The Bad Luck of a Black Cat

[excerpt]

“Boo!”

The lady screamed. A shorter person wearing a mask of a distorted face and twisted smile turned their head to each side while she caught her breath. Then the person began to giggle. Not a creepy murderous giggle, but like one of a child’s glee.

The kid took the mask off and pulled a bag from behind his back. It wasn’t the usual orange pumpkin the woman had grown up with, no—a wide pillowcase filled to a fifth. Such greed. She scoffed. This kid already had such a nerve trying to scare her.

“Here, creep.” She carelessly scooped a few candies from her salad bowl and dropped them into his pillowcase. The kid giggled again at his ever-growing amount, turned and hopped off her porch.

“Well, you’re welcome!” she called after him, clearly annoyed. Where were his manners? Who was raising him? So much for ‘trick or treat,’ too.

Glancing around, she took a note that there weren’t any other kids on the sidewalk on her side or the parallel one. That meant no kids for at least 2-3 minutes. At most 5. She sighed and shut her door, very ready to return to her own ‘Halloween themed’ red wine. She had gotten the Merlot at the local Tesco. Only 16 dollars! The wine went down nicely as she eyed the chocolates in the pantry. She had bought something for herself too and smiled wickedly, feeling a bit giddy.

A few honks were heard over by Elm Street. Perhaps the kids weren’t crossing the road properly? She rolled her eyes. Parents these days. What an idiotic new generation.

[continue reading in the magazine]