Weird Halloween
TALE OF THE SERPENT-
TONGUED STRANGER

Autumn Rose
HELLO FRIENDS OF
THE ORANGE MOON

[First Published: October 09, 2022]

Welcome, welcome, WELCOME! Right back again to these old familiar haunts. Naturally, I your host, Autumn Rose, am simply tickled to see so many familiar faces back 'round this old campfire once more for some surefire Halloween entertainment.

And, as our regulars must know, with each spooky season must come new stories fresh from the grave.

And here I sit, your spinner of suspenseful stories to tell anothern here for y'all tonight.

So scoot on over while the fire is still high. And here we go again, for a new weird tale, one what I like to call, “Tale of the Serpent-Tongued Stranger.”
* * *
I’d like to say I’ve lived a normal life, pretty average, at least. I’m certainly not the sort of person for wild nights on the town or crazy adventures or anything like that. No, rather, I tend to keep to myself and stay outta trouble. Although, there was that one night in August of 2020.

It was, of course, during the pandemic, and I like many unfortunate souls was outta luck and outta a job. I remember worryin’ about my future, my next steps and when or if I was gonna pay my rent.

So, anyway, there I was tryin’ to get home before dark. When a stranger starts up conversation with me. He just took one look at me and saw the mental and emotional exhaustion running over my face then he says “Hard times?” Naturally, I agreed and began to list my grievances. Now, I usually don’t complain to strangers. But he seemed amiable enough, some people are like that, I guess. Well, one remark was followed by another and pretty soon we found ourselves discussin’ life, COVID-19, and the general state of the country.

He seemed like an okay enough fella. Went by the name of “Aster,” kind of an old-timey but, y’know, whatever. At any rate, he was certainly one with some pretty solid people skills, knew his way around a conversation and all. Rather tall, actually, in appearance, kind of pale, peculiar eyes. And, strange, I couldn’t quite place their exact color. Probably had some sort of condition but wasn’t polite to ask.

Speakin’ of which, he had, apparently, at one point in his life, cut his tongue on somethin’. Sure, he had a facemask, but it slipped off after a minute. And if you looked right directly at ’em, wasn’t hard to tell at all that his tongue sort of fork out at the end. Kind of like a snake’s but not exactly.

Now, his clothes were another thing altogether. They seemed pretty simplistic consisting of black polished shoes, suit, tie, fedora, and facemask. He didn’t strike me as the goth type. Rather I figured he must just be one not carin’ much for puttin’ together a new outfit each day, which I respected, and not unlike myself. Although, I do like a splash of color but to each his own.

So, at length, I notice the time and well it was getting pretty late there. Then I tell ’em good bye and wish ’em all the best. Now then, he says, “Well, before you go take my card. If you’re serious about work, there’s the address, shop opens tomorrow at midnight.”

So, I think “okay,” glance at the card, and put it in my pocket. Now, usually, I don’t do night shifts but, again, this was the pandemic. I thanked him, either way, told ’em I’d think about it. Now, he didn’t say anything ’bout any background check or on-boarding process, so I assumed it be under-the-table. And, hence, I didn’t wanna ask too many questions.

Well, I get home and take another look at the card. Funny, it look different than before. But perhaps in the dim light and shadow it just appeared to look different. The card was black, no real surprise there. I mean, if he wasn’t anything else, at least, he was consistent. In gold letters the card read:

“Astaroth Gongora, Emissary
BLACK MINER, CO.

Corner of Red Dog and Willard Jones Rd.
Harlan, KY 40831”

“Emissary” struck me as odd, but, come to think of it, the word does mean representative, figured he must be like their recruiter or somethin’. Now, I couldn’t really tell much by the name, “Black Miner, Co.” It might be literal or just tryin’ to be clever, which leaves everything from minerals to t-shirts.

But, anyways, I get there the next night, easy enough. I mean, lots of folks in Harlan County know the stories of Red Dog Road, strange lights and what not. I’d been to the area a few times, myself, a couple churches nearby, a cemetery too, but not much else.

Now, the building looked kinda small but with big letters it read “Black Miner, Co,” seemed legit. So, I walk on up and all. And there was Aster steppin’ out, greets me, shakes my hand. Strange, his grip with cold and hard, like holdin’ on a metal door handle in February. But in a second, he leads me on inside.

So we get in there, Aster says, “My office is down below.” And, so, we head on down a narrow staircase, and I’m startin’ to feel some kind of a way about the place, somethin’ just seemed a bit off, y’know?

Well, we come to a pretty sizable room, gray stone walls, the floor the same. In the middle of the room stood a wooden desk with a couple of chairs. On the desk was a blank piece of paper, a lamp, and a pen.

Naturally, I think the place could obviously use some decor, but, again, not gonna judge. He asks me to sit down and that we are gonna sign a standard work contract.

“Okay,” says Aster, “Let’s start off by discussing your terms.”

“Mine?” I reply, a little taken back.

“Yes,” Aster says, “Your terms? What would like to get outta the job?”

“Oh, okay,” I says, “Ummm, well, health and dental, if possible. Weekends off, if possible. Not, sure what you do here, but I was makin’ $28 pre-pandemic.”

Surprisingly, he agreed. Slides over the piece of paper, and says, “It’s all there.”

I look down at what I thought must be a joke. But to my surprise, sure enough, the blank paper was gone, and there everything was, just as I said, in black and white. Helluva coincidence if I ever seen one.

So, I ask what kind of company is this. Aster, he replies, says, “Were a staffing firm. We staff for a very large client.”

Naturally, I get right curious about the client, so I rattle off the names of a few supermarkets.

Then Aster, smiles, says, “Bigger than that.”

“Is it a manufacturing?” I continue.

“Bigger than that.”

“Must be mining, is it a mining company.”

“Bigger than that.”

“Well,” I say completely dumbfounded, “What in hell is it?”

“Exactly,” was Aster’s reply pointin’ to a line in the contract.

I didn’t much care for how he said “exactly.” But on the contract it read:

“Employer shall employ Employee as recruiter for the CEO (“the Prince of Darkness,” “The Devil,” “Diabolus,” etc.) on an eternal basis under this Agreement. In this capacity, Employee shall have the following duties from time to eternity as may arise:
  • To solicit contracts for souls (“recruits”) for endless pain and suffering in territory or territories to be determined by the company.
  • Contract souls on an eternal basis in exchange for their heart’s desire.
  • Offer valuable insight to company products and resources.”


    • At this point, I’m sittin’ there, noticeably shaken. Then Aster, Astaroth, he says, “I almost forgot to show you your uniform.”

    I look down, on the table sat a folded black suit, black tie, black polished shoes, black facemask and black fedora. And, as you can probably guess, it wasn’t there a second ago.

    I throw the pen across the table and shout, “Who in the devil are you?!”

    Astaroth, smiles again, he says, “Oh, not ‘the’.”

    At that point, I had enough. I run up the stairs, half flyin’, suddenly it had gotten hot, like an oven, the sound of screams now surrounded me and what appear to be twisted hands came out from the walls grasping at me.

    But I got outta there. I never looked back.

    And I didn’t stop runnin’ until I saw the first rays at sun-up.
    * * *

    Jeepers! Quite the story there! I tell ya, sure makes me think twice 'bout signing up for anything, emails included.

    Now, I s'ppouse that does it for right now. But don't y'all worry now, we'll be seein' each other real soon. And as always, this is your friend Autumn Rose sayin'—
    ’Til we meet again—stay together... keep nigh unto the fire.
    Copyright © 2022 Thrill Land

MORE FROM WEIRD HALLOWEEN

x
“”
—