Author's Note: Welcome to my entry in the
Halloween Story Contest 2023
. Have you heard of the Legend of The Great Pump-Kin? No? Well gather round my friends and get close to that campfire and far from the ominous fall shadows as I regale you with a story of prophecy, incest, love, lust and revenge!
Chapter One
On this day of October 31st, in the year of our lord 1871, the town of Burrillville, acting upon the sentence of honorable Judge Jeremiah Mason, executed by public hanging, Jonathan Winchester. Winchester was found guilty of the heinous crime of having sexual relations with not only his sister, but his niece as well as both of his daughters.
In court, and acting as his own defense, Mr. Winchester claimed to be under the influence of an evil spirit he encountered when exploring the forbidden woods beyond Spring Lake Road.
By his account, this spirit dwelt in a pumpkin patch behind the tainted ground where the Nipmuc buried the dead who shamed them or broke the laws of both man and the Manitou they sent their heathen prayers to.
Mr. Winchester insisted it was this demonic entity that instilled in him the desire to lay in sin with the women of his family. When asked the name of this demon, Mr. Winchester referred to it as the same name used in an old wives tale, stating it was indeed the....
"Great Pumpkin?" Nathan snorted as he sat down on a moss covered stump and pulled off his shoe. "Seriously sis?"
"Seriously, and its two words Pump-Kin" Zoey waved the tattered leather journal in her hand while leaning against a tree several feet in front of him. "It's all right here."
"Christ, that thing?" He rolled his light blue eyes, "A bunch of shit written by a superstitious woman back in the damn 1800's?"
"That superstitious woman was our grandmother five times removed!" Zoey declared indignantly. "She's the matriarch of our family. Not just anyone."
"Was, not is, so why should I care about her?"
"Whatever, thing is it's true and you shouldn't make fun of it. There's a lot of lore in this book. Myths, legends, haunted places and..." she stopped when she noticed her younger brother shaking his head.
"Lore? C'mon, Zoe, you really buy all that ghost buster crap?"
"You know I do, and Mom does too."
"Insanity is hereditary," he smirked.
"So is being a loser. I guess there's no hope for your kids," she gave her head a toss, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Assuming you ever make any."
"Wow!" Nathan exclaimed, shaking the rock out of his shoe. "That was bitchy!"
"Sorry," Zoey looked back down at the journal and closed it around her finger to hold her place, careful not to further rip the tattered pages. "I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay, I guess," Nathan put his shoe back on and shrugged. "I shouldn't make fun of you either. I just think you and Mom put a little too much stock in old stories."
"This isn't just any old story; this is our history." Zoey explained.
"Only because our family was originally from this shithole state." Nathan rolled his baby blue eyes.
"Rhode Island's not a shithole, it has beautiful foliage, great beaches, cool old mansions and a lot of history," Zoey smiled. "Especially when it comes to the supernatural. H.P. Lovecraft was born and lived here. Edgar Allen Poe met his love here."
"Lovecraft died Po' didn't he?" Nathan chuckled.
"You're so clever," It was her turn to roll her similar blue eyes. "But know what's only about fifteen minutes from here?"
"A swamp from the smell of it."
"The house they based the Conjuring on, they let people stay overnight and almost everyone says they hear and see ghosts."
"They charge for them to stay," he pointed out. "The ghosts are recorded sounds and video," he sighed. "You and Mom probably still believe in the frigging tooth fairy."
"Our family has always believed; this book has been passed down since Mabel Winchester wrote it."
"Winchester?" Nathan remained sitting as he distastefully eyed the dense trees and bushes around them. It was warm for the end of October, at least for the East Coast, more like the weather in Ft. Lauderdale where they were supposed to be. Instead, and for a reason she still hadn't given him, Mom had dragged them up here for a week.
"Yup," Zoey made a rolling motion with her hand. "Let's go dunce, put two and two together."
"You telling me that Winchester guy you just read about is related to us?"
"We're his direct descendants." Zoey stated with an air of pride Nathan found odd considering what the book said about him.
"Dear old great however many times gramps was boning his daughters," he scowled. "Bet they don't tell people shit like that on Ancestry dot com."
"Probably not," she agreed. "But that's what we're doing here, looking for his grave."
"Up here? I thought the cemetery was down by..." he frowned, trying to remember the name of the road. "I forget that, but that big ass church is next to it."
"Mabel wrote that seeing what he did was seen as a disgrace they buried him near the Nipmuc burial ground out of spite and to further shame him and his name."
