A Scary Pumpkin Story - A Horror Short

It was a dark and stormy night. Up in the attic of an old house, its lone occupant, middle-aged Jonathan was working on his Halloween decorations. The rain was beating hard on the window. A single incandescent light bulb barely provided enough light. After some final touches, Jon laid down the knife and held up his masterpiece in admiration.

There you go! Bet you will give everyone a good fright, Jonathan thought. Let's call you… Jack!

Suddenly, the window broke free from its latch and a gust of wind tore through, bringing in the rain. Jack the pumpkin started to vibrate in Jon’s hands. He dropped Jack on the table and backed away. In the tense moment, he forgot about the chair, so he tripped over it and fell on the floor. Fibrous strands and seeds gushed out of Jack’s carved mouth and eyes. Splotches after splotches splat on the floor. Fiery flames burst out of Jack’s eerie eyes and mouth.

Jack let out a chilling groan as a new strand of vine extended from its stem. Instead of refreshing green, the vine was withered and brown. More vines branched out to form a grotesque, thin body with flailing limbs. At the end of the limbs, tendrils split and intertwined to form crooked fingers and toes. It let out a deep, maniacal laugh. Hunched, Jack stumbled towards Jon. With each step, it gained in strength and looked more threatening.

Jon was rooted to his spot, immobilised by fear. The menacing silhouette of Jack loomed above him. Flashes of lightning illuminated Jack, revealing more terrifying details. Jack let out another bout of laughter and raised its hand to strike. In one swift movement, it brought its hand down with the intent to rip Jon’s head off. In a last effort to save himself, Jon raised both hands to cover his head and braced for the blow. With his last breath, Jon closed his eyes and screamed.

The story continues after the break…


Jon stopped screaming. He always thought death came together with excruciating pain but there was none. Relieved, he opened his eyes. He was at peace and knew he was at a better place with angels, rainbows and puffy white clouds. Instead, he was back in his room of terror. Another figure stood between him and Jack.

The similarly deformed, vine-stick figure was Joe, a watermelon that Jon had experimented on earlier before he tried his hands on the pumpkin. Joe’s hand had pierced through Jack’s mouth. Red, hot lava oozed out of the wound. Flames engulfed Joe’s hand before it turned to ashes. In its place, new vines grew to replace it. Jack attempted to swing its hand at Joe but missed. Joe raised its leg and kicked Jack across the room.

Jack crashed and splintered Jon’s bed. It managed to rebound immediately and lunged at Joe. The melon side-stepped and grabbed Jack’s disfigured head with one hand. Joe gripped the stem with its other hand and pulled it out from the pumpkin. Jack’s body shrivelled and crumbled. Joe stared at the pumpkin in its hand. Jacked hissed. With a loud howl, Joe crushed the pumpkin. Liquid lava splattered all over Joe. Its body burnt. There was too much damage to regenerate.

Briefly, Joe stared at Jon and saw his gratitude. It turned and leapt out of the window. It burst into flames the moment it cleared the window and exploded. A ring of energy expanded outwards and sent a shockwave that shook the surrounding structures. The shockwave cleared the storm clouds if only momentarily, revealing clear skies above. Then, the clouds merged again and the storm returned, washing away any remnants of this tale about a scary pumpkin.

-The End-

Terminator: Dark Fate Review

The Terminator franchise has gone a long way, that is, in terms of its original and complicated alternate timelines, and the number of movies and TV series it generated. IMHO, the whole series is in a mess. The original Terminator and its direct sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, were technological advances during their time that awed the audience even though they both worked on similar premises - the future is ruled by machines (which today we like to term them as artificial intelligence) which sent a Terminator back in time to prevent the existence of the human resistance leader. Subsequent films and TV series took this to newer, more confusing levels.

Therefore, there is no surprise here that the original creator James Cameron attempts to bring it full circle and make Terminator: Dark Fate a sequel to Judgement Day and not a continuation of the convoluted timeline. Dark Fate has all the action sequences and special effects we come to expect from the Terminator series. Unfortunately, it no longer impresses on the visual effects department because even the worse movies feature good enough computer-generated graphics these days. The only way it could retain enough interest is a strong storyline and bring in high profile actors to build on its existing (dwindling) fan base. Although it’s great to see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton return, there is not much new material to work on. The plot is too similar to the prequels.

Backed by the pioneers, it is obvious the introduction of younger actors means the change of guards and another attempt to extend the rather stale franchise. Being an action movie, there is little avenue to build on the acting but this is expected. The action sequences are quite engrossing for the first half but as the film builds to its climax, I felt tired of the repetitiveness. Without any strong elements to support it, I would say this is a mediocre, albeit high profile and high budget film.

It also poses the same questions that never had clear answers - why send only one advanced robot (I used to think the noun “robot” is lame until I started reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series) to kill the protagonist that is bound to change the future? Why the resistance of the future send only one of them to protect the victim? Why can’t the bad guys just send the terminator into a more strategic time to kill off the victim? Of course, a simple answer would be “There won’t be much of a movie if these questions are answered, would it?” XD

Long story short, Dark Fate is a combination of the original Terminator and Judgement Day wrapped in a modernised package with a brilliant touch of feminism... and of course yet another effort to expand the franchise.

Coming Soon: A Scary Pumpkin Story

Coming soon, an original new short story from your favourite unknown author, me. Get ready to be chilled.

Writer's Tools

You know, I hardly write or draw with any of the tools below anymore. These days, most things are accomplished with the keyboard or touch screen. Unfortunately, this turns out to be detrimental to our well-being. Here's something I found online if you want to know more about why physical writing is beneficial compared to modern day tools: Bring Back Handwriting: It’s Good for Your Brain.

The original sketch (top right corner) was done with pencil on paper when I was procrastinating. I extended my stalling session by digitalising it on the iPad Air with Apple Pencil using my favourite app - Paper by WeTransfer. You can find a coloured version here.