Secrets

Halloween night

Oct. 31st 2023 9:23pm

The night is stiff and ingulfed in the thick white fog that lingers the city streets. Porch lights flicker off as time wines down and the roads grow quieter. Families with small children have finished their trick or treating and begin to settle into their cute little homes.

There's a breeze present that sweeps the debris and leaves into the air, swindling around my ankles as I walk through the dark paths of neighborhoods. I've wandered blocks away from my old house, where my car is parked. I stand in front of an abandoned elementary school that was burned down some years ago. I've heard stories about the land still being haunted with the students that parished. The mother's of those victims set the property aflame when evidence discovered that the teachers were lying to the police.

The institution falsly claimed the crimes to be suicides. But as the fatalities pilled up, it was brought to the police's attention to undergo an investigation. They found that the staff were inflicting mental and bodily harm on the young children.

As I pass by the chained gates, a shiver comes over my body. The atmosphere is becoming so cold. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms rise, alarming me. I scan the perimeter of the school and close my eyes.. My head rings with the screams of the souls that died here.

My heart beats rapidly, becoming louder than the trees wavering around me. As I continue slowly down the sidewalk, I approach a sharp corner that has a section of the walkway dedicated to a life no longer here. It has pretty flowers of all sorts, big teddy bears, candy and letters to the family sending condolences.

On this very night 5 years ago, I walked this same strip. Except that night I wasn't alone. I was hand in hand with my little boy and we had just hit our last house.. It was his first trick or treating experience.

I dressed him up as Tarzan because it was his favorite character. He was smiling and having a grand time. His head was down in his pumpkin glaring at all the candy he had gotten.

A speeding car came racing around the corner as we were crossing. The driver was very intoxicated and kept going even after he realized what he had done. I got a quick but clear view of how the man looked. I'll never ever forget.

My boy's tiny body couldn't survive the impact and he died almost instantly. I had a few broken ribs, a fractured leg and I've been suffering mentally from the trauma of the accident on top of the loss of my child. My heart aches day and night. I wish I could've saved him, I regret that it wasn't me. And I pray that he forgives me. Even when I haven't yet forgiven myself. He was only 3 years old.

The only thing important to me at that time was making him happy, the moment he was born he became the light of my life. He was the only beauty that came out of what happened in the dark.

Mason was sinfully conceived.

This is My son's memorial on the side of the road. The last memory I have of him was the best and last night of his life and the worst of mine. This spot is more to me than just the side of 72nd street, it's a piece of me. I can't let it go, this pain is a pain I have never felt before.

I knew he would be nothing like his father if he was ever given the chance but in the back of my mind I think, maybe this was the fate of an offspring that came from a monster.