The Celery Stalks At Midnight Part 5

...and then Joel woke up.

He woke up in his bed at home, covered by his familiar fuzzy blue blanket, his stuffed bear with the ratty fur that he hid when his friends came over tucked securely in the crook of his arm. Gentle hands touched his forehead, smoothed the hair from his face.

"Mom?" he said, tears in his throat. He had had the worst nightmare. He needed a glass of water. He needed to go to the bathroom but he was too scared to get up.

He heard a hissing noise, felt the gentle fingers clamp down and pinch flesh from his bones. He heard chewing, smacking lips, felt more hands grab for him.

He screamed, he struggled, he bled as they feasted.

He saw the phantom at the foot of the bed. It reached out for him.

"Help me!" Joel cried.

Joel was sitting at his desk at school, writing a silly story about killer vegetables. His teacher would think it was very creative, his mother would think it was a little disturbed and make a mental note to have a chat with Mrs. Stratford after school one day.

He stared out the window, letting his imagination linger on Halloween and the costume he wanted: A long white robe with a cowl. Red eyes, skeleton feet. He wanted to scare everyone in his class, in his neighborhood. He could see himself, peering out through bloody irises, craving the innocent soul of a child to take with him to Hell.

Joel was a rabbit, running through the field. He was being chased by his neighbor's dog. The dog caught him, the last thing he saw before it ripped out his throat was the moonlit sky.

Joel was beaten, stabbed, hurt, devoured, chased, over and over without end, but each nightmare is tinged with the faint stirrings of hope. It is unthinkably cruel.

Poor Joel. You looked away. And now he's gone, gone.

Joel's mother will wait for him to come home from school, but he will never show up. She will call the school, but he was absent today...wasn't he? His teacher will recall him sitting at his desk, but he left early for a doctor's appointment, right? You will see Joel's parents on TV one day, begging for his return. The town will be covered in blue-and-white ribbons and posters with his sweet little boy face.

But he's never coming home. Everyone knows that. The ribbons will eventually fade and tatter, the posters will melt after the first good rain of the season. Joel's parents will move on, have another baby, never tell him about his big brother who disappeared. They will hope that their house will not be stricken again, that surely the monster will have been satisfied with their sacrifice and move on.

But the phantom is always hungry, and he is never satisfied.

~~The End~~