Hallow's War

Our Last Halloween

Johnny wakes up from a surreal dream. He can't recall if it even was a dream or a nightmare. It just felt kinda... awkward. Almost as if what he went through in that deep sleep was a vision of the near future. But now he's awake, and he tries not to care. Today is Friday, October 31st. School starts in an hour and he can't wait to talk to his friends about their Halloween costumes for tonight.

Johnny enters the classroom and sees his friends sitting near his desk.
Johnny: "Oh hey guys."
Ryan: "Yo what's up?"
Jackson: "Ohoho man here comes Johnny."
Logan: "Bruh I got my costume ready for tonight, it's so good."
Johnny (to Logan): "You're dressing up as Eren Jaeger, yeah?"
Logan: "Yeah dude, everything fits perfectly because I got the ODM gear almost a month ago but it didn't fit. Had to return it for a better size, glad it's here now."
Johnny: "Would've been so frustrating if it came in the mail after Halloween."
Logan: "I know I would've been so mad."
Johnny: "Hey Jackson are you dressing up as Master Chief again?"
Jackson: "Yeah, I am... I just couldn't find another character to be honest. I was gonna dress as John Wick but I don't think my hair works."
Ryan: "But besides the hair I mean, John Wick wouldn't be bad. Like it's just a suit and tie with two guns."
Jackson: "I like being Master Chief though."
Johnny: "You're right, yeah."
Ryan: "I heard Jared is going as Batman."
Johnny (to Ryan): "What are you dressing as?"
Ryan: "Me? I'm Luke Skywalker, I thought I told you about that."
Logan: "Didn't you make that lightsaber at that Disneyland Star Wars workshop?"
Ryan: "Yeah I built my own at Galaxy's Edge AND I also bought Luke's hilt thing so it could go with my costume."
Jackson: "Wait a minute, I thought you were Luke Skywalker last year..."
Ryan: "No I was Anakin Skywalker. But that was only because I had a cheap blue lightsaber from like ten years ago. Now that I have a green lightsaber, I can be the cooler Skywalker."
Johnny: "I'm not gonna be a Star Wars character for Halloween but one of these days we gotta battle with the lightsaber I built at Disneyland."
Ryan (to Johnny): "What color is your lightsaber?"
Johnny: "I got mine purple actually."
Logan: "Bro think he Mace Windu."
Johnny: "I'm just missing the black skin!"
Jackson: "Johnny what are you dressing as?"
Johnny: "I'm dressing as my comic character, you know Rayblazer?"
Jackson: "Oh... I didn't know you still drew the Rayblazer comic."
Ryan: "I haven't seen you draw comics in a fat minute."
Logan: "Wait what are we talking about now?"
Johnny: "Oh yeah Logan I don't think I've told you about my Rayblazer comic."
Logan: "No I don't think so."
Johnny: "To be honest, uh, I don't usually talk about it with other people. It makes me look nerdier than I already do."
Logan; "What do you mean by 'nerdy'?"
Johnny: "I'm, like, a scrawny white kid with curly hair and glasses."
Ryan: "Dude you're fine."
Jackson: "Why does that matter? I like the Rayblazer story."
Johnny: "I just... I don't know."
Logan: "Well what does this Rayblazer guy look like? It's gotta look badass, right?"
Johnny: "He's got a blue and gold suit with tall boots and long gloves. To be honest his face is kinda like mine."
Ryan: "Of course it's a self-insert!"
Johnny: "It's not a self-insert!"
Jackson: "Hold on now, what's happe-"
The school bell finally rings as Mr. Morrison enters the classroom. Mr. Morrison is a strict math teacher with no tolerance for, uh, basically anything fun in his classroom.
Mr. Morrison: "Okay everyone, please sit down."
The students quietly sit in their assigned seats.
Mr. Morrison: "Listen up, I understand that today is Halloween, but I really do not care. All of you are seniors in high school, which means you're too old to be stuffing your faces with candy while playing dress-up. That's why I'm still assigning homework tonight. Any questions?"
The class does not ask any questions.
Mr. Morrison: "...Alright then, turn to page 351 in your textbooks."

