Little Dark Age

The Fool - Reversed

  Halloween wasn't exactly the best in Derry. 

  Let me explain. Halloween is a holiday, but there wasn't a lot of kids celebrating it. Plus, parents in Derry seemed to generally agree that celebrating Halloween means worshipping Satan on his birthday. 

  Honestly, how do the adults even come up with these kind of things?

  Obviously it's bullshit. But in the end, it doesn't matter for me. It doesn't matter if me and my friends aren't getting free candies from random strangers. What matters to me was that I get to be with my friends.

  But I'll never say that out loud. Richie would say that I'm lying. After all, he would always looked so bummed out after we tried trick-or-treating at a house with no candy. 

  When I woke up on October 22nd, which was Saturday, I've expected with a light heart to meet my friends at Bill's house.

 We've never made specific date for this, but whenever Halloween is nearing, we'll always watch horror movies at Bill's house after we've decided to do so. His dad kept so many DVD's of various movies that Richie had joked to find his pornography films sooner or later. I can still remember the look of disgust on my friend's faces. 

  But this yearly tradition was not held today, because Bill had told all of us that he will be spending time with his little brother — affectionately nicknamed Georgie.

  "The weather f-f-fuh-forecast said that it'll be rai-raining today," said Bill, eyes staring at the cloudy sky. Currently, we were on our way to our respective home after spending a short while at the quarry, "Georgie w-wants to play in tuh-the rain."

  Richie blew a raspberry, seemingly bummed, "Just make him shower in a bathtub, that's the same thing."

  "No it's not, bathtubs are for showering," argued Eddie to which Richie ignored, a strange look in his eyes.

  "Do you guys think swimming pools count as showering?" Behind the magnified glasses, the mischief in his eyes was abundantly clear. 

  Stan scoffed, lips curled in slight disgust, "You think swimming in a shared pool mixed with other people's sweat is showering? That's gross, Richie." 

  "I didn't say I’ll do it!" He protested with an offended tone, "I'm just asking, does it count?" 

  "Of course not, that's nasty!" Eddie passionately exclaimed, "Do you know how many germs a single pool can have? Way more than the socks in the corner of your room, I can tell you that much." 

  Bill and I laughed while Richie failed to counterback, his face going red with obvious embarrassment. 

 "But — Listen!" demanded Richie as his face turned redder and redder while the rest of us looked on amused at his flustered state, "Listen, guys — my socks are clean! I just don't have a hamper for my room, it's in my mom's—" 

  "First time something is in your mom other than me, Rich," I interrupted with a grin. Eddie barked out a laugh at my response, while Richie shook his head at me to show his disdain. I could only grin wider.

  After saying goodbyes to my friends — I had to make sure that Richie left so that he doesn't try to bother my mother — before I entered my home. Although, I was slightly surprised to see my mother in the kitchen, shuffling the tarot cards in her hand atop the dinner table. 

  Automatically, she looked up to me, no visible sign of surprise on her features. She merely gave a smile and gestured at the empty chair in front of her. 

  "Hey, Mom, what are you doing?" 

  I sat next to her as I asked. The tarot cards in her hands had settled in front of me, like a small and towering divider between me and Mom. I could see the back of the cards, all with the same pattern — a symbol of a gold heart, tiny, with the colors behind its back successfully bringing it into the spotlight.