Happy Halloween

Jack’s mom was putting the finishing touches to her son’s Jack Skellington make-up when the doorbell rang for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

“I want to open it!” Jack said, running to the door.

A smile spread on the 12 year-old boy’s face when he saw his best friends, Alex, Zack and Rian, all clad in their own costumes, waiting for the youngest boy of the group. Jack was excited to go trick-or-treating this year, it was the first time his mom let him go alone with his friends. Jack told his mom goodbye and bolted out of the door to join the three other boys, Alex and Zack already playfully arguing about who would win if Batman and The Hulk had to fight because of their respective costumes.

“Great make-up.” Rian told the younger boy, smiling, the vampire teeth that completed his costume showing up.

Almost an hour later, the four boys had gotten enough candies to last them for a couple of months and they decided to head back towards their houses, continuing their hunt for sweets on the way back because you never have too many candies. They were almost back to Jack’s house when a boy older and taller than all of them, wearing a scary werewolf mask pushed Jack, making him fall to the ground and drop his bag of candies. The werewolf grabbed Jack’s bag and ran away, laughing as Jack sat on the ground, watching his candies disappear with the other boy. Jack was trying desperately not to cry, he was a big boy now, he could go trick-or-treating without his parents, but the tears were already rolling down his cheeks, ruining the make-up his mom had spent so long applying to his face.

“Don’t cry Jacky. We can share our candies with you. We have enough for that.” Alex said, kneeling next to the crying boy.

“Yeah, look Jack. That’s too many candies for just one person.” Rian added, showing the younger boy his almost full bag.

“Really?” The younger boy asked, sniffling and wiping away his tears, smearing the make-up a bit more and frowning at the sight of his now black and white hands.

“Yeah. C’mon, we’re almost at your house.” Zack said, offering Jack his hand to help him back on his feet.

The younger grabbed Zack’s hand and Zack pulled him up and they started their way back to Jack’s house. They got back to Jack’s house in no time and as soon as Jack’s mom saw the smeared make-up on his son’s face, she was all over him, making sure he was okay and asking him what happened.

“Someone pushed his and ran away with his bag of candies but it’s okay ‘cause we have a lot and we can give him some.” Alex explained, smiling up at Jack’s mom.

She looked down at her son’s friends, smiling at how good they were to him. Alex, Zack and Rian then emptied part of their bags in the bowl placed on the table for the younger boy’s candies and Jack’s smile grew as the bowl was filled.

“Thank you guys.” Jack said, smiling at his friends.

“No problem Jay. We told you we had too much anyway.” Rian said, smiling back at the other boy.

“And it’s not fair that you didn’t have any. You deserved those candies.” Alex added, hugging the younger boy.

“We should head back home though. It’s getting late. We’ll see you at school tomorrow.” Rian said, a little disappointed to leave his friends but knowing that his mom would be angry if he got home too late.

They said goodbye to Jack and left, starting to head back to their own houses.