October 23rd

He was never a very good ventriloquist until his mother sent him this new dummy. It wasn't wearing the typical bowtie and tuxedo, but rather looked like a businessman, with a black necktie, a black suit, and a dark grey shirt beneath. The face of the dummy was almost a mocking smolder, like it knew something you didn't.

When he started using it, he tried all of his old jokes. They were cheesy, but he found himself much better at not moving his lips. He felt like a natural. The dummy responded and moved smoothly, its eyes seemed to move before he made them, as though it were expecting his actions.

It was just before dinner when he felt the dummy calling to him — not an audible call, but it was a feeling that he needed to put it onto his arm, to give it life with his finger movements and his voice. He sat at a chair next to the table, his steak dinner waiting for him, steaming and juicy.

"So, Don," he began. " Everything alright? How are you feeling tonight?"
On its own, the dummy reached over to the steak knife on the table and swiftly stabbed his master in the chest.

"I'm doing great," said the dummy in a deep voice, nothing like one would expect from a ventriloquist's pet. "Got your arm inside me. That's what matters. It's what keeps me alive, whether you live or not. I figured at this point I could get along without you controlling me."

The ventriloquist coughed up blood that splattered onto the dummy's suit.

"Getting rid of you's going to become a messy job. Too bad I couldn't change clothes before." He looked down at his master. "You got a saw anywhere?"

The ventriloquist tried to respond, but he couldn't catch his breath with a punctured lung.

"Never mind," said the dummy. "I'll find it."

He stabbed the ventriloquist once more in the neck, and the man stopped moving.

Several hours later, a women admired the neighborhood Halloween decorations as she walked. On the ground close to the sidewalk she saw a pumpkin with a ventriloquist dummy carved into it.

"How clever," she said to herself, kneeling down to get a closer look.

When she continued in, she saw what she thought was a small child. She almost couldn't believe a kid this young would be out this late. As she approached, she stared in confusion.

"I'm Don," the dummy said once it was only a few feet away. The woman saw the bloody stump of a severed arm hanging behind the dummy, and she screamed.

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