The House of Lazarus

Luke had been sequestered to his room. Weeping quietly as he held a photo of himself and his two other friends, Gregory and Pete. He moved his hands, signing over and over "I won't forget you, I won't forget you." As he continued to cry and process everything that happened.

It was Halloween night, his friends and himself had meticulously planned their route - making sure to trick-or-treat at all the houses nearby that gave out the good stuff, like full sized candy bars. While avoiding all the houses that were stingy, or worse! Gave out healthy snacks.

As they left the final few houses. Gregory came up with an idea, there was a shortcut not too far from them, that'd take them right back to the street they all lived in.

The only problem however was that it took them right passed the house of Dr. Lazarus - a strange man who lived in a creepy old Victorian house.

Rumours and stories surrounded him. Claims from kids that he was secretly a mad scientist. That he reanimated the dead and made weird monsters in his basement.

"I heard he made a monster that when it eats you - it makes people forget you existed." Said Gregory, signing as he spoke to include Luke in the conversation. "Remember Johnny in sixth grade?"

Luke shook his head.

"Exactly." Gregory teased.

"I heard he made a deal with a devil, and lures in kids to turn them into a demon army." Pete added. Also signing for his deaf friend.

'You're both ridiculous' Luke signed back. 'He's my doctor, he's nice, he just looks a little weird.'

In fact the doctor in question had given him hearing aids just last week - though he'd forgotten to charge them overnight so now the devices were just dead weight in his ears.

"If you're not scared, go see if he's giving out candy." Gregory dared, pointing at the yard of the man's house as it came into view.

An old Victorian house set back in a large wooded yard. The trees with leaf-bare branches casting claw like shadows amongst the aged and already spooky looking abode. Up the long gravel driveway was a porch decorated with a couple jack-o'-lanterns, and warm lights spilled out from the windows, breaking up the gloom and almost inviting the trio to come forward.

Luke shuddered but then shook his head; it was just the house that looked menacing. The homeowner was fine as far as he knew.

He shrugged and approached the house as the other two watched on in surprise from a safe distance.

Luke investigated the door as he got up to the porch. No bell, but a heavy knocker. He grabbed the solid metal leaver and gave a few hard knocks. The door swung open revealing Doctor Lazarus himself.

His costume was scrubs and a lab coat, his grey hair teased and sprayed so it stuck up in unruly angles. Large round goggles that glinted in the warm light pouring out from the doorway, practically glowing like wide, devilish eyes.

To top it off he wore antique dental equipment around his lower jaw and upper teeth, that pulled the corners of his mouth into an unsettlingly wide smile.

It seems he knew the rumours, and this evening was playing the part.

Gregory and Pete watched with baited breath as it seemed the doctor and Luke conversed through handsigns. Before Luke turned and made his way back to his friends.

A wide grin on his own face as he revealed his prize. A *jumbo candy bar*

The eyes of the other two boys lit up. Fear replaced with excitement as they now took off down the driveway of the mad doctor's house.

It was Luke's turn to wait and watch, as he wasted no time tearing open the wrapper and snacking on his treat.

The boys approached the door, the costumed man answering once more.

Rather than handing them candy and sending them off however… he invited them inside.

'What gives?' Thought Luke, pausing his snacking. 'What are they doing?' He stashed the rest of his candy back in the bag full he carried and approached the house again. Breaking in to a scared sprint as the front door closed behind his friends before he could get there.

He tried the knocker once more but no one answered, even after multiple tries.

Worried, Luke shuffled to the nearby window, peering in and knocking on the glass, trying to get the attention of his friends inside.

He could see them - but they ignored him, they looked transfixed by something.

He spotted doctor Lazarus next, waving his hands in introduction as the door to what Luke assumed was the basement stairs, opened up.

What happened next, Luke almost wished he could forget.

Three large heads emerged, connected to long necks. Like some kind of hydra emerging from the depths of hades. The faces were gaunt and the skin as pale as a cadaver. Wide mouths with twisted smiles moved as if they were singing some siren's song. Eyeless sockets, black as moonless night stared down the boys inside.

Two of the heads moved closer to Pete and Gregory who only in their last moments seemed to snap out of the trance they were in.

The heads unhinged their jaws like snakes, engulfing the boys whole and swallowing them down. Their shapes bulging out and struggling as they slid down the long necks.

Meanwhile Doctor Lazarus watched on with intrigue, like a scientist performing an experiment.

Luke screamed and banged at the window in protest, trying to break it, but stopped suddenly when the third head snapped in attention towards his direction. The neck stretched out across the room, building momentum.

Luke ducked just in time as the head shattered through the glass, jaw snapping to try and grab him. The wail from it muffled, but still barely audible even to his ears.

Luke screamed once more and ran as fast as he could, bolting down the driveway, away from the terrifying house, and down the street to his own.

Crashing through his front door he frantically signed to his mother about the horrors he had seen at the home of Dr. Lazarus. And that his friends were eaten by a horrifying monster.

"Honey, enough with these stories about that poor man." His mother huffed as she tried to settle him down.

Luke pleaded, what about Gregory and Pete? His best friends were gone!

"Who?" His mother questioned.

Luke shuddered. They were true, good gods the rumours were true.

As his thoughts caught up to the present. The boy pulled out his dead hearing aids. Maybe this is what saved him…he couldn't hear that ghastly …man-made… false …hydra's song…maybe that's why he remembered his friends, while his mother forgot.

In frustration and grief he threw the devices across his room. Hearing be damned, if silence is what saved him, then silence he would stay.