The Goblin Harvest

The dreams came to him again. October was their time and Halloween was when they culminated. The same dreams with the same voices, but always a different request.

"Give us your wife," they said.

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Evan Connors looked at Daisy and smiled at her frantic attempts to carve the pumpkin into something presentable and not like something stabbed at by a psycho. She wore her Halloween costume -- tight, red velvet shorts, a black t-shirt, black thigh high boots, and an eye patch. Her pink and blond hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her piercing blue eyes were focuses on the pumpkin, her pouty lips frowning slightly.

"I think it's already a goner," Evan said as he prepared small bags of treats for the kids that usually washed across their residential street in a tide of superheroes and Pokemon.

Daisy stuck her pink tongue out at Evan before adding a finishing stab at their hollowed out proto jack'o-lantern. Evan move behind and nuzzled the soft, pale skin of her neck. He said, "I can of a few other uses for that tongue of yours, missy."

Daisy turned and wrapped her slender arms around Evan's neck and kissed his deeply, her tongue a snake the cave of his mouth, seeking him like escaping prey -- he kissed her back, matching her as their tongues met. He marveled at how their chemistry persisted despite their age difference. Evan was a 47 year old substitute teacher and Daisy was a 27 year old up and coming arts teacher and artist in her own right. They met during her first internship at his school and they hit it off immediately. Five years later they had bought their first house and were preparing for their first Halloween.

"That's an idea, old-timer," Daisy said. "But maybe after we come back from Kim and Paula's seance party. We'll have had wine and you know how horny I get around spirits and wine."

"Great," Evan said. "You've just told me that you're going to get drunk and fuck a ghost."

"Well, now you know what to dress up as," Daisy said while squeezing his ass.

"I was gonna dress up as dad-bod Spartacus or lumber-sexual Leonidas," Evan said as he pushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Those aren't costumes," Daisy said as she slowly pushed herself away from his arms. "They're just pimped out loin-cloths."

"They're cheap costumes to make -- and hey, I haven't really celebrated Halloween in years."

Daisy laughed and they went back to preparing the candy bags. Evan smiled like he hadn't smiled in a decade.

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He had first noticed the odd looking kids when he was fourteen -- Evan and his buddy Dennis had a plan to dress up as Jason and Michael Myers from the movies and since they were already both big for their age, they would be even more intimidating in the masks.

Dennis was the first to notice the strange looking kids early that Halloween evening. Three of them were across the street and staring at the two teen age boys who were hanging out on their BMX bikes. Their costumes were grotesque combinations of fur, dirt and blood and tattered clothes. Their masks gave them scaly, reflective cheeks and their eyes glowed red in the light. The boys were creeped out by these strange kids.

"What are you guys looking at?" Dennis yelled after picking up a rock.

"Give us your mother!" the monstrous kids yelled back. The words sent chills down Evan's back and he uncharacteristically picked up a rock and flung it at the strange kids dressed like monsters. The rock hit the sidewalk next to the weirdos and they scattered in all directions making shrill noises.

The two boys looked at each other and busted a gut at the thought of the little freaks scattering, but behind their laughter was the active imaginations of teen age boys. What if they were monsters?

"I gotta go help my mom with the candy tonight," Evan told Dennis. "Meet you at your place at 9?"

"You got it, dude," Dennis waved as he sped off of his bike, but not before doing a wheelie. Evan envied his friend's skills on his bike.

Back home, Evan's mother had prepared multiple bowls of treats for the ghouls and ghosts that were wandering the streets.

"What're you doing tonight?" Lynn Connors asked her son after he'd put his bike away in the garage.

"Not much, " Evan answered his mom. "Me and Dennis're gonna dress up and hang at Pat's place. His dad has a bunch of classic horror films."

"OK ... but you're not going to dress up as that horrible Fred person, are you?"

"He's called Freddy, mom," Evan corrected his mother. "I'm going as Jason."

"Which one is that again?" Lynn asked.

"The one in the hockey mask," Evan said from the bathroom as he washed his hands for dinner.

"Well, at least he's Canadian," Lynn chuckled. "By the way, is Josie Pearce going to be there?"

Evan rolled his eyes after hearing the name of his crush and sat down for dinner with his mom before they occupied themselves with candy giving for the next few hours. They had hot-hamburger sandwiches with peas, fries and gravy.

