The Skeleton Sink

It was Halloween night. The twins, Ronnie and Jess, began the walk. They passed pumpkin-lit houses, giant skeletons threatening to come alive, and most importantly: tubs of free candy. It was hard to pass up. But Halloween this year would be different. It was time. Their time. To complete the walk and enter The House.

That’s exactly what Jess thought as they walked past the main street with king-sized chocolate bars and full bags of colorful candy.

A narrow trail revealed itself across the road and into the woods. Towering birch trees stood like guards to a secret castle, with the forest floor carpeted by brown, crunchy leaves. It was unmistakable. The way to The House.

Now silent, they stood still at the opposite end of the trail in their homemade Halloween costumes. Ronnie wondered when his courage would wear off. When would he be unable to make jokes? He worried his voice would croak. He worried fear would steal his laughter.

“I’ve never heard the woods like this before,” Ronnie remarked.

“I know, it’s like giant doors. Opening, closing. Opening, closing. Like a freaky basement or abandoned attic.”

“Jess, don’t make it worse than it already is, okay? It’s dark, it’s scary, and the trees are creaking.”

“I’m a vampire, remember, Ronnie? I can protect us with my fangs.” The toy fangs did, in fact, continue to glow amongst the thick trees. They marched forward. The House— one hundred yards away.

It was no coincidence that Jess and Ronnie lived in the small town known for The House. Jess believed that she and Ronnie were meant to adventure toward the scary things that go bump in the night. She believed they were meant to find them, never to run. They would use their twinstinct–the connection that allowed them to talk without speaking.

Creak-creak-creeeeeeeak went their footsteps up and across the porch.

She twisted the doorknob. “Without further ado.” 

“Creepy.” They said in unison.

“Whoa, look! Do you see it?” Jess pointed upstairs.

He did see it, but wished he hadn’t, so he lied. “Nope, nothing to see up there. It’s just an old house, not the ominous-nightlight-up-the-decaying-stairs—house.”

“You’re right, it’s probably nothing.” Jess shrugged.

The orange light seemed to warm the downstairs. The heat traveled from the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Jess felt invited to go up there. Then she felt something else. Something she felt at the park or at school: pressure to walk up there, like she would be in trouble if she didn’t. A rustling to the left snapped her out of the upstairs trance.

Ronnie also snapped out of the inviting-light trance. He looked to the right; toys were scattered about the floor. An unfinished puzzle rested on the table. He loved puzzles.

He picked up two pieces. The curves would fit perfectly together. He found a match.

“What’re you doing?” Jess quietly interrupted.

“I’m doing a puzzle!” Ronnie inserted two more pieces. Jess was shocked by his relaxed attitude.

“It’s not playtime, Ronnie. There might be monsters roaming about.” The vampire's teeth flashed a smile.

“Let’s explore this room a little bit. Find them before they find us.”

Jess snapped her fingers. “I like where your head is at.” 

She rifled through knick-knacks arranged on a dresser. Some drawers wouldn’t open. Some were full of cobwebs and fleeing spiders. A porcelain girl inside a mason jar kept a pointed tiptoe rooted to the bottom of the glass, and her dainty hand reached toward the lid.

Jess stared closely at the girl, so close her breath fogged the glass. The jar seemed untouched by the withering effects of the old house. The girl’s face was placid, as if the artist had given up on painting a smile or even a frown. Jess felt the urge to help. She wanted to be a hero so badly, to make up for the times she watched someone being bullied.

The LED headlamp flickered. It toggled from white to black. Jess, who stood furthest from the moonlit window, searched for Ronnie, abandoning the ballerina. He placed one last puzzle piece.

The twins returned to the living room.

“Should we keep going? Or is it candy time?” Ronnie rubbed his palms like he was starting a fire.

Jess started to speak, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. White and hovering in the darkness. She walked toward it, Ronnie following. They closed in on the white glob and found they were in a kitchen. The thing was lying in the sink.

“It’s a skull.”

“A skeleton man.”

