Ashes
by Devlyn Pradel
Fennec’s mother's children's Halloween party started at seven, just the time darkness swept its way into the neighborhood.
When the party started she found her way into the backyard. It was a chilly night but she didn’t want to risk going back inside to get harassed by the shrieks and giggles of the children, or worse, her mother asking her to help.
Fennec turned on the back porch light. At first it stayed dark, but after a second it flickered slightly. The bulb must be on its last leg.
The night was eerily quiet except for the subtle hint of Halloween music playing from indoors, which in Fenn’s opinion made the night sound even creepier.
She sat outside for a while, doodling in her notebook. After a while she heard the creaking sound of the back door opening.
“Hey,” Fenn yelled without looking over. “Party’s not back here.”
There was no response.
“Go back inside,” Fenn repeated. “The party’s just in the living room.”
Still no response. Fenn sat up and looked towards the door, there was no one there.
Some must have just bumped it open or maybe the wind blew it back, that's all, she thought to herself.
She went back to drawing in her notebook when a stick to her left snapped.
Fenn jumped her heart racing, she stood up and looked around. She still didn’t see anyone.
“H-hey,” Her voice stuttered slightly. “Whoever’s out here, this is not funny.”
Her eyes scanned the yard still not finding anyone. She sat back down, eyes still looking out into the yard.
“Do you always make scary drawings?” A voice next to her said.
Fenn jumped away from the young girl who was now sitting on the couch next to her.
The girl was in a costume, which was pretty standard for this party. Just today Fenn had seen about a dozen princesses and little monsters.
The girl’s costume was disturbingly realistic though. She wore a dress that looked singed and covered in soot, her hair similarly charred, with her face smeared in soot as well.
It sort of looked like someone had tossed the child into a fire and then pulled her back out after a few minutes.
Fenn gently retrieved her notebook, now smeared with soot from the child's hands. “What are you supposed to be?” she asked, her heart still pounding, the kid's mom had done a good job.
“I’m a Luaithreach!” The girl exclaimed.
“What,” Fenn swallowed slightly. “Is a Lu-ra?”
The girl shook her head as if disappointed. It was weird to be treated like a child by a, well, child.
“Luaithreach,” The girl said, stressing the pronunciation. “Their children who died in fires!”
Well that’s disturbing.
“Let’s get you back inside okay?” Fenn suggested. “Your mom is probably worried.”
“No,” The girl said sternly, just as the light above them flickered out completely.
“Hey,” Fenn tried again. “I got to go and get a new light; we should go in.”
“No. I want to tell you about Luaithreachs.”
Fenn sat back down on the couch with a sigh, “Okay. You can tell me about them I guess.”
Fenn grabbed her notebook and started a new page as the girl started her talking.
“Luaithreachs, after they die, hang around where they died. If their house is rebuilt, they haunt the new family that moves in, they stay in the shadows waiting for the perfect time to strike.
The girl's tone dropped to a more sinister one, and with the only lighting now being the moon, her eyes seemed to gleam a reddish color.
“They can burn their victims from the inside out, leaving the charred husk of their bodies remaining. Or they can light them on fire, leaving them to die in the flames as they did. No one is spared, once they have a victim there is no escape.”
Fenn swallowed hard, trying to convince herself that the kid's mother must have told her this story and she got an obsession about it like most kids do.
She couldn’t believe a child's story was scaring her. “Can we go back inside now?” Fennec asked, her voice trembling slightly. “It’s sort of cold out.”
The girl thought for a second, then nodded. “Okay.”
Fennec got up off the couch and tried to open the door. The handle didn’t budge.
“Someone must have locked the door,” Fenn said, trying to stay calm. “We’ll have to go around if that’s okay.”
The girl grabbed at the bottom of Fennec’s shirt, smudging soot on it. She probably would have grabbed Fenn’s hands, but she was still drawing as they walked around the side of the house.
“What’s in there?” The girl asked, looking into the dark woods.
Fenn followed her gaze. “A gardening shed I think, it’s really old.”
“Can I see it?”
“Uh… sure,” Fenn answered hesitantly. “But we have to be quick. I don’t want to worry your mom.”
The girl tugged Fennec into the woods. The moonlight was more patchy now, as the tall trees blocked out most of it, casting eerie shadows.
“You're really brave,” Fenn told the girl, trying to mask her own fear. “I never would have stepped foot in these woods at your age.”
“I’m not scared of the dark.”
The shed came into view, its silhouette looming ominously.
“See, it's just an old shed,” Fenn said, trying to sound reassuring. “Nothing exciting.”
The girl pushed open the creaking door and stepped inside. Fennec hadn’t been planning on going in, but she couldn’t let the child go in on her own.
“Hey, I don’t think we are supposed to be in here.”
The floor creaked under her feet as she looked up and saw an old, rusty chain hanging from the roof.
Fenn pulled it, and the light flickered on, casting long, dancing shadows that made the shed more eerie than it was before in the dark.
“Hey…” Fennec realized that she didn’t know the child's name. “Hey, little kid… Where are you?”
A gust of wind blew through the shed, slamming the door with a deafening bang. Fenn ran to the door, trying to throw it open. The door didn’t bunge.
She swallowed hard. “Little girl, We need to go… now…”
“You don’t need to go anywhere,” a voice whispered from outside the shed.
Fenn shoved at the door. “Can you open the door, I think it’s stuck.”
“You don’t need to go anywhere,” the girl repeated her voice now sounding distorted and sinister.
“This isn’t funny,” Fenn called back, panic rising in her chest. “Let me out.”
Fenn slammed her fist against the door, “Let me out.”
She turned around her eyes darting around the dimly lit shed. The girl must have gotten out another way. There had to be another way out.
The light above flickered, casting menacing shadows across the room but unfortunately not revealing a door.
Fennec heard a low scratching sound, followed by a creak of the floorboards.
“Hello? Help!” Fenn called out, her voice shaking. “Little girl?”
An acidic smell of smoke filled the air just as the light above Fenn finally gave out, plunging the shed into darkness.
She tried to call out, she tried to push the door open, but nothing worked.
A child's sweet, haunting voice filled the air singing a sickly-sweet song, and the last thing Fennec saw before fading into nothingness was her curling drawing of the little girl, the edges curling and blackening in the heat of the fire that now surrounded her.