After the meal, around, 6:30 pm., the kids started ringing at the doorbell. The youngest kids with their parents were the first the arrive, and would get mostly sweet candies and chocolate while older kids would get chips and chocolate.

Things were winding down after 8 pm and Evan was anxious to get his costume on but his mother insisted all the bowls had to be empty or they waited till 8:30 before they closed up shop. At 8:25 the doorbell rang and Evan saw tiny figures through the smoked glass widow of the door. He found it odd that such young kids were out so late, but whatever. He grabbed one of the nearly empty bowls and opened the door.

What he saw made his drop the bowl of candy.

The strange kids from earlier in the afternoon were staring at him, with glowing red eyes and scaly cheeks. Their arms were small but thickly veined and muscled and some had open sores that oozed pus. They all had their mouths opened in smile that were closer to snarling grimaces. They had too many tiny, needle like teeth that twinkled in the light and spit dribbled when they spoke in unison.

"Give us your mother," the little monsters said.

Their presence made Evan see red and he lashed out, kicking the beast closest to him in the stomach. It shrieked and rolled away and stood right back up and said, "Give us your mother."

Evan grabbed another one and lifted it up easily and grabbed a metal candy bowl and started to bash it in the face.

"Give," bash. "Us." hit. "Your," strike. "Mother," bash.

"Evan!!" Lynn Connors screamed as she came out of the kitchen to investigate the ruckus. The site of seeing her large for his age son striking a child in the face was horrifying. But her heart stuck in her throat when she caught a better glimpse of the placid creatures outside her door.

"Give her to us," the first creature said.

Lynn recoiled for an instant before grabbing the beast Evan held and yanking him away from it with a desperate mother's strength. After she slammed the door and fell against, she stared at her son, unable to voice the revulsion she felt at the creatures, or at the violence Evan had exhibited. Evan looked past his mother's shoulder while the creatures faded in the shadows

He never went to Patrick's to see Josie and Dennis and watch horror films. The incident was never spoken of again.

Lynn Connors was hit by a drunk driver a month later.

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Daisy gave out the last of the candy to some kids dressed like the Suicide Squad and then closed the lights and extinguished the candle that had been burning in the jack-o-lantern she'd carved earlier in the day. She still wore her sexy pirate costume and Evan wore the long cloak and costume of Jedi master he'd gotten off Amazon a few months earlier. When she walked passed him and gave his bulge a squeeze, Evan went to the door and stared anxiously outside. The coast seemed clear.

Daisy came back with her trench coat on and they stepped out, locked the doors and got into his old Jeep Cherokee and sped off to the Kim and Paula's.

"You think, they'll have matching costumes this year?" Daisy asked as she gazed out the window while resting a hand on Evan's thigh.

"They always do -- remember the year they were dressed as eggs and bacon," Evan said. His breath caught in his throat as Daisy's hand crept up his thigh and neared his crotch.

"Kim and Paula can be sexy as hell as a breakfast meal," Daisy said as she massaged his crotch while he navigated through the narrow streets -- his bulge grew and Daisy found the release for his pants and pulled his cock out. Evan swallowed hard as she stroked his manhood.

"Yeah," Evan muttered as he remembered seeing them in costume and then out of costume. Kim and Paula were striking brunettes with lean, athletic bodies and firm, smallish breasts. They were also consecrated hedonists and bisexuals he and Daisy had swung with in the past.

Daisy knew his mind was replaying the last time all four had been together -- she tossed her tricorn pirate hat onto the backseat, leaned over the transmission tunnel and put her lips against the tip of his cock. Evan shuddered at the sensation of her soft, hot mouth against his cock but he strained not to look down and watch her tease his shaft with dozens of gentle kisses.

"How can you drive when I'm doing this," Daisy asked before taking his entire length into her mouth. She had always enjoyed how Evan would shake and quiver when she held his this way -- but it was harder in his SUV than in her little subcompact.

"I mastered many ancient Jedi mind tricks," Evan said. "And other techniques," he added.

Daisy nodded to that and began to hum as she worked his shaft -- some spittle dribbled down his cock and she used it as extra lube for her palm. But Evan applied and breaks and made a slow left turn into a driveway, so he had to reluctantly push her head away and grabbed some tissue from a box on the back seat and dry himself before putting his cock back in pants.

"I guess the light saber will see some action later," Daisy said as she licked her lips.

