#watched it on halloween.................. my supervisor today saw me at some point and say

[as-warm-as-choco]

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[sweetwritertanya]

Trick-or-Treating (Original)

A/N: Guys! It’s my first attempt at an horror trope! I can’t honestly tell if it’s any good or not, so you all will have to tell me... Because of this, I kept it as a short story. It’s a quick read to try and spook you a bit for the season ^.^

Summary: You take your nephew out on Halloween night for trick or treating. But the night takes a horrifying turn just as you were about to go back home.

Warnings: this is a HORROR fic and this will include children getting hurt/injured (although no death) as well as some mentions of blood. I don’t get too descriptive, so I wouldn’t call it gore, but you are warned. If you don’t feel comfortable, feel free to skip this one! 

Word Count: 1368

“Auntie, auntie, can I go to the next doorway on my own? Can I?” the adorable ten-year-old boy asks with bright round eyes, a big smile across his thin lips bellow his button nose.

Sighing but unable to keep a mimicking smile from your own lips, you ruffle the boy’s ashy blond hair, now out of his spider-man mask he only put on when it was time to knock on people’s doors.

“You know your mom asked me to keep you nearby. Some kids went missing last year and she’s being extra careful, quite rightfully so” you explain to the disappointed boy.

“Not fair” he pouts, head hanging low.

“Don’t be like that, Dan. Think of all the candy you’ll get today! Your parents never took you this far out of your neighborhood before for trick-or-treating, did they?” You try and cheer up the child, but he continues pointing.

“I guess…” As your nephew looks ahead with small interest in his light eyes, his whole expression suddenly lifts up as he recognizes someone. “Charlie! That’s my friend, auntie!”

The boy tugs at your hand and practically jumps in place as he points towards a duo of kids coming on the opposite direction down the street with two adults following closely behind. Coincidentally, the boy he recognized was also dressed as spider-man, while the other was dressed as a police-officer.

“Oh? You wanna go and say hi?”

“Please, please, please! Can I go trick-or-treating with them? Pleeaaaseee?” Dan begs in his best puppy eyes, to which you seem to never be able to say no.

“Gosh darnit… Fine, we’ll go and see if the people supervising them allow you to join in. But no promises, and don’t sulk if they say no, deal?” You warn, knowing how he got when he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Yay!” It’s like he never heard your warnings and automatically thinks he gets to play with his friends for the rest of the night.

Rolling your eyes at his reaction, you hold his hand and cross the street to meet the group of friends he had pointed to. You introduce yourself and your nephew to the two adults present, an older woman who was the mother of one of the kids and a younger guy who was an older brother. They saw absolutely no harm in letting your nephew join in on the fun and so the night continued with the group going house to house around the block.

As the night started to settle and fewer kids hang around the sidewalks with their parents, you warned Dan that is was almost time to go back home, to which he showed a lot of aversion, clinging to the friend dressed equally to him.

“How about this?” The woman suggests to the group of friends. “There are only three houses left and then we all have to go home. Us, grownups, will watch by the sidewalk and we’ll let you boys go to the front door on your own and ask for candy yourselves on these ones. What do you say?”

She wasn’t even finished talking and the children were already running ahead towards the next house, with excited squeals and chuckles. You shake your head and smile at how little could make them happy.

The first two houses go by well enough, one kid complaining about getting the worst candy out of the three but nothing more. By the third house, you watch with the rest of the adults as they ring the doorbell and no one seems to answer. They ring again, but nothing.

“C’mon boys, no one is home” you call out for them.

“But aunt Y/N, it’s called trick-or-treating! Now is when we trick, right?” your nephew asks from the front door.

“I have toilet paper” the kid dressed as a police officer says, taking out a roll from his bag.

“I have party streamers!” the other claims, taking it out of the bag too.

You and the other two supervisors exchange looks, wondering if you should let them do this. The older brother shrugs his shoulders and shouts out his response to the boys.

