"Finish your cereal, honey."

That's what Mom told me even though none of her eyes were looking at me. She was busy preparing breakfast. I was busy watching television. My maggot flakes had gotten soggy in the milk by now but I didn't mind. I liked them that way.

"Mommu! Cerul!" came a cry from a small cage underneath the table. That's my little sister, Tasha. She's teething right now so she has to stay in her 'crib'. Yesterday, Dad made the mistake of picking her up before she ate dinner. He's still missing his two left fingers but the bones are already starting to grow back.

"No cereal for you yet dear. You have to eat your meat." replied my mother.
"Meat! Meat!" chanted Tasha, rocking her crib back and forth. I could tell she was excited but I don't know how she can stand the stuff. It's yuck in my opinion. I prefer bugs.

When Mom was done fixing the food, she slid Tasha's cage out from under the table and set a huge plateful of raw beef and chicken by it. It didn't take Tasha long to grab the pieces and spray blood all over the floor. Her trademark mess whenever she ate.

"Les, I'm ready to go!" My dad was already rushing to the door, his suitcase full of rusty tools clanging right behind him, hanging lopsidedly on his spiky tail.

"Danny, honey, don't forget your breakfast!" She quickly handed him a bag of freshly dug up corpse parts. She managed to find one with with worms crawling through the flesh, just the way Dad liked it.

"Thanks dear." he said, before giving her a kiss on the lips. Gross. I wish they wouldn't start being so lovey-dovey this early in the morning. The moon isn't even up yet.

After Dad left we finished our breakfast and Mom got us ready for school. Mom brings Tasha to preschool but I'm already in fourth grade so I catch the school bus.

"Alright Nick, stay safe! And don't talk to strangers!" Mom calls out while backing the car out of the driveway. "And no TV until you're done with homework!"

"No problem Mom!" I say with a grin.

The day was still too early so the bus hadn't arrived yet. None of my friends were at the stop yet either. Usually, the lights in the neighborhood would be out by now, but they weren't. It was very strange.

Suddenly, I felt something wrap around my arm. It was disgustingly warm and I froze where I stood. A strange tall creature stood over me.

"What are you doing here little guy? Are you lost?" It asked. From the sound of it's voice I could tell it was a lady. But what was she? Are those...fairy wings? A bead of cold sweat ran down the side of my face. I wanted to scream but my voice ditched me to face the pink, glittery fiend on my own.

"Oh, you must be with the Trick-or-Treating group from Woodbridge. Don't worry, I'll get you back to them." She continued before dragging me off to the other side of the tall, vine infested hedge. The hedge that Mom told me not to go through by myself until I was at least twelve. But it was too late. I was pulled through, with many a leaf and branch slapping at my face. What was on the other side?

Soon I found myself having to readjust my eyes to a myriad of flickering lights. Up and down the streets I could see at least a dozen pumpkins standing at the edge of the lawns. All of them had faces roughly carved into them, just like the jack-o-lanterns my Aunt Nora hangs out with. Except these are just heads. The candles within them lit up the streets in dancing orange, along with the dim, blood red, pale green, and cat's eye yellows coming from the houses. Most of the homes had large spiderwebs covering the windows and doorways. A giant spider lay on the roof of one house while another one sat in a tree across the road. Bats seemed to be everywhere. Or dead bats at least. They didn't move, but where strung up in chains across the edges of the roofs and along the fences.
One house had tombstones and fog like a graveyard. Another had just jack-o-lantern heads littered across the lawn but had a moving scarecrow.
And yet another had skeletons jumping about the front and backyard, with ghosts hung up on ropes in the tree branches. Never knew anything that could hold a ghost.

This place really was strange. Didn't these people know that furniture goes inside the house? But what really got me freaked out was what infested the streets. Dozens upon dozens of little creatures just about my height zig-zagged through the houses. Some looked like goblins like me, and others were..I...I didn't know what!

And, all of them acted strangely. Nobody flew even though they had wings. Nobody crawled or climbed, slithered, gnawed , or even floated. Even though they had claws, more than two arms, giant teeth, horns, seemingly rotting flesh, and claws, none of them moved right. What was wrong with them?

I started to panic. I had to get away and made for the bus stop.

"Hold on there, kiddo. Where are you going? Halloween's this way." She said with a disgusting grin. Before I knew it she had returned her grip on my spiny, sharp, red claws.

'Halloween!? Who's Halloween!?!' I thought to myself. I think my Dad was telling me something about him yesterday but I was probably too busy watching TV.

"By the way, nice costume. Very realistic!" My captor said with another eerie smile.

