“KNOCK KNOCK” goes the door as usual. It is Halloween and there were continuous knocks on the door with children screaming,
“Uncle Rodrigo, Trick or treat??!!?”
I slowly walked from the chimney corner to the front door with my walking stick.
“I’m not young enough to play with your tricks, so here are your treats.” I told to the Frankenstein, the vampire, the werewolf and the evil witch. I slowly walked back to my wooden rocking chair and closed my eyes. Memories flashed in my mind. My horrid Halloween 60 years ago. I was thirteen then… and so it goes….
Niall, Heidi and I were all set to go for our 1st Halloween together. Niall and I were friends for the past seven years and Heidi shifted her home from Limerville to Warrington, the year before. Heidi became close with Niall and me and there wasn’t even a single day we left without her. We were the naughty mischief trio in all of Warrington.
A month before Halloween the plans started for it with my group. I planned on being Dr. Frankenstein, Heidi told that she would be a Mummy and Niall stuck on to a Death Eater / Soul taker. During early October we started to buy the materials for the costume. Heidi bought a bunch of toilet papers. Niall was searching for a big stick to suit his costume and I was busy thinking about the brain and screw on my throat. Each of us figured out a way to get our costumes ready and it was all set by the first week.
Every day after morning school by 6o clock, we meet up at our favourite spot. It was situated a mile away from the village. It was like a small camping site with a tent near the woods. It also had a small river passing by. We gathered a few logs of wood and made a bonfire. Heidi brought few marshmallows. They always go good when they are roasted with tea. Niall managed to get the map of Warrington form his uncle who is the police officer for Warrington. I pinned the map to the bark of the tree nearby and took a stick and started to act like Mrs. Winchester, our maths teacher, pointing it at the map. We started to plan the houses we will be visiting for Halloween. It was a week filled with only fun. After sorting out the important things first, we moved on to the next. “JACK O’ LANTERN”. We went to the market and bought three big, fat pumpkins. Then we entered the next shop, with all types of tools. We immediately got a carving cutlery and a scraper. We then started the carving of the pumpkin. There was so much fun, laughter and enjoyment during the making.
Just a week left for Halloween. Everyone in the town was equally excited. As Halloween was nearing the excitement only increased. Every student in the Warrington school were discussing about the fun they were having while making the costume and will have on the following day.
It was finally Halloween. School was closed. Everyone was only concerned about when they will be able to wear their costume and knock each door in the village. They were not even bothered about easting the whole day. Evening arrived and it seemed like it was a very long wait.
Niall, Heidi and I met each other at Heidi’s place around half past five. Mr. & Mrs. Wilfer were waiting Naill and me at the parlour. There were yummy snacks on the table, served readily with hot chocolate and tiny marsh mellows.
“Help yourselves and eat everything on the table kids. Wilfer and I have a lot to arrange before the children come asking for their treat”, said Mrs. Wilfer.
“Sure Mrs. Wilfer. Thank you”, we chorused back with a grin.
Heidi, Niall and I ate everything and drank the hot chocolate. Then we went to Heidi’s room and started to take all our costumes and spread it on the big bed. Toilet papers rolled here and there. And everyone’s costume got mixed up. There was so much fun whilst dressing up, not to mention the make-up part. We felt dressing up to be the best part of this Halloween so far.
Then we took out our lanterns and set off to hunt for candies and chocolates. We started with Mr. & Mrs. Smith and then went to the Anna Residence. Ms. Anna was mesmerized by the way we did the costume and gave us extra candies. We got excited moving from one house to another. We completed the whole of North Warrington and planned to move towards the south of Warrington. When we reached near the David’s valley Heidi gave us the idea.
“Let us all separate and get more chocolates. This is the only way we can cover the whole of Warrington and to Haddonfield. We agreed and Heidi moved towards the south east. Niall went to the south were the monks lived and I moved to the south west to trick the George sisters. We also discussed about meeting near the school around half past nine. We agreed and started to move on.
