One Skull, Two Skull, Three

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‘Are you game?’

‘Yeah, I reckon,’ Spence answered his best mate Chris. ‘What choice do we have?’

‘None. Not if we want to be members of the Mighty Marauders when we start high school next year.’

‘Yeah, and they have the coolest clubhouse.’

‘Right. I heard you can see right into the girls’ change rooms next to the pool from their tree house,’ Chris offered as an incentive. ‘So we’re gonna do it right?’

‘I guess,’ Spence sort of agreed. ‘It shouldn’t be too hard should it?’

‘Nah.’

‘Do you really think she’s a witch?’

‘So they say. I heard all those cats and ravens turn into panthers and vultures every full moon.'

‘Oh just great.’

‘Not gonna chicken out are ya?’

‘Guess not,’ Spence answered. There is no way a guy could look like a chicken in front of his mates.

‘Look, all we gotta do is pinch some dumb old skull off her mantelpiece and take it to the clubhouse before midnight this Halloween. She’s probably deaf and blind anyway.’

‘Hope your right.’ Spence replied, wondering about the panthers and stuff.

‘Let’s go check this place out. We need a plan,’ Chris added rolling his eyes skyward.

‘Yeah, and we’ve only got ‘til Friday,’ Spence added, with much more enthusiasm than he felt.

Both boys stood up together from the kerb where they were sitting outside the general store. Strolling down the leafy boulevard Spence took his favourite Coca- Cola yoyo out of his back pocket and started swinging it up and down. He needed to increase his stride to keep up with his much taller and ganglier mate. Spence kept playing with the yoyo as they continued in silence past the rows of similarly styled single story bungalows.

The whitewashed wooden walls stood out vividly against the manicured green lawns that sloped gently towards the roadway. The magpies sat high in the leafy evergreens that threw welcoming shade over the tin roofs. It was unusual for the sun to shine so brightly at this time of year.

Overhead the foliage grew thicker and lower throwing a gloomy half-light across the bright midday sun as the boys continued strolling along the gently winding road.

‘Sure looks spooky,’ Chris suggested pointing into the deserted high-school yard, as a gentle breeze echoed down the empty corridors whispering a mournful tune.

‘Yeah,’ Spence whispered. His mouth was so dry he couldn’t spit, but there was no way he tell Chris that.

‘They reckon’ the gym’s haunted,’ Chris said as they walked past the dull grey windowless building. ‘Some kid hung himself from that bell tower on top, and his ghost walks around pinching stuff.’

‘Oh. Yeah. Cool. Just great.’

The road took a sudden turn to the right and just as suddenly the gentle warbling of the magpies gave way to a raucous cawing.

‘Those ravens give me the yips,’ Spence croaked.

Ramshackle rundown shanties replaced the orderly rows of bungalows. Dusty yards littered with rusting pick-ups took over from the the neatly trimmed lawns and the smooth proudly kerbed bitumen became pockmarked with potholes and crumbling edges. The leaves lay rotting on the ground below giving a musty odour to the eerie gloom. The bare and scraggy limbs of the thickly entwined branches reached out to grab at the boys with arthritic fingers as they walked underneath.

Spence jumped with a start as a huge black cat scampered across their path. It stood and faced the boys; green eyes blazing before it snarled at them and turned to disappear through a hole in the rickety fence that had suddenly appeared.

‘This is it,’ Chris declared, too loud for Spence’s liking. ‘Sure look’s spooky. There must be a hole in this old fence somewhere.’

‘Yeah,’ Spence stuttered, his yoyo forgotten, hanging limply by his side.

The dark weatherboard house was typical of the dilapidated and termite infested shanties surrounding it. However a rickety old wooden fence surrounded this one. It was too tall for the boys to see over but they were able to spy through the gaps left by the many missing, broken and partially burned pickets.

‘Shush,’ Chris whispered as he edged his face forward to peer into the gloom beyond. An uneven red brick path led from the broken down gate. It wandered through the unchecked growth of the yard up to a small verandah at the front of the house. Overlapping creepers and vines that prevented any light from reaching the front door turned the day into night as they overran the verandah.

All the windows were boarded over and a single column of grey smoke rose through the soot covered chimney, despite the heat of the midday sun. It was just possible to make out the shapes of what looked like huge black cats lounging in the gloom of the verandah. The noise of the ravens perched high above sounded like the continuous buzz of the huge saw in the timber mill on the other edge of town.