Jess whispered, leaning in. The skull’s mouth spread wide, swallowing nothing but a black hole. “It looks like… he’s screaming.”

Tattered overalls hung from the sink’s edge. Ronnie let his eyes travel down the denim to the black boots pointing toward the sink. The boots were also worn. The toe box disintegrated almost entirely so that Ronnie could see bony filaments poking out of it. 

“I think it moved.” Jess was transfixed by the skull’s hollow eyes and open jaw, each tooth polished by time, scavenging animals, and maggots

They heard scuttling. The skull shifted left. Thumb-sized cockroaches emerged from the eye. The bugs scattered with their brown and black bodies in perfect contrast to the skull. Some disappeared in the nose cavity. Some tight-roped along its teeth.

“Scary and disgusting. Okay, we did it, let’s go,” Ronnie wrapped his arm around Jess with a delightful hop, steering her from the sink. They left the kitchen, turning for one final look at the ominous light.

“Maybe we should check it out, Ronnie. I gotta admit, I don’t want to come back to this house. So it’d be cool to see all we can tonight.” Jess’ eyebrow arched, half joke, half challenge.

He agreed, “Sure, why not. It could just be some trick of moonlight anyway.”

It happened again. Out of the corner of their eye, the white glob they knew as a singular skull moved. Then it really moved. It rolled over and fell to the ground. What sounded like dishes toppled over the sink with it.

CLASH! CLANG! 

Bones fell out of the sink to the kitchen floor. A dozen long, pointy ribs cascaded like a broken xylophone. The bulbous heads of long bones and clavicles rolled over. Suddenly the tattered overalls decayed completely, exposing two full-grown legs. The bones were perfectly stacked on top of each other. 

The leg bones didn’t fall like the rest of the skeleton body. The bones lying on the floor floated up. Magic, they assembled themselves into a full skeleton. The skull attached itself to the spine. It turned. It towered. Skeleton man’s jaw still open, forever in a silent scream. 

The floorboards shivered beneath their feet. The rolling floor rattled the skeleton, causing it to clink. Louder and faster. The floor ceased its rumble but the skeleton continued. Shaking its head wildly back and forth. The bones seized and scraped against each other. The twins covered their ears to dampen the ringing and stared in horror as they locked eyes with the depths of the skull’s sockets. His jaw hung open, like he’d forgotten how to close it since last Halloween.

The skeleton lifted its legs, making great strides toward them. His arms dangled at his sides, swaying without intention. The skeleton man let out a shriek so sharp it could cut glass. “Get. Ouuuuuut!” 

They meant to run outside but instead followed the light. “Upstairs, upstairs, upstairs!”

The skeleton yelled, angrier this time. Stomping the stairs beneath them, fastening nails shot out of their holes, and one of the steps collapsed beneath Jess’ feet. She stumbled and looked back, anticipating a bony grip on her ankle. But the skeleton stopped and stood at the foot of the stairs.

“Why did it stop?”

Ronnie reached for her hand, “I don’t know, and I don’t care!”

“Get. Ouuuuuuut!”

Ronnie found some comfort in the skeleton’s stopping at the steps. They watched him, still standing there, swaying, as if he wanted to move but couldn’t. They refocused, silently agreeing to enter the glowing room.

“Maybe it’s an old lamp, maybe someone was here before us, doing the same thing we’re doing, and they accidentally left it here.”

“Because they also got chased by a skeleton?” Jess yell-whispered. Even with the warming hallway, her skin grew cold. Cold enough, her fingernail beds grew slightly blue.

What if we’re wrong? 

“Ronnie, I don’t know if we should go in there. The skeleton man didn’t chase us up the stairs; it’s like he’s afraid to come up here. Maybe he was chasing us… out. We should leave now.”

“You’re saying, we walk down those stairs again with that skeleton thing right there as if he’ll happily usher us out? A friendly skeleton this whole time? Oh, I’m sorry, I couldn’t tell over the piercing sound of his bones!” He sighed, “No way, Jess. We’ll just crawl out a window, onto the roof and jump from there. It’s not a tall house. We’ll be fine.” Ronnie couldn’t believe what he just said.

