Feel Flows (A Halloween Story)

Feel Flows

By Thomas M. Reidy

Preface: Here is a Gothic ghost story written in a fusion style of Edgar Allan Poe and Rod Serling. I borrowed the title “Feel Flows” from a song in the Beach Boys album “Surfs Up.” It is a hauntingly beautiful song and eerily hypnotic. Listen to the song, if you get a chance, it matches perfectly with the mood of the story.

***

Sojun Gaillore, with his family and friends, was looking forward to visiting the “Haunted House Spookfest” that drew large crowds each year in October. This year they were going to visit on Halloween night. It being the last night, the sponsors always threw in extra surprises like, bonfires, fireworks, costume parades, plenty of candy and judging contests.

Sojun, age 11 was going as a ghost, just a basic white sheet with holes punched in it so he could see and breathe. He loved Halloween, but he wasn’t big into costumes. On the other hand, Garth Peterson, who was his BFF, was going as a pirate with hat, plastic sword, and a colorful stuffed parrot attached to his shoulder. Garth was looking forward to the costume contest at the end of the haunted house tour.

The Gaillore and Peterson families decided to travel in two cars: the first car with Sojun, his dad, mother, and younger sister Natalie; the second, with Garth and his parents. They planned on ending the night back at the Gaillore’s home for some cider and doughnuts, reserving some legal beverages for the adults.

Halloween at the “Spookfest” always had surprises and this year was no exception. It started out with a jolt! Thunder, sparks flying, and a large bonfire greeted Sojun as he stepped out of the car. A crowd was gathering near the bonfire and now sirens were wailing and chattering. Blue, orange, yellow, white, and red lights were strobing—he could feel the heat from the fire. His father was saying something, so he leaned back into the open window of the car to hear above the din.”Go ahead son hold a place for us in the line we’ll be along soon. “He was pointing his finger across the street, behind Sojun. Turning around, Sojun saw a large wrought iron gate arching over two field stone pillars with wrought iron fencing extending out from the pillars which held back overgrown shrubbery inside the gate. Above the entrance in the arch were the words DIVINE MYSTERY. The gate was ajar, but no one was entering, even though a crowd was around it. Sojun turned his head back into the car and said, “Okay Dad,” yet he felt uneasy. The tone in his dad’s voice was sad it seemed like he had lost all enthusiasm. Even stranger still, his mother was in the back seat draped over Natalie; who was dressed as a pink bunny and safely tucked in her car seat. His mother wasn’t moving; she must be trying to unbuckle the restraint under the seat he thought, as he turned and walked toward the gate.

Walking across the street, Sojun hoped that they weren’t late for the grand finale. Through a mist of smoke, he could see what looked like medieval knights jousting with dragons; or could it be astronauts battling monsters from another planet? He wasn’t sure because his eyes were tearing from the smoky haze. He hoped the show wouldn’t be over by the time he and Garth got back to the street.

The din and excitement of the crowd evaporated once he walked through the gate. There were no lights lining the flagstone alley path. Just the Moon’s intermittent white light, scudding through dark leaden clouds. No one else was on the rising path that appeared to end on a hilltop a quarter mile away. There, he saw a large looming hulk of a building, blacker than its surroundings. To his right, as he walked along the path, were dense bushes and undergrowth. Anything could be lurking there and jump on you he thought. A growing sense of panic was welling up in him, yet he felt compelled to keep moving up the path.

As he walked on, he felt his energy draining along with a mild headache. He wondered: Where is everyone? On the left was an open field overgrown with tall grass and weeds and tree thickets that hid abandoned buildings. A gray fog flowed and eddied toward him. One forlorn house had a yellow light gleaming from the attic turret. The sight gave Sojun shivers.

He could hear the snapping of branches and the rustle leaves to his right. Something or someone was following him. Sojun stopped to listen, but whenever he stopped the footsteps stopped. He called out, “Whoever is in there come out! This isn’t funny anymore!” Nothing but dead silence greeted him. He picked up some rocks beside the path and threw them into the bushes—dead silence. He began to run and once again the footsteps followed.

Now he was close to the top of the hill. To the left were rusted railings bounding a cemetery. The moonlight revealed tombstones from the Victorian era and oddly, the presence of other people. Shapes that seemed to be moving between the monuments, hard to make out. Sojun hoped that these shades were just actors from the “Spookfest,” but this was way too creepy now. He just wanted to go home. Where was his family and the Petersons, he asked himself? He looked back down the pathway toward the street entrance. There he looked longingly at the orange flickering glow from the bonfire. An icy wind was gusting about him drowning out distant voices: Was it his imagination?