‘There she is,’ Chris gasped, his gaze moving across the yard.

Not more than thirty feet slightly to his left a figure dressed completely in black hunched over a huge black cooking pot. The pot stood on a bed of red-hot coals. The figure ignored the bright red flames and rising steam as she leant over the pot stirring the contents with a wooden ladle. The boiling liquid spat and hissed as she sprinkled a white powder into the seething cauldron.

‘She’s mumbling some sort of spell,’ Chris said, unable to fully hear the tune the figure was singing.

‘Here, give me a look,’ Spence said with false bravado, shoving his yoyo deep into his back pocket. ‘I can’t see anything. She’s gone.’

Suddenly a firm hand grasped hold of his right ear, pulling him away from the fence. Spinning around with the momentum Spence found himself face to face with the witch. Chris stood stock still on her other, his face grimaced in pain and shock. Spence saw that she had hold of his left ear, twisting it hard, forcing him up on tiptoes.

She was not overly tall but the high heeled, black boots and pointed hat made her look that way. Both boys stood stock still, as if hypnotised, unable to break the gaze of the lifeless eyes that perched like sunken orbs over her crooked nose and pointed chin. Despite her stick like frame she felt incredibly strong.

‘And what are you two spying on?’ she shrieked in a high pitched voice, twisting her grip and breaking the boy’s hypnotic stare.

Galvanised by terror Spence struck out with his right foot, collecting the witch square on the shin with the point of his big toe. It hurt a lot despite the cushion of his Nike’ sneakers. Caught off guard the witch let go of him with a shriek.

‘Why you little…’ she yelped after Spence as he tore off down the street at full gallop. ‘Come back here you...’ the sound drowned out as he hurtled back past the shanties and the schoolyard.

He did not slow down until he pulled up outside the general store, bending over hands on knees gasping for breath. Only then did he realise that he had left his best mate behind. Spence knew he could run a lot faster than Chris could and always beat him in the hundred yards dash at school athletics. Maybe he managed to get away and is not far behind around the bend he thought, gulping large quantities of oxygen into his starving lungs. That’s it, he consoled himself, I kicked the old witch pretty good, he must have gotten away too.

Taking his yoyo out of his back pocket Spence slumped down onto the kerb to wait. After half an hour of loop the loop, rocking the cradle and shooting the pilot guilt started to get the better of him.

Maybe he went straight home or to the tree house Spence thought. Fully intending to check both out he found his legs dragging him back down the boulevard past the high school towards the broken down, rickety old picket fence. Peering through the same gap as before he could see the old witch hunched over the huge cooking pot, cackling and laughing out loud.

But this time it was different. Lying at her feet were Chris’ clothes. Spence knew he would recognise the yellow sweatshirt and brown chords anywhere. Exactly what he was wearing when she grabbed him.

‘Oh my,’ he exclaimed under his breath. “She’s boiled him alive in the pot. What am I going to do?’

‘The sheriff,’ he muttered, turning slowly back towards the general store, shoulders slumped. “She’s killed my best mate.’ he mumbled as the shock set in.

Trudging past the broken down shanties and schoolyard he did not hear the cawing of the ravens or the ghostly whispers calling from the vacant corridors.

Spence couldn’t believe his eyes when he finally reached the general store. There was Chris sitting on the kerb. At least it looked like Chris, the same mop of curly blonde hair, the same square shoulders and lanky legs. It looked like Chris, but this Chris was wearing a blue and white checked shirt with blue jeans.

‘Thanks for the help,’ Chris said as Spence sat down on the kerb beside him.

‘I thought you were a goner.’

‘Could’a been, no thanks to you.’

‘I went back. She had your clothes on the ground by the pot. I thought -.’

‘Don’t.’

‘How did you get away?’ Spence asked, ashamed he had bolted so readily, leaving his mate stranded.

‘She’s not that bad really. Just lonely and a little weird.’ Chris replied.

Spence stared at him incredulously, mouth agape.

‘She dragged me inside. It was really dark, cobwebs everywhere. I could see all this really weird stuff hanging on the walls and lying all around.’

‘Were you scared? What kind of stuff?’

