#Spooktober ‘The House On Cottage Lane’ by Ronald Malfi

About the story…

It’s Halloween night, and 12-year-old Brian Ganelin and his friends are ready for a night of trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, Brian’s father has made him take along Oliver, the strange kid who moved in next door. When Brian and his friends decide to scare Oliver by daring him to enter the old abandoned house on Cottage Lane, an evening of Halloween fun quickly turns into a nightmare.

A short, sharp, 24 pages of Halloween thrills and chills, ‘The House On Cottage Lane’ delivers all that you would expect from Ronald Malfi, and more.

He brilliantly observes the hierarchy amongst the neighbourhood children, and how those living in the house next door, the Toomeys, are ‘weird’. As adult readers, we appreciate that these foster children are possibly difficult to get to know, and come with their own set of problems to overcome, to other children they are semi-permanent outsiders, neighbours for an undetermined period of time.

Brian and his friends’ excitement about Halloween is infectious, the way that they plan their costumes, their route, and which houses give the best treats is so evocative of years gone by.Jeremy, Cyn and Brian have huge levels of excitement about the night ahead, all of which comes crashing down when Brian’s father demands that they take the newest Toomey kid, Oliver, with them.

What’s so wrong with Oliver?

Well he doesn’t speak, his costume is a bit rubbish and he has the potential to slow them down.

Brian comes up with the idea of taking him to the ‘haunted house‘ (really just an abandoned property on Cottage Lane) , scaring him, and taking him home, for the trio to then dump and continue trick or treating.

However, being as there isn’t a haunted house, Brian quickly makes up a horrendous tale which would give anybody nightmares, and dares Oliver to run through the lower floor of the house, to prove himself worthy or being in their gang.

The image of a child with raggedy sneakers, a pale white hand reaching under a bed sheet, and a ghost costume with holes for eyes which don’t quite fit, topped with reflective stripes ‘just in case’ is truly haunting.

This story shows another side of childhood, the tough side where you either eat, or are eaten in return, and only the strong survive. It shows how easily the outsider can be ostracised, and the bigger kids rationalise why that was the right thing to do. And it examines the conscience of a child, how and when do you realise that what you have done is truly cruel, and what would be an apt punishment?

I won’t say what happens next, I’d rather keep that surprise for you, the wary reader, who ventures down Cottage Lane on a dark, October night….

About the author…

Ronald Malfi is an award-winning author of many novels and novellas in the horror, mystery, and thriller categories from various publishers, including ‘Little Girls’, summer’s 2015 release from Kensington.

In 2009, his crime drama, ‘‘Shamrock Alley’‘, won a Silver IPPY Award. In 2011, his ghost story/mystery novel, ‘Floating Staircase’, was a finalist for the Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award for best novel, received a Gold IPPY Award for best horror novel, and the Vincent Preis International Horror Award. His novel ‘Cradle Lake’ garnered him the Benjamin Franklin Independent Book Award (silver) in 2014, while ‘‘December Park‘, his epic coming-of-age thriller, won the Beverly Hills International Book Award for suspense in 2015.

Most recognized for his haunting, literary style and memorable characters, Malfi’s dark fiction has gained acceptance among readers of all genres.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1977, and eventually relocated to the Chesapeake Bay area, where he currently resides with his wife and two children

Links-http://www.ronmalfi.com/

Twitter @RonaldMalfi