ALL HALLOWS EVE   

 By Liz Barrett

Comments: Elizabeth@barrett20.fsnet.co.uk

"It’s October, you have to expect this sort of weather." Murdock said miserably. He was hunched in the passenger seat of the Corvette. A drop of rain slid down the back of his neck and he shivered.

Face didn’t reply. The temperature gauge was rising alarmingly. Great. All he needed rain, a technical problem with the car and darkness fast coming upon them. Worst of all, a miserable, wet Murdock.

"You do know its Halloween too, don’t you?" Murdock added. "The last night we need to be out in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah, I know." Face said, somewhat agitatedly. "Look I’m sorry, OK?"

Murdock decided it would be better not to continue to whine. He sat silently hoping for a miracle. That they would find shelter somewhere before the rain got any harder and the hobgoblins, witches and other assorted demons of All Hallows Eve came out to find him.

The temperature gauge was reading some astronomical figure. Face pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"I bet it’s the radiator." Murdock stated flatly. He glanced around them. There was a large farmhouse close by. No lights though. Perhaps the occupants were out or away.

"I’ll phone. Perhaps someone can get a tow-truck out here. Wherever here is." Face muttered. He grabbed the car phone. Nothing. It was as dead as the proverbial doorknob. "I don’t believe this." He said staring hard at the phone. "This is like some horrible, evil joke."

Murdock shuddered. Things were deteriorating, fast. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about this whole situation. The rain continued to fall and in the distance he could hear the sound of thunder.

"You think we should go and ask if we could borrow their phone?" Murdock said, hunching further down into the seat.

"I’d like to get the car somewhere dry too. This’ll play havoc with the electrics." He stared at the sky and the black menacing clouds.

Murdock sighed. "Never mind the car, Face. What about us?"

Face smiled. "OK let’s go and see if anyone’s home."

By the time they reached the front porch it was almost completely dark. The wind was getting up too and Murdock could distinctly hear the rain pounding on the old slate roof.

"This isn’t going to do much for the upholstery either." Face said miserably looking at the roofless Corvette.

Murdock nudged him. "You going to knock?" He pointed to the old wooden door.

"Sure" Face said dragging his attention back to the house and hopefully it’s occupants. The old doorknocker was shaped as a lions’ head. It was old, worn and the hinges were rusty. Despite that though the noise that it made seemed to echo throughout the house. Even so no one came rushing to the door to see who was outside.

"So what do we do now?" Murdock said cringing at the noise coming from the thunder that was now overhead.

"Wait." Face replied.

"Wait?"

"Yeah, wait. Maybe the owner is elderly. Might take them a while to get here." Face said, trying to sound confident.

Several more minutes past but there was still no sign of any reply. By now the steady rainfall had become a deluge. The only time Face could even see the Corvette now was when the forked lightning lit the sky. They were running out of options. Murdock stared back down the drive. "It’ll be OK, muchacho." He squeezed Face’s arm. "There’ll be a mechanic who’ll be able to sort it out in the morning."

Face sighed. "Maybe."

Considering the sound of the thunder it was surprising that either man heard the creak that suddenly emanated from the old front door. It swung slowly open. Both men peered into the darkness beyond and then turned back to look at one another.

"So?"

"Do we have a choice?" Face said flatly. "The car isn’t going anywhere any time soon." He stared down the hallway again only lit by the occasional flash of forked lightning. "Hello?"

His voice seemed to echo down the hall. Face grabbed the doorframe and risked putting one foot across the threshold. Murdock hung tightly to his other arm. Between the two of them they managed to find their way to a large kitchen. Again there was no sign of any occupants of the house. An old gas lamp hung from the ceiling. Surprisingly it was lit. It cast enough light for the two men to be able to see that it was in desperate need of modernisation. The very fact that the house appeared to still be gas lit showed that nothing much had changed here in a number of years. Murdock reached forward and adjusted the light so that it shone brighter.

"So what do we do, Face? Sit and wait?"

Face leant on the back of one of the old wooden chairs. "Guess so. I feel bad. This feels like an invasion of someone’s privacy. On the other hand I am loathe to head back out there again." He motioned in the direction of the window. "So we sit, wait and see what happens."

Murdock pulled out a chair and sat down. "Reminds me of my family’s place back in Texas. That had a kitchen a bit like this." He smiled at the memory. "Those were good days."

