Written for Sunday Photo Fiction. A story, about a very unusual Halloween decoration, begins after the photo.
Genre: Horror/Humor
Photo by: Alastair Forbes
Halloween Decoration
A jack o’ lantern sat on an especially dark portion of the porch. It moved slightly as Halloween revelers passed by. “Woe to YOU sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. The eternal darkness shall swallow you!” boomed the lantern in a grating demonic voice.
One mother grinned at the lantern, wondering at the advances of technology. Still, she guided her children past the shouting decoration.
“Your eyes shall be plucked out and roasted upon the eternal flames of Mephistopheles!” roared the lantern.
Another mother guided her children across the street, attempting to cover six ears with two hands.
Three older boys, with the burgeoning confidence of their early teens, approached to watch the bellowing jack o’ lantern.
“Oh man, that’s cool!” said Micky.
“Not bad. I think they’re selling them at Walmart,” said Phil.
Micky noted that the windows were dark. “There’s nobody home. Let’s get it.”
They slipped through the house gate, moving quickly but silently.
“GO BACK!” boomed the lantern. “I will feast upon your blackened flesh! I will make candles of your skulls!”
“So awesome,” grinned Micky, briefly wondering what size batteries it took. He reached for the lantern.
Flames burst from the pumpkin that momentarily engulfed Micky’s jacket. “Feel the touch of Beelzebub’s whip! Know the will of the master!” roared the lantern. The fires on Micky’s shoulder quickly faded and the fabric smouldered. Micky screamed and the other boys screamed too. They turned and dashed out the gate, shouting as they ran for home.
“MUHAHAHA!” bellowed the pumpkin.
The house screen door slammed shut and Williard walked up to the lantern. He nudged the guffawing pumpkin with a work boot. “Eusphenax.” warned Williard.
“Begone mortal! Lest I feast upon your entrails!”
Williard allowed the fire extinguisher drop to his side.
“OH! Hey, what’s this?” said Eusphenax in a soft, placating voice. “Threats already? Can’t we just talk?”
“I agreed to put you in the pumpkin for the month of Halloween, but only if you behave, remember?”
“Oh c’mon! This is me, man. I gotta be me!”
“Do you want to go back into the ceramic Tinkerbelle now?”
Eusphenax winced in terror. “Okay, okay! I’ll be good.”
Williard turned and stomped back inside. Eusphenax addressed the Halloween revelers once more in a subdued voice.
“Woooo! WOOO! Happy Halloween everyone!”
__________________________
Each week, Alastair Forbes sacrifices one of his own photos upon the fires of imagination so that we may write flash fiction based upon it. Look here for more stories based upon the photo above: http://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/sunday-photo-fiction-october-26th-2014/
EagleAye
Momus News 
That’s a proper scary story. Well done. Great voices and dialogue.
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Hehe. Thank you, Patrick! Glad the dialogue worked. Thanks much for the visit! š
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Oh, my goodness – I honestly laughed out loud through that whole story. Really well written, clever and hilarious, and I agree that your dialogue was spot on. I love that Tinkerbelle was used as a threat.
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Hehe. I would think being ensconced inside Tinkerbelle would be the ultimate insult for a demon. Perhaps “My Little Pony” could’ve been worse. I’m happy to hear you had laughs throughout. I was hoping for that. Thanks so much for the kind words. š
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I’m glad it’s morning here, because this seriously terrified me…well, sort of. Like your other readers, Eric, I loved the dialogue between the demon and Willard. LOL especially āOh cāmon! This is me, man. I gotta be me!ā I can see it as a Twilight Zone episode. Another roaring success š
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I didn’t expect it to be so scary. I did intend for the demon to be authentically demon-ish, so maybe that came through better than I expected. Though, in the end I meant for Williard to appear that he had things firmly under control. The demon had to be powerful to make Williard a VERY powerful demon master. It would be cool if the Twilight Zone franchise bought it. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. š Thanks so much, Lyn. Glad you enjoyed. š
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I laughed reading that. An awesome story – as usual. I googled to see if Eusphenax was a real demon, and the first thing at the top of the list? This story š
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Haha! That’s so cool. It seems I’ve created my own demon. Maybe I’ll include him in more stories to build more links in google. That’s amusing news, Al. Thanks so much! š
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Muhahaha! This time you did not give a link to Eusphenax , so I searched myself and came back again to your story. The creature you create are very funny and enjoyable.
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Hehe. I still love that it links back to me. I guess the name is as unique as I’d hoped. Glad you love the creatures. I’ll keep them coming for you. š
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Wonderfully fun and creative Eric – It as amazing – loved the demon – and well, LOL – I wanted more of him! (giggling madly) — just awesome how this all evolved. Great job! š
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Thank you Pat, for all the kind words. More of that crazy laugh may appear again. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks so very much!
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