Heidi first went to the Thomas villa. Then she left to Mr. James house. When she was on her way to Mr. & Mrs. Christopher’s house she heard it. Dark witch folklore music. She thought it to be interesting. Then is when, she realised everyone in Warrington talking about the witches who lived in the south east of the village, and practised dark magic. She walked a few steps closer to look at the faces of them and to see what they were up to.
They were around a cauldron dancing there were five witches. But then Heidi thought for a while and then realised there were six witches. She knew that the other witch could be anywhere and began to run. That is when she spotted the other witch behind her.
Meanwhile I walked through the camping site. I remembered how we sat and made our lanterns which are now overflowing with treats from gracious neighbours. I wondered what the other two were up to. And then after a few minutes I realised that Heidi went to the south west of Warrington where the witches live.
I always knew that Heidi was the most curious person in the entire city to know about them. I immediately ran to find Niall who was at south Warrington. I crossed the lake and ran in my Frankenstein costume to the death eater.
Niall freaked out and asked, “Is everything okay?” I took a minute to catch my breath and told him everything. About how Heidi was always curious about the witches in the south east side to trick the people over there.
“I never thought about the witches over there. What are we supposed to do not? It was our fault. We sent her there. We shouldn’t have left her alone.”
“Calm down. We will think and act fast before the witches sacrifice her to the demons.”
Niall calmed me down. We made a quick plan and decided not to bring this matter to the elder’s because they will not allow us to help. We ran to the ‘witches mansion’. We preferred to take the route through the dark forest than the Dion street. It was pitch black. We were not afraid to go through the forest because we were more concerned about what our fellow mate was going through. Once we reached the end of the forest we saw the six witches dancing around the cauldron. The cauldron had some green dirty boiling liquid. Niall spotted Heidi immediately. She was tied with a rope to a tree and was made to stand there. She stood there courageously without crying. They bet her and slapped her on her face.
“I guess they are having some party before the ritual of calling- the- demon starts.” “ We have to do something before it gets late” , I said.
I felt guilty for sending her alone. I knew there was no other way of saving her. My conscience pricked me. I pulled the stick from the death eater and ran towards the witches screaming. They were shocked to see another human. The witch head took the wand from her cloak and cast a spell. Immediately the stick in my hand started to fly in the sky. She was controlling the stick with her wand. I totally forgot about the nasty things witches can do with their wands. Another witch found Niall behind the trees. Now there were three small kids (us!) who are in their early teens, ready to be gobbled up by six witches who are in their late 60’s and with magical powers. The party of the witches was now over.
The music stopped and they started to cut the rope tied to our hands and hip. The biggest witch pulled us three and made us to stand near the cauldron which was boiling hot. I felt the heat across my face. It was soothing for this cold night. But the thought that the same heat was going to kill me gave me the goose bumps. There is something that needs to be done to save ourselves. I felt more guilty for thinking that I could handle it myself and thereby walking my friends along with me to a death trap.
Without a plan I just walked , and in return got arrested by witches. The cauldron was big and had enough space for the three of us to fit in. A ladder was placed for us to climb in. I then remembered that witches have a weakness. And it is water. Water can burn them, just as how fire burns us. There was a bucket filled with water near the entrance of the mansion. All the witches were busy with the ingredients. I bent, took a hand full of sand, threw it at the witches face and ran as fast as I could to the water. The witch warned the others, but before they could go further, I got a closer hand over them with the bucket of water. A gush of fear arose in the faces of the witches. They all tried to escape. But meanwhile Heidi and Niall found another bucket. We attacked the witches. First the water fell on a young witch, her skin started to burn and she fell down unconscious. Slowly everyone started to fall down and finally all the six evil witches were on the ground. When we
realized everyone was unconscious, we ran to the nearest residence and informed the household. They invited us inside and heard our cry. They immediately called the cops and informed our parents. Within minutes the cops and our parents arrived. They took us back home safely.
From then, we never heard about the witches again. Few say that they were dead, few say they were killed, and some say they lost their power’s because the water dominated their magical powers. No one knows what actually happen to them. Till date, it remains as a mystery.
“ Well, that was my first and last Halloween”, Mr. Rodrego whispered to himself and slowly closed his eyes in peace.