- all hallow’s eve was a grey autumn day, a day that spoke clearly of the winter waiting just outside the door. clouds covered the sky in a seamless monotone, the reds and yellows and oranges of the town’s usual autumn color showing only as umbers and ochres and rusts, and the glowing grins of the jack o’lanterns were the brightest things to be seen. though only the clock tower marked the hours this day, somehow tomas and imenan were closing the back door of the house behind them mere moments after the sun surrendered to the inevitability of night and dropped below the horizon.
the two friends were naught but shadows against shadows as they slipped down the back of the hill, away from the chain of car lights marking the arrival of the night’s visitors. they eeled their way through the barren black trunks in the abandoned orchards, and crossed the sluggish river on rotted mossy logs. they made their way soundlessly through the dark and empty streets at the very outskirts of town, but pulled up short as they neared the lights of the town center, hesitating in the safety of the last deep shadow.
tomas was just about to take to the air to scout ahead when two figures came around the corner, a woman and a child. they passed near to the two hidden in the shadows, but did not see them. the child was dressed in tattered bandages; the gauze strips hung loosely around the child’s neck like a scarf, and dangled from every limb. tomas glanced at his similarly-dressed friend as the two townspeople went on their way, and then grinned and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
“but of course, tonight is the one night we can walk freely! imenan, we will make good time now!”
and tomas was right; even though they crossed the square in plain sight of the townspeople, they awakened no fear in those that saw them; at the most, they received a few admiring glances and smiles from the revelers. they quickly left the center of town behind, and were soon walking through the tidy neighborhoods on the other side of town. the houses they passed were all decorated. the carved pumpkins were expected, but the array of other types of display left the two gazing from house to house in astonishment.
the glowing lights and elaborate scenes, the mechanical ghosts hanging from bare tree limbs, the giant inflated figures, and the abundance of exuberant halloween bric-a-brac everywhere quite honestly startled the vampire and mummy. the neighborhoods they walked through felt more like an amusement park than the dark night they knew. even the costumes were different; one young woman walked by wearing a drastically undersized white dress, a nurse’s cap perched on top of her sparkling pink wig.
“now that’s a change to hallow’s eve that i welcome!” tomas watched the girl strut by, her high heeled boots clacking on the sidewalk. imenan was not impressed. the vampire gave his companion a surprised glance, and then returned to gazing at more appealing sights. “eh, you have been dead too long, my friend. look how healthy she is! o positive, if i don’t miss my guess.”
imenan just grumbled a little in reply. they kept on, dodging small costumed children and smaller costumed dogs, until they came to a grand victorian house on a large corner lot. imenan stopped at the decorative black iron fence, looking up at the cupola. “tomas,” he said, pointing upwards with one raggedly narrow finger, “i remember that wind vane, and this house. we are getting close, aren’t we?”
tomas squinted up at the little bit of sculpture crowning the roof. “you are correct, imenan! ah, soon we shall enjoy a long visit with our friend. it will be good to see him again.” he clapped imenan on the shoulder, raising a small puff of dust, and headed off down the right-hand street. “let us go, then! only a few more blocks remain!” imenan followed, leaving the dust behind but carrying with him a happy smile of anticipation.
the neighborhood gave way to a few streets of shops, and the two pointed out familiar old storefronts to each other as they walked toward their goal. each remembered landmark reassured them that they hadn’t forgotten the way to where their friend resided, even though it had been years, or even decades, since they had been able to visit last. finally, tomas and imenan came to the last corner. they looked out across the street, but did not immediately cross. before them stood a sprawling shopping center, a boxy island in the middle of a paved parking lot sea.
“this is not...” imenan’s voice trailed off in bewilderment. “did we miss a turn somewhere? were we mistaken?”
“no, we came the right way. we are in the correct place. see? look there,” tomas gestured toward three trees growing in a small landscaped space. “those trees are the ones that grew in the corner, by the hadley twins’ gravestone. do you see?”
imenan nodded, sadly.
they stood there on the sidewalk that used to be at the furthest end of town from their hill, and looked at the shopping mall that now stood where once had been the town’s first cemetery. no sign remained of the place now, no stone markers, and no graceful trees save for those three hemmed in by concrete.
the vampire and the mummy stood there in silence, speechless.
how were they going to visit their friend harold when his grave was nowhere to be found?
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