October 31st, 2024

October 12th, 2024,

Three girls walk into a Walmart, eyes immediately drawn to the Halloween section to the left. One of them takes off towards the aisles of candy and costumes, obliviously cutting off another shopper as she did so. The other two followed; one on their phone, the other apologizing to the shopper as they also passed by.

“We should get our costumes!”

“Right now? We don’t have anything planned.”

“What? What'd you say?”

“We’re talking about what costumes to get, Ems.”

“Oh, okay.”

Tera watched as her friends began to look at the costume options. She couldn’t help but feel a little upset, but tried to shake the feeling.

Just because they’re not doing what you like, you're upset? That’s selfish of you. She thinks to herself.

“Ooh, oh my gosh! They have a ghostface mask!” The excited friend grabs the mask, quickly pulling it over her head.

“Ooh, that looks good,” Tera responded with some enthusiasm.

“I know. I’m getting it,” she said, pulling the mask off and tossing it into their cart. The noise startled their other friend who had gone back to her phone.

“Ah!” She jumped, placing a hand on her chest. “Geez, that scared me.”

“Sorry, Em.”

“It’s okay. I need to get off my phone anyway.” Tucking her phone into her back pocket, she began looking at the costumes too. Emma picked up a skeleton costume and Tera grabbed a wolf mask. They held them up to each other, smiling at the goofy costumes.

“No, you can’t get that,” Maria said, the excitement in her voice now gone.

“Why not?”

“Because we’re being serial killers. Like, from slasher films.”

“We are?”

“Well duh. That’s why I’m getting the Scream mask,” she motioned to their cart with the single mask in it.

“I thought we were gonna do Minions or Scooby-Doo characters?”

“Wellll, I changed my mind,” she stated matter-of-factly. Emma shrugged in agreement and set down the skeleton outfit. Tera tossed the wolf mask aside and grabbed a Child’s Play outfit. On the shelf behind her was fake blood and other fake skin details that would look perfect with this costume. She tossed the costume into the cart and reached to grab the blood. But before she could, Maria let out a noise.

“Ew! What is that?”

“Chucky. From Child’s Play.” Maria stared at her blankly. “The doll?”

“Umm, no,” Maria said with a judging eyebrow raise. “I was thinking we do, like, cute killers.”

“Oh, so normal outfits?” Emma asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know what you guys have, but I have the perfect black dress to wear with my mask!”

“My Mask,” Tera thought bitterly. It’s been in the cart for less than three minutes and it’s already hers. Just like “our” costume idea, which is dumb. A cheap mask and normal clothes?! Whatever. Instead of saying anything though, she grabbed a Freddy Krueger mask. Pulling off her glasses, she slipped the mask on, disappointed to see that the eye holes were about half an inch too wide and an inch too low, no matter how she tugged on the dumb thing.

“That looks nice,” Maria said encouragingly. She was clearly done costume shopping and was trying to get the others to be as well.

“No, it’s not. I can’t even see out of it,” she said, pulling the floppy mask off.

“Well duh, you have your glasses off.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Ooh, Em, that looks so good on you!”

“Aw, shucks,” Tera heard Emma’s voice say. Tera slipped her glasses back on to see why Maria had cut her off, only to see that Emma too was wearing a Freddy Krueger mask. It fit her face fine. Emma tossed the mask in the cart. Feeling pressured now that both friends were waiting on her, she pulled on four more masks; rapid fire. None of them fit. They were all cheap molds or cheap, flat pieces of plastic that didn’t even attempt to be face shaped.

“I’ll get a mask somewhere else. The rest of these are lame.”

October 19th, 2024,

A black, hollow ball of foam sat on Tera’s head, a small cutout filled with sharp teeth interrupting the surface’s smooth shape and providing a hole for her to see out of. The ball, shiny from the spray paint, had two felt eyeballs on either side of the ball. A fake chain stuck out of the top of the ball, looping its way around her neck where it sat, the end hanging over her collarbone. The chain too was made of foam sheets.

Tera looked in the mirror, admiring her outfit. Black turtleneck tank top (it was a long sleeved turtleneck, but she cut the sleeves off), black gloves, Black and grey striped pants, black boots, and a thick black belt with more fake chains hanging off of it. She picked up the mario plushy sitting next to her and placed it in between the teeth of the ball.

She took a picture of her outfit. “Chain chomp” she typed onto the image before sending it to her sister and mom. Her phone buzzed in her hands, screen lighting up as a rainbow led travelled around the frame of her screen. Her sister had messaged her.