The dark mansion was looming right over the cemetery. He was now at the entrance. Another gated arch greeted him with the gate swung half open, but this time, there was a line of people stretching from it, through the ruined formal gardens, then stopping in front a large patio door. He got into the end of the line and became even more rattled when he discovered that the “people” in front of him were all wearing dirty gray-green shrouds. He looked down at his own white sheet costume and became paralyzed in fear. The white sheet was now gray green like the others.

Slowly, one by one, his place in the line shortened as each shroud entered the house. His spirit totally drained, his fingers and toes growing colder, he resigned himself to his fate. Suddenly, his parents’ voices were calling to him outside the gate which was now closed. He turned around and looked. Several shrouds had filled in behind him, but beyond the gate, on the path he could see his father and mother. His father shouted: “Sojun, we’re too late but we’ll meet you on the other side.” His mother repeated with rising tension in her voice, “Sojun, we will be waiting for you on the other side—we love you.”

Sojun was at the top of the step now next in line to go in. The gabled monster with its open mouth was beckoning him to come in. He looked above the roof peaks as the Moon broke the clouds and cast a silvery halo over the building and through the broken windows.

He was too weary now to resist anymore. An icy whirlwind of dried leaves blew by him.

Sojun entered the Dark Doorway.

EPILOGUE:

(Channel 5 Eyewitness News at 11)

“Good evening. I am Don McQueen. We have breaking news tonight. A serious car accident has taken the lives of two, and possibly three people tonight near the Route 10 exit downtown. Our reporter Chris Locarno is on the scene. Chris what can you tell us?”

“Well Don, this is a tragedy deepening into a mystery. Tonight, at approximately 9 PM, a car driven by Angus Gaillore was struck by a truck heading west bound on the I-490 overpass near Franklin St. The car was hit by such force that it careened over and down the embankment along the overpass and came to rest on Franklin St. But here the situation gets even worse. The driver of the truck, John Prester, was accelerating his truck on the inside lane when it veered into the Gaillore’s car, Prester then pulled his truck sharply to the left, but it was too late. The weight of his freight caused the truck to jackknife and it too went over the embankment landing on the Gaillores vehicle.

With Angus Gaillore was his wife Diana, his son Sojun, age 11 and his daughter Natalie, age 3. The truck burst into flames and a hazmat team was brought in to contain the fire when it was discovered that the truck had drums of waste motor oil spilling onto the street. Police cordon off the street as a crowd gathered and ambulances took Prester, Angus and Diana Gaillore to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

However, we have just been informed that the Gaillores were pronounced dead on arrival. Prester is in stable condition with pending charges of reckless driving and DWI and possibly more coming.

Now Don, here is where the mystery deepens: Three-year-old Natalie was found at the side of the curb on Franklin St. approximately 100 feet from the accident. She was still in her car seat and sleeping soundly. She was immediately taken to St Joseph’s by ambulance and it turns out that she is perfectly fine—no injuries or trauma whatsoever. How she escaped the accident is baffling authorities. Even more baffling is that their son, Sojun, is missing. Police have searched the wreckage and the surrounding neighborhood but have found nothing.

We interviewed, before we came on the air, Ken and Phyllis Peterson close friends of the Gailores and eyewitnesses to the accident. Here is what they said…

“Ken, please tell us what you saw”

“Well, we were following the Gaillores; we were going to the Halloween Haunted House up on Northshore Drive. We were driving west on the I-490 when this big tractor trailer rig comes barreling along and veers right into the Gaillores. Both vehicles go flipping over then burst into flames—they didn’t have a chance.”

“Phyllis, we understand that Sojun Gaillore is missing: Was he in their car?”

“Yes, Sojun and my son Garth were close friends, and we were traveling together. They were both excited to go to the last night of the Haunted House. We’re devastated—we…we can’t believe what has just happened and we’re praying that Sojun is alright. “

“Don, back to you. “

“Thank you, Chris. All our hopes and prayers go out to the Gaillore family tonight…”

***

Author’s Synopsis

Sojun’s (short for Sojourner) transition into the netherworld begins immediately at the scene of the accident. But he does not know that he is dead yet. In fact, he thinks that he has arrived at the Haunted House Spookfest and thinks he is seeing a show of knights or spacemen being put on near the bonfire. What he really is seeing though, is the hazmat team and firefighters putting out the flames from the burning wreckage of the accident.

 His mother and father are also dead and in transition, but they have an important task to complete before they finally depart; to save Natalie from the burning wreckage.