The Miscreants of Xiphoid Camp [NOT UPDATING CURRENTLY]

» 2130 « Chapter 15 - Halloween

October 1

A piercing blaze of sunlight shot through the window and stabbed Avior directly in the eyes. He groaned and rolled over, pulling his thin bedsheet over his face. Ordinarily, he preferred to be awake before the sun, but the night before he had been up far later than usual for reasons that nobody except himself needed to know.

A cold hand landed on his shoulder and shook him roughly.

"Wake up, Vivi!" Nicolas whispered.

Avior sat up immediately, the sheet falling off his face. He glared at Nicolas.

"Don't call me that," he snapped.

"Ooh, touchy," Marcus remarked, leaping out of his bunk. The ladder beside him was apparently a mere suggestion. Bradley had removed his entirely at the start of the year. Every morning, Avior prayed that he would break his ankle when he landed.

"Wait," James said, from the bunk above.

"That sweet, crisp, spicy smell in the air..." Bradley continued.

"Can only mean one thing..." Todd added, picking up the thread.

"And that one thing is..." Nicolas said with more enthusiasm than Avior had ever heard from him.

"Most gloriously..." Marcus continued.

"IT'S SPOOKY MONTH!" all five crowed in unison.

"This is it, lads," James said breathlessly.

"The month we've all been waiting for!" Bradley whooped.

Avior folded his arms. "What the hell is spooky month?" he asked crossly.

"Oh my god," Todd said in mock (or perhaps it truly was real) astonishment, putting a hand over his mouth, "this is Vivi's first spooky month at Xiphoid!"

"And it'll be YOUR LAST if you keep calling me that," Avior snapped, pushing Nicolas out of the way and hopping out of bed. "I'm leaving,"

Most disappointingly, the rest of Xiphoid Camp held a similar opinion to that of those in Tertius, in that everyone in the entire camp seemed to be a raving Halloween fanatic. Apparently, since Halloween marked the end of the session, Xiphoid went all-out on the festivities. It wasn't that Avior disliked Halloween—no, he quite liked the idea of it, actually—it was the 'spooky month' thing and the general cutesy vibe surrounding it. Halloween was for blood, guts, and monsters, for crying out loud! It was the one holiday where you had a bona-fide excuse to go around terrorizing people!

Avior had voiced this opinion to Arin, who merely shook their head in bewilderment and said, "One of these days I'm going to make you see a psychiatrist." What a miserable point of view Arin held. Avior would bet his stepmother's best blazer that they had no fun at all going around thinking like that.

He was actually looking forward to Halloween, just not in the same way as the rest of Xiphoid. For one, it was the last day he would have to endure at this horrid place. Halloween was a shining beacon of hope, a promise that he would get to return to his normal, clean, solitary life. But it was also the first time he would have a chance to celebrate it. The Viators did not partake in commercial holidays. He had never before gotten to dress up in a freaky costume and run around in the dark or whatever people usually did on Halloween.

October 7

"So what're you dressing up as?" Arin asked one day as they and Avior watched the leaves slowly drifting away from the multitudes of trees surrounding them.