“Isnt that your costume from last year?”

“Yeah, but I had a late class last year so I didn’t get to do Halloween.”

“🤏🎻” Tera started looking for an image to send back when her phone buzzed again. Another message from her sister. “You gonna wear it tjis year”

“*This,” she sent, a small grin on her face. “And no, I’m wearing a Jason Hockey Mask.”

“Just the mask?”

“yeah”

“Thats lame.” Tera looked up from her phone, catching her reflection in the mirror leaned against her wall. She wished she could wear this instead.

“I know.”

October 28th, 2024,

Three girls walked back to their apartments in the dark. Well, it was dark out, but the path was well lit. It was a college campus after all.

“The stupid trivia questions are rigged! An ostrich’s heart IS bigger than its brain!” Tera spoke energetically, hands moving through the air angrily.

“Most of an ostrich is,” Maria said, arms wrapped tightly around herself.

“That’s what I’m saying! But they don’t specify which area of the ostrich or if it’s something that's normally smaller than the brain on other animals!”

“That and they misspell half their questions and then have the nerve to mark us points for missing a word in the movie title question!” Lizzie said, speaking for the first time since they’d left the building. She had been messaging her mother the terrible events of tonight’s trivia night.

The three of them complain about the trivia hosts for a while before declaring that they’re never going again. A silence falls over the group momentarily; but only for a moment, and then the conversations moves on to Halloween.

“What are you guys doing for Halloween?” Lizzie asks them.

“We don’t have an-”

“I work all day; Till eight pm! So I don’t really have time to do anything. Plus, I’m gonna be so tired from pushing carts all day…” Maria lets out a sigh.

“So, what I’m hearing is that you’re not doing anything.”

“Besides working till eight pm… No,” Maria huffs, with an emphasis on the word “eight”, which she stretched out for a solid second.

“How do you guys feel about parties?” Lizzie asked. She waited for the other two to nod in approval to continue. “I know some friends going to a party in Delat Ka_”

“No Frat parties,” Maria said, shaking her head. “I am not going to spend my Halloween in some frat house.”

“No, you’re gonna spend it at work,” Tera joked, to no response.

“Well, one of my coworkers invited me to a party in some place called The Snakehead or something. It is on that side of campus with the frats, but it’s not a frat party. There will be drinking though. And if we go, I can’t promise I’ll stay sober,” Lizzie laughed as she said the last part.

“That’s fine. If we went to a party, I was gonna drink anyways. It’s not gonna be fun if I don’t drink.”

“But I can’t drink.”

“Why not?” Maria asked, judgement rising in her voice. Tera felt a little hurt. Maria knew how Tera felt about drinking.

“Umm, I’m not twenty-one yet?” Tera said questioningly, as if it wasn’t already obvious.

“So is Lizzie.”

Tera paused. Maria knew that wasn’t the point she was trying to make. “Yeah, but I’m waiting till-”

“Then that’s a you problem,” Maria said harshly. She had meant for it to sound like a joke, and Maria and Lizzie both treated it as a joke, continuing the conversation without Tera. They talked about parties, events, movies, and drinking, all of which were happening on Halloween. They just had to decide which to do.

The sidewalk narrowed and Maria drifted towards Tera, basically pushing her off the sidewalk. Tera walked behind them silently. They didn’t notice.

October 30th, 2024,

Maria came home from work late: Ten fifty-six at night. She called Tera when she did. Tera was brushing her teeth when the call came.

“Terraaaa,” Maria’s voice said pleadingly through the phone. “I need help.”

“Whif Whad?” Toothpaste spit out of her mouth and into the sink as she spoke.

“Parking. I can’t park my car. I really tried.”

“Ok, be dun in a shecond.” Tera hung up, quickly finishing her teeth brushing and rushed downstairs to the parking garage.

“God, took you long enough. I was waiting forever.”

“What? I got down here in like… two minutes.”

“Yeah, two minutes too long. It’s cold down here.”

At that moment, Tera wanted to snap at her friend. If you’re cold, then why didn’t you wait in your car. Why stand next to it? Also, I didn't Have to come help you park your car! A hundred terrible responses flooded through her mind as she got into the car and began to park it. What a terrible friend I am, thinking things like that.

“Thank you. Sorry I always make you do this.” But she didn’t sound sorry. They went back inside.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Maybe learn to park your own car.

“I tried to do it on my own, but it’s sooo hard and it’s sooo late.” They walked into the elevator.

