The Tricked Treaters
Charlie stared inside his dented, plastic pumpkin, which was filled almost to the brim with candy. His eyes skimmed over the Snickers, Three Musketeers, and Tootsie Roll. He frowned and dipped his small hand to fish it out. The mix of chocolate, nougat, and toffee smells drifted up from the rim of the pumpkin.
“Is that a Tootsie Roll?” Michael said, peering over Charlie’s shoulder.
“I bet that came from Ms. Rowland’s,” Ever said, adjusting his Super Mario Brothers hat.
“Yeah, I don’t want it. You?” Charlie asked, motioning for one of them to take it.
The boys shook their heads. There was a scream, and the boys turned to look. Two girls ran away from a house a few feet up the street, and a person dressed in a werewolf costume chased them. Charlie smirked. “Mr. Reuben sure knows how to scare us.”
“Yeah, you remember last year? He almost made Ever piss his pants. Mr. Reuben had on a devil’s costume then.” Michael said and laughed.
Ever shoved at Michael. “I wasn’t scared! He just took me by surprise.”
“Are you sure? Are you going to be able to sit next year in his 5th-grade class?” Charlie said, winking at Michael.
“Of course! I told you I’m not scared.” Ever said, crossing his white-gloved hands.
“We’ll see. We’re going to be sitting right behind you in class. Won’t we, Charlie?” Michael asked.
“Oh, yeah. We’ll be watching.” Charlie said, and he tipped over Ever’s hat.
Ever raced after Charlie as he fixed his hat. Charlie wrapped his arms around his pumpkin and tried to outrun Ever. Michael laughed and pointed at them. Breathing hard, Ever and Charlie stopped next to Michael.
“So what’s next?” Charlie asked.
“We did all the houses,” Michael said.
“We did? Ever said.
“We can’t be done now. I want to show off my Super Mario costume some more,” Charlie said as he modeled dramatically. “Don’t you guys want to keep going? Huh, Luigi? Toad? Charlie said, addressing Michael and Ever.
Ever shrugged.
“The only houses left are the ones down Oak Hill Lane,” Michael said, his mole near his left eye twitching.
Charlie knew all too well that when Michael’s mole twitched, he was nervous about something. Every time there was an exam, the mole would dance around, threatening to fall off at any moment.
“Oh, come on. You guys aren’t scared?” Charlie said.
Ever shrugged again. Ever would give a shrug in place when he had nothing to add.
“No, we’re not scared; it’s just that they probably don’t have any candy to give out,” Michael said, glancing at Ever.
“How do you know that? We always skip that weird street. I think it’s time that we check it out.” Charlie said
“We skip it because there’s only four houses and it ends at the wall of an expressway ramp,” Michael said.
“It has nothing to do with the scary stories we used to hear when we were little?” Charlie asked, frowning.
“No, man,” Michael said.
Charlie glanced at Ever and caught the end of another shrug.
“Well, c’mon,” Charlie said, and he walked away, heading towards the next street. The amount of trick-or-treaters lessened as they got closer to Oak Hill Lane. Some of them even glanced at the boys.
“They like our costumes.” Ever said, a wide smile spreading underneath his large mustache.
“They’re probably wondering what we’re doing?” Michael mumbled.
“Or they’re probably thinking how brave we are. I’m pretty sure that was Vivian who walked past us.” Charlie said.
“Vivian? Really? Oh, God,” Michael said, his mole dancing again.
“Relax, man. We’re here.” Charlie said.
The boys stood at the shadowed mouth of the lane. Two houses on each side and the expressway ramp at the end. The lights of the cars flashed overhead, and the low roar of engines bounced towards them. None of the houses had any Halloween decorations or even a proper porch light.
Charlie swallowed. “I guess we’ll try this one.” He said as he pointed towards the first house on the left.
Michael and Ever stood, staring at the house. Charlie didn’t get a shrug from Ever this time. Charlie slowly made his way to the house and was glad to hear the shuffling feet of his friends behind him. Stepping up to the porch, Charlie raised his fist at the door and paused; he glanced back and saw his friends’ pinched faces in the flickering porchlight. A creak brought his attention back towards the door. Charlie peered at the bottom of the doorframe and saw a drifting shadow. His fist was still raised; he felt the urge to step back. An image of Michael and Ever laughing at him pumped him with some courage, and he knocked.
