Halloween

Chapter 8

        "We'd like two tickets for the costume contest!" Irene shouted, placing her cake on the table where Melissa sat.

Melissa chuckled at the two newcomers. "Alrighty! Just give me your names and you'll be in the competition! We will begin shortly, just take a seat out here and wait for just a couple more minutes."

Once the two walked away from the table, Ben nervously looked around. "I don't know Irene, isn't this only going to attract more attention to ourselves? I thought we were tryin' to be subtle, under the radar type stuff."

"Ah, relax! We haven't been caught yet! Plus, creaming some kids is gonna be a hoot. In fact, lookie! There's the little critter now!" Irene pointed over to Apollo who seemed to be preoccupied with another pair of people. "C'mon! Let's go check it out!"

"No, no, no!" Apollo shouted at Romeo and Elias, who seemed to make their way over for the contest as well. "The both of you totally knew I was going to be a Nintendo character, and now you're stepping into my territory and botching it all up! That's not fair!" He pointed an accusing finger at Elias, who was currently wearing a gown. "This is unacceptable! Go- Go change right now!"

"I'm sorry but do you own Nintendo? I don't think so," Elias replied, crossing his arms.

"I don't, but that doesn't give you and Mr. Italian over here the right to take my staple!"

"Why don't you grab some punch and calm down a little, won't you? You're overreacting when we're supposed to be having fun!" Romeo commented, trying to ease the situation, despite the fact that both parties clearly didn't have any intentions of doing so.

"No! I refuse to do anything else unless you change," Apollo argued.

"And I'm not going to listen to you!" Elias huffed.

"What's all this hollerin' about?" Irene said as she approached the group of three.

Elias' eyes widened at the sight of her costume before ducked behind Romeo. "Haha... is it just me or is her costume a little too real," he whispered into Romeo's ear.

"We are not doing this again. First you get scared of a child, and now you're scared by a costume?" Romeo replied with a sigh.

Apollo laughed at Elias' fright. "You've got to be kidding me! Next thing you're going to tell me you're afraid of your own shadow!"

"Shut up!" Elias replied, furrowing his brows. "Can we go somewhere else? I'm not enjoying standing right here."

"Yeah, of course, let's go." Romeo held onto Elias' hand as they walked away, waving to the two strangers as a gesture of kindness.

"So, what do you two want?" Apollo scoffed, snapping his head back to the duo of ghosts. "You so rudely interrupted my conversation, so this better be important."

Irene smiled creepily down at him, "We're here to-"

"Wish you luck in the costume contest!" Ben finished, with a nervous laugh.

"Ha! Thanks, I know I'm gonna win anyway, since this outfit is clearly superior to everyone else's here. Check it out." Apollo did a full 360 degree spin to show off the many props he had with him.

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Ben asked, having a hard time trying to discern the ensemble.

Apollo looked dumbfounded and offended by his statement. "For your information, I'm Link, specifically, adult Link from the Ocarina of Time game released on November 21st, 1998."

"Oh... great! Haha..." Ben said, despite being completely unsure of what the child was talking about. "Well.. you uh, pulled it off well."

"Attention everyone!" Melissa spoke over the speakers up on stage. "If I could get everyone who is participating in the costume contest to come forth, we will begin judging shortly."

"Well, good luck, oldies," Apollo remarked before heading off. "Not like you'll need it since I'll be taking first anyways!"

"Annnd that's our cue!" Irene said, pulling Ben along with her to the stage.

A couple of kids and adults gathered by the stage, lining up side by side in order to be judged. Apollo stood at the front of the line proudly, confidently cocky that he was the best one up there.

Melissa walked over with a clipboard in hand. She stood in front of the blonde child and blinked in confusion. "Weren't you this character last year?"

"Um, no! Last year I was Toon Link from Legend of Zelda: Wind waker. This year, I'm Adult Link from Ocarina of time! There's a big difference between the two," Apollo explained, crossing his arms with a humph.

"Right..." Melissa replied, scribbling a few things down on her clipboard before moving along. She trotted down the line, judging the next few costumes and writing things down as she did so. Eventually, she stopped in front of Ben, putting her pen to her mouth as she examined closely. "Wow! You look very authentic, I haven't seen anything like this before. You must really enjoy making costumes of this detailed nature."

"Why, uh- yes! I put a lotta effort into lookin' back on what happened when I, uh- create my costumes!" Ben replied, laughing nervously.

"Wow, you got the accent down to a tee, too! Maybe I'll give extra points for staying in character like that." Melissa then moved onto Irene. "Wow! You look really crazy, too. Both of you out-of-towners should come visit more often." After walking down through the rest of the contestants, she finally finished the line, compiling all of the results down in front of her. "Alright everybody, if you give me a few minutes, I'll look over the scores and announce the winner."

The lineup disbanded, fluttering back into their own little groups within the gym. "Well, I think that went well!" Irene smiled, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah, sure, but uh, I think we should be heading out... try to find everyone and regroup? They've got to realize we're gone by now! And I don't wanna know what Arian would do to us if they got upset..." Ben said worriedly. Though, before he could do much more, he noticed that Melissa went back onstage to announce the winner of the contest.

"Attention everyone! I have compiled the results, and first place in the costume contest is... drum roll please!" The gym went silent, nobody aiding in her request. This brought Melissa to pat her own thighs repeatedly to create suspense. "Ben the cowboy! Come on up!"

Ben's mouth hung open, genuinely not expecting the results.

"Yay! You go, Ben! Go get your prize!" Irene cheered, pushing Ben forward towards the stage.

"What?! No way! H-Him?! He's just a simple cowboy! I- I'm a cool fantasy character!" Apollo complained, growling as Ben made his way up stage. "Ugh! This was totally rigged and unfair!" He crossed his arms angrily, furrowing his brows, thoroughly annoyed.

Ben walked up onto the stage where Melissa was holding a small plastic trophy, a couple of pieces of candy inside. "Thank you very much! It's very appreciated," he stated as he accepted his award. The entire gym began to clap for him, and he even spotted some other ghosts in the distance. He blushed with embarrassment, unsure of what else to say, and then quickly walked back off stage, tiny trophy in hand. He met back up with Irene, putting his palm to his face. "That was more embarrassing than I wanted it to be, and now the entire town knows of our presence. Oh, I sure do hope things end up alright."

"Blah Blah, you talk too much! Be proud of your win! Now we both got some great prizes for the night! What more could you want?"