He was a monster.

He was a monster, hiding in the shadows as he hungrily watched his prey. Said prey was currently walking ever closer to his hiding place, calling nervously in its native language.

Soon, it would call no longer.

He tensed as his prey drew closer, almost within pouncing distance. Closer...closer...now!

"Rrargh!" He roared, clutching tightly onto the leg of his prey.

Said prey let out a little shriek of fright, stumbling backwards a little before regaining its balance. It looked down at him...and let out a laugh.

"Ah, there you are, hijo," his prey chuckled. "You gave me a little start there, Cole!"

Eight-year-old Cole Brookstone scowled up at his prey. "I'm not Cole!" He said, growling low in his throat. "I'm a scary dragon! Rrrargh!!!" He roared, hoping to scare his prey into submission.

His prey, instead of being properly terrified, let out a horrifying n'aawwww sound. "But you're soooo cuuuute though," the prey cooed, bending down and rubbing—rubbing!—the top of his head.

"Moooooooom~!" Cole complained, shaking his head and adjusting the head of his costume. "Dragons aren't cute! They're scary and fearless!"

His mom laughed. "That's true, except there's one thing that dragons are scared of..."

Cole cocked his head to the side. "What?"

A mischievous little twinkle appeared in his mom's grey eyes. "A tickle-saurus!" She said, wiggling her fingers menacingly.

Cole's eyes widened and he quickly tried to escape, but he was quickly caught in an iron grip. He shrieked and flailed as fingers started to poke and squeeze his tummy. "Mama!" He gasped through giggles. "Stop it, Mom! Stop it!"

Wiggle though he did, he couldn't escape his mom's clutches and was forced to endure a prolonged tickle session.

The torture finally came to an end when he heard his father call out, "What's with all this racket?"

"Nothing, mi amor," His mom replied, finally ceasing her torture. "I was just vanquishing the ferocious dragon."

"I see," his dad chuckled, walking around the corner. "Well, the 'ferocious dragon' won't get any candy at all if we're late to the celebration."

Cole's eyes bugged out at the thought of no candy. "I'm ready I'm ready!" He exclaimed, already running towards the door. "C'mon mom, I don't wanna be late!"

His mom laughed. "Alright, Cole, Alright" she called as she and his dad followed him. "We're coming!"

