People say it - "I do", that is - all the time. Jack and Sue never understood it. Until they decided they couldn't live without each other, at least not without poor sleep and some serious illnesses deriving from poor dieting and exercise, not to mention constant sorrow...
It was true. They meant it. They really did.
Sue was a devout Christian. She didn't just read her Bible, she felt it, almost breathed it. She knew what most people would say about getting married on Halloween, that it was bad luck; many would wonder if she and her husband were secretly a part of a cult. She saw it as something to eclipse Halloween, something bigger, so big she'd forget Halloween existed. New acquaintances, some perhaps to become friends, would ask "What are you doing this Halloween?" and she'd say "celebrating my anniversary", and these acquaintances would hear the melt in her voice, the sound of something beautiful and special.
Less than two years after their anniversary, Sue had died in a car crash. She was dead before she was in the hospital. It was a busy street and half the people on it, including Sue, did not have their minds fully attendant to the road.
It was August 22nd, 2011 when she was taken from Jack. He spent most of his time indoors, in constant sorrow as he knew he would without Sue in his life. They were both rather young, mid-20's; it wasn't logical, but it was nonetheless. Jack tried to uplift himself with the thought that she was in a better place. But Jack knew she had everything she ever dreamed of in the life she already had, not to mention he couldn't envision what this place was like. Heaven. Where exactly had his wife been taken??!?! He didn't know. The Bible provided no hint.
Halloween was once again around the corner. To Jack it was more sinister than ever. He looked out his window and saw kids dressed as witches and cats and such; the costumes were designed to look colorful and happy. He watched them through his window. It seemed like they were headed somewhere...
He decided to remove himself from his indoor outhouse - the smell resulting from his lack of care towards cleaning after months of nothing to live for would suggest that much - and follow the dressed up kids.
It didn't take long before they suspected he was following them and they turned a corner. Jack followed them. this happened about 3 or 4 times before he found himself in a dungeon of some sort. He heard laughing. Then he heard horrified cries of someone unable to fathom their pain. He regained his eyesight and saw a kid, about 11, tied and chained to the ceiling. An apple was placed in his mouth with tape around it. He was bleeding.
The cells in Jack's body were suddenly confused, the fiber in his body turning warm with rage and terror. One of the kids approached the 11 year old with a shovel. Jack took it from his hands and with about one and a half seconds worth of consideration, smacked the child with it.
the child lay dead in his own blood, head severed but still partially connected. It was Jack who called 9-1-1 after realizing what a fool he'd been. Kids are innocent, of course; it takes a negative influence or many of them to bring about this level of savageness. Jack sobbed and apologized, but he'd done the deed and jail time he served, until he died of malnutrition, presumably now with his loved one, wherever that is...
The End
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