No one came to the door. Charlie glanced down to see if the shadow was there, yet there was no sign of a shadow or even the creaking sound. The door swung open with a long metal creak, and Charlie jumped back, spilling some of his candy from the pumpkin. He crouched down and began to scoop his candy back in. As he shoved the candy, he peered at the person’s feet; they had on a mustard brown pair of loafers; as his eyes gradually moved up, Charlie realized the person was wearing a scarecrow costume. Charlie could hear Michael and Ever breathing hard behind him. The person held a tarnished bucket full of candy, a heaping pile of M&Ms, Reese’s and other chocolate bars. Charlie peered up at the scarecrow, who took up most of the door frame. The sound of a TV droning in the background could be heard. The scarecrow shook the bucket at him.
Slowly, Charlie reached in and grabbed a fist full of candy, he stepped away to let Michael and Ever reach in. They shuffled forward and, while reaching in, stared at the scarecrow. It stood as if it were hung up on a pole, watching over a field of corn. Charlie couldn’t tell if he was staring back since it wore a bag over its face with painted eyes, nose, and mouth. Charlie muttered a thank you and quickly descended the steps, the boys following after him. He glanced back and noticed that the scarecrow was still standing there watching them; Charlie increased his footsteps.
“That was so creepy,” Ever said, looking into his pumpkin bucket.
“Yeah, what was that about? He didn’t even say anything,” Michael said.
“Maybe he can’t. That costume probably doesn’t let him talk,” Charlie suggested.
Michael pulled out his phone. “It’s almost 9:45. We probably should head back now. My mom would ground me if I didn’t make it back by 10.” He said.
Ever pulled out his phone, too. “Man, there’s hardly a signal out here.”
“We only got 3 more houses to go. We can do them fast and get back in time, alright?” Charlie said.
Ever shrugged and dropped his phone back into his bright green overalls pocket. Michael nodded. The second house had a similar bungalow style as the first one but had patio seats and a better porchlight. Charlie knocked on the door, pushing the memory of the scarecrow behind him. Muffled voices could be heard, then footsteps reaching up to the door. The doorknob turned slowly.
The person holding the door open had a scarecrow costume on. Charlie stared as he recognized the shoes, the pants with the holes, The straw hat, and the baggy mask. The person had the same silver bucket with the candy bars, too. Charlie could hear Michael starting to mumble something. There was something different; behind the scarecrow was another person. They were dressed as a farmer with denim overalls, flannel shirt, wide brim hat, and a plastic mask covering their face. Charlie could feel Michael and Ever leaning behind him to look. He wasn’t paying much attention to the farmer costume but what they held in their hands: a gleaming pitchfork. It glistened as if it was sharpened and oiled.
The scarecrow shook the bucket at them. The boys shoved their hands at the same time into the bucket, muttered their gratitudes, and dashed down the porch steps. They hid behind an abandoned tent, which lay in a crumbled heap close to the ramp wall. Charlie saw the door closing to the house.
“They must have had a sale of those scarecrow costumes at the Halloween shop,” Ever said.
“I don’t like this, man. This is getting too weird. I say we should go,” Michael said.
Charlie nodded. Before they left from the security of the broken tent, Charlie peered at each of the houses. Choosing to walk on the other side, keeping the houses they visited on the other side of them, they sped up the street. A door creaked open. The boys stopped in front of the house, and they glanced over. The door stood open, and in the doorway was a person in a scarecrow costume with a bucket of candy in their hands. The scarecrow shook the bucket at them. Charlie shook his head and began pushing at Michael and Ever. They ran, heading to the cross street. The clunk of candy in a bucket drew his attention to the other houses. The first scarecrow stood on the sidewalk with his hand outstretched with a bucket, and next door, the scarecrow and the farmer with the pitchfork stood on the street. As he returned his gaze, he almost collided with another scarecrow that stood in front of the last house; Michael and Ever had run past. Using his skills as a football player, he twirled with his bucket of candy clutched in his arms and skirted away. Michael and Ever had paused to look for Charlie.
“Go! Go!” Charlie said, nudging them with his shoulders. They kept running as they went down the cross street. Charlie’s lungs burned as he tried to run and hold onto his pumpkin. Michael stopped, then Ever and Charlie. They were bent over, breathing hard. Gradually, they stood up, and Charlie glanced over the picket fence of the house they stood in front of and saw a scarecrow sitting up high on a pole. He screamed, which prompted the others to, and they took off towards their houses, their candy jostling out of their pumpkins.
