Page 1 of Hunted on Halloween
Chapter One
“I don’t understand. Ihave never understood. Why don’t you break it down for me again? No wait, here’s the better question: why am I just hearing about this?” Tia paced back and forth in front of the couch.
“Stop cursing, baby, and sit down. I can’t tell you anything if you’re pacing and fidgeting. Then you’re not listening.”
Tia plopped on one end of the couch and turned to face her mom, who was sitting on the other end. She had just bought this house. It needed a little maintenance. All right, it needed a lot, but the minute she saw it, she knew. It felt like destiny reaching out for her. So, she poured her hard-won money into it, and now it was hers.
Tia watched as her mother wrung her hands. “Mom?”
“I was hoping to never have to tell you. You were born not too long after the last time it happened. All I want is for you to be safe.”
“After what happened? I feel like I’m part of the stupid generation for not tying you down and making you confess years ago.”
“It happens every thirty years on Halloween.”
“Is that why you hate Halloween?” She still didn’t know what was happening, but her mother’s hatred of Halloween had made that holidaypersona non gratain their household.
“Every year they taunt the monsters, those slavering beasts, knowing that they will eventually break out and come for them.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Tia put her hand on her mother’s forehead, feeling for warmth. “Can I get you a glass of water?”
“You can listen and do what I say.”
“Okay, okay, I’m listening.” There would be no doing what her mother said, but she could at least listen.
“A long time ago, before you were born, or me, or even your grandmother was born, something happened. They don’t talk about it or teach about it in school. They treat it like a shameful secret, like we, the innocent, did something wrong.” Her mother sat there shaking her head and muttering to herself.
“Mom, this isn’t helping.”
“Do you remember what I tell you every year about Halloween?”
“To be careful because the veil thins.”
“Every thirty years, the veil becomes passable. The monsters that live on the other side come to our world to terrorize and kill us.”
Tia tried, honestly, she did. That look on her mother’s face made her laugh until she cried.
“What is wrong with the children of today? Please stay in the house this Halloween. If they see you, they will kill you or drag you back with them. There will be everlasting torment in your life if you go back with them. I love you! Are you listening to me?I can’t lose you, Tia. You’re all I have left.” Her mother started crying.
Tia might laugh at what she said, but there was no way she’d laugh at her mother’s tears. She was across the couch with her mom wrapped in her arms as she swayed back and forth.
Really, what was one night in the house with the doors and the windows shut? It was getting chilly anyway, and she didn’t have any Halloween plans. If it would make her mother feel better, then she’d do it.
“Hmm, if this happens every thirty years, why wait till the day before Halloween to tell me?”
“The witches said they had it this time. The spell was supposed to be foolproof. No more suffering from those monsters. It didn’t work. There was no choice but to tell the truth to all of you who didn’t experience this thirty years ago.”
“If there really is a veil, why is it thinning?”
“Those monsters worked on it for centuries until one day they got what they wanted. A chance to come to our world and wreak havoc.”
Tia knew her mother wasn’t lying, but something here didn’t make sense. Why come to their world when they had a world of their own? And witches. Who was a witch and where did they hide out?
“Mom, tell me more about these witches.”
“Mind your business, baby girl. If they wanted you to know about them, they would have introduced themselves.”
Well, she couldn’t argue with that.
