Kessie's Short Stories

Gift

Originally published 11/1/2019

When I was younger, I was told to never accept gifts on Halloween night. Of course I always questioned the reason why- trick or treating was the very epitome of the holiday, after all. The answer I received was always a vague 'the little people only seek harm, and Halloween is when they truly get to play.' At the time, one of our most friendly neighbors had been affected by dwarfism, so I assumed that was what they meant.

But no, I later on learned, it was in relation to a much tinier person than my neighbor. Creatures that existed to stir up trouble to fuel their insatiable needs for maligned mischief. It was on Halloween night, in fact, but I've forgotten how old I was at the time.

"Give me your name, miss." It had told me with a cat-like smile. I'll never forget how sharp its teeth were -like a shark- and they were colored like river rocks. Every fiber told me not to trust this creature, however friendly they appeared to be.

"I will tell you my name," I offered to the creature instead. "And it is Mera."

The creature growled at this response, but tried to regain its composure.

"What a pretty name," it then lied, not even bothering to sound sincere. "A pretty name for a pretty girl."

Hearing this, I recoiled slightly. The creature found a second confidence in seeing this and started to give its horrifying grin again.

"Does the pretty girl not think she's pretty? I can fix that, you know, my gift to you."

Like a fool, I immediately wanted to take them up on their offer. I had come from a mixed-race household: me and my youngest sister had the darkest skin, my brother was a nice blend of both, and our other sister was as pale as a ghost. With our darker skins, me and my younger sister saw worse scrutiny by strangers than our other siblings did. Once I had wished I could bleach my skin to the same pale as my other sister, maybe then I could have an easier time blending in when we visited the city. But even if I could, what would happen to my little sister? She'd have to face the world's prejudices alone. I couldn't let that happen to her.

Could I?

All the while, the creature started to lose its patience with me. "It can be any gift," it reminded me, "Any gift at all."

But that was when I remember that one thing I had always been told- don't accept gifts on Halloween. It wasn't a warning about accepting candy from my dwarfen neighbor, it was a warning about creatures like this one.

"I do not desire any gifts that you could give me." I told that creature, firm and certain. "Now I must leave- thank you for your time."

And with that, I made sure to never visit that patch in the forest ever again.