Crackling.

Small smolderings, then a louder CRACK! Followed by the dissimilar creak-creak-creak.

“It’s just a fireplace.” He said.

Jess exhaled relief. Ronnie peered around the doorframe, making sure his shadow didn’t expose them. He found the source of the creaking: a chair next to the fireplace. It rocked back and forth. 

“There’s a person.” 

She peeked between the slit of the door and frame to see for herself. She saw the figure in its chair. Long, blonde hair gleaming in the firelight.

Ronnie gently placed his foot into the room so as not to alert the stranger gazing into the fire. Jess held him back, though whispering too loudly this time, “Ronnie, what’re you doing? We don’t know this person; they could be dangerous.”

“Doesn’t look dangerous to me.”

Jess searched for words, “She could be… a witch… or… or a kidnapper! And we’re kids! Ready to be napped!”

“Did I hear a naaaa-p?” It croaked, then switched to a motherly tone both Ronnie and Jess found familiar in every teacher they met. Their shoulders dropped from their ears, but still, they walked timidly inside the room.

CRACK.

POP.

“You must rest by the fireplace then.” The lady ceased her rocking, swiveling the chair to face them. Her lips thinned as the edges of her mouth moved upward, and she started squinting hard. Jess and Ronnie had never seen a face like this before.

The nameless woman stroked her hair hanging like a waterfall. It distracted both Ronnie and Jess from the clothing, the jewelry, and her twisted facial expressions. They found the warmth from the fire intensified as the light bounced off of her hair.

Neither Jess nor Ronnie knew what to say. Ronnie’s legs felt glued to the old wooden floor, like a sticky spell. Jess’ insides fluttered—then flapped—then downright crash-landed. Every bit of them screamed, Get out now! But they wouldn’t, or couldn’t, budge.

Why was it always so hard to leave when an adult told you to stay? Even if the adult was a stranger, even if she was a witch, there was that rule buzzing in their brains: Be polite. Listen. Ronnie wished, just for a second, that his parents were there to tell him it was okay to go. But they weren’t. And the witch’s smile was slipping, and the fire snapped louder, and still the twins waited—like maybe, if they just stood very still, she would give them permission to leave.

“Where is your home children? As I said, it will be bedtime soon.” A watch appeared on her wrist, and she tapped it lightly. “Do you live far, Ronnie?”

How does she know my name?

POP.

“Oh, no worries. Not too far. We just came here on a stupid, um, dare from our friends.” Jess tried not to stutter; she tried to answer her questions, to gain some sense of control.

Two against one, we outmatch this… monster. 

Jess knew it to be true–not all monsters yelled or shook like the skeleton.

The woman perked up. Ronnie heard the cracking in her spine. He watched her roam about the space between the chair and the fireplace. He narrowed his eyes.

This is a witch.

CRACK.

She twirled the prairie dress in figure eights. “Friends, you say? Why didn’t they join you?”

“Our parents came with us. We just wanted to warm up by the fire and now we feel all better. Thank you for your hospitality.” Jess forced a farce, hoping it would garner her permission out of the room—out of the house.

“That’s right, they are right outside on the porch.” Ronnie bowed.

He thought about his parents again. His parents weren’t just outside, ready to scoop him up if he made a mistake. They were at home, trusting him to come back safe with Jess. Tonight wasn’t a night for waiting or asking. This wasn’t a night for following rules. This was a night with monsters.

Ronnie and Jess stood there awaiting her response. Her skin appeared smooth in some of the bright flickers. Then the wrinkles deepened, exposing black lines like the skeleton’s gaping mouth. Between seconds, the shape of her skull crept through her hair.

Then her skin leaked worms and bugs and spiders. The fire sucked the hair off of her head, singeing the locs to black threads. It stung their nostrils, and the taste of pennies filled their mouths. The moment she spoke, the critters returned to their homes inside her face.

“Take some hot chocolate. I just happen to have enough teacups for all three of us.” Her voice sweetened like chocolate pouring into the cup.