“You have two minutes! Then, we are going home. And careful not to break anything!”

Not needing any more convincing, the kids start running around the front yard with excited screams and jumping as they throw the toilet paper and streamers around the grass. You bite your lip, unsure if this was really the best idea and the older woman seemed to share your concerns.

“Do you even know who lives here? What if they don’t find this funny and get mad?”

“I’ll come by tomorrow early and talk to the owners. I’ll even offer to clean it all up, it shouldn’t be a problem” he assures you both, lifting a weight from your heart.

“That’s good. I know my sister doesn’t want any problem with anyone in the neighborhood, especially after last year.”

“Oh, those poor children!” the woman recalls the disappearance.

“Yeah, they were from my sister’s school district, went to the same school as her son and she’s been very protective ever since” you explain.

“Of course, we can’t be too car-”

It starts then. The most chilling and gut wrenching screams you have ever heard in your life.

You recognize your nephew’s horrifying screams and as your head snaps to the house, you realize the kids were no longer on the front yard. Your memory blurs for the next few minutes, but you recall jumping the small fence, even with your plump body not making it easy but the adrenaline helped, alongside the child’s older brother, screaming Dan’s name in a panic. The older woman, too fragile to jump like you, has to go around the gate and soon you are all going around the house to the backyard, where the trail of toilet paper and party streamers led.

The scene you come across still to this day makes you sick. Your nephew is standing there, screaming bloody murder, with the kid dressed as a police-officer laying on the floor, face down with a nasty cut on the back of his head, covering his head with blood. In front of them is Charlie, Dan’s friend, with a knife by his feet and the spider-man mask bloodied on his hand.

It all happens so quickly, you truly have a hard time remembering as you tell your side of the events to the cops.  Somehow, in the midst of your perplexing shock, you manage to run and grab your screaming nephew away from the murderous kid at the same time the older brother kneels by the injured kid and tries to stop the bleeding. The woman, the mother of the other boy, cries her eyes out as she reaches for her son, who was completely numb until he found himself in the arms of his mother and then begins to sob and shake.

The police and an ambulance show up before you know it, and you are still absent-mindedly holding Dan in a crushing hug when the police officer asks you for a testimony. Your nephew’s story corroborates what the police already suspected and the boy who got hurt is taken away in an ambulance still alive.

You take your sister’s son back to her home still in somewhat of a shock state. She gets incredibly mad at you for letting him out of your sight and it takes months before you two make up and you are allowed to see your nephew again. By the time that happens he has returned to his normal self, that happy bright kid you were used to see, like nothing ever happened.

No one questions the injured kid, who thankfully survived, any further after he says that spider-man attacked him. No one really questions how Dan even befriended Charlie, since their parents knew nothing of any friendship between them. No one wonders why Dan chose to dress up as spider-man for Halloween, when he never showed any interest in hero movies before.

And no one ever notices how the spider-man mask Dan took out that Halloween nigh was not the same that he brought back home.

[purplesurveys]

459

Hey there. So do you have a favorite M&M? No. And I actually don’t like M&Ms to begin with.

Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yes, but maybe not now because I’m really sick.

Is it easy to make you cry? Very. I cried last night watching my 13 year old cousin in her music recital and we don’t even talk to each other.

What do you think people really think about you? Probably that I’m weird and have the tendency to be aloof.

What was the last song you listened to? The last song I heard on the radio before my mom switched the car off was Cher Lloyd’s Want U Back. Brings ya right back to 2011.

Do you hear anything right now? What? Other than my electric fan and me pressing buttons on my keyboard, nope.

Have you ever shot a gun? I haven’t.

What's your favorite store? For clothes, H&M. For books, Fully Booked. Idk, there’s a whole roster of kinds of stores so you have to be more specific.

Do you believe in love? Sure.

What flavor do you like the best? It depends on what I’m having, if it’s ice cream, biscuits, coffee, etc.

