Maud and Lyn both took some time to themselves to reflect on what had happened. They didn't have much to miss in school that day, so they casually sat on their couch wearing nothing but sweatpants and plain tees. Everything went by really fast, and crazy. And, they couldn't believe they'd ever feel that way, but they were sad when Jack left. He was probably in a better place this time. At least they did see his green soul go up. That would mean something. Maud was staring at the giant turnip before her, watching it glow. At some point, she felt it'd die, but it hadn't yet. Lyn looked like she was thinking about something, and she felt the need to let it out. She pulled her black hair behind her ears, and scooched closer to Maud, just enough for her to take notice.

"Look, I'm sorry too M. I shouldn't have acted the way I did." Lyn reached for Maud's soft and cold hand.

"Oh, no you don't have to apologize." Maud touched her back.

"I do." Lyn smiled, and it made her eyes almost close up completely.

Maud had to accept the apology either way. They made mistakes, and now they had patched things up. That's basically what friendship was all about, and more. Lyn also gazed at the giant turnip sitting on their floor, and was almost mesmerized by its glow. It was like the insides were a bright molten orange, swirling around inside the turnip. Lyn was thinking about touching it when a rap on the door stopped her. She shared glances with Maud, and decided to see who it was.

It was Cole.

His face looked plain, and he was in a black leather jacket with his hand in his jean pocket. Cole didn't call before he came, and Lyn wondered why. She hadn't given him the dirty look yet, but she still hadn't told him to come in. If Cole weren't so good looking, she'd have shut the door on his face immediately she saw it. She swallowed hard, having a mental battle about whether to let Cole in or yell him off.

"Can I... come in?" Cole asked, in a low and fruity tone.

Lyn had kept him there for like ten seconds, and she felt it was just whatever. He might as well come in and say whatever he wanted to say. Lyn didn't respond, instead she left the door to assume her former position on the couch. Cole nodded, taking that as a cue, and stepped in, shutting the door behind him.

Cole's boot slowly tapped on the floorboards, as he approached a casually seated Lyn with her roommate beside her.

"Hi." Cole greeted.

"Hi," Maud responded. That was also the first time Cole had genuinely said hi to her. Without adding creep or creep show. What changed? The corner of her lips quirked up and she took her gaze off him.

Cole was now very close to Lyn. Their legs practically touched, and with a little bit of dramatic effect, Cole crouched to the couch's level, holding Lyn's hand. Lyn didn't see that coming, and neither did Maud. Their facial expressions clearly said that.

"Lyn Commons." He started, and for a moment there, it sounded like he wanted to propose. Except there was no ring in his hand yet, and they were still freshmen. "I am so so sorry... that I made you feel like a bet... or, or a task to accomplish. I'm sorry for making you feel less, or seeing you as one. I'm sorry that I toyed with your emotions, and I tried to play you."

"Did! You kinda did play me." Lyn interrupted, even though Cole's slow and long apologies were sinking deep into her soul.

Cole almost chuckled, but he buried it instantly. "I did. And I can never be more sorry. I really like you... Lyn. I love you... and from now henceforth, I promise to love and respect you. Always." Cole grabbed her hands tighter, and Lyn could feel a lump form behind her throat. Tears had begun to pool in her eyes, and she batted them away, facing Maud. Maud was giving her the look that said, give him a chance. And for the first time in forever, Cole was being less cocky, and more submissive. Lyn glanced back at him, and he could well see the emotions in her eyes.

"I let you in, right?" She asked, with a short sniffle.

"Yeah," Cole replied, having the feeling that this was headed somewhere.

"I let you hold my hand, right?"

Cole glanced at Lyn's thin and silky hands, "yeah."

"I let you kiss me... right?"

"Yeah, wait what—"

And with an instant propelling, Lyn leaned in to kiss Cole. Maud could definitely feel her stomach flip at the sight of this, as Cole and Lyn genuinely locked lips right before their eyes. She swatted a tear in her eye, and they pulled apart.

"I forgive you." Lyn leaned back again, assuming position, and the huge smile on Cole's face made her remember how she felt when they first met. By this time, Cole had already sat on the floor, very close to Lyn's legs, now glancing around their apartment with true ease. His eyes caught the giant turnip beside Maud's legs and he felt amazed by it.

"So, what is this thing anyway? And who was that Jack Guy?" He asked, directing the questions at Maud, because she seemed like the one who would know.

"This..." Maud cleared her throat, and gazed at the giant glowing turnip. "Is... kind of the first version of Jack O' Lanterns. And that Jack... was actually Stingy Jack." Maud tried to put it simply.

"Holy crap. Like Jack the Smith from the Irish folklore?" Cole asked, with all seriousness.

Maud gave him a weird look, wondering how he knew that. She was even thinking of explaining further to him who Jack was, but it seemed that there was no need for it. Cole noticed this and wondered.

