A ghost’s Halloween

Being dead didn’t stop Florence from being with her family. For the past few months she’d spent every possible moment with them, despite not being able to communicate.

“Come on, girls. Hurry up!” father shouted. He waited by the front door and adjusted his red masquerade mask in front of the mirror. 

Three pairs of footsteps bounded down the stairs, though only two could be heard by the living.

“Look at you!” he exclaimed, gesturing to their outfits. “Best dressed in the whole town. Give me a twirl.” Eleanor and Jade beamed with pride and span around to show off their costumes. 

The youngest, Eleanor, was dressed as a fairy princess. Every inch of her skin shone with silver and pink glitter. They would surely find traces of it throughout the house in days to come. Next to her was Jade, the middle child, dressed as a fierce green dinosaur. She gave a little roar and her ears turned pink. Behind them stood Florence, a smile on her pale face as she watched her sisters. Being a full time ghost meant she didn’t really need a costume, but that didn’t bother her, she’d never really liked dressing up anyway.

“Here you are,” mother said, coming out of the kitchen. She was dressed as a vampire and handed the girls their goodie bags. Florence was a little put out that she wouldn’t be able to eat any sweets this year.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Eleanor squealed. 

Father crouched in front of them and explained that tonight they had to stick together, no wandering off. The girls promised and they set off down the street in search of houses that had carved, candle lit pumpkins on their porches. Mother said those were the ones that guaranteed treats.

Laughter filled the air only to be interrupted by light-hearted shrieks of terror as people played harmless tricks on each other. The moon shone high above in a cloudless sky; it wasn’t forecasted to rain tonight luckily.

The heavier their bags grew, the more confidence the girls gained to knock on the next door. After every success, they rushed over to their parents to show them their precious, delicious treasure.

Florence’s smile dwindled. She hadn’t realised how difficult it would be to watch her family celebrate Halloween without her this year. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t want them to have fun without her, it was the fact she couldn’t join in. 

Just about to return home, a hand tapped on her shoulder. Whipping around she saw a young, petite boy, possibly even the same age as her, smiling sweetly up at her. He wore a pirate costume and one of his dark brown eyes was covered by an eyepatch.

“First Halloween?” the stranger said.

“Did you just touch me?” 

“Sure. And now I’m talking to you.” The boy giggled at her shocked expression. “You’re new, right?”

“New?”

“To death.” He said it so nonchalantly.

But that was all she needed to hear to understand – the reason why they could interact. He was dead, too.

“You’ve never seen another ghost, have you?” Florence shook her head. “Thought so, you have the same expression I did when I found out there were others around here.”

Florence’s attention drifted away from the boy to her family who were walking to another street. The boy noticed and glanced over his shoulder.

“Your family?” he asked.

She nodded. “They can’t see me.”

“No living person can. None that I’ve met, anyway.” He gave her a lopsided smile that didn’t quite reach his round brown eyes. “Do you want to follow them?”

“I was headed back home actually.”

The boy tilted his head as if assessing her for a moment. “If you don’t want to go home yet,” he started, “you should come with me. I’m going to a party.” That piqued her interest. A party sounded fun.

“For ghosts?”

“If you come with me, you’ll see.” 

“Alright,” she agreed with a smile. What harm could a little party do? “Lead the way.”

They walked down the packed street side by side, dodging everybody they passed since it wasn’t a pleasant sensation to walk through people. 

“My name’s Toby, by the way.” 

“Florence.”

“Nice to meet you, Flo.” She let the nickname slide. “I think you’re going to like this. Actually, I know you will.” 

No matter how many times Florence asked where they were headed, Toby never gave her an answer. The only response she did get was a smile that was so contagious that in the end she didn’t mind not knowing.

They left the trick or treaters behind and glided past street after street until they came to a towering, locked gate. Florence knew this place. She hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to follow Toby who had floated through the gates as if they weren’t there.

“Coming?” he called over his shoulder.

Should she? It’s wasn’t like anything life-threateningly bad would happen to her, she was dead after all. With this in mind, she took a deep, steadying breath. The tang of metal from the gates spread over her tongue as she passed through it.

“That’s the spirit,” he snickered.

She rolled her eyes. “Your humour sucks.”

Toby shrugged, unfazed and actually quite pleased with himself. 

They continued down the deserted path. Trees loomed in the distance and bats flittered overhead. A gust of wind whipped up the leaves scattered on the gravel, but the two ghosts didn’t feel a thing.

“Strange place for a party.”

“You’ll see,” he cryptically replied and checked his watch. “We’re right on time. The others will be here any second.” 

They turned a corner and spread out before them were countless gravestones. 

Toby couldn’t contain his excitement and started jumping up and down as he counted, “Three. Two. One-and-a-half. And One!”

Instantly, the graveyard came to life. Ghosts shot up from their graves and others drifted in from all directions. The majority wore costumes but some came dressed as themselves. Placed in front of the trees was a band, and once they set up, haunting music resonated throughout the mingling, dancing, and laughing ghosts. Everyone was smiling and greeting each other like long lost friends. 

“What is this?” Florence asks, mouth agape. Her eyes were wide and adoring as she took everything in. There was so much going on and she desperately wanted to be part of it. She would definitely thank Toby for inviting her later.

“A Halloween party, of course. It’s a tradition.”

“Ghosts have traditions?”

He laughed. “The living aren’t the only ones allowed to have fun on Halloween.”

Excited beyond measure, they ran into the middle of graveyard and joined in with the annual celebration.