Fragment #9 - Hallowe'en Special

I’m walking by the streets. The sky is still grey; of a deep and dull grey. But the weather had warmed a bit and I had decided to have a walk in the Heath. I heading back home now, feeling better after having breathed a bit of greener air. The pavement is covered with dead leaves: a big brownish carpet, which crunches under my feet. I remember when I was young. I used to play in the leaves with Alex and Ariane, throwing these brown and yellow leaves up in the air, jumping on them as we would jump in poodles when it rained.
At the time I wasn’t thinking of what it represented: the end of a cycle; the arrival of Death. Could we call these brown leaves the red carpet of Mother Death? Why not.
Yesterday was Hallowe’en. Day of the spirits. Today would be the day of the Dead then. Hurray. Children were ringing our bell all night long. Granny seemed to be well-known for her kindness. Some of the neighbours going by with the children smiled at me, uncovering their teeth. “Oh, is this Jed? It’s been so long we hadn’t seen him. He’s a big boy now!”
Yes, Jed the big boy. Si vous saviez à quel point j’ai grandi…
I smile back at them and go back to my room: my dark cave. I sit on my bed, smile sadly; and swallow in order to keep tears inside. It’s no time.

Some days ago, I was speaking with Granny. She was wondering why I was always out, or staying in my room. Well, a wolf needs its lair. And Jed needs his shagging. But I wouldn’t answer that to her. She would be so shocked. And a shocked British Grandma is quite a sad vision. She found out that I needed something more, and went straight down to Argos to by a TV set.
“Thank you Granny, but I didn’t really need it.”
“It’ll be better for you.”
I’ve been since then stuck in front of my new TV.

So I sit on my bed, and turn my TV on. I go to Virgin Central (thank you granny for all that), and I found something really interesting. Let’s discover British culture, and have a glimpse of All Hallows’ Eve shudder.
I press the red button. Then select Most Haunted: Halloween Special, and press play.
A blond woman is presenting the show where people go to haunted places in order to see if all of this is true. She is with a Medium, who will speak about what he feels about the place. On the set is an historian confirming what he says.
They are going down in Edinburgh catacombs. Everything is filmed in nightshot, so it gives the picture a green and black colour, as in Blair Witch Project. The temperature is very low down there. It al starts with the cameraman being hit by a stone. The woman asked the spirit to answer by doing something and the cameraman receives a stone in the face. We can see on the footage that the stone doesn’t come from the ceiling but is really thrown from one of the corner of the room.
They then go to a place which was used by witches for their ceremonies. I shudder. Something is strange. In the room, there is a table with instruments, and a pentagram is painted on the floor. It seems to be very recent. I feel as if they have found a place still used for Dark Ceremonies. The Medium is crying, saying that someone is trying to get into his head. He can only go to the other side of the room going round the pentagram, anticlockwise. I feel so bad watching this program, I don’t know why. My fists are clenching, my breathing seems different.
The sound guy is shouting now. He’s in pain we don’t know why. I can feel his pain; I have those bloody butterflies in my stomach. But these butterflies have blood-stained wings. The guy is bent and he’s almost crying. My eyes are humid, my breath uncontrollable. He takes off his jacket and tee-shirt. He’s shouting, seying he’s got a pain in the back. The woman asks him to turn round. He doesn’t want to. TURN ROUND! She shouts, being brutal in order for him to follow what she says. He turns round, crying.
All my body is clenched, senseless. My stomach is hurting so much!
On his back, wounds are opening, and bleeding.
I cry; my hands on my head.
He cries. The five wounds on his back are bleeding more. They are trying to stop the bleeding with a piece of cloth.
My stomach clenches again. I can feel my dribbling. My mouth opens on a silent shout.
Black-out.