Evan winked at her while switching off the ignition. Daisy retrieved her pirate hat and bounced towards the front door of Kim and Paula's modest two story house and rang the door bell.

Before Evan turned towards the house, he thought he saw something scurry from shadow to shadow across the street. Let it be a stray cat, he hoped quietly.

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In the years following Lynn Connors death, Evan was slowly turning into a drunk himself -- he was twenty years old and had been dating Josie Pearson for 2 years already before they moved away to go to university together. He had lived with his estranged father's parents from the ages of 14 to 18 before he moved out and got a part time job to pay for his schooling. His friend Dennis had stopped school after getting his high school diploma and was now working as a seasonal worker for an aircraft engine manufacturer. Dennis and Evan would go binge drinking one weekend a month, and Josie was okay with that. She'd seen how his mother's death had devastated him and knew Dennis was one of the few people he could confide in about his feelings. Their bond was that of brothers and she accepted that. But since October had rolled in, the drinking has been more frequent, and Josie was concerned about his declining grades.

"You gotta slow down, baby," Josie said one night after they'd fucked, "You don't want to fail your midterms."

"I know, Jo," Evan said as he got out of the bed and stretched -- his back and buttocks were like carved steel from all the training he did between the drinking and his classes. "I just gotta make it through this month and then it'll be back to normal."

Josie got out of bed and joined him -- she was a petite red headed girl who'd developed curvy hips and large breasts early in her teens and had been the crush of many a boy in high school. But she was attracted to Evan Connors for his strength and gentleness and for how he was a tortured soul. She was only now understanding tortured often rhymed with self-destructive.

"Honey, what is it?" Josie asked while she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her nipples into his back. "I know you lost your mother around this time of year. Is it still that hard?"

Evan turned and looked as his girlfriend and said: "I just don't want to lose anything else."

"Oh. Baby -- you won't lose me."

A few days later, on Halloween night, Evan sat with Dennis in his friend's apartment and had cracked their sixth beer and waited for Josie to show up to drive them to a faculty costume party.

"Have you seen them yet," Dennis asked. He was dressed as a cowboy.

"Only in dreams," Evan slurred. "They want my friend."

"What?"

"They say 'Give us your friend' and it's freaking me out," Evan said as he suddenly stood and knocked the chair over.

"Dude, your drunk," Dennis said as he placed the chair and led Evan to the sofa. Evan tossed aside his bowler hat -- he was dressed as Charlie Chaplin in the scamp and knew Josie would be dressed as Jinny.

"Yeah, well -- when I pass out I don't dream," Evan muttered. Then he noticed the gun on his friend's hip. "Ain't that the gun from your dad's collection? The Colt Peacemaker?"

"Yup," Dennis said proudly. "Gotta make it look authentic dude. It's not like its loaded."

Evan pondered the gun until Dennis noticed headlights and went to the window.

"Ride's here, dude," Dennis pointed at the car.

Evan and Dennis made it outside Dennis's apartment building where Josie was waiting in her old Ford Escort -- her Jinny costume highlighted her curves and her breasts, Evan waived at his girlfriend but she he missed a step and stumbled down a few steps before landing on his ass. Josie got out of the car shook her head, aware that he was drunk and already on the verge of being an embarrassment to her.

While Josie walked over to where Dennis was helping Evan to his feet, figures started to come out of bushes and from the shadows of streetlamps. Dennis was the first to see them and when he froze, Evan lifted his head and stared out at the street -- a dozen of child sized figures closed in on the front of the apartment. They were all dressed in tattered clothes that exposed patchy fur and limbs too long for their stocky bodies.

"No," Evan whispered. Josie stopped when she noticed the look of terror on the young mens' faces and turned to see what was behind her.

The creatures were standing around her car and pointing at Evan -- they drooled as they chattered, their needle thin teeth snapping against the cool October air.

"Give us your friend," the creatures said.

Josie fell back into Evan when she screamed. The creatures had a putrid smell that filled the air surrounding them.

"No!" Evan screamed.

"Give us your friend."

Evan pushed Josie aside into Dennis' arms and ran to her car. One of the creatures reached for him but Evan knocked it aside and jumped into the driver's seat and slammed the car into reverse and hit the gas. Two of the creatures were knocked over and should have been crushed beneath the car's weight but they just stood up without injury. The back of the car crashed into a parked minivan -- enraged that the two creatures still standing, Evan put the car in drive and sped forward, dead set on mowing the beasts down.

