“This is going to be the best Halloween yet,” Neville said gleefully. He was standing with his friends in front of the old, abandoned house.
“If you ask me, it’s a stupid waste of time,” Sally grumbled.
“What, you want to go trick-or-treating like a little kid?”
“Well, no.” Yes, that was exactly what she wanted. Who didn’t want free candy?
“My mom says I’m too old to go begging for candy,” Terry said glumly.
“Mine too,” Frankie chimed in.
“Let’s just do this already,” Corrine said.
Since it was Neville’s idea, he was in charge. “Okay, everyone follow me.”
He led the way around to the back of the house where he’d already loosened the boards over one of the basement windows. Pulling the boards off the rest of the way off, he shone his flashlight into the space and swallowed hard.
“Okay, who’s first in?”
His friends just stared at him. “It was your idea, you first,” Sally said. The others nodded.
“Fine.” With more bravado than he was feeling, he knelt down and shone the flashlight into hole. Turning around, he eased into the space backwards, landing with a slight thump.
“C’mon down,” he called to the others. “There’s a box right under the window. It’s a little shaky, so be careful.”
One by one, the others joined him and when Terry, who was last, hit the box it collapsed under him. He sprang to his feet and assured everyone he was all right.
“Yuck! It stinks down here,” Frankie said.
“Don’t be such a prissy baby,” Corrine told him.
“I’m not prissy!”
“Cut it out guys!” Neville said. “You can argue after we do this.”
“Fine. Tell us what we’re supposed to do.”
“First, we sit in a circle.”
They did so and then he continued. “Now, put the stuff you brought into the middle and then I’ll make up the spell.”
There was a large hunk of black licorice from Terry, a white crystal from Corrine, an audio cassette from Sally, and a teddy bear from Frankie.
“A teddy bear Frankie, really?” Corrine said.
“What’s wrong with a teddy bear? I found it behind the old folks home. It belonged to someone who died.” He lowered his voice. “It’s probably cursed.
“My sister said that cassette is cursed, that’s why I swiped it,” Sally said.
Corrine grinned at her. “I swiped the mine too. My sister’s really into that new age stuff. She’s got a million crystals.”
Not to be outdone by a couple of girls, Terry admitted, “I swiped the licorice from the corner store. I’ll bet old man Potter would have really cursed if he’d seen me.”
“You all did great guys,” Neville assured them. “I can work with this stuff. Just let me think for a minute.”
He studied the objects in front of him with great care, then finally nodded. “Okay, anybody know what time it is?”
Terry looked at his watch. “It’s almost midnight.”
“The witching hour,” Neville said in a dramatic voice. “Time to start.”
He picked up the teddy bear. “Behold the vessel for our spell.” Next he picked up the crystal and worked it into one of the holes in the bear. “This crystal will call a spirit to inhabit the body.” The licorice followed the crystal into the bear. “Black food to feed the soul.” Pulling the tape from the cassette, he started winding it around the bear. “And the cursed music to bind it all in place.”
Setting the bear in the center of the circle again, he looked at the others. “Are you ready for the next step?” When they all nodded he pulled out his pocket knife. Flipping it open, he jabbed his finger and passed the knife to Corrine, who was sitting beside him. The knife made the rounds, Frankie being the only one to make a noise when it was his turn.
“This part we do together,” Neville said. “We hold our fingers over the bear and let the blood drip onto it.”
As they did so, he finished his make-shift spell. “Let our essence bring our creation to life.”
Five drops of blood hit the bear simultaneously. No one was more surprised than Neville when there was a burst of light from the bear. The group fell back away from the circle.
“Whoa. What just happened?” Sally asked.
“Did you see that?” Terry said excitedly. “That was so cool!”
“Guys?” Frankie said. “The box under the window broke. How are we supposed to get out of here?”
“What’s the rush?” Corrine asked. “We can just—” She was interrupted by a growl from the circle. The teddy bear stood, red eyes glowing.
The screams went on for a very long time.
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