Pumpkin By D.I. Jolly

Johnny sat on his couch, patiently eating his cereal and waiting for his flatmate to wake up. It was almost four in the afternoon so he was sure he wouldn’t have to wait too much longer. Josh walked sleepily into the kitchen to pour himself some coffee then went to join him on the couch.

“Morning man.”

“Morning.”

Johnny’s voice was flat and he stared at Josh until he began to get uncomfortable.

“What?”

Johnny pointed,

“Care to explain why our coffee table is full of giant pumpkin?”

Josh suddenly sprung to life,

“Oh my God that’s right, last night, man last night was the most amazing night of my life.”

Johnny’s face turned confused.

“What?”

“No man, like an hour after you left everything went fucking biblical! That dude who always come in and have like, one beer for two hours then leave…”

“Trenchcoat guy?”

“Yeah Trenchcoat guy. He gets up, drops his coat, walks into the middle of the street and screams up to the sky ‘If you want my blood you’ll have to here and take it.’ We all thought he’d just snapped, finally gone over the deep end right? But then lightning just, just hits him, out of nowhere. And not like a strike, hits him and stayed. Check it out I took a video.”

Josh quickly pulls his phone out and taps it a few times. Their TV suddenly lit up with images of a man standing defiantly with lightning arcing over his body, turning his shirt to ashes around him. His eyes glowing an electric purple. All at once he snatches the arc and pulls down hard, then as if it were an elastic band he catapulted into the sky.

Johnny turns a blank ghost pale stare at Josh.

“What, what does this all mean?”

“Oh no man, that’s not the end. From there we all witnessed this titan battle in the clouds, as if Trenchcoat guy had become part of the sky until it looked like he’d gotten his hands around the neck of some other figure and snapped it, in what sounded like the loudest closes explosive thunder crack I’ve ever heard.”

“Oh my god, I heard that, that woke me up I just presumed it was a storm and, and just went back to sleep.”

“No man, it was this battle in the sky. Anyway, no word of a lie, Trenchcoat begins to fall and slams into the sidewalk, only he just picks himself right back up, swings on his coat, drops five bucks for the beer and casually walks off, as if nothing had happened.”

Johnny covered his eyes with his hands trying to wrap his mind around it, trying to work out what it all meant. Were the Gods real, how would he be able to reconstruct his reality now knowing that these kinds of beings existed. He suddenly felt very small and vulnerable. He wiped at his eyes and swallowed away the growing panic.

“Ok, so what does the pumpkin have to do with this?”

“Oh man, best part…

Johnny’s fear levels rose and a slight sweat started.

“So on the way home I walked past the little 24-hour market, and they had pumpkins on sale. I got this baby for like 2 bucks.”

Josh patted the massive pumpkin and smiled proudly, while Johnny’s mouth dropped open.

“That’s the best part? Your night involved literal Gods battling in the sky and that’s the best part?”

“Yeah man, pumpkin soup, it’s nutritious and delicious. It’s awesome.”