Face sat opposite him watching. Murdock by gaslight. He looked peaceful and much happier than he had a few minutes ago standing on the porch with thunder rolling around them. "I used to spend a lot of time sitting in the kitchen, reading." Murdock seemed a long way away.

"You never told me much about those days, Murdock." Face said finally.

"Not much to tell really." Murdock replied but his face showed that all the memories he did have were happy ones. "Ranch life. Hard work but it was always a good place to be, you know?"

Face shrugged. "Guess so. Very different to mine." He stated, flatly.

Murdock immediately realised that he was taking Face back to a place he didn’t necessarily want to be and he tried desperately to change the conversation.

"You think they’d mind if we had a look around?"

"Curiosity killed the Murdock." Face said, smiling. "Don’t you think we are intruding enough just being here?"

"We have good reason to be here. We couldn’t stay outside any longer." Murdock replied, justifying his statement.

Face laughed. "Doesn’t give us free rein of the whole house though."

Murdock leant back in the chair. "Doesn’t seem to be anyone here to mind."

Face sighed. "I guess not. You snoop round my place when I leave you alone there?"

"Maybe." Murdock replied, coyly.

Their conversation was disturbed by a particularly loud bang from upstairs. It sounded like something large had fallen over. It made both men jump and they were on their feet almost instantly.

"You sure we’re alone, Murdock?" Face said. The sound of footsteps could be heard on the floorboards upstairs, the sound of a door slamming. A gust of wind blew through the kitchen making the gas lamp flicker. Fortunately it wasn’t enough to snuff it out completely but the light in the room dipped before recovering again.

"I have a feeling someone or something is up there." Murdock said, staring at the ceiling.

"Probably the person who lives here who by now thinks we are burglars." Face added. "I think we owe someone an apology."

Both men walked slowly back down the hall back into the gloom. At the foot of the stairs they both stopped.

"After you." Murdock said gesturing up the old wooden stairs.

Face raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He grabbed the banister and slowly walked up the first three or four steps. Murdock tucked in tightly behind him.

Outside the storm had abated. The last few drops of rain rattled on the slate roof. The clouds rolled back and a full moon cast its eerie glow across the fields. The landing was suddenly flooded with light.

"Hello?" Face said, his voice almost a whisper. Murdock motioned in the direction of the bedroom right over the kitchen.

"Hello?" He repeated, his voice a little louder this time.

There was a sound of scurrying footsteps. A child’s laugh. Face stopped in his tracks. Murdock joined him on the top stair.

Face clung to the handrail as if his life depended on it.

"It’s a child." Murdock stated. "Come on Face." Suddenly any fear that he might have had seemed to have gone. He walked along the landing to the bedroom pausing as he reached the door.

"Face?"

Face walked less than willingly down the corridor. Murdock though seemed entranced. He took a single step forward and looked into the room. It appeared to be sparsely furnished. A small rug lay in the middle of the floor. A child’s ball was placed carefully right in the centre. Two old wooden chairs had been placed side by side by the window. A small single bed stood by the far wall with an old quilt covering it. If anyone had been in the room there was no sign of them now.

Face still hung back. "No one there, huh?"

Murdock glanced back over his shoulder. "Not now, no." By the time he looked back into the room again the ball had begun to roll slowly towards him. It stopped right by his foot.

"What was that?" Face said.

Murdock bent down and picked the small brightly coloured top up. "This."

Face frowned. "I thought you said the room was empty?"

Murdock half smiled. "It is."

"So you want to tell me how the ball just rolled across the floor all on it’s own?"

"Don’t know." Murdock said, intrigued.

Face glanced out the window. "Look maybe we ought to just leave. The storm’s gone. Perhaps we can pick up a lift into town?"

"This time of night?" Murdock replied. His attention was wandering from his companion back to the ball and the invisible occupant of the room. He bent down and rolled the ball back across the floor. It came to a halt beside the bed.

"Murdock?" Face said. He sounded agitated like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Shhhh." Murdock said waving a hand at him.

The ball had no sooner stopped it’s journey than it began slowly to roll back again picking up speed as it went. By the time it reached Murdock the red, white and blue colours were a blur. He stuck his foot out to stop it in it’s tracks. There was more laughter and the sound of a child’s feet again.

