The Walk

I could only focus on the sound of my high heels clacking on the sidewalk. Everything else was quiet and after a day spent at work with my rambunctious children, I welcomed it with open arms. I could feel the stress of the day melt off of me into the humid air. The ones that like to pull earrings with their sausage fingers always strike me as the worst, but then once you start to think about it-- they’re all pretty awful. The ones that cry incessantly when their parents leave, the ones that don’t cry at all and plunge head-first into the Hot Wheelz and Legos. Or the ones that that always have a cold, you know, perpetual runny nose and clammy hands that are just a little too grabby. You know the ones.

Regardless, it was nice to have the stress of the day absorbed into the steamy evening air. My path was lit with the occasional street lamp, lending a glowing orange circle just around the base and the cracked sidewalk surrounding it. And a multitude of jack-o-lanterns spaced evenly down the street block. Some were small, other quite intimidatingly large. There were bumpy, white ones and green-speckled ones. Each carved with your standard triangle-eyed jack-o-lantern face. I didn’t think anything of it. Halloween was in three weeks, maybe some people were just excited. I was planning on doing a similiar arts-and-crafts project with my students anyways later this week. Just over the horizon, the sun was making it’s crescendo down into the valleys of the not-quite-skyscrapers around me. My favorite part of the year was just around the corner, I could feel the air cooling, especially more at night than during the day. The winds were picking up and the beginnings of red and yellow flecks were appearing in the trees lining the sidewalks. There were even a few wedged in the perforations between the gutter and road. Autumn was beginning, I could feel it in my bones.

I pulled out my phone, glancing quickly at the time, 7:03. I was a little upset that I was just managing to make it out of work now; I should have been out over an hour ago, but one of my kid’s moms hadn't arrived yet. She worked two jobs just to make ends meet for her and her little girl. What was I supposed to say to her? She is just trying to make a living like the rest of us. I didn’t want it to be agitated, but I was. After all, I’m with her daughter more than she even is-- but I need to calm down. It’s fine, it’s whatever.

I was walking past an alleyway when a noise caught my attention. I wouldn’t have heard it if it wasn’t so quiet. But the eeriness of the situation didn’t hit me until it was too late. There was no dogs barking, no couples hand in hand walking down the cracked sidewalk. No homeless people propped up against the surrounding buildings.

Nothing.

Just me and my high heels clicking along, counting the beats of my heart. The more it began to race, the faster they clicked. It was in time like some sort of metronome.

But like I said, a noise caught my attention in an alleyway. It was a buzzing sound. Incredibly low, but not low enough to where it was out of my frequency. Almost like the hum of a refrigerator. Almost.

I was curious, I’ll admit. Where was everyone? What’s this noise? I stopped walking and stood in the entryway of the alley. There were no streetlights so my vision was strained. Toward the end I could make out a shape. It was low to the ground and definitely wasn’t a machine. I could hear the humming sound resonating deep from within whatever the thing was.

Then it turned around.

It was a pumpkin, as loose as the term could be applied. It was orange with viney green tentacles crawling out from underneath. It’s face was demented, curled into an evil smile when it saw me. Guts and seeds strung out of it’s mouth as it’s eyes glowered into a menacing squint. It roared a stentorian sound, like a lion being burned alive, in fact, it gave off a similar smell.

I lunged towards me and grabbed at my ankles, ripping my heels out from beneath me. I could feel the guts creeping up my legs, then to my waist, arms and swallowing me whole.

I now sit eternally on the sidewalk, a pair of high heels etched into my pumpkin skin, unable to warn the innocent people walking to home, or work, or whatever. Especially little Emily and her poor, overworked mother, who had just finished their dinner at the local diner. That was the most painful of all to watch.