A Gathering

A

n hour after sunset three people gathered in a gravesite at the city cemetery. The moon was on the horizon, just about to rise.
         "I dunno. Every year we do this and, frankly, I am getting bored with it," a woman dressed in a dark blue peasant skirt, yellow blouse and flip-flops with a sun hat said.
         "Ve haf to," replied a long, skinny man in all black in a low voice. "It is our duty."
         "Uh," grunted a short man with long poorly healed scars on his forehead and wrists. He wore a dark green tunic over black breeches and heavy boots.
         When the moon cleared the horizon a soft moan started from the grave they were gathered around. The moaning got stronger and stronger until a blue-white almost misty form slipped out of the ground and spoke, "Are we doing this again? For hemlock's sake, just let this go."
         "Carl, az you know, ve are bound by ze covenant," the man in black said to the ghost hovering over the grave. "Ve must do zis until he appears und releazis us."
         "You three wish to be free, yes?" the woman said. "This is the only way."
         "Sure Karen, Kwan, but what if He makes it worse?" the ghost replied with fear. "I mean this isn't great. I can see but not be seen, save by you three. I cannot touch anything. I can go anywhere I want as long as it's no more than a mile from this grave. But I could be completely dead."
         "Uhnga," said the scarred man, nodding with vigor.
         "Exactly. Frankenstien made you, Dwayne, then offed himself,”", Carl said to the man in green. “You asked to be fixed. He, sort of, did that but left you mute.”
         Dwayne just looked at the ground.
         "Ve should go," Kwan looked at each and then picked up a satchel leaning against his leg.
         Dwayne and Karen picked up similar satchels and turned as a group to walk Northwards through the cemetery. They passed grave markers and stones each row showing more weathering than the last. They passed through a decrepit wooden gate, crossed a dirt road and through a low, rusty wrought iron gate and into an even older part of the graveyard.
         Kwan led along a trail between scattered trees and gravestones halts. Karen runs into him and started to complain.
         "Ve are not alone," the man said.
         "Kwan, you're the vampire, turn into a bat or something and check it out," Carl said.
         "Zat is not possible. You go," Kwan replied.
         "Yeah, yeah, yeah, make the Ghost do it."
         Carl is away only a few moments. When he returned he said, "You bet you're bony behind there's someone there. There are about a dozen people there; some are ghosts! I am going to go talk to them!" Carl disappears up the trail.
         The trio head up the trail to the clearing with a large square gravestone with a sphere on top. The people gathered around the grave site were self-segregated into types. The vampires were together, the witches, the ghosts and the man-made monsters also in their groups.
         "Velcome, you are finally here," a tall thin man dressed in black said to them. "Ve haf a quorum und ve can begin. Please join your groups for instructions."
         Karen joins the other witches and asked, "Why weren't you here last year?"
         "There'd be no point in that, deary,” a middle-aged woman in dark red pantsuit said. “The great one only shows every 8 years."
         She pulled a paper with glowing writing on it out of a pocket, handed it to Karen and said, "Now here is the spell we must invoke to open the path. Memorize it for the ceremony."
         Dwayne joined a group with a mummy, a mechanical man and something manlike covered in lichen, moss, and leaves. All that could be seen of his face were two human looking eyes. They grunted at each other, the lichen-man indicating their part in the ceremony with grunts and gestures.
         Carl was floating with 3 other ghosts, talking constantly. Eventually one told him to shut up and what they would be doing in the ceremony.
         Kwan joined other vampires. They consisted of a man and two women. They were all dressed in black and spoke with a cartoon vampire accent.
         "Ok. Ve are all here. Or all zat need to be here are here," the other male vampire said. "Let us begin."
         The four witches each reached into their satchels and pulled out a different colored powder. Karen pulled out blue. They each went to a different side of the gravestone and took up positions about 3 yards from the center. Using the powder they drew straight, diagonal lines in each direction toward the stone, ending about a yard from the corner. A witch stood at the vertex of each powdered line; from the sky, the square gravestone and powder lines form a six-cornered star.
         A vampire took up a position at each corner of the gravestone. In the triangle outlined by the powdered areas a ghost and one of the man-made creature stood.
         The witches began to chant, the vampires joined them and then the ghosts. The man-made creatures mostly grunted. Initially, nothing happened but slowly the sphere began to turn. It spun faster and faster as they chanted faster. Eventually, it became a blur.
         Each vampire pulled a vial out of their satchel and simultaneously threw at the spinning sphere. The vials shattered and the sphere began turning orange.
         Each man-made creature threw something different. Dwayne threw a double handful of teeth. The swamp man threw a small stump.          The mummy threw a pair of blue, human eyeballs. The mechanical man threw a lit torch.
         A form coalesced where the spinning sphere should be, taking the form of a grinning Jack-O-Lantern. A loud voice called out, "Who calls the Great Pumpkin?"