Octavius sniffed. “I can’t divulge my secrets. Now, let’s head back. Can’t miss the show. We can check out Scarlett’s place later!”
Turney sighed. “Why did we go through all that just to turn around?”
He grinned. “Because it’s fun!”
“For who?!”
“Come on!” He tugged the zombie around and giggled as he pulled him back along the path they’d just come down.
* * *