—————

It is now lunch time. Johnny is able to see more of his friends now.
Jared: "Hey Johnny!"
Johnny: "Yo Jared I heard you're dressing up as Batman."
Jared: "Yeah I'm going as the Dark Knight Batman. I even got one of my friends to dress as the Joker."
Johnny: "Damn, imagine if you were the Batman V Superman version with the big metal suit."
Jared: "Bro that would be like ten thousand dollars, also did you hear about Daniel's costume?"
Johnny: "Who is he gonna be?"
Jared: "RoboCop, and it looks so cool."
Johnny: "That's awesome, do you know where Justin is?"
Jared: "Oh Justin-"
Justin walks up behind Johnny.
Justin: "Dude, check this out!"
Justin is wearing a full Vietnam War era US Army uniform, complete with a helmet that says "KILL THEM ALL!" in scratchy handwriting.
Johnny: "Oh my goodness..."
Justin: "This helmet is actually from the Vietnam War, it was my grandpa's, but the rest of the uniform is just surplus I bought on eBay."
Johnny: "And you're wearing it at school?"
Justin: "I don't think it's a problem. Also I got an airsoft M60 machine gun to top off the whole thing. I'll show it to you after school."
Jared (to Justin): "Dude you have to show me that."
Johnny: "Wait a minute, have any of you guys seen Ethan around?"
Jared: "No, why?"
Johnny: "I wanna know what he's going as."
Justin: "Ethan is dressing as Harry Potter."
Johnny: "Oh really? Damn, everyone's got nice costumes this year."
Jared: "So Justin are you gonna be hanging out with your girlfriend tonight or are you hanging out with us?"
Justin: "Well Sophia is going to that anime cosplay party tonight and I'm not sure if I wanna go since I'm not in an anime costume."
Jared: "Who is she dressing as?"
Justin: "Uh... some girl from Genshin Impact."
Johnny: "Genshin Impact isn't an anime though."
Justin: "Yeah well it's, like, an anime-looking game I think."
Jared: "Yeah I heard about a lot of Genshin cosplayers going to that anime thing tonight."
Johnny: "I know there'll be a lot of Demon Slayer costumes there because they're gonna be watching the Demon Slayer movie."
Zack, another friend of Johnny's, approaches the conversation.
Zack: "Yo..."
Jared: "Oh hey Zack."
Johnny (to Zack): "Dude there are gonna be so many crazy costumes tonight!"
Zack: "Yeah I'm dressing up as Jax Briggs."
Johnny: "Like from Mortal Kombat? That's so cool!"
Zack: "Yeah but the metal arms I got look hella fake."
Johnny: "It's just a costume."
Zack (to Justin): "Well damn bruh you got the whole army thing going on here."
Justin: "THEY'RE IN THE TREES! Nah I'm just kidding hahaha."
Zack: "So we squad up where tonight?"
Jared: "Remember that abandoned warehouse on Brunsmeier Avenue? We could hang out there."
Zack: "Bruh that sounds so boring."
Johnny: "Well we could meet up with Justin's girlfriend at the anime party."
Justin: "I don't know if you'd be into that."
Johnny: "I mean, like, I don't really watch anime but I'm okay with going there."
Jared: "I don't watch any anime."
Zack: "That party don't sound too bad."
Ryan joins the conversation.
Ryan: "Wait we're going to that anime thing at Marin's house?"
Johnny: "It's at Marin's house?"
Zack: "Who's Marin?"
Ryan: "Johnny's old crush from middle school."
Johnny: "Shut up!"
Zack: "I think Johnny should hit up that party."
Johnny: "Guys, I don't like her anymore. We're just friends."
Justin: "So, Marin's house tonight? I guess I'll give Sophia a surprise."
Johnny: "Alright, let's go I guess..."