What about scent? There are a lot of pleasant scents out there. I like the smell of a bakery, a new car, a hotel lobby, my girlfriend’s perfume...being specific is key lol.

What is the first feature you notice on people? Generally, their face. Sometimes, it’ll be how they talk/the vernacular they use.

How many times have you gone to the bathroom today? Once, to take a shower.

What's your favorite part about Thanksgiving?

When was the last time you cried? Why? Like I said, I was watching my younger cousin in her music recital last night and I cried when we saw her for the first time. Seeing people do what they love and looking very content about it will always turn me into mush.

What's your natural hair color? Black.

Who's your favorite football team?

Do you have any tattoos? Want any? I don’t and I also don’t. I did use to want tattoos all over my body when I was still an edgy, punk teen lmao then I got older and faced the fact that I’m a big baby when it comes to needles, so I backed out of that tattoo dream immediately.

Name one bad habit you have. I always procrastinate getting ready. I do everything at the last minute then get upset when I realize I’m late hahahahahahahaha.

Where was your Myspace default picture taken?

How many best friends do you have? Two.

What was the last thing you bought? I had a chicken fillet burger from a place called Fat Daddy’s at the mall last Friday.

What kind of car is your favorite? Mini Cooper models are my favorite. I don’t want anything big, but I do want my car to look elegant.

What are you wearing? A brown tank and white shorts because I’m just staying home.

Have you ever snuck out? I don’t think I’ve ever done this. My mom’s a witch and finds out everything lol.

Where were you born? Sampaloc, Manila.

Do you like your house? I’m satisfied with it.

When did your most embarrassing moment occur? I don’t think anything’s been bad enough to bag the title most embarrassing, thankfully. I can think of an instance in junior year in high school though.

When was the last time you threw up? Around two months ago, I think.

What's one movie you really want to see? TOY STORY 4!!!

What's the last movie you did see? Split. It was interesting, but I didn’t really buy the end.

Who'd you watch it with? My sister and her boyfriend were watching it in the living room the other day and Gab and I joined them in the middle of the movie haha.

Have you ever searched your name on Google? I’ve searched my username, but not my actual name. I feel like only embarrassing stuff will come up.

Who was the last person to comment you? My aunt. I shared a Facebook post that was shitting on beer, and she commented on it basically agreeing with me.

How often do you text? All the time. I prefer texting than being online because it’s more instant.

What's something you want right now? I want pizza and I want this slight fever to go away.

What's one word/phrase you say way too often? Anything with the word ‘like,’ really.

Are you single? Nope.

Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston? I reeeally love Jen for her work on Friends, but I resonate with Angelina more :c She’s more vocal, supports a lot of causes, has broken glass ceilings, and I find her to be very brave.

Do you prefer pens or pencils? Pens.

Know anyone pregnant? Right now, no.

When was the last time you sung out loud? Last Friday. I was driving in the car with Gab and she was playing some Quality Bops.

Who knows you best? Angela. Gabie’s a tad forgetful to know me the most.

Are you forgiving? Nope.

What's your favorite band? PARAMORE

What's your favorite sport? To watch? Wrestling. To play, table tennis.

When was the last time you bought a CD? Haha oh god. 2013, I think. I was still able to buy Paramore’s and Beyonce’s self-titled albums that year.

What was the last book you read? It’s a book on establishing a business in the Chinese market, given to me by my internship supervisor. She told me I’m supposed to have finished it by the end of my stint. I guess she lent it to me because we have a Chinese client, but tbh the book gets way too technical when it comes to opening a business and doesn’t really have anything to do with the nature of our PR work. Still an intriguing read, though. 

Are you going to be watching anything on TV tonight? Nah I’m probably gonna be snoozing a lot tonight.

Do you use smilies a lot? Only towards people that I’m friendly towards but I’m not necessarily close to.

Which holiday is your favorite? Halloween, if it counts.

