His heavy work boot slammed hard on the brake pedal, the rubber tires screaming like a banshee as the pickup truck juddered to a stop. A look of horror crept over his face as a large, severed head rolled down the windscreen, bounced off the freshly polished bonnet and tumbled out into the sharp glare of the headlights. It spun sickeningly on the asphalt, the illuminated tire smoke swirling around it like some big finale of a conjurer's macabre stage show. When it finally came to rest, it’s large, bloodshot eyes were staring directly back at him.
“What the…!?”
His heart was pounding like a jackhammer against his chest, as he peeled his white knuckles off the steering wheel and dragged his torn shirt sleeve across his sweat soaked brow.
“Get it together Caleb”
He let out a short, sharp exhale and reached for the door handle, shouldering the door open as he stepped out onto the dark asphalt.
The night was as black as coal. The biting autumn breeze whipped up around him as it’s raw breath nipped at his clammy skin. He pulled his shirt collar tight around his exposed neck, as a spontaneous shiver tap-danced down his spine.
He scanned the horizon for headlights but saw no sign of any other traffic; the long dark road was as empty as a grave at a graverobbers convention.
“Of course it was,” he thought. Just him, a deserted highway, and a severed head. How very fitting for Halloween night.
The great pine trees hugging the roadway stood tall and foreboding, silent witnesses to the strange events unfolding before them. The soft swaying of their branches in the overspill of the car’s high beams cast unearthly shadows that danced and snaked around him.
"Just get the head and get back in the car”
He walked into the light and carefully picked up the head in his two hands, checking quickly for any damage. A few little scuffs and scrapes, along with a small strip of skin hanging loosely from its pale, doughy cheek.
“Wow, you don’t look too good!” he chuckled, picking small chunks of embedded gravel out of the pasty forehead in front of him; there was never anyone around when he thought of his best jokes.
The cold, unblinking eyes stared blankly at him, seemingly unimpressed with his attempt at humour. He shivered again.
He carried the head carefully around to the back of the truck, loose grit on the roadside crunching loudly underneath his heavy boots. The cargo area was partially covered in a stained grey tarp. As he reached the tailgate, poking out the end of the tarp was a single leg and arm dangling eerily in the red glow of the tail lights, like a giant marionette trying to break free from his strings.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He placed the head on the ground and fished his phone out of his pants pocket, turned on the light and lifted the crumpled cover.
“Two legs, two arms, one torso” - counting the separate body parts in front of him.
“Ok, everything else is there, no real damage done” he thought.
He caught the limp arm and leg and swung them back under the tarp. Then he picked up the head and placed it carefully among the other body parts, as gently as tucking it into bed. He pulled the tarp tightly across the body and double knotted the loose rope, securing it firmly.
He heard a faint rustling in the undergrowth. He spun his phone light toward the sound, lighting up the eyes of what he hoped were several night animals glowing vividly in the gloom.
“Nothing to see here, guys,” he laughed nervously, shuffling his way back to the open car, climbing back in and locking the doors.
Safely back in the cab, he relaxed. His eyes hovered over the dash in front of him, lit up like the ‘Starship Enterprise’, with so many buttons, knobs, and screens. "Matt loved his new toys," he thought.
His brother Matt was a year older than him and always had the cool new stuff; that brand new ‘Tony Hawk’ skateboard when they were younger; he was also first to get that new racing bike, and now of course his brand new, top of the range, pickup truck.
“Well, he’s not going to be using it anytime soon, is he!” Caleb laughed to himself, patting the dashboard and gently flicking the bobblehead ‘Jesus’ figurine.
He shoved his hand down into the dark passenger footwell, fumbling around blindly, before pulling out a large machete and hockey mask, which had launched forward off the seat as the car skidded to a halt. He flung them back onto the passenger seat beside him.
“I’m going to need you guys later,” he said.
He drove on through the evening, as the forest road eventually gave way to the safety of modern civilization. He turned the truck into a leafy suburb, with halloween decorations adorning every garden and doorway, as ghouls, ghosts and vampires of all sizes haunted the well lit streets. He drove slowly up to a big white house on the hill, a giant ‘Frankenstein' among other creatures of the night glowing brightly on the lawn. Silhouettes danced behind closed blinds as he pulled up to the curb outside.
He took out his phone and sent a quick message – “I’m outside”
He watched the light spill out as a girl opened the front door and ran down the well-kept lawn. He felt his pulse quicken at the sight of her, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry.
“Hey you, wow, nice truck!” Tina bounced up to the window beside him, her blonde hair blowing gently across her rosy cheeks.
"Hi, yeah, it’s Matt’s, only a year old.”
“And he let you borrow it?” Tina knew Matt pretty well from highschool; she also knew Matt didn’t like to share his toys.
“Ha, ha... he didn’t have a choice!” Caleb smiled to himself.
“So, do you want to see the body?”
“Oh, hell yeah, let’s see it”-her enthusiasm was like butterflies in his stomach-”I still can’t believe you did it!”
He climbed out, guided her around to the back of the truck and untied the tarp.
“Now, it’s in pieces for easier transportation,” he explained, “but don’t worry, I’ll help you move it.”
He shoved the cover aside, as two big lifeless eyes stared back at them.
“Oh, wow that’s disgusting…”-she poked at the flabby, scarred torso-“I friggin love it!” He watched her deep green eyes light up in excitement. His heart skipped a beat at her appreciation for his hard work.
