It was Halloween night and you know what that means right?
Absolutely. Pumpkin carving!
Bourbon always tended to enjoy this pastime. It was a fairly relaxing way to spend the day preparing for the night ahead. He managed to properly finish right before the clock hit the time of trick or treating.
Bourbon grinned at his pumpkin. It was a fairly standard looking jack-o-lantern but it would have to do. He had to hurry and get dressed in his costume.
“I should set this thing up outside first though…” Bourbon hummed happily to himself, grabbing the pumpkin and taking it outside. He was going to need to resist the urge to show it off to everyone. It was such a neat looking one despite the average carving face he gave it.
When setting it down and striking a match inside of it, he admired the strange glow it had.
“Hmm… interesting,” Bourbon said, bending over a bit to observe the bright light inside. It was almost otherworldly.
Bourbon stopped when he heard laughing happening behind him.
“Haha! I can see your underwear!”
Bourbon blushed and rushed to cover his butt with his hands. He sagged all the time thanks to the loose fitting pants he refused to hold up probably due to the uncomfortable nature of tightness around his waist, but he would always freak out and fret over anyone seeing his underwear. It was a paradox that he was seemingly trapped in.
That didn’t matter right now though. He was turning to face the kid who just laughed at him.
It was a snot-nosed little toddler wearing a Power Rangers costume. The white ranger to be precise. He was giggling and pointed at the older Bourbon.
“They were Winnie the Pooh. I saw.” He giggled, holding his bag while pointing with the other finger.
“N-No you didn’t,” Was all Bourbon could say in response.
“Yes huh,” The kid said again.
“No, that’s wrong. You’re dumb. Stop being dumb,” Bourbon crossed his arms, which caused his pants to lower slightly again.
The kid giggled a bit more. “I want some candy.”
“Well, go get some. I’m not handing any out. I’m going trick or treating too,” Bourbon said.
“Hmph,” The kid pouted. “No candy means you gets a trick!”
The kid pantsed Bourbon.
“GAAAH!” Bourbon yelled aloud into the night air and covered himself. “Dummy! Jerk…! Guahh!” His eyes crossed a bit as he swooned. Embarrassment made him feel faint. He had to keep it together!
The kid, for one last screw you to Bourbon before leaving, darted his head over and blew out the light of the jack-o-lantern.
“HEY!” Bourbon snapped back at attention when that happened. Now that was just petty of him!
The kid stuck out his tongue and began prancing away.
Bourbon hiked his pants back up and grumbled when producing another match. “Stupid jerk. Making me waste time…!”
He muttered this as he drew the lit flame closer to the pumpkin.
However, before he could even reach it, the light inside the pumpkin reignited all by itself.
“Huh?” Bourbon blinked, surprised by that. “What the–? D-Did the wind bring the flame… back?”
Bourbon leaned down to examine the pumpkin a bit before jumping with surprise at a loud thump he heard behind him.
Bourbon turned around and his eyes got big at what he saw.
The kid who was prancing away earlier was laying face down on the sidewalk with his butt in the air and his bag of candy spilled out on the ground.
Bourbon slowly walked over to him, scrunching up his face in surprise before reaching over and nudging the boy’s body with his foot.
It was growing cold.
“... What… happened?” Bourbon muttered to himself.
A shiver suddenly ran down Bourbon’s spine as he thought he could hear something. Who was talking to him? There was no one else around.
Bourbon slowly turned his head and his eyes traveled to the jack-o-lantern sitting on his lawn, seemingly glaring back at him with its now creepy lit smile.
The now frightened boy slowly approached it and reached down to pick it up.
He examined it and felt another gust of wind hit his face.
He could hear it. It was speaking to him.
“That kid’s soul… is your new flame?” Bourbon murmured to himself, eyes rather huge. He couldn’t believe this.
Did his jack-o-lantern subsist on the souls of children? What a thing to carve on accident this Halloween night.
Bourbon was about to ask how this could have happened but felt another shiver run down his spine. The flame was flickering and if it went out, who knows whose soul it would take next.
Perhaps his own.
Bourbon gulped and clutched the pumpkin close while his eyes darted around. He couldn’t let this flame go out. Not until he was certain how this worked.
Power Walking his way out of there and leaving the body of the child behind, he began exploring the neighborhood. He needed to make it look like he was just trick or treating like a regular, normal kid so he made sure to snag the bag of the downed brat. He wouldn’t need it anymore.
Bourbon walked for a considerably long way before he heard the familiar voices of his friends come up from behind him. Normally that would excite him but he actually jolted in surprise and slowly turned to face them.
“Hey Bourbie!” Troy smiled and waved, dressed up like a witch, complete with the cone hat and everything.
“I trust you’re carrying that pumpkin around as a part of your uh… costume?” Ian asked, dressed as pirate ghost captain. He had a neat little plastic hook on his hand that wasn’t holding his bag of candy.
Bourbon began sweating. He wasn’t quite sure what to say or do about this situation. If he let on that something was off they might start asking questions and he didn’t want to deal with that. So he played along.
“Uh yeah. Sure. I’m a… jack-o-lantern salesman!” Bourbon said with a chuckle and a shaky grin.
Troy and Ian shared a look with one another before smiling and patting Bourbon’s shoulders down. “Sounds like a you costume alright.”
Bourbon giggled. “Yeah… sure it does.”
It kind of did actually. Perhaps.
