It's Halloween, So Have Yourself One of My Not-All-That-Scary Older Stories

Every single year around June, I start pondering the idea of writing a scary short story to post for free on this site on Halloween.  And every single year, I end up getting distracted by something shiny and failing to write it.  Except this year, because I never once contemplated the idea.  Success?

There was one year that I was in an especially silly creative mood, and to make up for failing to write a scary short story for Halloween, I wrote an insane "novel except" two days after Halloween.  It was mostly written because a friend had requested I write a story about pick ax wielding squirrels, and the piece of ridiculousness seemed to be the best place to give them a home.

The funny thing is that this piece was always just meant to be a goofy throw-away story that I tossed together because I had time and was likely tired of complaining about the Conservative government (or whatever it was that I was ranting against in 2010).  Yet I still think about this little and messy piece of fiction.  The town of Hollow Creeps ended being the trigger for the creation of another fictional place, Hollow Grove.  Of course, that fictional place is part of a story that remains unpublished.  My goal has for a long time had been to pull off a Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft by creating a collection of fictional towns with full histories that feel like truly living places.  I also hope to be like them in that I get stuff published that people end up reading.  It is best to do one step at a time.

Anyway, Hollow Creeps doesn't feel like a real town, because this story doesn't aspire to feel like something you can relate to.  It's sort of like the Naked Gun of horror stories where I just throw more and more ridiculous plot points and characters against a wall in an attempt to see what sticks.  Well, except for the fact the Naked Gun of horror stories would be something like Scary Movie, and well, I mind as well become a carpenter if my fiction warrants such comparisons.  Maybe I stop this paragraph now.

The point was that Hollow Creeps and this silly story have inspired some of my writing since.  If I ever get the bravery to finish and publish some of the stories that I actually put my heart into, then one will be able to see how this story influenced future ideas.  It is kind of funny how goofball material can lead to writing more serious tales.

Anyway, here is my not-quite-a-short-story that I wrote a few years back.  Hopefully, you enjoy it.  Even if you don't, it is at least proof that I once wrote creative things on this blog rather than just excuses.