"Seen as? Banging your sister, niece, and kids is pretty fucked up."
"To self-righteous judgmental Puritans I'm sure it was, but those narrow minded idiots don't understand that."
"I don't think anyone understands that" Nathan scrunched his face up in disgust. "Just sick and gross."
"Think so?" Zoey asked, nonchalantly setting him up.
"Damn straight I do."
"Then how come All in the Family is on your porn hub favorites list?" She smiled at the way his face turned red and he looked away from her.
"And Family is for fun, My sister's hot, why not?" She tapped her chin. "I like 'My Sister Sucks', really clever, you think sucks like she's a pain, but they mean suck like..." Zoey pushed her tongue into her cheek, puffing it out while working her hand next to her mouth, simulating a blow job.
"Okay, okay!" Nathan looked even more flustered than he had before, and Zoey knew exactly why. "I get it."
"No, you've never gotten it," she teased with what she knew was a much more sensitive topic than his favorite porn sites. "Maybe that's part of the problem."
"Sorry I'm not easy like you," he countered. "Maybe I'm waiting for someone special and not just looking for fun."
"Mad props for saying that with a straight face, you'd stick it in the crack of dawn if you could."
"Sis has jokes," he muttered. "You know that really bothers me."
"I do, and I'd say I'm sorry, but you're being a dink about helping me today."
"Helping you do what?" he spread his arms out. "Slogging through the woods looking for a place that's probably made up?"
"It's not made up, and you're helping me because I'm your sister, and your best friend, and we always help each other."
"Never helped me with girls," he pointed out for the hundredth time. "How come you never set me up with your friends or their sisters?"
"Maybe because I think you should be able to get your own girl." Zoey retorted. "Besides, my friends are two years older than you and into college guys, their sisters go to school with you and know you're a loser."
"Real nice," he pushed his glasses up on his sweaty nose. "I'm not a loser, I'm just kind of shy with girls."
"You don't try. You're not going to find them hanging around with your dork friends and playing world of shitcraft all night."
Nathan frowned, and looked away again, but this time with a look of hurt on his face. Zoey slumped back against the tree, annoyed with herself. Between being both nervous and excited, she was all kinds of amped up and getting snippy with him for no reason.
She eyed her 18 year old brother as he took off his other shoe, shaking it out as he had the other. She doubted there was anything in it or he'd have done it right away, he was doing it as an excuse to remain quiet and mask his hurt feelings.
Nathan was decent looking guy but didn't help himself. The big nerdy glasses he wore were his choice, he could wear contacts, but seemed to think the glasses were 'cool'.
Maybe they could be but seeing he was the stereotyped geek in every way and so paralyzed with irrational fear around girls he stammered, and worse, said awkward stupid things to them, he was a 100% lost cause nerd.
He tried to dress like a cool kid as exemplified by his white Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt, banana republic shorts, and the insanely expensive Black Vessi sneakers mom had bought him for his birthday two months ago.
Her brother had the wardrobe of the yuppie Starbucks crowd, but with the social skills of a complete dork, and it wasn't a good combination, the clothes were a desperate cry to not be what he was, and even girls his age noticed that.
But beneath the glasses, he had the beautiful baby blue eyes they'd inherited from Mom, and his features were smooth, bordering on pretty with high cheek bones and a cute cleft in his chin.
He had a good build, still a little thin, but he'd been filling out lately, mostly due to buying a weight bench and working out in the basement in another effort to improve himself physically.
That wasn't the issue, Zoey had seen girls look at him, and been interested, it was when he opened his mouth that things went to hell. She felt bad for him, Nate was a sweet kid and she knew he'd be amazing to any girl who could get through his awkwardness to get to know the real him.
Nate would help anyone, give you the shirt off his back, and when around just her or some of his friends had a great sense of humor and a great aww shucks smile that she'd always loved, and was another point in his favor with girls.
It went well with his usually unkempt sandy brown hair, and overall air of boy next door cute. His argument that she never helped him with his issues with girls was valid. Zoey could set him up for a date.
For that matter she knew a few girls who were easy enough she could just get them to fuck him, but there was a reason she hadn't. Nathan was only meant to be with one woman, and only when the time was right.
Luckily for him, both were closer than he dared hope.
"I'm sorry, Nate," she said quietly. "Low blow."
"It was," he agreed. "But, whatever, it's okay."
"No, it's not," she walked slowly over and as he'd been doing all day, at least when he knew she was looking his way, he seemed to struggle to keep his eyes averted from her.
