Protocol H.25
A Sensorama Smart Home Drama (E02: Halloween Special) – Flash Fiction [#12]
“Go inside, chicken!” Mason taunted Jamie.
The others leered at Jamie, who was looking at the dark, shuttered house, fists in his pockets.
“They say the guy who lived there got stabbed 39 times with an icepick. When the police came, they had to pry the thing out of the girl’s bloody hands, his eyeball still stuck on it.” Mason popped a jelly eye out of its plastic wrapper and dangled it in front of Jamie’s face, making squishy sounds.
“That’s nothing. Didn’t you hear about the basement? Bones. Jars of bones, hundreds of them. He ground them up and made all sorts of stuff with it, like Maggi or paste and shit–used it to cook with. Sick.” Paul spat.
“Yeah, a real psycho. What was his name? Hell…something. They found the skull of his mother on the nightstand in the bedroom. In plain sight, candles all around and stuff—like a shrine. I’m sure he ate her, too,” Angie said with the conviction of someone who knows beyond the shadow of a doubt. “No one has been in there since,” she added.
“You’re all babies. It’s just a house. What’s the big deal?” Christine baited them, stepping up to the front gate. “Come on, let’s all go in— Oh, no! He got me! HELP!” She mimicked being stabbed and snickered. “What’s the matter? Seen a ghost?” She waved her white linen costume and made spooky noises.
“There’s someone in the house!” Jamie gasped, pointing at the small, round window under the roof.
“Yeah, sure. Nice try, chicken. Where?” Mason looked up at the window. “I don’t see no one. You pissin’ your pants already?” he scoffed.
“It’s not just a house. It’s a Sensorama Smart Home. They stopped making them like this after the…incident,” Jamie said, his eyes fixed on the window. “I know what I saw. There’s someone inside.”
“I always wondered why they stopped making that model. It’s not like the house had anything to do with the murders,” Paul said.
“I read it was a case of whatchacallit? Planned ergonomic obsolescents. No one bought them anymore, so they stopped selling them,” said Angie, checking her long, green fingernails, part of her wraith costume, leering at them with an air of superiority.
“Well, if someone’s home, all the better. Go on, O fearless Grim Reaper, reap us some glorious candy.” Christine pushed Jamie towards the front door, his plastic scythe banging against the wooden gate.
Mason hesitated, sweating profusely under his LED-lit Jason mask, standing next to Paul, who was fiddling with his disintegrating Zombie makeup. “Yeah, you go Reapo-Boy. Paul and I will stand guard.”
Zombie–Paul looked at Mason–Jason and mulled over his options, chicken camp or champ and moved towards the girls. “You may need the Power of the Undead,” he said with a nervous grin.
The four of them were huddled together on the porch, Jamie in front, scythe raised, ready to knock, when Mason called out from the street. “Wait for me!”
Jamie reached for the doorbell with his skeleton-gloved hand, shaking, hovering, closed his eyes and pressed the button.
Bach’s Toccata washed over them. For a second, they stood frozen. Christine burst out laughing.
“This is too cheesy! You’re right, Jamie. Someone’s home, and they better have candy!” She banged on the door with her fist.
“Chrissie, stop!” Jamie shouted.
The door opened with an aching yawn. A dark corridor gaped before them. There was no one.
With a ghastly grin, Christine entered and motioned them to follow.
“Hello? Trick or treat,” she shouted into the shadows, her voice small and thin.
“What happened to standing guard?” Angie whispered, baring her fake fangs.
“Mind your own business,” Mason snarled, eyes darting about.
Moonlight was falling in through half-closed shutters, and in the pale, silver beams, they could see part of a dinner table up ahead, decked with candle holders covered in dust and cobwebs, their muted surface yearning to shine once more, blood-red candles burned down to jagged stumps like scorched demon claws forever frozen in the cold twilight.
“Hah, Mason is scared!” Christine taunted.
“You know what they say–fear is the brain-eater!” Angie added.
“That’s Paul’s job,” said Mason.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Braaaaaaains,” Paul moaned.
“Stop it, guys. Let’s get out of here.” Jamie didn’t care if that landed him in camp chicken.
“Not without my candy.” Christine barged into the main room.
The front door slammed shut, the air turned icy cold, and the room changed into a beach on Bora Bora at sunset. Everything before them unfolded like a flickering silent movie but in reverse.
A young woman, fighting for her life, blood running down her cheek, a man with an ice pick, no doubt the man who would lose that mortal struggle, but as time flowed backwards, they saw her return to her seat, smiling, looking at the man with affection when he suddenly turned towards them, staring straight at them. Eyes two fiery pits, his bony mouth wide open. Before Christine could react, it was upon her.
Mason soiled himself. Paul fainted, and Angie grabbed Christine’s arm, trying to pull her back, but she, too, got drawn into the flaming embrace. Jamie stepped forward, swung his scythe and cut clean through the seething apparition. A hiss and all went pitch black.
“In a Trick or Treat gone wrong, five teenagers got the fright of their life earlier tonight at a vacant Sensorama Smart Home, which was the site of the gruesome Mother Murders only two years ago. For us, live from the scene is Greg Grimes. Greg, what’s the situation?”
“It’s utter chaos, Megan. According to initial reports, the kids triggered Protocol H.25, a deprecated seasonal decoration routine. We are inside the house now. 13-year-old Jamie McAllister, who may have saved his friends’ lives, is still missing. Hold on, there’s some—”
A scream. A thud. The camera falls to the floor, rapid breathing, a last exhale.
“Greg. Hello? Greg?”
Static.
Author’s Note
Flash Fiction Nr. 12 is a Halloween Special, a continuation of the Sensorama Smart Home Drama “Mother Insists,” in the classic haunted house style. I hope you enjoyed this little fright night and should you think about ordering your very own Semsorama Smart Home Unit, fret not, they will be totally safe! Until they’re not. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Happy Halloween. 😈
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TFTD Community
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Whoah! Didn't expect this continuation, and certainly not in this form!
Loved it. Super dark, built the tension well, ended with the strangeness. Would make for a great horror film short!
Gotta get me one of them Smart Homes! 👍👍👍