Sharing Nightmares

Gabriel Pope || Old Man Murdock

Old Man Murdock by Gabriel_Pope

The two friends watched with little interest while a family unpacked grocery bags from the black sedan which had just pulled up a moment ago. The echoes of joyous screams from the children rang in the air when an older kid pulled out two large carved pumpkins, each the size of a FIFA football. From down the street, playful laughter echoed from the park where a number of the children in the neighborhood played.

"Tricks or Treats, which were your favorite?" Matt asked, glancing at Sam whose gaze floated across the street, tracing out the pattern of pumpkin decorated lawns and imagining what the sight would be like when darkness fell.

"Tricks," said a voice from behind them, it was followed by the heavy thud of a back pack beside Sam. "At least those are better than having a hangover from too much sugar in my system."

Sam rolled her eyes and shook her head in a playful manner. They hadn't heard Gregg come up to their rooftop rendezvous of Gregg's crib from which they could see pretty much the entire street-and escape annoying adults. Gregg sat across his two buddies, the sandy haired Sam who always wore that I-don't-really-care-because-you're-not-worth-shit attitude and the talkative Matt who always had a trick up his sleeves at every point in time.

"Remember that Night of Demons one?" Matt said, almost bursting into laughter as he spoke. "I still remember the look on the Johansen twins' face."

Sam grinned and shook her head as memories of the fake Halloween school party Matt and Gregg had organized drifted into her head. They'd made sure the party was full and getting all groovy before calling the cops to report the 'murder' which had held a few blocks from where the school principal lived.

"That was back when Halloween wasn't all costume parties," Gregg said in after he'd caught his breath. "These days, I'd rather get wasted in a pub."

"You get wasted every week boy," Sam rolled her eyes. "There'll be nothing special if it happened on a Halloween night."

"Yo guys, check this out?" Matt nodded in the direction of a frail old fellow walking with calculated steps on the walkway with a walking stick feeling the way in front of him."No pets, no family, no visitors and the old man seems just fine."

"Who's that?" Sam lighted a cigarette in her mouth and puffed a mouthful of smoke into the air.

"Old man Murdock," Gregg answered. "He moved in the neighborhood just a few weeks back."

"He looks friendly." Sam watched the man talk with one of the neighbors before crouching to greet their kid.

"Come on, everyone does the good neighbor thing for a while but once they get all comfortable, shit gets real."

The man carried on towards the direction of the park, tapping his way through. She couldn't quite tell but something about him didn't quite settle well with her. For some reason, it all felt like he could hear their discussion although that would be most bizarre.

"How about we gave old man Murdock a proper 'welcome to the neighborhood'," Matt suggested. The smirk on his face was enough to relay what he was thinking.

"No way, it's not what I'm thinking," Sam said, shaking her head in disbelief.

***

The sun had set by the time Sam got home. The heavy stink of tobacco and beer welcomed her as she entered into the apartment. The television was on and turned low and a masculine silhouette was visible in the living room.