“Follow the light. Just don’t follow too closely.”
Every Halloween, just before sunset, Ember Jack lights his lantern.
The little pumpkin atop his twisted staff simply begins to glow.
First orange.
Then yellow.
Then something brighter, older, and as the darkness settles, he begins walking, following the paths people stopped using generations ago.
Crossing the fields where houses once stood, he walks abandoned lanes and woodland tracks that disappear from maps without anybody noticing.
And wherever Ember Jack goes, the dead begin to follow.
Most ghosts don't mean to get lost; some just wander too far, others forget where they were going.
Some have been walking so long they can no longer remember where they came from.
Those fortunate lost souls who see Ember Jack’s lantern on Halloween evening somehow understand… Follow
One by one, they emerge from the darkness, like a scene from a horror movie.
Ghosts of all shapes and sizes: an old lady, a soldier with a torn uniform, children holding toys. Sometimes ghosts that have forgotten their names.
They do not speak.
They follow the little orange flame; Ember Jack leads them through the night.
No one knows exactly where he takes them.
Some say he guides them home.
Others believe a doorway appears somewhere only on Halloween night, and only Ember Jack knows where.
Ember Jack has never explained.
There is only one rule,
The lantern must not go out.
Years ago, it did.
Only once.
A storm rolled across the hills without warning, with rain falling so heavily that Ember Jack could barely see the road ahead.
Then came a gust of wind.
The flame disappeared, and every ghost behind him stopped.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then Ember Jack heard footsteps, but they were not coming from behind him.
They came from the fields; more followed, and soon the ground thundered with footsteps.
Something had seen the darkness; it had been waiting for the light to disappear.
Ember Jack does not remember exactly what happened next, or maybe he simply chooses not to talk about it.
By sunrise, the lantern was burning again.
Several of the ghosts following him had vanished and were never seen again.
Ember Jack has never allowed the flame to go out since.
Every Halloween, he walks the same roads; more lost souls find him. Somewhere beyond the lantern light, something stalks, waiting for the light to go out.
Waiting.
Watching.
Hoping for darkness.
So if you ever find yourself walking alone on Halloween night and you see a tiny orange light moving along an empty road, you might want to follow it.
Just don't get too close.
And whatever happens...
Do not let the flame go out.