"Give us your friend," the creatures said as some bounced off the car or danced out of it's way.

"Evan! Stop!" Josie yelled as he rushed by them in pursuit of the monsters. When Evan heard Josie's voice through his drunken rage, he swerved the car in her direction and finished with the car hugging a pole. Evan rocked back in the driver's seat, blood running down his forehead when his head slammed against the steering wheel. He fumbled with the door latch to get out of the car where Josie stood, yelling his name.

Evan looked beyond her and the creatures faded to smoke as the words "Give us your friend" echoed around them.

"Evan, look at me," Josie said as she yanked him back to face her.

"Did you see them, Josie?" Evan asked, a frantic tremor in his voice replacing his drunken slur. "Tell me you saw!"

"I don't know what I saw except you driving like an maniac and crashing my car," Josie said. "You need help, baby."

"Fuck that -- I need those things out of my life."

Josie turned to plead with Dennis, but he just glared at her. "Those creatures are real, Josie," Dennis said.

"You're both crazy," Josie said as she went into the apartment building.

"What've I done?" Evan asked as he fell to his knees. "What do I do?"

Dennis had no answer. Within two weeks, Evan had moved out of the apartment and was living in a boarding house. He had never spoken to Josie since that night. Within a month, Dennis Taylor was found dead by his father, apparently killed by a head wound caused by the accidental discharge of a classic Colt single action revolver.

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Twenty-seven years after the death of Dennis Taylor, Kim and Paula let the couple of Evan Connors and Daisy Palanev into their humble abode -- they joined another couple of friends, Josh and Sarah-Maude, in the living room. The pair were dressed like Sandy and Danny from Grease, but Josh was Sandy and Sarah-Maude was Danny.

The six of them greeted each other with an exchange of hugs and handshakes and kisses on cheeks and chit chat ensued while Daisy roamed around the living room, examining small, frightening figurines spread out around the room. They were little sculpted monsters with long arms, clothed in tattered clothing and posed in odd ways.

"What are these?" Daisy said as she picked up a figurine from a bookshelf lined with King books.

Kim looked over when she heard Daisy's question and answered: "They're called 'Can Tak Tahs' or something like that. Paula calls them goblins."

"They're kinda cute," Daisy said as she placed the figurine back on a shelf.

Evan joined Daisy and handed her a glass of blood red punch that had eyeballs floating in it. "What're you guys dressed as?" Evan asked as he examined Kim's white body suit -- the arms and the legs were black and gray and Kim had cat ears and a tail, but also a long piece of white fabric that connected her costume to Paula's.

"Isn't it obvious," Kim said as she headbutted Evan's shoulder. "We're Siamese twin sex-kittens."

"So, joined at the hip, horny little pussies," Josh said as he put an arm around Kim's waist. Kim chuckled and kissed Josh's too-red cheek.

"Later tonight, maybe," Paula chimed in as she pried Kim from Josh's clutches and kissed her girlfriend with a fierce lip lock.

Sarah-Maude was a heavier, voluptuous woman and her Danny Zucko outfit made her more a zaftig dominatrix than fifties gang leader from a musical -- she whipped out a few joints and lit one up, took a drag and passed in on to Josh. The living room had two couches set at an angle where Sarah-Maude and Josh were at one end and Evan and Daisy were on the end of the other couch with Kim and Paula bridging the two pieces of furniture. The joint lifted a pungent cloud aound the whole living room and by the time joint number two was started, muted conversation had morphed into fits of giggles and increasing horniness.

Evan was the last one to tote on the joint, and as the oldest of the group, he also took the least smoke in, appreciating how this youth was enjoying life. For the first time in a long while, he allowed himself to forget his horrid memories and tortured dreams -- Evan put the joint in an ashtray. Soft rock and mood lighting supplied by flickering jack-o-lanterns filled the living room and Evan reached for Daisy and whispered: "I love you."

The words seemed to reach deep into Daisy's core and she felt her eyes swell up and she threw her arms around Evan's neck and kissed him passionately, knocking her tricorn hat off in the process -- he answered in kind, crushing his lips to hers and his tongue charmed its way into her mouth. Breaths and saliva and tender words were exchanged through their kisses and Daisy climbed onto Evan's lap and gyrated her hips while he caressed sides.