They heard the cervical vertebrae in the skeleton’s neck clink with another shrilling “GET. OUT.” It still stood at the foot of the stairs.

“Oh no, don’t worry. He can’t come up here— that horrible thing. You see, that’s why I’m up here, all alone. He has trapped me.”

A teapot materialized in her hand. The delicious smell escaped the spout replacing the metallic sting dripping in their sinuses. Teacups appeared and two stools.

The twin brother gulped, and his belly grumbled.

“Ooo, someone’s hungry.” She gestured for his hand, and Ronnie felt weak; the room started spinning around him. He squatted for the stool as she placed the teacup full of hot chocolate in front of him.

Jess felt like crying; she heard something whispering inside the hot sugary drink—a faint, evil voice, maybe one hundred of them. For a split second, Jess hesitated.

“Get away from him!” She kicked the table and Ronnie’s teacup slid off with a dainty crash, tiny voices screaming out of it.

The woman snatched Ronnie’s arm. Her grip tightened with long, grey nails digging into him. Jess pulled his other arm. Like tug-a-war, Ronnie swayed side to side.

“Terrible, ornery children!” The woman let go, unleashing her true form. Forcing them to tilt their heads back, she grew taller. The pink and yellow flowers of her dress washed; now a torn grey cloak covered the woman. Grey wisps of hair grew out of her liver-spotted scalp. Her gums lined the black hole of her mouth, no teeth, no tongue.

Her blackened feet stomped the ground. Just like a giant, she moved more slowly than they did. Jess and Ronnie scrambled across the floor, the witch kicked the teapot, and the liquid flew.

“Ow!” Jess screamed. It splattered across her legs. The witch grabbed her, holding on to the collar of her vampire cloak. 

“Tug-a-war again? I love games!” The witch snarled. Ronnie tripped and stumbled, but managed to reach his sister.

“Not this time.” He untied the vampire cloak at the neck. Jess burst out of it. They regained their footing and slammed the door. The witch ran into it with a clumsy thud.

The twins stopped at the crossroads of the opposing hallway and stairwell. The skeleton was still at the bottom of the stairs. 

Hallway. 

Stairs. 

The skeleton screamed again, “GET. OUUUUUUT!”

“Okay, the friendly skeleton will usher us out.”

The witch charged through the door. Her lanky arms grasped at their hair.

Twinstinct.

They leaped through the air, jumping over the stairs entirely. Ronnie and Jess flung themselves at the monster. The skeleton man caught them in each arm. Its vertebrae twisted a complete 180, throwing them out the door.

Shocked and stunned, they watched as the witch charged the skeleton, screaming threats of nonsense. She jumped with claw-like hands outstretched. The skeleton man’s ribcage opened. The bones spread apart, resembling a Venus flytrap, preparing for its prey and exposing his hollowed exoskeleton.

His open cavity caught her, and the bones became her prison. Immediately, the ribs sealed shut like iron bars. She continued prying for the twins; her scraggly arms protruding between the spaces of its ribcage and pelvis. The skeleton rattled from the struggle. He screamed one last time.

Then—

Shaking shutters. Creaking nails. Rattling appliances. Ceramic dishes and maybe even the ballerina jar. Shattered.

A bright orange light emanated from the witch’s squawking mouth. Dark smoke fumed from the skeleton’s orifices. The two monsters spun violently while the house quaked.

It crumbled. A backward explosion, tumbling from the inside.

The rubble settled. The house's remnants began to sink. A sort of quicksand sucked it into the earth. It was the forest floor emerging from below like lava leaking out of Earth’s cracks. The woods reclaimed its property, The House no longer existed. 

The witch and skeleton disappeared. No one could explore it anymore. No one would know about the toy room with a puzzle and ballerina jar. No one would know about a skull in the sink or a witch rocking in a chair.

The moonlight resumed as the sole light source amid the trees. Ronnie and Jess walked again, following the path. It felt wider, more inviting now–the journey quicker than before.