Letters

Halloween

                  

I stood in the bathroom, looking at my face in the mirror and drumming my fingers on the counter. I had exactly fifteen minutes until I was supposed to be at the neighborhood Halloween party and my costume wasn't getting better by staring at it. Not knowing what I wanted to "dress-up" as, I had waited until the last minute and ended up in just a black cape with some bad looking fangs. Sadie had drawn blood dripping down the sides of my mouth, but overall I just looked like a sad 14-year-old boy in a crappy vampire costume.

"You coming Zeke?" I heard my mom shout from downstairs. I sighed, added another dollop of gel to my hair, then turned the water off.

"Yeah I'm coming." I walked down the stairs to where my mom was waiting in the kitchen. She and my dad had decided to coordinate, both wearing "punk-rocker" costumes, and Sadie wasn't much better in her Zombie bride costume.

"You ready?" she asked as I entered the kitchen. I nodded, glancing out the window. It was just starting to get dark; the streetlights hadn't turned on yet. "All right then, let's head out."

"What am I supposed to take to trick or treat with?" Sadie moaned from the other side of the room. "All we have are the stupid cauldrons from when we were little."

"Just take a pillow case," my dad responded irritably. "C'mon let's go."

By the time we got to the party, it was fully dark. The hosts had strung up glowing orange pumpkins and decorated liberally with fake spiders and cobwebs. Kids were running around in chasing each other in costumes, and the adults had already gathered around the fire pit, wine glasses in hand. Creepy music was playing from somewhere. It was comforting somehow that no matter how old I got Halloween at least wouldn't change.

As soon as we got there my parents immediately left going to join the other adults. I hadn't stood there but for a second next to Sadie when I saw Amelia running over. My heart skipped a beat. Katherine was here.

"Sadie!" Amelia launched herself into a hug. She seemed to be dressed as some kind of skeleton. "You look great!"

"So do you!" Sadie replied enthusiastically. But I wasn't looking at her. Katherine was walking behind her and she looked so... different. Before I even knew what to do, my mind was correcting itself. She didn't look different, she looked pretty. Really pretty. I wasn't sure what she was supposed to be exactly; probably some kind of huntress with her army jacket, fake bow and arrow, and tall boots. She had tied her light brown hair back into a braid with a small silver circlet on top and she had used some kind of special make up on her eyes to make them shine—every time she blinked they sparkled.

I shook my head to clear it. What was I thinking? I tried to keep my face from flushing and met her light brown eyes. Her face broke out into a wide smile.

"Hey Zeke," she said waving and coming over. "How are you?"

"Pretty good." I smiled back at her. "After all it is Halloween isn't it?"

"Yeah I love Halloween," she agreed. "What did you dress up as?"

I groaned. "You know what, I don't even know." In response to that I was rewarded with the sweet sound of her laughter. The light sparkled off her eyelashes. "I kind of waited until the last minute and ended up just in this crappy vampire costume."

"I think it looks good." She glanced over to where Amelia and Sadie were whispering something and smiled again. "It could be worse."

I nodded in agreement, half of my face quirking up in a smile. "Definitely." I paused for a second. "What about you?"