Halloween mission

"Really, this is stupid!" the boy exclaimed, annoyance evident on his face.

"It's just for today. Besides, we're on a mission. Once this ends we'll be back to our normal jobs. " I reasoned.

"Tsk, you're not the one going through this. You're not being humiliated." He glared. I rolled my eyes. I did not want to put up with his incessant whining again.

Both Keiran and I were on a Halloween mission. We were there to collect candy for our supervisor. We clearly saw no reason in doing so but he had promised us a promotion and extra pay if we did so. We could not decline such a great offer. Though, this is really humiliating, mingling with those pesky humans and begging them for candy. We were supposed to go as a child and his older sibling. Me being the older sibling and Keiran as the adorable child. Thank the devils that he is a kid or I would have been the one wearing that ridiculous human outfit.

"Look at what I'm wearing! It's ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Keiran cried. I snorted out loud, ignoring the daggers he shot at me. He was wearing a large pumpkin suit, leaving his limbs and head to pop outside his suit.

He looked extremely adorable. Not the usual look you'll see on him."You should drop the scowl on your face. It makes you look malicious." I said with a smug smile on my face.

He frowned. Clearly, he was upset. "Wait till we get back, I'll deal with you!"

"Okay little pumpkin. Now wipe that frown off your cute little face." I said teasingly.

"Better?" he asked, forcing a smile on his face. "Wipe that smile off your face, you ugly zombie. " This time it was my turn to scowl at him. I hated zombies. Disgusting creatures of the undead made by necromancers or scientists. Even if the souls of the dead were registered in the book of life and death, their undead mind and body brings imbalance to earth making the living undead. Trapping the souls of the innocent, bringing torture and anguish to the world. Dressing up as them makes me feel sick.

We proceeded outside. There were quite a lot of people roaming around, mostly young children. They were dressed in their costumes, carrying those plastic pumpkin buckets. One kid was dressed as a skeleton, another, dressed up as a fairy. Some other kids were dressed up in a red towel, wearing underwear on the outside of their bright jumpsuits. Weird. There were some teenagers dressed up in those silly costumes. At least they looked a little creepy.

We decided to proceed to the first house on the map. We entered the front yard. It was decorated with fake spider webs and pumpkin lanterns. We pressed the doorbell and waited for the door to open. No reply. We waited for a while before we pressed the doorbell again. "Magic phrase? " A voice said.

I nudged the boy. He rolled his eyes. "Trick or treat! " Keiran replied, faking enthusiasm.

The door opened, revealing a middle aged woman with frilly hair dressed in a witch costume. She was dressed in a purple dress that reached the floor and a purple pointed hat. Her long plastic nails were painted purple. Even her lips and eyes were purple. She looked funny compared to the witches, two centuries ago who looked more presentable. In a sense that the witches in the past looked like normal women with an overwhelming aura surrounding them.

She dug her long fingers into her cauldron of candy. Scooping up a whole lot of candy, like a claw of the plushy machines and dropping them into Keiran’s pumpkin bucket. “Erm… Thanks?” Keiran said. She curled her purple lips into a smile. I decided to turn around to leave.

“How ‘bout you? Zombie boy.” Her grating voice halted my tracks. I hated that name. I hated Zombies. Keiran nudged me. “ We need more candy, remember? ” He whispered to me. I clenched my fists and turned around. For the promotion. I convinced myself.

I forced a sweet smile. “Yes, please! ” I answered. Hoping that it did not sound too forced. I really wanted to slap that smile off her face. She scooped the candy into my pumpkin bucket. I quickly thanked the woman and took long strides towards the exit of the front yard. “This place is cursed.” I grumbled, causing the younger one to snigger. I wanted to retort back at him but decided against it. The last thing I wanted was for us to bicker for hours.

We took about an hour to get through six other houses collecting nothing but candy. Nothing out of the ordinary, just normal human Halloween things. It was boring. Animatronics and “scary” decorations, costumes, whiny kids, candy and some jumpscares. All the same in every single house. One of the houses had a doorbell that made a weird laughing sound like a horse. It kind of creeped us out.

Our pumpkin buckets were filled to the brim with candy. We decided to move on to the last house. The front yard was slightly damp with grass that reached up to our knees. The air smelt rusty. It was pitch black, only a small gleam from the moon through the dark clouds allowed us to see two meters ahead. It was eerily silent, only loud wailing and banging can be heard coming from the house. The best part was the ominous vibes it gave off.

”Ya feel that?” the boy asked, an excited glint in his eyes. I smirked. Seems like we would be having some fun.

We plod through the thick long grass. Using the tablets in our hands as flashlights to guide the way. We climbed up the creaky steps to the patio and lightly knocked on the door. Adrenaline is running through my veins.

No answer.

We knocked again. This time, the door opened, revealing a man. He was wearing a white skeleton mask on his face, his hooded black cloak endorsed with some holes and grey patches. What is he wearing? Rags? He gave off a sinister aura.

“Ehhh… Trick or Treats?” Keiran said, a hint of confusion in his voice. “What is your costume?”

“ I’m a Grim reaper. Why don’t you come inside first.” opening the door wider for us to come in. Is that how he views Grim Reapers?

I looked at Keiran and gave him a mischievous smile. “Why not, I’m feeling tired. Let’s take a short break. ”

He gave me a knowing smirk as we walked in. The inside of the house was dark and dusty with real cobwebs at almost every corner of the hall. The only light came from the moon and our tablets. The wallpaper was peeling, broken furniture and glass shards strewn all over the place. The gloomy staircase had some broken steps. The air smelt like rotten flesh and faeces. The tree branches scraped at the window, making a screeching sound.

Bang! The door had shut itself and the man was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, translucent apparitions start to appear. My heart raced. I felt a cold hand creep up my shoulder. Phantoms.

“ Well, well. New toys to play with. Friends, let’s scare the living hell out of them!” We looked towards the voice. The man was at the door. He took off his mask revealing a bloodied face and empty eye sockets.

Furnishings moved and were thrown at empty spaces. The apparitions started floating and crawling towards us. I looked towards Keiran, he gave me a mischievous and knowing grin. I looked towards my left where Keiran was. He smirked, his eyes started to glow red, black sinister smoke started to form and swirl around him. Bringing in a gust of wind. I did the same. Transforming both our costumes into black suits, a long coat draped above it. Stylish. A scythe appeared on our hands. The black smoke subsiding into a wisp. We pointed the scythes at the terrified faces of the phantoms as they backed away. "This Grim Reaper is going to have fun! " I said as I licked my lips. We slashed our scythes around, letting it penetrate through the apparitions, turning the phantoms into red crystal balls.

Satisfied, we exited the house with a tired, yet happy grin on our faces.

"I think we can both agree that we wouldn't mind going trick or treating again." Keiran chuckled. We left the front yard laughing, chucking the red crystal balls into our coat pockets, the pumpkin bucket full of sweets hanging from our arm.

I think I wouldn't mind.