Where are your parents right now? My mom just went upstairs to her room and my dad is at work.

When did you go to sleep last night? 1 AM. The recital last night ended late + my aunt still wanted to treat us to dinner after (it was already 10:30 at that point), so my night ended super late.

How is your life right now? It sucks. I feel inferior in all aspects. I’m lonely and tired and sick and I wanna spend the whole day sleeping, but in all honesty I’m so attached to surveys that I also really just wanna take a couple ones today before passing out for the rest of the day.

Name the one thing you're most thankful for. My friends.

Do you believe in karma? Sure, it’s a comforting thought.

What's your zodiac sign? Taurus.

Have you ever broken the law? What'd you do? Pirated movies on the Internet lmaaaaaaao.

Can you speak more than one language? Yes.

Last, if you could have any superpower, which one would it be? Time travel.

[literalliterature]

Is it bad to ask for all of the autumn asks... I genuinely want them all

HOOOO my gosh this is so much but honestly I want to answer them all too so HERE WE GO.

“pumpkin spice: what’s your drink of choice?”

Black tea with sugar, which I have at least once a day. 

“wool socks: what’s something you look forward to in fall?”

My favorite fall activity is going to every local store that sells miniature pumpkins and squash and hording them like a squirrel to display in my room. (Also, @people who go to school with me, if you think I’m not stealing pumpkins from the dining hall again this year you’re sorely mistaken.)

“falling leaves: you’re stranded on a desert island and here’s the twist; what three things do you NOT bring with you?”

My extremely old collection of movies that I never watch, the grim specters of my past mistakes, and the shitty chocolate mints that I have in my house even though nobody likes them.

“smelly candles: what’s your absolute favorite scent?”

Lilac.

“big sweaters: do you prefer the cold, warmth, or a perfect in-between?”

I prefer the cold because it provides me the perfect excuse to bundle up in my dumb fluffy fall/winter attire.

“halloween: if you could dress up as anyone/ anything and pull it off absolutely flawlessly, who/what would it be?”

I’d dress up as Bigfoot, take lots of blurry photos of myself, and cement my status as a real-life cryptid.

“cozy blankets: where do you feel the most safe and at home?”

Driving down a country highway with @salty-scribe, @true-booty, @hipsterspacetrash, and a lot of snacks.

“hot tea: when was the last time you kissed someone (if you haven’t had your first kiss, who would you like that first someone to be?)“

Excluding platonic kisses with family, the last time was back in high school, but it was a guy so it doesn’t really count in my book lol.

“flannel: what’s your favorite day of the year? is there a reason it’s your favorite?”

Am I supposed to pick, like, a specific date here? ‘Cause if that’s the case, the entire calendar year is just a build-up to Christmas day imo.

“chilly air: what’s your least favorite and favorite type of weather?”

Least favorite is definitely the kind of extremely hot, muggy, relentlessly sunny weather that inevitably builds up to a violent thunderstorm in the late afternoon. My favorite is a day that’s sunny but cool, perfect for wearing a sweater, and ideally with a brisk wind.

“scarves: if you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life what would it be?”

I have an outfit that I’m really fond of which features a green-blue blouse, jeans, and a brown faux-leather jacket. I also wear a necklace that I got years ago in the Grand Canyon and earrings made from real scarab beetles. I think I’d be fine wearing that every day tbh.

“apple cider: if you could throw a party, and invite absolutely anyone, who would they be?”

Everywhere I go is a party and everyone I meet is invited.

“haunted houses: what’s your scariest memory? (if you don’t have one/ don’t want to talk about it, what’s your biggest fear?)”

I am deeply afraid of blindness, time that I feel I have wasted, and touching soggy bread.

“fuzzy boots: if you could live in any year/era, which would it be and why?”

The current one, tbh…like for all the issues that we’ve obviously got I can’t fathom going back to a time where we didn’t have, like, stellar advancements in medicine or the ability to access pretty much any piece of information with the push of a button. I love the aesthetic of ca. 1100s Byzantium though.

