Cardinal

Chapter 15 Halloween

"Come on lovebirds, let's get going!" Francis yelled, swinging open the door and pointing forward like a main character to a story.

"Wait for me!" Christina called out from behind her, as Mallie and I joyfully followed. Together, the four of us began walking through the neighborhood. I had the pig mask over my head, scarring a few of the younger children that walked through the neighborhood.

"Am I creepy looking?" I whispered to Mallie before she quietly chuckled to herself.

"You don't look approachable, but it's fine, I don't either." Her and I laughed to ourselves as Christina and Francis ran to the front door of one of the houses. It was a white house with a small bowl on the front porch.

"Take One," the stereotypical sign stated, as they took handfuls of candy and placed them in their pillowcases. Their cases were a lot heavier than ours, mostly because we followed the signs of taking one or two. They ran back towards us with smiles on their faces.

"Look at all the candy we got!" showing off their pillowcases with huge grins.

"That's great. You should've taken the bowl while you were there," Mallie stated sarcastically. The four of us laughed to ourselves before continuing onward. As the sky got darker, the weather got colder. Christina and Francis were eating their candy with the same amount of energy as two hours before, all the while Mallie and I tiredly followed.

"Are you cold?" Mallie asked, looking towards me.

"Not really, these robes are actually kind of warm," I explained, smiling under my mask. She grinned at me before looking onward at her two friends.

"I'm surprised Francis isn't cold."

"Yeah, but they seem to be having fun, so I'm not worried about it." Mallie softly smiled as I said this, but I noticed that she was silently shivering. I thought to myself about what to do, but quietly, I took the purple robe and placed it gently around her.

"You don't have to give me that," she stated, swatting away at the purple piece of cloth.

"No, you're cold and this will warm you up." Silently, she accepted it and placed it around her. Her shivering slowly stopped as we continued forward quietly, walking back towards her house. My arm felt tired after carrying the pillowcase for so long, and I could tell Mallie's arm was tired as well.

"Hey Harrison?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think our costume pairing would look better if we were holding hands? Like..." she paused as I silently listened to her. It was a strange idea, considering there weren't many people out anymore. But I oddly liked it. "As in maybe you and I are cultists from the same family."

"If you want to, then I don't mind," I stated, before we reached our arms out towards each other. Our hands softly interlocked with the others as we walked forward. Her hands were cold but comforting in the sense that they were hers.

"Tonight was a lot of fun."

"I'm happy that it was," I stated, turning towards her with a grin. She couldn't see that I was blushing because of the mask, but for some reason, she reached for the rubber. Grabbing the snout, she lifted the mask off of my head and held onto it alongside her pillowcase.

"Our costumes were really nice, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I liked ours a lot! But I think I prefer the face paint rather than that hot mask." She chuckled to herself before looking up to the night sky.

"I love nights like these. They're so quiet and beautiful in its darkness." I looked up to the dark, cloudless sky with her and admired the emptiness that was there. We weren't able to see the stars, but something about looking towards the sky while holding her hand was so romantic. It was as if a book was being read, and we were the main characters that it was writing about.

"I do too," I stated quietly, before looking forward. I remembered the night Mary and I were together looking at fireworks, something about it still causing my heart to flutter. I enjoyed being beside her, and I hoped she enjoyed that night as much as I did. The way her eyes glistened with the different colors of the sky was beautiful, but something about Mallie's eyes was also beautiful. I didn't understand it, but something about Mallieanna caused me to feel nervous.

"Maybe we could do this sometime? Just take walks at night and look towards the sky you know?" It was a simple question, but it was so difficult for me to ask that she could hear the nervousness from my voice. A smile formed across her face as she lowered her head.

"I'd love that, Harrison." A grin formed across my face as she said yes, a warm, comforting grin. As we continued forward, I gently pulled her arm towards me. Quietly, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as we held onto each other warmly. She silently rested her head against my shoulder, creating a comforting feeling as we continued towards her house.

I could feel the comfort within our souls, something that quickly shattered with the voice of Christina.

"The road isn't a great place to get intimate," she stated with a smirk, causing Francis to look back towards us.

"Oh my, Mallie and Harrison are offly close," she stated jokingly, before Mallie and I let go of each other. We walked back towards them as they continued making their strange, perverted comments to one another.

"Mind your own business," Mallie said towards Christina, before walking past them. I followed her, our footsteps echoing with the night sky. It was quiet from there back to the house, her friends silently leaving shortly after. Mallie and I sat at the table with all of the younger kids, looking through our small pillowcases and picking out a few pieces of candy we liked. I noticed that she was taking out all the chocolate to keep for herself.

"You like chocolate?" I asked in a joking tone.

"Yeah. I'm not really into fruity candy, so if you are then I don't mind trading." Smiling, she began offering me different pieces of gum or lollipops for chocolate squares and whatever she wanted. We would slide the pieces towards each other and request other bits from the others pile. It was fun, but sooner or later, I had to leave. Quietly, I stepped out the door and walked towards my mother's car.

"Hey Harrison!" I turned back towards her, carrying the pillowcase and mask as I stood in her front yard.

"Yes?" A smile gently formed across her face as she nervously stood at the doorway.

"Thank you for listening to my song. It means a lot to me that you were able to enjoy it." I knew her face was red, even if I couldn't tell from the distance and the light that shone behind her. A smile formed across my face.

"Of course, if you want, you can record them somewhere and I'll listen to them when I get the chance." Her smile slowly faded as she nervously stood there.

"I'll think about it." A smile formed, reassuring me that she wasn't uncomfortable by the idea. These moments with her were so perfect, moments that I wished could last forever.

"Okay, I hope you sleep well tonight. I'll text you in the morning, cool?"

"Cool!" Silently, I walked towards the car and stepped inside, sitting beside my mother. I turned back to see her waving towards me. I waved back to her as we drove off.

"She's really pretty Harrison." As I heard my mother say this, I couldn't help but admire her beauty in my mind.

"I think I'll name it Cardinal." I remembered the loveliness of her voice as she said this.

"Yeah," I stated tiringly. Gently, I rested my head against the headrest and closed my eyes, letting the soft humming of the car guide me through the trip home...