He stepped out into the cold, dark night. The air smelled fresh after the storm. He gasped as the cold air sliced through his throat, his breath dissipating from a cloud of steam. He wrapped himself more tightly into his black cape, and ventured forward into the night. The sounds of his feet crushing the pebbles underneath, the ravens spilling out their haunting call, his own breath quivering in the icy atmosphere - these noises …showed first 75 words of 662 total…

…showed last 75 words of 662 total…all snails that had climbed up the bush and onto the pumpkin, and had eaten away parts of its surface. Still crying involuntarily, he gathered his black cape, feeling its sumptuous red inner lining envelop him, and rushed back up the path towards his home, leaving the vengeful fruit behind to scare another hapless soul. He grumbled something about sharpening his teeth as he pushed open the Transylvanian castle door to enter his coffin chamber.