“thanksgiving: what is something/someone you’re the most thankful for? any particular reason?”

Obviously I could list many, many things here. Currently I’m especially thankful for the cooler, very fall-like weather we’ve had here lately and the guidance I’ve gotten from my supervisors at work this past summer. Also I found out today that I got into a class I applied for and really wanted!

“black friday: what is one thing, if anything, you would sell your soul to own?”

Some fucking talents? Maybe some life skills? Those would be useful.

“apple picking: if you could go anywhere, where would it be and why?”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’d like nothing more than to travel to central Europe with friends. I especially want to go to Vienna because honestly that city is perfect as a travel destination? The culture, the palaces, the incredible zoo they have there, THE FOOD.

“corn mazes: do you have any secret talents/abilities?”

People tend to be impressed by my ability to wiggle my eyebrows in a wave motion.

“hay rides: if you could pick absolutely anything to be your form of transportation, what would it be?”

I would really love to own a Harley-Davidson bike at some point in the future.

“the color orange: do you have a specific song that reminds you of autumn? what is it?”

Let’s see…”Last Leaf” by OK Go is the first that comes to mind and it’s a pretty obvious one. I can’t hear “Linus And Lucy” by Vince Guaraldi without thinking of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which is in itself a prime autumn mood. Uh…weirdly some Jukebox the Ghost songs like “Dead” and “Ghosts In Empty Houses” make me think of autumn but in like a haunting, depressing way?

“windy nights:if you could go to any concert whose would it be?”

I’m not a big fan of concerts in general, but I have always wanted to see Bruce Springsteen live, and also I’d love to go back to another Jukebox the Ghost concert because the first one I saw was so much fun.

“holding hands: do you believe in soulmates?”

I believe that a few times in your life, you will always manage to find people who can relate to and understand you better than almost anyone else in the world possibly could and you’ll naturally gravitate towards those people, so in that sense, I believe in soulmates.

I DID IT.

[canaryatlaw]

