Halloween 2022: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 3
“Victoria has the start of an idea, that’s better than the rest of us just hoping to find what we need.” You step out the door, tensing for an ambush that doesn’t come. “Let’s go check the other houses for clues.”
Victoria arrives at your side seconds later, Thad and Pumpkin right behind you, with Jim bringing up the rear as well as his duffel bag of clinking bottles. “Isn’t that going to slow you down?”
“Don’t worry, it’s going to get a lot lighter real fast.” Jim proves his point by finishing the beer in his hand and tossing it back into the living room, pulling out another without breaking stride.
Moving as a group, you slowly trek across the street, moving toward the next copy of your house. From the road, you’re able to see more, and thankfully this isn’t just a world of the same house endlessly. Some ways off, you see taller buildings. In another direction, you can make out what appears to be a handful skyscrapers, or the same one repeated, near hunks of metal sticking up. In the longer distance, you’re pretty sure you see a mountain or two, though it’s so far away you can’t be sure.
Then, to your surprise, one of the potential mountains is gone. No matter how you blink and turn your head, it’s simply not there, lost in the indistinct darkness covering the horizon.
“It’s an interesting sight, but let’s not dally in the open,” Thad suggests, gently tugging on your sleeve.
You leave the case of the vanishing shape in the distance for another time, following the others through what feels like the same door you just left. Upon entry, there are a few differences, however. This house still has your old rug, from before Jim got the idea to test his homemade fireworks indoors. There’s a nicer TV too, maybe because this household didn’t have to pay to replace a large area rug.
“So weird. It’s basically deja-your-room.” Pumpkin pokes the walls at random intervals, making sure they’re actually where they appear to be.
The familiar sound of a fridge opening informs you Jim has found the kitchen, though the indignant squawk that follows would have tipped you off as well. “Tea? Lemonade? Water? In a fridge? What sorts of sick bastards were living in here? There better be hallucinogenics lacing all of these.”
As Jim guzzles down lemonade, Victoria walks between the rooms, carefully looking each one over. By the time the pitcher is dry, she’s back at the front door. “Another house, please.”
Together, you all check out the house next door, then one back across the street, before Victoria asks to examine a final home. This time, you all walk to one at the end of the block, sitting on the corner.
Upon entry, it’s clear this home is different. Burn marks mar the living room and kitchen, huge sections of the wall have been ripped away, and an entire chunk of the second floor has fallen through. You all stand there, staring in shock, unsure of what to do. Well, almost all of you, anyway.
“Ummm, I think you might want to see this,” Jim calls from the kitchen. The fridge he was no doubt heading toward has been left on its side, but his eyes are resting on the kitchen island, where words have been carved into the granite surface.
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things is wrong.
One of these things is not like the others,
And you’ve known it all along.
“Riddle?” Thad asks.
“Seems that way,” Pumpkin agrees. “Could be talking about the houses, but all of them have a little variance. This one is the most different we’ve seen.”
“Or perhaps we’ve yet to find the puzzle whose solution it hints toward. In places such as these, it behooves us to move with open minds and cautious steps.” Victoria runs her hands along the etchings before turning to face you all. “However, I do believe I have seen enough to form a proper theory as to what these-”
“Dearest Lady Willowbrook, won’t you come out to play?”
You, Jim, and Victoria all freeze at the sound of that voice. Thad and Pumpkin are unbothered by it, because they weren’t around to meet the owner. A lean man with a gaunt face and a dirty suit, flanked by ghouls and leaving a trail of soulless scarecrows in his wake.
Talbot Whispers, the leader of a rival family who’d nearly sacrificed Victoria’s little sister and turned Jim into a husk of himself.
“Do hurry, my children are growing so restless, and ravenous.”
“So, that’s a bad guy I’m guessing?” Thad asks, looking around for a weapon and giving the fridge a test lift. Scarily enough, he actually gets it off the ground too.
“Real dick-pickler named Talbot,” Jim says, pounding the rest of his current beer and setting the bottle down. “Been wanting to take a second crack at that guy ever since he tried to turn me into a scarecrow. No lungs, no mouth, no liver…” Jim shudders visibly.
“Wasn’t it also stealing your soul?” You point out.
To that, Jim merely shrugs. “We saw undead creatures get high like four Mardi Gras ago, doesn’t seem like the soul really matters there.”
“No offense to Jim, but if this is a fighting situation, maybe I should handle it,” Thad offers, that toppled fridge still in his grip.
“Dude, step off and find your own rematch. I’ve got this.” Jim starts rummaging around in his duffel bag again, causing a riotous clanging.
Pumpkin walks back over to the living room and picks up a hunk of wood from the collapsed flooring. “Or, here’s a crazy idea, let’s not act like video game henchman and instead go beat this guy’s ass together.”
Only Victoria is remaining quiet, at least until she notices you staring at her. “Were that truly Talbot Whispers out there, I think any of the plans would end in success. But this is not the world we know, nor do I suspect that is the real Talbot Whispers. Whatever he is, though, we must assume it to be dangerous.”
“My patience is wearing thin, Lady Willowbrook” the voice calls from outside. “As thin as those plaster walls that will offer you only seconds of protection.”
You heard the man from your past, there’s a choice to be made and no time to dawdle.