A Fateful Halloween

The night had a chill in the wind. Clouds above were sparse, giving way to the moonlight. A town full of suburban life was active. Laughter and screams drowned out the silence as children ran around to each house. Some of the young ones dragged their parents and older siblings down each busy street. Decorations depicted as monsters and ghouls were scattered all around various yards that gave the little ones fright for those brave enough to activate them. Each house was armed with candy, though some were equipped with heavier ammunition to take on the hordes.

The noise on this active Halloween night attracted someone- something from the nearby forest. Sauerkraut, an unknown creature to many, a well known project to few. Although it lacks any ears, it can still hear the activity in the town. No eyes were in sight, yet it could see the mesmerizing lights coming off from the decorations. It did not have a nose, mouth, or any sign of hair on its paper-white head. The head was on a charcoal-black body of an average sized man. Its mannequin-esque appearance was strange, though, none of this mattered to the peculiar individual. It was interested about this odd activity.

It decided to venture into the now colorful town. Sauerkraut has never seen anything like this unless there was snow sprinkled on the cold ground. It treaded curiously as it admired each decoration, light, and sign that brought life to each house. It went onto a leaf-covered lawn to look at one of them specifically. The decoration was odd- it was human-like, much like the wandering abnormality. The clothes were bloodied and tattered at the sleeves. Instead of a head, it was replaced with a pumpkin that had a mischievous smile as it glared back at Sauerkraut.

The decorated scarecrow suddenly started to move. The lights inside the pumpkin glowed red as the decoration lunged at Sauerkraut. It jumped back from shock and to a safe distance. The scarecrow went back to its resting state as Sauerkraut's foot launched off the pressure plate hidden under the fallen leaves. After it calmed down, the oddity heard some nearby people start to laugh. It turned around, only to see the group continuing their journey. The strange creature decided to explore the area some more.

Each street had new people. Seemed as everyone were with friends and made conversation with each other. Sauerkraut studied the friend groups. In all honesty, it felt pretty lonely tonight. The uncanny fellow didn't have any friends recently. Upon closer inspection, Sauerkraut could see that they were all wearing very strange clothes. Each set was different from the rest by style and color. Some people had these strange markings on their face, while obscured faces were decorated with colorful masks. It was very curious about this change of fashion. Did everyone dress like this now? It paused when it heard a set of footsteps approaching from behind.

Sauerkraut turned around and saw someone wearing a black cloak. His face seemed off in a way. It was skeletal, yet it didn't seem to be real. He wore clothes that were the same the scarecrow wore; bloodied and tattered. The eyes behind the skull mask seemed to study Sauerkraut as much as it studied him.

The dressed up human spoke with a friendly, frat boy accent. "Sick costume, dude! It looks so real!" he flashed a set of finger guns, "Have you signed up for the town's costume contest? You would totally win!"

Sauerkraut shook its head no. It's never heard of a contest before, though it was interested in it. Maybe it can make friends by winning this competition! It's always trying to find ways to make friends with others. It attempted to communicate with the friendly person through its own way: charades. After a few attempts, the human understood that Sauerkraut was asking where the contest was. He gave a nod, "Yeah, man! I can show you where it is! Follow me!"

The two started to walk down the street. Children all around were lured to the doorbells to get a sweet prize by the friendly people behind them. Sauerkraut watched with great interest. Its head snapped back to the friendly man when it heard him ask a question.