Fright Night

It wasn't supposed to be cold today. Every Halloween for the past 3 years, it's been oddly warm. I guess we got used to the feeling. But now, we stand here shivering in our costumes, cursing ourselves for not checking the weather.

"Whose idea was it for us to wear these?" Taylor groaned as she pulled on her skirt.

"Last I checked it was your squeaky voice that said we should be faeries!" Mali mocked.

"You guys had a chance to say no and didn't." She spat.

"Last year when we disagreed with you on the costumes, you ignored us for a week." Mali challenged. "Besides, we look immature." Taylor bit her lip, no doubt trying to hold in a nasty remark, and looked at me for support. "We do look a bit...childish." I added. It was true. We looked like we belonged in middle school and the face paint wasn't helping.

Taylor murmured something under her breath and pushed past us. "Let's go before it gets too cold." Mali and I fell into step behind her. We walked around the block to Cardinals Street and knocked on our first house. A tall, slender man opened the door. "Ye-haw cowboys! How's the weather treating y'all?" He was dressed as an old western sheriff and even had a cowboy hat and badge to complete his look.

"It could be a little warmer." Mali answered as the guy handed us 3 large candy bars.

"Now that I agree. You girls have a nice night." He smiled and closed his door. We thanked him and turned to leave. Taylor and I were walking down his front steps when she tripped on my shoelace sending us both tumbling forward. We missed the concrete and landed in the grass. Fortunately for us it was soft. Unfortunately for our outfits, it was muddy. We sat there in shock for about 3 seconds while Mali laughed and held her side. Eventually she got her wits together and helped us up.

That was only the beginning of our night. Mali's candy bag ripped open from the bottom spilling her candy all over the floor, Taylor's heel broke and a bird pooped on her, and I accidentally got soaked from a passing car and a puddle. "That's it! This has been the worst Halloween ever." Taylor screamed as I picked mud off my outfit. She turned to face us and stared off in the distance. All of a sudden a devilish look sparked in her eyes, revenge. "I say we turn our frowns upside down and start having some real fun." I followed her stare to a couple of kids. They looked no older than 10 and were dressed as Marvel characters. I noticed their full bags of candy and quickly looked around only to find they were unaccompanied.

"Taylor, we aren't robbing a bunch of kids." Mali glowered.

"Sure we are. Don't you remember what happened to us when we were their age? We'd just be continuing the cycle."

I let my mind wander to that night. We were only about 9 and had just finished trick-or-treating. On our way home a couple of teenage boys jumped from behind a bush, sprayed us with a watering hose, and demanded our candy. We reluctantly gave it to them. Taylor had forever been furious about that night. "Why did we give them our candy!" She'd say. "Uh, I don't know let's see, probably because we were 9, freezing, and terrified." Mali would answer.

"I don't know Taylor, they look like they're having fun. We should just let them enjoy their night." I offered.

"They will enjoy their night. Just minus the candy part." She said and stalked off toward the kids. Mali and I followed her.

"This is wrong on about a million different levels." Mali stated.

"Yeah, poor kids are gonna remember this night for the rest of their lives." I tittered. Taylor ignored us and pressed on. We circled around a bush and squatted down preparing to wait for them.

"Do you see a hose anywhere?" Taylor asked, looking around.

I didn't care enough to check. I was too busy trying to ignore that gut feeling. The feeling you get when you know something is wrong; when you're going against your better judgement and conscience to complete a task. I glanced at Mali and knew she could feel it too.

"We shouldn't do this." I blubbered

"She's right. They really don't deserve this." Mali added. Taylor's eyes kept searching for a nearby hose. I saw her lips move but only heard a faint of a whisper, neither did we.

"We'll just have to make due on the hose part." Taylor said, finally finding her voice. The children were about to round the corner. I took one last look at Mali. She gave me a weak smile. I was too nervous to smile back. Suddenly, Taylor jumped out in front of them. Mali and I took this as our cue and followed her lead. Now that I could see the kids better I made out their features. Two boys and one girl. The boys looked similar, almost like brothers, with black curly hair, freckles, and plaid eyes. The girl had short red curls and bright blue eyes. My heart dropped. These really were the faces of innocent children.

"I'm only gonna ask once, can I have your candy?" Mali said, putting her hand out. The kids said nothing and just stared.

"Let's try this again, only this time I'm not asking." Taylor said, shooting a look at Mali. "Give me your candy. Now" The kids began to tremble and tentatively handed over their candy buckets. "Now turn around." Taylor sang, "And count to thirty."

"But I only know how to count to 20!" One of the boys wailed. I guess they were younger than they looked.

"Fine. Count to 20."

The little girl raised her hand. "I only know how to count to 15!"

The other little boy smiled and pointed back at himself. "Well I know how to count to 50." Taylor smacked her forehead. "You count to 15, you count to 20, and you count to 50. Deal?" She asked. The kids nodded excitedly and turned around to count aloud. The three of us waited until their backs were completely turned away from us then ran. We went all the way around the corner before we stopped to catch our breaths.

"Positions everyone." Taylor breathed. I stared confused until I saw what she meant, another group of kids were headed this way. Mali gave a look of disapproval. I guess I wasn't the only one stumped from our last scheme. In the end, Mali, Taylor, and I jumped eight groups of children. We got a bunch of candy but not before we got caught.

Next thing we knew, some men about the age of twenty-one, were spraying us with watering hoses and snatching all of our candy. "That bad of a day?" They joked before they ran off. With the way the beginning of the evening went, what did we think was going to happen. Mali huffed and started rubbing her hands on her arms to warm up. I rung out my dress from the access water. "Well, that's a way to end the evening." I chuckled.

Taylor stared off in the direction the boys ran. Something familiar sparked in her eyes. "Come on ladies, it's time to start planning for next year."