"This is isn't a costume...." I tried to say, but my voice was weak and quivering. I doubt she heard me but I didn't have the courage to re-clarify myself. Mom did say not to talk to strangers.
We stopped by a group of kids roughly around my age standing in two straight lines behind someone. As I was left at the back of a line, the fairy creature headed over to the other person to talk. Now he was less frightening than the lady. He had normal green skin, a blocky forehead, a mean look, and stiches running all over him. Perhaps he's one of my dad's patients?

As we were led towards a house, I took a good look at the faces of my group. My stomach must have done a triple flip when I realized that each kid had only two real eyes. Any other eyes were painted on or part of the fake skin they wore. And their teeth were all filed straight! No fangs at all! And why were they smiling all the time? Why didn't they twist they're face like a normal kid would? Did this Halloween person have anything to do with it?


"TRICK-OR-TREAT!!!!"
The sudden yell shocked me so much, I nearly jumped out of my shoes. I think I just had a heart attack. No, three heart attacks. After composing myself I realized that it was the other kids who had shouted the phrase. Before I could think about why they did it, I found myself standing in front of an elderly witch and a wizard. Their aged skin was freakishly devoid of warts and they only had a few wrinkles.

"Here you go young man." the old wizard said, and he held out an open orange bag before me. I looked at it before looking back at him in uncertainty.

"Go on." the fairy urged mysteriously. Then, for whatever reason, she gave me a small bag with a black cat's face on it. I looked at her before returning my gaze to the huge black bag before me. Was there something inside I was supposed to get? I was so short that I couldn't see all the way into the big bag. Cautiously I stuck my hand in. What gave me the courage to do that, I don't know, but I'm glad I did.

What I pulled out were several small, crinkly things. I thought they were bugs. I opened my hand expecting little creepy crawlies but I didn't find any. Instead, there were these round and rectangular things in wrappers, and a small box filled with a rattling something. I looked around, wondering what to do with them now and saw the other children putting what they had gotten into their little bags. So I did the same. We did this at two other houses too and for a while I wondered what was the point of all this. Then I saw the half-furry werewolf beside me open one of his crinkly things and eat it.
Food? Was it food?

I took one colorful, crinkly thing out from my bag and examined it. Didn't look like much. I opened it, once again expecting to find a bug, but no luck. What was this? It smelled...different. Not moldy or dead, but not bad either. I put it in my mouth.

It was no bug. No sir. I loved it none the less.

"What candies you got?" asked the werewolf beside me.

"Candy?" I asked.

"Yeah, candy." he said. He peered into my bag and assessed what I had. "Wanna trade that gumball for my chocolate bar?"
I had no idea what he meant but I nodded anyway. Whatever he handed me I ate right away. So this was candy.

"TRICK-OR-TREAT!!!"
I finally figured out that it was what they yelled when they wanted candy. Wish I knew that sooner.

I noticed that the ghouls who gave out candy sometimes handed more when a kid smiled widely for them. I thought I'd do the same, see if I got lucky.

"Trick-or-Treat!" I said again, just in case. Then I stretched my mouth as wide as I could. I stretched it until the corners were past my ears and almost touching at the back of my head. I was expecting a huge cluster of candies for this but once again, I found myself in for a big surprise.

The silence was short but it was nice to hear peace and quiet for the first time since I got here. Then I noticed their eyes. They were wide open and almost about to pop out. Cool!
Their faces started stretching, mouths opening wide. They didn't seem so scary anymore. And finally, the ear piercing screams. It was just like what we practice at school.
Before I knew it I was standing alone again. Alone on the porch, candy scattered at my feet. I don't know why they ran. Maybe it was part of a game. I found how they ran kinda funny. But nevermind that. I was surrounded by candy! I picked up as much as I could before moving on to the next house.

"Trick-or-Treat!!"
And with a flash of my best grin, off they ran. Screaming like awesome banshees.

I was going to head to the next house when I heard a familiar, hollow voice.
"There 'ya are Nick. What're 'ya doin'? The bus's about 'ta leave."
It was Mr. Dowell, the bus driver.

"I was just...uh..." It was hard to explain all the fun I was having.

"Oh I see, 'ya were checkin' out the Halloween celebration. I understand completely, I truly do," He looked like he was happily remembering something, but it's hard to see a phantom's face.
"But 'ya gotta put school first. Ain't 'ya gonna spend Halloween with 'ya folks? Now c'mon. Can't make everyone else late."

With that, he floated on ahead, up the street and back through the hedge. I followed right behind him with all the candy I had won. I couldn't wait to share some with my friends. I couldn't wait to tell Dad, Mom, and Tasha.

"I love Halloween!"