If only they had known what was to come...

~~~~

Cole loved Day of the Departed.

He loves dressing up in fun costumes, he loved receiving candy and other sweets from all of the elders, he loved hearing the tales that his parents told him about their ancestors. Most of all, he loved the pretty lanterns that they lit and then set afloat in the lake to guide the spirits who came down to visit them back to the Departed Realm.

The lanterns wouldn't be set afloat until later that night, so in the meantime, Cole made his goal to receive as many sweets as possible and to eat as many sweets as his mom allowed him to eat(she was way more generous than his dad).

"Mom, Dad, look!" He exclaimed after a few hours, holding up his orange candy bag, which was almost completely filled with treats.

"Oh my!" His mom exclaimed, bending over to take a peek. "That's a lot of candy, Cole! You did a good job this year!"

"Just don't eat too much," his dad said in a warning tone. "Don't want to get a tummy ache now, do we?"

"Nuh uh," Cole shook his head. "I don't like tummy aches—they stink!"

"That they do," his mom agreed. Then, when his father was not looking, she plucked a piece of candy from his bag and offered it to him. "Though, I'm sure one piece won't hurt," she whispered, winking.

Cole beamed and took the candy. He then dug around until he found a piece of candy he knew his mom liked and gave it to her. They shared winks before quickly eating the candy, giving Cole's father an innocent look when he turned back their way.

"Oh, Lou, look!" His mom said, pointing at the distance. "They've set up a haunted house over there! Let's go through it!"

"I don't know, hon," Lou replied nervously. "That doesn't look age-appropriate for Cole..."

"Oh, you're just being a scaredy-cat! That sign says that it's for kids 13 and younger..."

As his parents started to bicker a little, Cole happened to catch sight of a nearby stand that were selling Day of the Departed themed cupcakes. He gently tugged at his mom's sleeve and asked, "Mom, can I get one of those cupcakes? Pleeeeeeeeease?"

One look at Cole's pouty face with his grey eyes open big and wide in a 'sad puppy' look, and his mom quickly caved. "Alright, sweetie," she said, gently taking Cole's candy bag and giving him two coins. "Be careful with it and come straight back here, alright?"

"Ok!" Cole reached up and pecked his mom on the cheek. "Thank you!" he cried as he raced to the booth.

It didn't take him long to purchase himself a treat. As he started to consume the sugary cupcake(it was a chocolate cupcake covered in green frosting--yum!), Cole started to walk back to his parents. By that time, however, a lot of people were using the path that lay between him and his family. Try as he might, Cole found himself being swept away by the crowd and, when he finally managed to escape the stream, he had lost sight of his parents.

The cupcake he had just eaten started to feel heavy in Cole's tummy. "Mom?" he called out, weaving his way through the crowd. "Mom? Dad? Dónde estás?!"

He stumbled through the throngs of people, calling out to both of his parents, hoping that he could spot them.

But he didn't.

Cole whimpered and hugged himself, knowing that he was lost and wanting to find his mom and dad. As he wandered around, hopelessly lost, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and he paused.

A short distance from where the eight-year-old stood was an old house. In contrast to the bright colors of the festival going on behind him, the house was a dull grey and black, and looked to be on the verge of collapse. Just looking at it made a shudder run down Cole's back. The house looked as if it were haunted...

Suddenly, Cole remembered that his parents had been discussing going to a haunted house when he had been separated from them. He felt a little flutter of hope rise in his chest. Maybe his parents were in there!

Cole raced up to the old, ignoring the signs that were planted around it, warning to "keep out". He leapt up the stairs, barely noticing how they creaked threateningly under his weight, and without hesitation opened the door leading into the house. "Mom?" He called, peeking through the door. "Dad? Are you here?"

The inside of the house was just as inviting as the outside—which is to say, not very at all. A decrepit staircase led up to a second floor, but looked much too treacherous to attempt climbing—several stairs were either broken or missing altogether. Cobwebs littered every conceivable corner, and the air was full of dust, so much so that Cole sneezed three times in a row after entering the house.

"H-Hello?" He called out nervously as he walked into the house. "Mom? D-Dad? Are...are you in here?"

The floorboards squeaked noisily as Cole walked further into the house. Something went thump, and Cole jumped when he heard the noise. He swallowed thickly, fear slowly starting to make its presence known.

"H-Hello?" he called out again, valiantly trying to ignore how much he was quivering in fear. "Is....is anyone there?"

A low moaning noise sounded through the house at that moment. A lamp on the opposite side of the room suddenly fell to the floor, shattering with a loud crash! Other stuff started falling to the floor, as if they were being flung, and the thumping noise came back, sounding as if someone was running....running right at Cole.

The young boy stumbled backwards, instincts screaming at him to get away even as his eyes and mind were telling him that there was no one there--

His left heel struck something and Cole gasped as he stumbled and started to fall backwards. As he fell, he felt something dig into the skin of his forehead and drag down, slicing through the skin as if it were nothing more than wet paper.

Cole cried out as he fell onto his back, hands automatically coming up to grab his forehead. A second later, he screamed as what felt like a thousand hammers starting pounding at his skull. He curled up in a fetal position, hands pressing at his temples and tears streaming down his cheeks as he begged and pleaded for the pain to stop, make it stop, make it stop!

As suddenly as it came, the pain went away, leaving Cole gasping and panting on the floor. As he slowly started to calm down some, he became aware of someone whispering:

"......out......et out....get out....."

Shaking a little, Cole slowly sat up....and stared at the figure that was hunched over in front of them.

It wasn't that he wasn't startled by the sudden appearance of the figure. It was more so that he was startled because the figure was partially see-through and glowing green.

Cole let out a little gasp....and the figure twisted its head towards him, its eyes wild.

"GET OUT!!!" it shrieked, lunging towards Cole

Cole screamed in fright and shot up to his feet, turning and fleeing from the figure. He heard the figure--person? Monster?--screech behind him, heard it running after him. But Cole just ran harder, practically flying out of the old house.

As he ran closer towards the festival, he turned his head behind him to see if....if it had followed him. As he did so, however, he suddenly bumped into something, sending him tumbling onto his tailbone.

"Oh, my deepest apologies!" a kind-of echoey voice exclaimed. "Are you alright young man?"

Cole looked up....and let out a scream when he saw the tall, glowing green person in front of him. He scuttled backwards, screaming, "G-Go away! Go away!"

He leapt to his feet and took off in the opposite direction, only to skid to stop when he almost ran into two more green-glowing, see through people, who stared at him in fascination. He turned to run in another direction, only to spot more see through, green-glowing, and in some cases even floating(?!?!) people, who were intermingled with regular normal people, but it was like no one else could see them since they didn't scream or run away in fear—in fact, many walked through the green figures and acted as if nothing had happened.

Cole felt his heart hammering against his chest and his vision starting spinning and blurring as he tried to process what in the world happening, who were these green people, why was no one screaming in fear, could they not see them, and if not why could he, he didn't understand, he wanted it to stop, he wanted to sit down and hide until all of this was over, he wanted—

"COLE!"

The overwhelmed boy jumped when he heard his name—and let out a choked sob when he finally, finally, caught sight of his parents. "Mom, Dad!" He cried, racing towards them.

His mom engulfed him in a huge hug, his dad not far behind her. Both of them expressed their relief(though his father had a bit of a scolding time in his voice), and asked him where he had been.

"Oh, my poor baby!" His mom gasped, lifting Cole's chin up and sweeping back his bangs. "Hijo, what happened to your head?!"

"A-A monster c-came out and hurt me," Cole sniffed through his tears.

His parents exchanged unreadable looks(looks that he later realized expressed their skepticism) before his dad asked, "And where was this monster?"

Cole pointed in the direction of the house he had escaped from. His father got up and walked in that direction, bringing with him a couple of other men who had overheard the conversation. His mother in the meantime hugged Cole tight and ran her hand gently through his hair, whispering soothingly, "Estás bien, you're okay, my little dragon. Mommy and Daddy are here now, we're not leaving you. Shhh, estás bien..."

But Cole wasn't fine. Not for a long time...

~~~~~~~

Cole's mum was Hispanic/Latina, and YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE!!!!!

This is all that I have finished, so tell me what you guys think! Should I keep going? Should I stop?