"Someone or something is playing with you." Face stated. By now even he was staring into the room. The moon shone brightly through the bedroom window now and that was when both men saw the small child sitting on the chair. She was probably about five years old and wore a knee length white dress. Her hair was blonde and curly. Face thought she was the spitting image of Shirley Temple. The memory of one of her old movies came immediately to mind.

Murdock moved slowly across the room stopping in the middle of the mat. The child was only feet from him now. She appeared almost translucent.

Murdock crouched down so that he appeared to be at her eye height. He smiled warmly. The child suddenly appeared shy. She sat with her hands in her lap and head bowed.

"What’s your name, honey?" Murdock almost whispered.

The child looked up again.

"I’m HM Murdock. This here’s my friend, Templeton Peck. You wanna tell me your name?"

The child slid off the chair and stood in the moonlight. She seemed fascinated by Murdock. She walked slowly round him. Face watched entranced hardly daring to breathe.

Murdock watched her progress. He slowly sat down cross-legged on the mat. The child picked up the ball and handed it to him.

"You wanna play, huh?" Murdock said, smiling. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it again. The child eyed his every move.

It was then that both men heard the sound of a car. Face glanced out the window and noticed the headlights coming up the drive. "We’ve got company, Murdock." The child backed away again at his sudden movement.

A young man and woman climbed out of the car. Both had spotted the Corvette parked nearby. The man looked it over as he headed for the house.

"You stay here." Face stated. "I’ll go and explain what we are doing here." Murdock nodded but his attention didn’t wander from the child who was still backing away. She was standing by the window again now.

Murdock heard his rapid descent on the old wooden stairs and the sound of the front door. Voices. Rapidly expressed apologies.

The little girl stood silently now, her head bowed. "It’s OK, honey." Murdock whispered. He reached out towards her.

* * * * * 

"I know how this looks." Face said, standing awkwardly in the hall. "I think it’s the radiator. The gauge was almost off the scale. This seemed to be the only place I might find a phone."

The young couple stood listening to his explanation and then finally the man smiled.

"It’s not the first time. Seems to be our lot in life to offer a roof to the stranded. My name’s Doug. This here is my wife Rebecca. We bought this place about a year ago. We are renovating. Guess that’s pretty obvious." He thrust a hand in Face’s direction.

Face accepted it willingly and shook it. "Templeton Peck. My friend H.M. Murdock’s upstairs. We heard a noise."

Murdock appeared then at the top of the stairs. "She’s gone." He stated flatly.

Rebecca smiled. "You mean Sally?"

Face frowned. "You know her?"

Rebecca nodded. "My husband has never seen her. In fact no one but me has ever seen her. We don’t know much about her but she doesn’t mean any harm. The only time we know she is about is when we find a ball at the bottom of the stairs."

Doug smiled. "Wish she’d learn to trust me. We can’t have children. My wife is rather attached to Sally. In fact we don’t even know her real name. She never speaks to you does she, dear?"

Rebecca sadly shook her head.

Murdock stood silently at the top of the stairs. Face gestured to him. "Look I am really sorry about this. You think you could maybe give us a lift into town or to the nearest phone?"

Doug nodded. "Sure. You are more than welcome to stay the night though. We can sort things out in the morning. Trouble is we only have one spare bedroom at the moment. That a problem?"

Face shook his head. "No won’t be the first time we have had to bunk up together." He smiled warmly.

"Then it’s settled. You’ll both stay the night and Doug will take you into town in the morning. I am just sorry we don’t have the phone sorted out here yet or I guess you could call. Somehow modern day conveniences have never been high on our list to be sorted out." She smiled. "Let me show you where everything is."

She led the way back upstairs. Face followed a few steps behind. Pausing on the top step she reached out and squeezed Murdock’s arm. "I am glad to meet you Mr. Murdock. Any friend of Sally’s is a friend of mine."

"Thank you, ma’am." Murdock replied, taking off his baseball hat.

 * * * * *

As the old clock downstairs struck three, Murdock lay still listening to the sound of his companion breathing deeply beside him. It had been a strange Halloween. Nothing like he had first envisaged when he had sat dripping wet in the passenger seat of Face’s Corvette. Had he not been awake he never would have heard the almost silent creak of the door as it swung inwards. Murdock watched entranced. Sally stood in the moonlight. She was smiling again. Then almost in a heartbeat she was gone again. Face shifted position beside him and Murdock felt the weight of his arm across his waist. Finally he too slept.

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