"What? I know a little bit of history. And I've heard lots of folklores." He said in his defense, looking to Lyn for backup, but only got a soft smile from him. He smiled too, holding her hand, like he'd missed her for so long.

Maud heaved a sigh, as something dawned on her. "What time is it? I have to meet up with Mr. Collins by eleven." She asked, feeling too lazy to go look for her phone.

Lyn was in the middle of searching the couch for hers, but Cole was faster, pulling his out of his pocket.

His eyebrows drew together. "That's weird."

"Huh?" Maud didn't get what he said there.

"Uh, the time is just ten minutes past nine." Cole said, but still glancing down at his phone, with a faintly quizzical look. He could see Maud collapse onto the sofa through his peripheral vision, as she felt there was still time.

"What's... weird?" Lyn heard that first part and she asked.

"This photo we took at my Halloween party. I used it as my screensaver, and now it's… gone." He said, and was scrolling through his phone. He tapped the photo icon, and went through the photos he took on Halloween night, but he couldn't find any. He was only met with other familiar photos, and not the one he was looking for.

"Could you send it to me? I think I once sent you a bunch. And I really like that particular that I used." Cole said, giving Lyn a sentimental gaze.

"Sure." Lyn nodded sharply, and dug under the pair of throw pillows at her back. She felt something solid, and pulled it out. She unlocked it and also scrolled through her collection of photos. She saw most of her selfies, the ones she and Cole took on different occasions, some with Maud in them, but she couldn’t find the ones Cole just asked her for, alongside all the photos they took at the party. She was also sure he had sent her the photos. But where could they be? Had she deleted them?

"Wow. Now this is weird. I can't find it." Lyn made a disappointed face, and Cole shrugged a little.

Maud heard a ding on her phone, and she got up. She glanced at it, wondering what that might be. Maybe an e-mail. She trotted to the table afar, and picked it up. It was just a notification from her departmental group chat. She ignored it, but something was strange on her phone. Her Halloween wallpaper was gone. Reset back to default and she wondered why. She really liked that wallpaper, and so she went through her collection of photos to pick one of the pre-saved ones. Weird. They weren't there anymore. She wasn't giving up just easily, and so she decided to download it again. She clicked on an app that offered different kinds of wallpapers and typed "Halloween" in its search bar.

No results found.

What was going on? She wondered and closed the app, opening the Safari browser instantly. She clicked on Google and instantly punched in the keywords, Halloween. Hoping she would see some really cool Halloween photos to use.

Your search - Halloween - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:

Make sure all words are spelled correctly.

Try different keywords.

Try more general keywords.

What the hell? Was Google messing with her? Of course she didn't spell Halloween wrong. How could she?

"Uh, guys? Since when is Halloween not a term?" She whisked around, finding Lyn and Close already very close on the couch, with their shoulders touching.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked.

"I want to download some Halloween photos and Google won't let me." She said, and tried the search again. "Says it doesn't match any document." Now Maud was looking somewhat irritated.

"It's true," Cole had already pulled out his phone to Google search too, and hearing him confirm that kind of scared Maud.

Maud pulled closer to the two, wondering what was going on. Cole now looked down, eyes travelling across the floorboards all the way to Jack's lamp. The events of last night flashed through his mind and then something hit him.

"Wait... you guys said that was Stingy Jack, right?" Cole asked, with something going through his mind. “The guy from last night?”

"Yeah?"

"And... Halloween is like linked to him, because he was cursed to roam the earth and Halloween is the one night that we make Jack O' Lanterns to scare him off. Right." Cole still wasn't sure of what was coming out of his mouth, but he was trying to make sense of it all. Because it wasn't that Google was down. He made a few other searches, which brought out results. Only Halloween didn't.

"Yeah. What are you saying?" Maud was kind of impatient, and Lyn was too.

"And you said he somehow came to life, but we saw him die again last night."

"And his soul kind of... went up." Maud remembered.

"Well, what if... he's gone. And he's... taken Halloween with him?” Cole dropped the bomb on them, and even Maud thought that was too much.

How was that possible? Well, Jack did come back to life? How was that possible?

"Are you saying we just... wiped out Halloween?" Maud said, eyes filled with disbelief.

Lyn was still confused. "I don't think we did anything?"

Cole was still in doubt too. And Maud looked like she was losing her shit.

"I'm gonna call someone." Cole said instantly and hit the dialer. "His name's Greg, and he's as serious as they come." He added, and the phone rang. Greg didn't take time, as he picked up on the first ring.

"Greg. Hey." Cole greeted, eyeing the girls before him.

"What's up man?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm okay. Hey, quick question."

"Shoot." Greg said, loud enough for Maud and Lyn to hear as his phone was now on loudspeaker.

"What... date do we celebrate... Halloween?" Cole's face wrinkled, anticipating the right answer.

Greg took a pause, as if to think. A quick static followed, and then he answered. "What's... Halloween?"

Their eyes went wide, as the horror of what they assumed they might have done swept through their minds.

Halloween was Gone!