“Yeah, sorry I took so long to come down. I was brushing my teeth,” Tera paused; angry, tired thoughts shouting in her mind. You’ve been driving over four years longer than me. Your car is half the size of mine and I fit in the same spot just fine. I hate having to come down and do this for you, and for what. “I don’t mind helping.”

“I know, that’s why I have you do it and not Emma.”

“And because Emma can’t drive.” The elevator dinged and they got off on their floor. Tera opened the apartment door, holding it open for Maria as she went inside. She stayed up, talking to Maria as she unpacked and got ready for bed, keeping her company in her quiet apartment. She finally said goodnight when Maria was ready to shower. The time on her watch read eleven thirty-seven.

October 31st, 2024,

Tera woke up early that morning. She had to work. She had to work for seven hours on Halloween, but it was in the morning so nobody cared. It didn’t affect Halloween plans. Work went by fairly quickly, the excitement of Halloween keeping her focused, but the tiredness set in during the last two hours. She was fifteen minutes into scrolling on her phone when the rim of her screen lit up in a rainbow pattern. A message from Maria.

“You get off at 4 right?”

“yeah yeah” Tera responded, setting her phone down to her side. She was glad for the interruption, she needed to stop scrolling and get back into a work mindset.

“Want to bring me food pretty please”

“sure, what u want?”

“Whatever youre having”

“I’m having leftovers”

“How about dairy queen?”

Tera begrudgingly agreed, not feeling super pleased because she knew that Maria would never do the same for her. Not unless she was already headed that way. Three o’clock came and went. Tera packed up her things and clocked out as the clock struck four. She hustled back to her apartment and into her car. The dairy queen wasn’t on the way to where Maria worked, and it already took twenty minutes to get to where she worked without detours. The whole thing; getting the DQ, driving to Maria, and driving back; would take an hour. She wouldn’t do this for me. I know she wouldn’t. Tera thought as she drove.

Forty minutes later, she arrived at Maria’s workplace.

“Finally. God, I’m starving. I thought you were gonna be here sooner but you took forever,” she said with an exasperated sigh, reaching towards the open window of the car to grab the food. Tera started rolling up the window, smiling teasingly at her friend. “Wait, I’m sorry. You got here in perfect time!” Tera rolled the window down, smiling.

“I’ll see you in a couple hours.” Tera started to put the car in drive when she remembered something. “Oh, Which event did we decide to go to?”

Maria hesitated. “Oh, umm… A coworker actually invited me to a party near campus. You guys wouldn’t know them, so…”

“Oh, that’s fine. It’s not like we would’ve known anyone at the other events.”

“It's just that I don’t think you guys were invited.”

Tera felt like someone had punched her in the gut. “Oh. That’s… fine.” She hadn’t meant to pause. “I guess Emma and I can still go to the Dark Vine event.”

“I actually told Emma earlier and she’s doing something with her boyfriend.”

“We got the matching masks though. We had this planned. You, Emma, Lizzie-”

“Lizzie’s actually doing something with her friends too.” Maria stared at her with a look that seemed to say You should’ve expected this. In that moment, she wanted to cry, to scream, to rip the food right out of Maria’s hands. She always interrupts me. I got this stupid mask costume for her. You don’t deserve the food. Instead, she rolled up her window and drove off. She went twenty minutes back to the apartment, but she didn’t stop. She drove another hour and forty-three minutes. All the way back home. No one was there. Her sister too was in college, and her parents were out of town.

Half an hour after she’d arrived home, Tera emerged from the house in her Chain Chomp costume. She wasn’t in the mood for trick-or-treating, but she’d rather walk around the busy neighborhoods and pretend than stay at home alone. Groups of children and kids with their parents crowded the sidewalks of the neighborhood. Despite the crowd of people though, Tera had never felt more alone. This is what I get for thinking horrible thoughts about good people.

A teary eyed child dressed in a green shirt and blue overalls cried. A lost child on Halloween. You and me both. She approached the kid, who cheered up at seeing her. He couldn’t see his father amongst the legs of people passing by. She picked him up, smiling as he began to play with her Mario stuffy that had been wedged in her “mouth”. She walked up and down the sidewalk till they spotted the father, talking calmly to another father. She set the child down and he ran up to his father. She watched as the boy talked, up until he pointed her way, when she turned and started to leave.

Little hands grabbed onto her knees, nearly tripping her. The little boy was hugging her. Tera bent down, looking the boy in the eyes, and handed him her Mario stuffed animal.

“Happy Halloween,” she said softly, as the boy ran off with Mario.