The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 12: Baylor

"You comin', darling?"

Colleen growled at me but finally emerged from the car. She had her ghost costume on for trick-or-treating, and her mask was covering her entire face. There was no way anyone would notice that she wasn't alive while she wore the costume.

"What if I just stay in the car and you gather the candy? Oh that's a great idea, good job me." Colleen started to get back in the car but I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the door handle before she could grab ahold of it.

"No, you gotta come with me! It's no fun without you. Come on, Colleen. It's Saturday night. Live a little!," I whined.

"Did you seriously just say –"

"Yes. Hush. You know what I meant."

"Bay, I can't eat the candy anyways. It literally goes right through me."

I smirked. "I know, babe. That's just more candy for me."

She rolled her eyes but followed me down the road, holding my hand the entire way.

The first house we stopped at was decorated with many plastic skeletons and fake spider webs. The front door had a giant purple spider on it, making it difficult to find a place to knock, but I still did.

"Trick-or-treat!" we both greeted the owner of the house. The owner happened to be a little old lady, her hair as white as snow. She had a bowl of candy in her hands that was so big it almost couldn't fit in her arms.

"Oh, why hello there! I'm guessing you two want some candy?"

"Yes ma'am!" I answered.

She turned towards Colleen. "What about you young lady?"

"Yes please!" Colleen answered.

The old lady continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer. That's when I realized she couldn't hear Colleen because she was actually dead.

"Um, miss? She can't speak."

Colleen nodded her head as if to say, "Yes, yes! That's it!"

The old lady's expression transformed from happy to sympathetic in a matter of seconds. "Oh that's terrible!" she said. "Here, sweetheart, you can have as much candy as you want!"

Colleen put her hand over her heart as to say, "Why thank you!". She reached for the bowl of candy, first making sure her white gloves were all the way on.

"Thank you so much, ma'am. Have a nice night!" I told the lady before we left.

We continued to stop at every house on the the left side of the street, then worked on the right side. Once we got to the fourth house on that side, things got a little rough.

I was about to knock on the door but it opened before I had the chance. Just my luck, Leila was standing in the doorway, a purse on her shoulder and car keys clutched in her hand. She looked up and at the sight of me, she rolled her eyes.

"And why are you here?" she snapped.

"Um, if you haven't noticed, it's Halloween. And on Halloween people go trick-or-treating," I snapped back.