The Silver King

Trick Or Treat

A day before Halloween, a co-worker asked me for a favor. I work as a deputy in a small town where nearly nothing happens. In the summer there was a case of children disappearing on a hiking trail. Thankfully they were recovered safe and sound. While on that case I learned there are things that go bump in the night. I survived one encounter with something supernatural and wondered if I would ever come across something like that again.

My co-worker, Miranda, lived in a bigger city close by. She was the only criminal pathologist in the area. Because we hadn't had many suspicious deaths, I only had a vague idea of her job title. I assume she was the one who did autopsies for the police. I saw her on occasion but we became good friends in the few interactions we did have.

I wasn't surprised to get a phone call from her the day before Halloween even though we only known each other for a few months. I was a little surprised that she called to beg me to take her nephew and his two friends out Trick or Treating for her. Because of the missing children case in the summer their parents only agreed to let them go out of there was an adult supervising them. Miranda wanted them to still be able to have a fun Halloween. She was working and I was the only option because of the parent's busy work schedule. I agreed and found myself driving into the next city over and getting four kids dropped off.

"I really appreciate you doing this." Miranda told me while she was handing me the kids Trick or Treating bags from her car.

The night before we went over the route and the plan for the night. She even printed me out a map to follow because I didn't live in the city. I drove over to browse the shops on the main street fairly often because my small town didn't have the same selection. I knew the downtown areas well enough but not the suburbs. She then started to introduce the kids to me as if I didn't already know their names. She was nervous. Not about trusting me, but rather what kind of trouble the kids may try and put me through.

"This is Sam, my nephew. His friend Kim, and his little brother Jerry. But everyone calls him Jer-bear. Oh and, who is this one we picked up today?"

Sam was around thirteen and the oldest of the bunch. He was dressed a s a skeleton with a body suit and face paint. His friend Kim was a slightly shorter and dressed as a vampire. I was a little surprised they had some pretty plain and classic costumes instead of a superhero, or some character from a show. They explained to me they had a costume theme every year and this year as a classic theme. The easy to find no copywrite ones. Kim's little brother looked about seven and was in a handmade robot costume out of cardboard boxes. He had a string attached to his wrist that Kim held onto. Kim told me it was because his brother couldn't see very well through the box covering his head and requested the string so he wouldn't get lost. The last child was the one Miranda was forgetting the name for. They looked about Sam's age height wise. Their face was covered by an oversized Jack-o Lantern head. It must be stuffy for them but they didn't utter a word or complain. It was the only part of a costume they had on. They wore a black oversized hoodie and matching black leggings. On each wrist was a bracelet made of glow sticks and a few long sticks were attached to the hem of their sweater.

"Oh, this is Ally. She's cool. We made friends with her sat the fair today." Sam explained introducing his friend.

Ally said nothing. I couldn't even tell if she could see with that oversized pumpkin on her head.

"She's shy. But yeah, really cool. She like, won us all toys at the fair today. She's awesome at those games." Kim added in. The pumpkin head nodded acknowledging their statements.

I was aware of a Halloween themed fair held during the day near a corn field and pumpkin patch. Due to it being family orientated I never went before. I was glad the kids had fun today and picked up a friend. Having one extra child to watch over wasn't a big deal. It was barely any extra work. I would just need to get her address so I could drop her off at home at the end of the night. Everything was so close together in the city we wouldn't need my car to bring the kids back at the end of the night.