“Help me get it into the garage without being seen, I don’t want them to see it yet - We can wrap him up in the tarp”
“Cool, what about the car?”
“You can leave the pickup there, it’ll be safe until morning. I still can’t believe Matt let you borrow it”
“As I said, he didn’t have a choice”-grabbing the mask and machete of the front seat-”my Dad said I could take it to teach Matt a lesson; he’s had his licence suspended due to unpaid parking tickets!”
“Oh my god, he must be pissed off!” Caleb melted a little as Tina smiled one of her all-knowing smiles.
He pressed the lock button on his keys. “Yeah, he just shoved them in the glove compartment and forgot about them. He can be such an idiot sometimes. I’m just glad he did though as he made my night a whole lot easier”
“Ok, let's grab this guy”
Minutes later, two figures struggled up the freshly mowed lawn like smugglers in the night, the tarp swinging clumsily between them. Just as they arrived at the garage door, it began to open. Caleb jumped back as the disfigured face of a middle aged man peered from under the door.
“Hi Dad,” Tina called out, as Caleb noticed her cheeks flushing a beautiful shade of pink.
Her dad was dressed like Freddy Krueger, the brown fedora and dirty red-and-green-striped sweater were fantastically authentic - but it was the prosthetic makeup that caught Caleb’s artist eye, it was amazing in detail, almost straight out of a movie.
“Hey guys, what’s in the tarp, it’s not a body, is it?” he laughed a fake evil laugh, flicking his metal-clawed right hand in front of his face, nearly catching his nose.
“There’s cold beer in the ice box, help yourselves”
Her dad took a swig of beer and strolled off in the direction of the main house.
“Now you see what I’m up against?” as she watched Freddie Krueger carefully petting a neighbour's cat.
Caleb now understood.
“Every year" Tina continued, "Dad and the boys go all out for their Halloween competition, and I’ve never been able to beat them, but when I saw your work in college, I knew you’d be able to help me.”
“Well it was your drawing and design I followed”
“Yeah, but it was your skill that brought the ‘undead’ to life”
“Well teamwork makes the dream work.” Caleb's face was flushed before he’d even finished the sentence.
She smiled and punched him playfully on the shoulder, “Nerd”.
She turned and looked at the tarp.
“Dad’s costume is cool, and I know the boys will go all out, but none of them will have a prosthetic zombie body and head that they can physically wear… this is some next level shit Caleb!”
Caleb thought of all the long nights putting together the costume, the large, oversized head, the prosthetic makeup modelling all done in the college’s drama department, figuring out the logistics of how to make it wearable. All those tiny details, some of his best work. It was genuinely good enough to get him real movie work, he knew that from conversations with his mentors in college, but he wouldn’t have done it without her. Her design was amazing, yes, but also just because… just because it was her.
He’d known Tina for years, but him being that little bit younger meant they hung out in different crowds - but he had seen her drawings in school, heard her laugh in the canteen with her friends, even met her when Matt was dating one of her friends. But in college they’d gotten closer, and when she proposed the project, he would have said yes even without knowing what it was.
He would create a whole army of dead, zombie creatures for her if she asked him to.
“Yeah, it was nothing really,” his cheeks reddening slightly again.
“Well thank you so much, I really appreciate it” She leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek.
“Yeah… I mean… It's cool… no worries“
She laughed gently - “Come on”
They grabbed the tarp and spilled the contents onto the garage floor.
Tina stared at it in amazement.
“Oh Caleb, I knew you'd create something amazing, but this is my drawing come to life, it’s unbelievable, they've seen the creature on paper, but this is going to blow the family's mind… Thank you so much.”
She hovered over the body parts like an overeager homicide investigator.
“And maybe if you’re nice to me, I’ll tell them that you were the one that made it!”
She smiled that smile and winked at him, flicking her blonde hair across her face again.
“By the way, how was the ride over? That forest road gives me the willies at the best of times, let alone on ‘All Hallows Eve’.”
“Yeah it was crazy, I nearly hit a possum… I had to slam on the brakes and the zombie head flew out of the back and into the middle of the road!”
"Oh no, was the possum ok?"
The concern on her face made him smile.
"Yeah, I think I saw him and his friends lurking in the undergrowth afterwards, plotting their revenge. I was more scared than him I think"
He knew he shouldn't have said that.
She looked at Caleb’s own halloween costume and started laughing.
"Awh, poor little Jason Voorhees, the big bad mass murderer, scared of a possum"
Her laugh was deep and unrestrained and he had loved it from the first time he heard it.
She yanked the machete and mask out of his hand, holding the mask up to her face.
"Whoooooo…. I'm a scary possum!" she laughed again
His face reddened as he grabbed the mask back.
"Shaddup you."
He knew he would never live that one down.
"Friday the 13th is one of my favourite movies, you know."
He did. She had mentioned it in their first semester of creative writing and he’d never forgotten it. He loved those movies too.
“But you didn’t do any of the prosthetics for the face and stuff, a man of your talents would have easily created something”
He blushed slightly, “Yeah, I didn’t have time…”- he held up the hockey mask-”next best thing”
It was her turn to blush.
“Oh Caleb, I’m so sorry, you put so much time into this for me…”
She took his hand in hers, pulling him close.
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” - her words were a whisper as she kissed him softly on the lips.
His head spun like a ferris wheel on the fourth of July, but before he could take in what had just happened, she’d already shoved the big zombie head in his face.
“But first”-she smiled-”I’m going to need a hand to get this thing on”