Chapter 8 - Back From The Dead

Back From The Dead

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 8

The Green Halloween Mist  

It was always quiet in the town of Goldrushes even though it had a large prison that help over a hundred male prisoners  There was a church and a school , a bakery and a small supermarket . A string of cafes and restaurants were within walking distance from the prison . They catered for visitors who came to the prison .

There was a small cemetery near the prison where the unclaimed bodies were interred by the government ,

It was quiet Halloween evening in the town and some children were dressed up for Halloween and going from door-to-door trick or treating .

No one had noticed the green mist that appeared over one of the inmates graves inside the cemetery .

It was sunset and the jailer inside the prison was doing his rounds before he finished his shift . All the prisoners had already been locked up in their cells ,

Satisfied that everything was as it should be the jailer left the main prison block  through the first of the locked gates to the long corridor to the second of the secured  gates then down into a section where the final gate to the prison cell block was located .

Suddenly the jailer saw something weird . A black butterfly drifted past him and fluttered around him before it landed near a window ledge . As the jailer clasped his hands to capture the butterfly , he noticed an envelope on the ground . He opened the envelop and took out a piece of paper that was inside , there was a message that read .

“It’s a good night for a haunting, isn’t it ?’

A green mist  appeared around the jailer and then from out of the mist a strange figure walked with chains on its wrists and ankles .

The ghostly apparition wore a shroud with a hood that was covering its face,

Pushing back the hood over its face the ghost revealed a face without shape or form.

Two black holes sat where its eyes should have been and a green mist came out of its mouth when it spoke and with a deep gravely tone in its voice the ghost said.  

 .“Trick or treat  ?’

Under the shroud the jailer saw that the ghost had no flesh , there were only bones visible under the shroud and a rotten stench filled the air . The ghost laughed and touched the jailers forehead with the long bony finger from its right hand and as soon as the finger touched the jailers head, he fell unconscious to the floor ,

After that the ghost proceeded to open up all the cell doors , setting the prisoners free. The prisoners thought it was some Halloween joke and then as they realised that the outer gates to the prison were also, they all rushed out and overpowered the guards who were taken by surprise . The prisoners locked up all of the prison staff inside the cells and now they were armed with weapons and were ready to take over the town .

In cars and trucks that were stolen the prisoners went trick or treating in a massive way , to give the people of Goldrushes the scariest Halloween they would ever have.

They knocked on doors and invaded all of the houses . Tying up the residents inside and helping themselves to the food and drink .

All of the escaped prisoners were getting drunk and wrecking everything in their way and it was a wicked hallowed night indeed in Goldrushes. Sometime after midnight when the party was over a green mist entered every house in the town . The prisoners were all unconscious and drunk and as the morning sun arose the prisoners were all recaptured by the military who had been called by the warden from his mobile phone .

By sunset that night all of the escaped prisoners were back behind bars and the people of the town were all safe .

The jailer never seemed to remember anything about the green mist . No one had any explanation of how the prisoners escaped but after that new cameras and security were put in place . Some of the townspeople were on edge after what had happened on Halloween night and many sold their homes and moved away from Goldrushes ,

With the passage of time some of the townsfolk had said that they heard screams and moans coming from the cemetery near the prison .

Only those ghosts of time could answer to all the questions people were asking .

In the years that followed other unexplained things had been seen and heard until eventually all of the people left Goldrushes leaving it a ghost town .

The prison was closed and all the prisoners put into larger prisons nearer to the city .

Some have said in the twilight on Halloween a green mist falls down over the town and weird shapes are seen in the haze . Ghostly figures like shadows crawling all over the town and black butterflies that come in a swarm fluttering all over the cemetery .

 End of chapter 8 

Link to chapter 9

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/chapter-9-back-dead

Back From The Dead

A Novel

By Paul McCann