Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

"A-hoo!" Even though the wolf was in the distance, I pulled my coat closer to me. The street lights needed to replaced or fixed on this street, but that wasn't going to happen. Not with the Nunnery at the end of it closing soon. Rumors suggested that there had been too many disappearances, but that was nunsense, nonsense for those that are not into puns. The church had simply stopped funding it, at least that's what I had been told.

Nails scratched against the cement. It's just a cat, I told myself. When I turned to see what had made the noise, all that was there was a large shadow. It looked like a lion but that was impossible, there were no lions in the city. Except for the football team, but even they could only be considered kittens at best. "Here, kitty." Some kissing sounds went along with my words. The cat's shadow showed an arched back before it hissed and ran away.

Nutmeg and pumpkin filled my nostrils. Mrs. Williams was baking her famous pumpkin pies. As if my feet had a mind of their own, I was heading towards her house. Even though it was very late, Mrs. Williams would not mind me stopping by. She was the mother of the community; her door was always open. As I approached her house, I was surprised that her door was literally open. I called out for her as I walked into the dwelling. "Mrs. Williams?"

"Only Harlots walk into someone's house without knocking this late at night." Mother Francis brandished a butcher knife, the glint of one of the street lights reflected on it in the dark. Heat lightning lit up her face, and she looked as menacing as she did when she taught Sunday School. "You should leave."

"I just came to talk to Mrs. Williams. Do you know where she's at?"

She answered by swinging the knife at me. It came within inches of my throat. "I told you that she's busy. You need to leave."

"I just wanted a piece of the pie." It was not the first time that I would regret saying those words. The knife came within centimeters of my throat. Instinctively, I backed into the doorway. Mother Francis lifted her arms, and for some reason, I ducked under her and ran up the stairs.

"What fresh Hell..." Mother Francis muttered as she began to climb the stairs. Again, my body went into autopilot, and I opened the first door that I came upon. The moon gave some light into the room. It looked as if someone was hanging from the ceiling, I flipped the light switch, and nothing happened.

Paralyzed with fear, I had no idea what to do. Not for the first time, I wished that I had someone to help me, someone who would actually miss me. To help me get rid of all the weird things that I was seeing. Mother Francis was just outside of the door; I heard her mutter: "This would be so much easier if I used a gun."

She kicked the door open, and I fell back into the body. Except it was flimsy. It was just an outfit. That should have eased my mind, but the fact was Mrs. Williams was nowhere to be found. Had she been killed? "Where is Mrs. Williams, Mother Francis?"

"Back in my day, the young respected their elders." A swoosh told me that the knife was at work again. I backed up to the window; it was cold against my back. "Either I can slice you up, or you can fall to your death, it's your choice."

"Mother Francis, you're supposed to be a paragon of virtue. A moral leader."

"It is Mother Superior. And nobody has ever accused me of being a moral leader." She lunged at me, knife aimed at my heart. A voice in my head told me that my chances for survival were better if I jumped through the window. The glass cracked as my body hurdled out of it. Mother Francis dissipated, much to my astonishment. "Come on down, Mary. I want you to meet the sharp end of my knife."

My body slammed into the ground and left me breathless. There was no time to catch it though; Mother Francis was advancing on me. I ran into the woods behind Mrs. Williams' house. My legs threatened to give out on me. They didn't have a chance to; I tripped over something. As fast as I could, I gathered my senses and moonlight that peeked through the trees revealed that it was a body I tripped over. The body of Mother Francis.

"Oh, Mary. I hate to have to kill you, but your pumpkin obsession has been your downfall." Mrs. Williams extended her arm and tied me up. She dragged me back to the house, huffing, and puffing. "You see, I have to kill these people in order to stay alive. It's such a shame about Mother Superior Francis, but the devil is in the details. And taking on her form did give me access to all of those kids, of course when they went missing, the church pulled the funding. Thankfully my pies, my ticket to world domination, kept the Nunnery open."

"Are you trying to take over the world with pumpkin?"

She pulled me into the bathroom and held the knife to my throat. "Not so good with the listening are you, Mary? That will change."

With a fluid slice, my throat was cut, and blood spurted out of me like a Geiser. "One day, I will control everyone with pumpkin. A mermaid will call to them, and they will line up and give me the power I need to take over the world."

It appears as though Mrs. Williams has succeeded. I know this because every Halloween, I am summoned by people calling "Bloody Mary" and flashing their lights. They usually have a pumpkin pie or some coffee drink.



Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! By Cher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHMOmniowAE