Mavis lit the jack-o-lanterns that surrounded the front porch and walkways and went back into the house, where she took the carving knife dirty with pumpkin guts and washed it off.
It wouldn’t be long, she thought - some lone child with his mother, a lonesome twosome for her gruesome work. It took a few hours, but eventually they showed up, a young mother of about twenty-five and a seven-year-old boy dressed as some superhero. She invited them in to get candy from the foyer and shut and locked the door behind them. That was when she sprayed them with stunning mist, causing them both to drop to the floor. The mother she dragged unceremoniously down the cellar stairs, letting her body bump and slam into anything as it descended into Mavis’s hellish pit on its last journey to anywhere. Then she went up and slung the boy over her shoulder and walked him down.
She was halfway though skinning the child when the mother came to and saw Mavis at work, preparing her feast. It was something the mother’s brain couldn’t process at first; too horrific to be real, but it was. She enjoyed watching the mother realizing everything, but after a few minutes of screaming it just got annoying so she sprayed her down again.
When the mother came to the second time, she was tied to a dining room chair, gagged, watching Mavis place a beautiful silver platter on the table with what looked like a large loin. No, it couldn’t be, it couldn’t be. Mavis was carving up her meal, putting slices of meat on her plate next to a cluster of steaming potatoes peppered with fresh herbs and doused in butter. Mavis relished her meal, chewing slowly and making eye contact with the mother as she devoured the son in front of her. The mother looked like she was going insane with grief and traumatic shock, but for Mavis that was the best part. Not just enjoying the meal, but watching the mother lose her mind. It was her favorite game, and she only let herself play it once a year, on Halloween. As the mother sobbed behind her gag and her eyes puffed up with tears, Mavis drew her knife delicately across the meat on her china plate, letting every moment hang in the air, enjoying each horrible moment before she moved on to the next. This was her night, and she was going to enjoy it to the max.
October 7, 2022