“Anyway, we’re on our way to that trickster house up the road. It’s the place with the best candy but it’s by far the scariest house!” Troy said.
Ian flinched. “I’d rather not… personally.”
“Come on!” Troy said. “It won’t be that bad!” He said, slapping Ian on the back. Ian was clearly just worried about the fact that he and his brother tended to fear wet…
He loved Halloween but the scares…?
Bourbon gulped but nodded. Perhaps just going along with things to keep the situation as normal as possible was for the best.
“Sure, let’s go then…!” Bourbon exclaimed.
He walked at a brisk pace alongside his friends to the famous spook house up ahead.
It was quite an impressive house. There was a haunted aura about it. The curtains set up and the little entrance to the haunted pathway they had there was neat.
Stepping into it saw tons of tiny pee puddles everywhere and passed out kids littered around the place. It made Troy giggle.
Making their way through it while hugging this pumpkin was an incredibly uncomfortable affair. Each jump scare that happened got Troy and Ian but Bourbon could barely see over this thing. He got extremely lucky.
By the end of the course, there was a huge bowl of candy awaiting them at the front.
“Phew! We made it!” Troy said, heart beating a mile a minute.
Ian shivered where he stood, his pants completely soaked. “Y-Yeah… made it… that’s what happened…”
Bourbon winced. “L-Let’s just hurry and get the candy so we can leave. My arms hurt.”
“Okay, sure.” Troy said as the three of them approached the large bowl. Then, without warning, a young boy in a ghost face mask sprung up from the darkness holding a plastic knife!
“BOOOOOO~!”
“GYAAAAAAAH!” Troy, Ian, and Bourbon all shouted in unison.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” The boy removed his mask and grinned, showing off his brown hair and black eyes. “Hey! You guys made it to the end of my spook house. Congrats!”
Troy’s heart was kicking in his chest. “Y-Yeah. It was… fun right?”
Ian was holding the back of his pants and crying. “I… really need to change my pants actually. Can we just get the candy and go?”
Bourbon winced as he saw the flame in the pumpkin flicker. He’d been scared too much and the force of him doubling back obstructed the flame.
Then, without warning, it went out.
“Sure! You guys can get all the candy you want!” The boy smiled. “Happy Hall–!”
Then his face planted onto the ground without another word, the bowl of candy falling over and spilling out on the ground.
It was dark for a moment due to the light inside the pumpkin being gone… but then it reignited.
Bourbon shivered. His eye twitched and he began to giggle, feeling something in his brain snap in half.
He sauntered past the unmoving body of the boy and left the house without grabbing any candy.
Troy and Ian shared a really concerned look, wondering what that was about. Ian, really uncomfortable due to the state of his underwear, reached down to poke at the body and examine it.
He then went extremely pale.
“He’s… he’s dead…” Ian muttered.
“What?!” Troy gasped.
He looked around in shock before spotting Bourbon trying to get further away. “H-Hey!”
Troy raced after him and was followed by Ian.
“Hey! Bourbon! Hey!” Troy put a hand to his shoulder. “We have to call an ambulance or something.”
“N-No! It’s fine! He’s not dead! He’s just sleeping!” Bourbon said. “And neither is that Power Rangers kid! Honest!”
“Power Rangers kid? What?” Troy was really confused now. It seemed like Bourbon was definitely hiding something. “You’re acting weird.”
“Weirder than normal,” Ian added.
“HAHA! HAHAHAAAA!” Bourbon let out a crazed gush of laughter. “I’m NOT bein’ weird! This… I’m… t-trick or treating is over! Grab your candy and leave! I gotta go now!”
He turned to try and leave but Troy zipped in front of him.
“No,” Troy said. “Not until you tell us what’s going on.”
Bourbon fidgeted.
“We’re your friends! We’ll understand! Please!” Troy began and reached forward with a comforting hand.
Bourbon panicked and spun to the side rather harshly. “No! NO!”
The wind of the momentum brought upon by his turn made the flame go out again.
Bourbon panicked. “No! NO! NO NO NO NO! THE FLAME WENT OUT! RUN!”
“Run…? The fl–?” Troy began.
Then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the street.
Bourbon stared down at his friend and was frozen stiff.
He then slowly turned around to look at Ian, who stared at the scene with just as wide eyes as he did.
The glow of the light inside the pumpkin illuminated Bourbon’s now crazed, shaking, drooling face.
“Ian… the flame went out… and it just… took Troy,” Bourbon spoke, his voice warbling. “You’re next… if you don’t leave… you’re next!”
Ian’s pants were already toast. They somehow got even worse after hearing that.
He was already crying and shaking but the instant Bourbon gave him that crazy warning, he darted down the street, screaming with his hands raised and dumping his candy everywhere.
Bourbon watched him go, probably to never see him ever again.
He grew even more attached to the jack-o-lantern as a result. His friends were gone.
It was his only friend now.
Abandoned and alone, Bourbon walked the streets on the increasing wind of the Halloween night, giggling like crazy. He’d officially gone mad.
This jack-o-lantern was continuing to speak to him. It wanted to be protected from the wind. It wanted to keep its flame lit for all eternity.
He could do that.
What were friends for?
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you lit, little guy!” Bourbon said in a voice that sounded like a monstrous slither. “Forever and ever!”
There were so many kids running about on Halloween Night.
So many flames to light the heart of his new best friend.
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