today was good. I woke up at 6 and got ready as normal. despite my excitement for the case up in court today I also started to get anxious, particularly at the idea of the other lawyer getting very angry as I thought he would when he realized things weren’t going to go the way he wanted. but I also trusted the judge it was in front of (have been in front of her every day this week and will be again tomorrow morning) and knew I was only doing what the court had specifically okayed. but not knowing how it was gonna play out made me kind of anxious. everything else was fine though, my supervisor who was my co-counsel on the case since it was a rough one was out of the office today but my work buddy was gonna go up with me, but he ended up being late so I went in alone. thankfully I didn’t have to talk to the other lawyer before court itself started, which was one of the things I’d been distressed about, and by the time we got in front of the judge it seemed he’d deduced he was not going to get what he wanted and there was nothing he could do about it, so he whined about it a bit but otherwise wasn’t too dramatic, which was honestly a relief. he then proceeded to fuck himself over even more by trying to get the hearing date moved up and only succeeded in getting it pushed back by an entire month, and I didn’t even have to do anything, I just stood there with a calm smile on my face, and the judge definitely smiled a bit when she saw the look on my face haha. so that went well. we had been called first so my work buddy missed it but it all went okay anyway. we walked out of court laughing at how badly this guy had just fucked himself over. back down to the office and did a few things, then realized with my supervisor gone I again had basically nothing to do all day, so I ended up knocking out some CLE (continuing legal education) course hours since we have to have 15 hours done by the end of November (for the newly admitted lawyers) and at least 6 of them had to be from this specific basic skills course, so I found a webinar of it and ended up watching that for most of the day, though I was on my phone for most of it as well lol and I mean not only was the subject matter boring, but it was legit just a repeat of all the shit I already learned in law school, so that was really pointless. I got almost 5 hours of it down though so that was good. every so often I’d stop to do something else and ended up actually sitting at the front desk for like half an hour or so just because we had nobody else to do it lol and it took me a minute to figure out what I was actually supposed to do but it worked out. Tonight was supposed to be small group night but since it was Halloween we’d made plans to meet up with another small group at a like restaurant/bar/lounge type place as a social outing. well, the thing about today I didn’t get around to mentioning yet is that the weather was absolutely fucking miserable. the entire day it had been not quite snowing, but a mix of rain and snow, which was just gross and wet and nobody wanted to have to deal with it, so the vast majority of people bailed on the event, and I can’t say I blamed them because I probably would’ve as well if I wasn’t stuck in this semi-leadership position and the place was so close to my work anyway. I didn’t want to bother with the whole go to starbucks to kill time thing because it didn’t really make sense geographically for where I was ultimately heading and that required a fair amount of foot travel, which I didn’t want to do, so I ended up staying at the office doing the CLE until 6 or so at which point I grabbed my stuff and changed into the clothes I brought with me because my formal suit definitely wasn’t gonna cut it lol. I then ubered over there because any public transit method involved at least 10 minutes of walking outside in the miserable weather, and I ain’t about that life no more, I did way too much of it in law school already I don’t need anymore. of course I was like, the second person to actually show up haha but not too long after we met up with the other secondary leader guy and some people from the other small group, and got a table to get drinks and food. of course our actual leader guy who can’t ever seem to get anywhere on time ended up being like, two hours late, because he’s just ridiculous like that. the night was fun though, it felt good to have a casual social outing where I felt comfortable talking with people I didn’t really know before this and be able to be cracking jokes that people actually laughed at, and felt like my presence was being enjoyed, and it’s been a while since I’ve really felt that. It really sucks honestly that just when my work life finally reached a really good place that I’m so happy to be at, my social life has to go to hell and now I just feel sad and lonely pretty much all the time I’m not distracted doing something else (like working). It’s just been really hard and I don’t know what to do about it at this point. I keep telling myself I need to let go, but that’s so much easier said than done and I don’t want to just throw away relationships that have meant so much to me, but at this point caring has meant being hurt over and over again, and I really can’t take it anymore. It’s just at the point where I feel like I’m a bad person, that only if I wasn’t so messed up this wouldn’t be happening, that they all hate me because I keep doing this terrible things when I don’t even know what they’re talking about, feels like just everything I do is wrong and I can’t ever do anything right. and it’s just been gutting for me, to feel like I’m a bad friend when I try so hard to be a great friend to everybody, especially those I’m closest to, and the idea anybody would perceive me as a bad friend to them just fucking breaks me. and what’s really rough is that if this were happening to my friend, I know exactly what I’d tell them, that they don’t need people in their lives who treat them like that and clearly don’t value them for the amazing potential they have, I know this is what I would say if I were outside this situation. but I’m not, I’m right in the middle of it and none of it actually helps, because I just can’t give up, I need to fix it, I need them to like me, I need things to go back to where they were. even when I know all of the shit that has gone down, I just want them to like me again. this has just been tearing at me for weeks and I’ve mostly just been shutting it up inside of me out of fear that saying anything would provoke more hate. and maybe it will, idk at this point. but this really sucks and I don’t know what to do at this point. I just keep praying that it will get fixed, even when I know it probably won’t happen and it probably wouldn’t even be a good thing if it did, but I still can’t help myself from wanting it. everything else was going so well, and I’m totally fine when dealing with everything else, but this has really just been dragging me down. sigh. I’m ranting, clearly. anyway. it was a good night. After a few hours I headed home, again opting for an uber to avoid having to walk a good distance for public transit. I got home and turned on netflix while I browsed my computer for a bit and then showered and started getting ready for bed, and now I am here. It’s just past 11:30 and I have another 6 am wake up, so I really should be getting to bed now, so that is what I’m going to do. Goodnight friends. Happy Friday.