‘Nah. Headhunter type stuff. Blowpipes, weird masks with really cool feathers, necklaces made of sharks teeth. Right out of the ‘Wild Man of Borneo’ kind of stuff. Axes and spears, really creepy.’

‘Did you see the skull?’

‘Yep, it’s right there in the middle of the mantelpiece. The place stinks but, really putrid.’

‘Can we sneak in from the back?’

‘Think so. I tried to have a bit of a squiz when she went to get me a change of clothes but this huge black cat blocked my way.’

‘Yeah? What happened to your own clothes?’

‘Well she gave me an ice cream and cool drink and one of those cats jumped into my lap spilling it all over me. She offered to wash them in that old pot out the front. Says she does it like that all the time. No electricity.’

‘What else could you see?’

‘Lots of spears and knives all around the place. And there was this big bald bird with a huge beak that kept looking at me funny. It had a real glint in its eye. Like I was dinner. Real spooky.’

‘But we can get the skull, right?’

“Yeah, I think so, but we don’t have to sneak in.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘She said she was really looking for some company. If we go round on Halloween and hang around for a bit she said she would give us a skull each. Not the one on the mantle piece, but newer ones. And the guys in the club won’t know any different.’

‘Cool.’

‘Besides I have to get my clothes back.’

‘Well I’m not really looking forward to going back,’ Spence confessed as he stood up. ‘At least we don’t have to sneak in.’

Halloween came around quickly, bringing a cloudy sky beneath a full moon. The street lighting did not extend beyond the high school creating sinister shadows as the boys strolled nervously past the empty basketball court. The wind continued to moan through the empty corridors. The ravens cawing was equalled by the hoots of the night owls and the baying of the wolves on the edge of the forest beyond.

Minutes earlier the boys had left the brightly lit boulevard of their own neighbourhood. It had been a hive of activity as ghouls, gnomes, witches and werewolves mixed with unadorned older kids in the yearly trick or treat. Excited voices created a carnival atmosphere as passing groups compared the booty collected from one house or the devilment played upon another.

‘Sure is creepy,’ Spence said, wishing he had brought his yoyo to calm his nerves. ‘Are you sure she said this was ok? The place is completely dark,’ coming to a halt beside the crooked gate that swayed in the breeze on its one good hinge. The rusting creak sounded overly loud in the eerie silence.

‘Come on,’ Chris scowled climbing through the gap between gate and post. ‘Don’t be such a girl. Do you want to be a member of the Marauders or not?’

‘Yeah, I guess,’ Spence replied, not really sure at all.

Spence jumped as a pair of golden orbs flashed at him suddenly out of the darkness then ducked his head as the flutter of wings swooshed past his ears. With leaden feet and shaking knees he slowly followed Chris up the path to the verandah which was shrouded in complete darkness. He tripped more than once on the uneven paving as he did so.

‘Yew, what’s that stink?’ he asked, clasping his hand over his face, trying to keep the rotting stench out of his nose and mouth.

‘Told you it was putrid,’ Chris replied, climbing the steps and knocking on the front door.

‘She’s not home,’ Spence said thankfully after what seemed an eternity. ‘Let’s go.’

‘We came for a skull,’ Chris hissed through clenched teeth, trying to hide his own apprehension, knocking on the door again.

‘Come on, let’s go. This place gives me the creeps,’ Spence urged wishing he couldn’t hear the sound of heavy boots plodding along the wooden floor inside.

‘She’s coming,’ Chris said as the front door creaked open.

Just my luck Spence thought.

The clouds parted allowing the moonlight to show the glint in the old woman’s eyes as she opened the door fully.

‘Come in,’ she said. ‘I was getting things ready for you.’

‘What things?’ Spence whispered to Chris.

‘Skulls,’ was the whispered reply.

xxxx

Spence’s mother called Chris’ mother when Spence had not returned in time for dinner. Together they went to the sheriff when the boys had still not returned at midnight.

The whole town joined in the search but no trace of either has ever been found.

xxxx

The sun shone brightly as three young hopefuls stood at the base of the rope ladder dangling down from the tree house. Sitting on the platform high in the tree it was still possible to spy into the girl’s change rooms next to the pool.

‘If you want to join the Mighty Marauders,’ a shrill voice shrieked hoarsely down to them, ‘you have to bring back the three skulls from the mantelpiece in the old witch’s house at the end of the boulevard.’

‘And you have to do it this Halloween.’