❝𝙱𝚘𝚢𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚐𝚎,
𝚆𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎?
𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎,
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗.❞
𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 – 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗

"Someone is coming."

That was Maisie's younger sister, Sophie. She was looking out the window. 

"Come on, Sophie, you know that no one will come by," Maisie told her. It was kind of embarrassing, feeling like they were the only ones on the block that didn't celebrate Halloween. 

It wasn't like they didn't have plenty of money, they did, it was just that their mother refused to celebrate Halloween for reasons that she refused to indulge in. She also refused to let her children out to go trick-r-treating as well. 

It got to the point that the neighborhood knew to avoid the lame and not-so-fun house.

Maisie was trying to get in the Halloween spirit by reading her Shivers collection of books. 

"Yeah, you know better than that," Dylan agreed. He wore glasses and had his button-up shirt tucked in. He was big on normality. He carried a book with him.

Maisie's twin sister, Marnie and their mother ran down the stairs.

"But Mom, it's just a costume party," Marnie pleaded. "I'll even take Mai with me." It was a nickname for Maisie. "The whole world is going. If we don't go, we'll be freaks."

Maisie knew it was a losing battle, even though she was impressed Marnie got their friends to come to try and get their mother to change her mind. She wanted to go so badly, because her crush, Jack, was going, but again, it was a losing battle. It was a hill that Gwen Piper will die on and be buried in.

"You know, the odds were 50% that I'd get one normal sister," Dylan said.

Maisie glared at him and Marnie pushed him over as she, Gwen, and their friends made their way into the living room.

"Mom, we're thirteen. We're practically grown-ups," Marnie pleaded.

"I like to think that we can certainly be allowed to make some choices," Maisie added. She did it because Marnie would be annoyed that she didn't try or stand with Marnie.

Marnie said, "Right?"

"Yeah," a girl in a clown costume agreed, "I guess so."

The girl in the witch costume asked the girl in the clown costume, "Is there an age for that?"

"Look, girls, I'm sorry," Gwen started, "But you are not going out on Halloween."

Maisie rolled her eyes, "Figures."

"Why?" asked Marnie. 

"I have my reasons," Gwen stated. "And I will explain them to you when...you're both...taller."

"And we've heard that line for all our lives," Maisie muttered.

"Yeah, and it's just for one night," Marnie agreed. "What is the big deal?"

"Um, it does seem a little unfair," the girl in the witch costume agreed. "I mean, seeing as they like weird stuff so much."

Maisie didn't think her fascination with horror was that weird.

"Yeah," the clown girl piped up. "It was like Halloween is, like, made for them." 

Maisie appreciated the effort.

"Skeletons, witches, vampires," witch-girl rattled off. "You know, they spend our whole math class drawing ghosts and vampire fangs in their notebooks."

After seeing the look on Gwen's face, Marnie cut them off by hissing, "Guys." to get them to be quiet.

"All right, that's all. Thank you all for coming, you've been a lovely audience, but the show is over," Gwen said. She led the two girls to the door, "Mai and Marnie will see you all tomorrow."

"Mom," Marnie complained as Gwen shut the door on the two girls.

"It's just a stupid holiday," Maisie stated.

"And I'm so sick of this," Marnie said, going to the living room. "I want to know why we can't be like other kids and go out on Halloween." 

"Our poor little sister is basically a window decoration," Maisie added, looking at Sophie who was still looking out the window. She was probably waiting for that mysterious person to show up.

"Yeah, she should be out trick-'r-treating," Marnie agreed. "You kept her from having a normal childhood."

Dylan, from his spot on the couch, looked up from his book, "I think it's obvious why Halloween is bad."

Maisie looked at him, arching an eyebrow, urging him to go on.

Dylan explained, "I mean, that whole razor blade in the apple thing was an urban myth, of course. But then all that candy causes cavities and gum disease, and the masks everybody wears has these really weird toxic fumes inside that make your arms go limp and...and..."

"And it's way too late for you," Maisie muttered.

"Maisie, Marnie, I'm sorry," Gwen said. "I know you two wanted to go out with your friends, but there are just some things about Halloween that you both don't understand."

Maisie made a show of visibly rolling her eyes, because it was the same every year. It was why she gave up on arguing about it. She told herself that when she was older, she'll celebrate Halloween, and she made a promise to make sure her future kids won't go through what she did.

"Oh, right," Marnie said, refusing to give up. "Like there's some big mysterious reason that we can't go out."

"Face it, Marnie. She just doesn't trust us," Maisie said. "She probably thinks that we're going to steal candy from other children and egg a house or two."

Gwen looked at her for that comment, "That's not true."

"Oh, yes it is," Marnie countered. "You keep us all in this big bubble. How are we supposed to grow up if we can't explore the world, try new things, and take some risks?"

"I am just trying to protect you," Gwen replied. 

"Yeah, you're protecting us from being anything but a bunch of vegatables," Marnie stated. She went over and sat on the arm of the chair that Maisie was sitting in. "Hey, look, Mai. We're potatoes."

"Good, let me just put some roots down," Maisie said.

"Oh, no, girls. It's too dangerous," Marnie said, imitating their mother. "There are things about vegetables that you don't understand."

Maisie laughed while their mother looked at them in a 'are you two done yet?' type of way.

Marnie and Gwen stared each other down in silence.

"Somebody's coming," Sophie stated once again.

Gwen and Marnie stared each other down, before Gwen went to get Sophie, grabbing her, "Come, my little window decoration." She looked at Maisie for that one. "Let's get you washed up for dinner."

"But Mom, somebody's coming," Sophie told her. They walked away.

Dylan asked, "Why are you two so obsessed with Halloween? It's just like Mom says, it gives little kids dumb ideas about there being magic. Like that helps them prepare for life. Personally, give me a good nature documentary any day."

Maisie rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. It's spooky and gives you a good time to explore darkness and weirdness in the world. You can be creative. It gives you a reason to become someone or something else for the night."

Marnie nodded, "Halloween is cool, Nature Boy." Maisie nodded and Marnie continued, "It's exciting, strange, and ancient." She added, "Plus, Mom and Dad met on Halloween." She looked at a picture of them with their dad. 

"Shh." Dylan said, "What are you trying to do? You know how talking about Dad always bums Mom out. I mean, why can't you two pick some other holiday to get hung up on? Like, Arbor Day? Trees are important too, you know."

Maisie rolled her eyes. Why did they have to have a giant nerd for a brother? 

Marnie grabbed a Shivers book and opened it up to read. 

"Grandma!"

Marnie and Maisie looked at each other, before getting up and rushing to the kitchen. Their grandmother was standing there in the kitchen. 

She always had a way of appearing in the kitchen.

Maisie asked, "Grandma?"

They ran over to hug her, because it was like they saw her once a year, on Halloween. Never Christmas.

 Grandma Aggie never judged Marnie and Maisie for their love of Halloween. She actually encouraged it.

"It's so wonderful to see you and the children again," Aggie said, looking around at the kids, "Oh, my, my! How you've grown."

"Did you bring us presents?" asked Sophie.

Gwen admonished, "Sophie."

"Oh, presents, presents, presents, presents," Aggie said, looking at each of her grandkids. "What kind of grandma do you think I'd be if I didn't bring you presents? They're right here in my suitcase." She glanced around. "I don't know where that thing went to. Just a minute." She went to get her suitcase.