Shhh…
By: Marta Mozolewska
Tags: Halloween, Short Story, Fiction, The Junction, Horror

October 31st. Halloween. Contrary to the general expectation, the day was not dark, gloomy or spooky at all. No wind, no clouds, no rain. A beautiful sunlight shining everywhere bringing out the stunning gold of the leaves surrounding a traditional kindergarten building.

All the small and cutie skeletons, zombies, mummies or witches had fun outside in the playground, swinging, sliding and chasing one another with joy and laughter. Except for Harry Springfield, a lovely wizard who’d only recently joined the kindergarten group. He stayed indoors painting, forgotten by everyone. No, he wasn’t jolly at all, but rather sad and tired instead.

His father was a soldier, thus their family of three had to move places very often. It was actually Harry’s third kindergarten at the age of 5. The wizard was quite a smart boy, so he’d managed to work out some techniques of handling the stressful status of a permanent newbie. He would choose, out of a given environment, one or two friendly elements to cling to in hope of receiving the necessary support.

This time Harry clung to a stray black kitten which had magically arrived at the kindergarten on the same day as he had and quickly became an informal pet of the whole community. Harry had fallen head over heels in love with Little Coal, which wasn’t surprising at all, considering the specific character of his father’s profession making it impossible for Harry to keep any animals at home. Thus the boy spent every minute he could playing with the cat.

As regards the world of humans, Harry chose the warmest and kindest person he’d ever met — his tutor Julia Dragon. Miss Julia also turned out a very witty person as for Halloween she wore a cool costume of…a dragon, which was a sort of tradition in her case. Just like every year she’d put on a long green dress with glossy fish shells sewn on all over and big red spikes fixed along the spine and the long tail. Plus red nail polish and very realistic make up on her face. Well, the young tutor didn’t look scary at all. Instead of wild horrified screams and hair pulling she evoked only warm smiles or even loud guffaws in her small pupils, who loved her dearly.

Suddenly, Harry got out of the building and ran down the stairs to the playground with a picture he’d just painted especially for his favorite teacher. He ran straight to her shouting excitedly red in his cheeks, “Look, look! My dragon eats pumpkins!”

Upon the words heard, Julia glanced at the picture and stiffened for a second. Next she took Harry by hand and pulled him gently aside. Glancing swiftly all around, she leaned over the boy, looked straight into his eyes and, close to his face, whispered loud and clear, “No, no, no, my dear Harry… Dragons do not eat pumpkins, nor carrots or cabbage. They eat cows, sheep, small kittens and sweet puppies, as well as five-year-olds! Yes, yes, that’s right! You’ve heard me fine, YOU AS WELL!”

The blue of her eyes for a moment changed into the deep rusty gold with the black line in the middle. Then her mouth opened wide disclosing fire burning inside and gave out an unfamiliar low hoarse voice, “Look there!” Her gaze led Harry’s to the left, where Little Coal was stretching lazily in the sun. In the nick of time something long, thin and black reached the kitten, lifted it and transported to the mouth of Miss Julia. She put Little Coal inside her mouth, swallowed it aloud and burped releasing a little flame outside. Next she slowly pressed an index finger against her lips saying, “Shhh….” and walked back to the kids on the swings and slides leaving Harry wide-eyed, breathless and shaking all over.