Annie was cycling home from work. It was getting very late; darkness had fallen, and a nagging, drizzling rain fell -- the type of rain that doesn't seem too bad when you're sitting inside, staring out the window, but that completely soaks you once you're outside. Annie kept pedaling and grit her teeth. About fifteen more minutes, and she'd be home.
It had been a long day, and her boss, who had been in an even worse mood than usual, had given Annie so much filing work that it was hours past her regular time to go home. She hated her boss, because he was an arrogant asshole, and he always stared at her breasts whenever he thought she didn't pay attention to his gaze. Annie was a secretary to a small shipping firm; she only worked a couple of days a week, to be able to pay for college.
She passed the corn field. She was always a little apprehensive when she passed the corn, especially during this time of the year, when it was particularly dark in that rural part just outside the town where she worked. And today, things were a little extra eerie: it was Halloween.
Suddenly, Annie heard a weird, unsettling sound. She stopped and listened carefully. It sounded like a child was crying. "The wind?" muttered Annie, who thought the blazing, cold wind might cause the sound. No, it wasn't the wind. It really sounded like a child, and it was coming from the corn field. Annie got off her bike and looked around. No one to be seen. But if there really was a child, she couldn't leave it. She put her bike on the ground and carefully walked into the dense, high stalks of corn.
With every step she took, the peculiar sound got a little louder. "God, why am I doing this?" asked Annie, aloud, "I'm freezing, and I'm soaking wet. Uh... Hello? A-anyone there?" The rain started to beat down onto the world -- and onto Annie, whose strands of amber hair clung to her face. She was soaked to the bone, and yet she pressed on; one step after the other, until, finally, she reached what appeared to be an open spot in the middle of the corn field.
The sound was very distinct now: it really was a child, crying, Annie was sure of it. "Hello? Anyone? Please, where are you?" And then the crying stopped. All was silent, except for the rhythmic pounding of the rain on the leaves of the corn stalks. The smell of wet earth and mud filled the air.
A loud thunderclap struck, and Annie jumped up as everything was illuminated for a good second by a blinding flash. The thunder seemed to ring out, reverberating loudly, then softly died out.
Annie wiped her forehead, rain pouring down her face, and tried to look around. Everything was pitch black around her, and she had no idea from which side she'd entered the corn field. "Oh, shit..." she mumbled, trying to get a bearing on where exactly she was. "I came from... That way..." whispered Annie, and she turned around.
"Oh my God!" cried Annie, as she stumbled back and fell. There was someone, something, staring at her. He was large, and wore rags, and his head looked like a pumpkin, with fiery eyes, and a wicked grin for a mouth.
"You looked for me, and you found me," said a deep voice, "Finders, keepers..."
"Oh my God! Please, please don't hurt me! I'll give you money! P-please!"
Annie started to cry, fearing that the person towering over her, looking down at her in a menacing way, was some homicidal maniac. "You looked for me, and you found me."
"Y-y-you just said that! B-b-b-but I wasn't looking for you! I swear! I... I just heard a child cry and, and, and..."
"That was me. I am so alone here."
The man, or whatever it was, had a very deep and soothing voice.
"A-a-are you going to hurt me?" asked Annie, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hurt? No, I won't hurt you."
Annie looked at him, "Who are you?"
"I am the Duke of Lantern."
"The Duke of Lantern? So what happened t-to your head?"
The creature sighed a plaintive sigh. "Many years ago, when this area was still covered in woods, I had an affair with one of my maids, who was young, and full of life, and not at all like my wife... Unfortunately, my wife caught us when we made love. She went to the witch, who cast a spell upon me, lifetimes ago, and I was turned into a scarecrow."
"No kidding..."
"Quite so. I spent ages upon this field of corn, watching, scaring the crows, who seem to love corn better than even humans do. And once a year, I may walk, and be a man again. But even then, I am so alone..."
"I can imagine," replied Annie, "So Halloween is your day off, huh?"
"It is indeed. Unless the spell is broken, I must remain a scarecrow."
"How can the spell be broken?" asked Annie, who sat up in the mud, putting her hands behind her for support. To her own amazement, although her heart was still beating in her chest, she was getting increasingly comfortable around this strange creature.
"Well," said the Duke, "evil can only be conquered by good, as darkness can only be vanquished by light. Therefore, only selfless love on my behalf can solve my loneliness. A punishment for my earlier lust, you see?"
"S-selfless love? You mean someone needs to...? I mean, uh, do it, with you?"
The creature stared at its large hands of straw, then looked up into the rain; its flaming eyes making trails in the darkness. "Yes."
