Cardinal

Chapter 6 Costume

"BOO!" Mallie yelled, holding the blank faced mask to her face.

"Ahh!" I screamed, before we both bursted into laughter. Her and I were at the local Halloween store by our job looking around for fun.

"Do you still do Trick-or-Treating?" Mallie asked, as I responded by shaking my head no.

"Eh, not really. I still dress up from time to time but I'm kind of old for all of that," I explained as she got wide eyed.

"YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO HAVE FUN!!" she stated ecstatically as I jumped back. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

"Oh no, I was just startled," I said, before feeling a strange sense of relief. I stood there awkwardly as I realized I basically said she did scare me. She silently stopped before looking down at the ground.

"Hey Harrison?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Would you like to hangout Halloween night with me and a few friends possibly?" she asked. It was strange, I had never been asked to hang out with someone before. I mean, yes, I'm sixteen and I have friends, but I just have never been asked that for some reason. I couldn't help it; I got a little nervous.

"Oh, uhm, well sure I guess?" I asked strangely. I became fearful that I had hurt her feelings and quickly started to apologize. "I'm sorry, I would like to hang out with you on Halloween if you'd like to! If you don't, that's a-okay, I just thought-" I was cut off by her snickering. Within a few seconds, her snickering became laughter as I stood there nervously.

"I get it Harry, thank you though," she said, smiling towards me as she did. I felt relieved by her smile, something about it seemed warm and comforting. As I felt this comfort from her though, I remembered the way Mary would smile at me whenever I apologized. Her smile was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. As I thought of her smile, I quickly began to think about her and her beauty.

Thinking of her and I being together brought a sense of comfort and warmness to my heart, but it was quickly shattered like glass by the thought of her being with another guy. This thought and the image of her doing everything with someone other than me haunted my dreams like a ghost. The ghost of reality as I called it.

"Harrison?" I heard Mallie say, causing me to quickly snap out of my train of thought.

"Huh, yes?" I asked as Millianna stood there.

"You okay?"

"Oh um... yes, I am," I said, as she shook her head in disagreement.

"Don't think about her Harrison, she's not worth your time. Just focus on your costume and our time together, okay?" she stated.

"Okay, I will." I looked down to the ground in shame at the fact that I let her invade our time together. However, I silently watched her wrap her arms around me. I wrapped my arms around her to return the favor, but she quickly broke off.

"UHHH, what do you plan on being?" she asked in a nervous stutter.

"Oh, well I was thinking about going as a plague doctor again."

"Don't do that!" she said, before walking over to a display of masks. She quickly grabbed one that was similar to what she wore, but instead it had dark red paint to imitate blood. I walked up beside her and began looking through the other masks. "It's so boring if you're the same thing as last year and the year before."

"Yeah, you're right." As I continued to look around at the other masks, none of them really grabbed my attention. There were clown masks, werewolf masks, a few zombies and ghouls, but nothing that was out of the ordinary. "Why did you grab a mask that was similar to the one you were buying?"

"Well, I thought maybe I could be the murderer and you could be the murdered," she stated jokingly, in which I laughed.

"Oh, I see. That seems fun."

"Yeah, I just thought that if you couldn't find a mask, maybe we could do a costume as a duo or something like that," she explained, becoming quieter as she finished the sentence. Something about that sentence made me stop and think. That mask was the first one she grabbed and knowing my taste in plague doctors and things with similar historic backgrounds, she must've had an idea I was into occult stuff. But something about the way she requested to have similar costumes was oddly cute. Despite this, I did my best not to think too much about it.

I continued to look through the different masks, checking behind them but still receiving no special feeling. In a way though, I liked that because the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe I did want to share a costume with her.

"You know, maybe you and I could go as a rich family who is partaking in strange, cult-like activities?" I stated, before looking back at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and I quickly became more engrossed in the idea.

"Maybe we could buy the two masks but then go to a thrift shop and pick up some old timey clothing that higher class individuals wore. It would be as though we were part of a rich family from the nineteenth century. I could even wear my fedora and we could carry fake knives around!" I explained, turning my whole body to her in excitement. As I finished explaining everything to her, her eyes lit up with joy.

"Oh my gosh yes!!! We could be like old timey cultists!" she exclaimed happily.

"Would you want to be the cult leader, or would you rather me be it?" I asked. She placed her hand up to her chin and thought to herself.

"You could be the cult leader if you'd like," she stated, as my smile quickly grew.

"Oh man! Do you care if I wear this pig mask?" I asked excitedly, and her smile grew as large as mine.

"Yes!! That would look so good with some cultist robes and maybe a fake demonic book." We put away the mask she had originally grabbed for me and we continued to look around the store. As we passed down the spooky halls, we occasionally scared one another before laughing. It was extremely fun hanging out with her, and something about her changed. She wasn't quiet anymore, but rather a lot more talkative than when I first met her.

The longer I was around her though, the prettier she became. It was as though she was more attractive with every step, and I had failed to notice it. Suddenly, she stopped and stared onward into the shelf.

"Hey, what you looking at?" I asked, before rushing over to her. I silently jogged across the tile before stopping beside her, realizing what it was she was looking at. It was a buy-one get-one free sign, and below it were long, cult like robes. Her and I stared in wonder and joy. "I'll pay for it."

"What, no I can," she exclaimed, as I grabbed the two packages.

"No, it's okay. I want to thank you for spending time with me," I explained, but she still persisted.

"Harry! I want to buy it for the both of us." Something about her plea was painful to watch, but I couldn't explain to you how it was. Finally, I gave into her wants.

"Okay, I'll let you buy it for the both of us. But I'm buying us dinner, okay?"

"Alright then!" she stated with a smile, before giving me a thumbs up. I rolled my eyes to her, but I also couldn't help but smile slightly. I handed her the two packages before we walked back to the cash register. As we did, I felt a strange feeling grow between us. This feeling of... well, I can't remember the word.