When I Was 13...

When I Was 13...

 * By Tonbo Bugashi

You know, I kinda quit the whole Halloween thing given the things that happened the last time I dressed up as anything for it. I was about 13, in which I thought it'd be a good idea to dress up as the grim reaper. I had everything for it, from a scythe with a 3 ft blade, all the way down to a skull mask with moving jaw and makeup. Threw on the black robe that dragged on the ground, and set out to test the shock effect with my old man.

Our first stop was the video store, because we had some rentals that were due. He handed me the tapes and I went inside to drop them off. Granted it was kinda hard to see with the mask on, but the guy behind the counter didn't even move. Didn't say a word, nor even blink. He just sat there on the stool, leaning against the video rack behind them as I walked up, dropped the videos in the return bin, and walked out. The old man asked if the guy said anything, to which I said no. Ether he was scared stiff, or he was sleeping on the job... Again.

After that, we went back home, and I was on my own. My dad worked the graveyard shift, so he had to get ready for work. I figured I'd show off the costume a bit, so I went over to a friend of mine a couple doors down. After I knocked on the door, their little sister answered and ran screaming, leaving a puddle on the floor. We all had a laugh out of it, except for his sister and his older brother. He was snoozing on the couch, given the long hours working construction. Eventually the kid sister worked up the nerve to kick my shin, so I guess all's well that ends well.

From there, I began making the rounds, trick or treating from house to house. Some places didn't even bother to answer the door, while others were quick to turn me away. I'm more or less thinking, "this is one friggin' shweeet costume, now if I could only get some candy." Discouraged to continue given the lack of the sweet stuff, I turned and headed home. Once home, I got out of the getup, washed the makeup off and got ready for bed. As soon as I shut my room's door, there was a knock on it.

Looking at the bedroom door, I wasn't sure if I was just hearing things or if someone was really there. Maybe it was the cat pawing at the door to be let in, but it wasn't the case as another knock soon followed. I was home alone, the old man was at work, there shouldn't be anyone knocking on my door. So, I went over to grab my bat, and made my way to the door.

Standing to the side, I turned the knob and let it crack open. I stood in wait for quite some time, waiting for whoever knocked to make their move as the door slowly crawled open. Eventually I looked through the now open door, and standing there was a person about my size in the same grim reaper costume I had on. Of course, I seen it as a costume. After all, I had it on a few moments ago. We stood there for a few moments, before it handed over a huge bag of candy. Chocolate bars, bubble gum, pixy stix, jaw breakers, it was heavy to the point where I could barely lift it off the ground. The guy then said "consider this your reward for a job well done", then collapsed to the floor.

After I moved the bag into the room, and checked the guy, only to find it was just my costume. No strings, no wires, no props, nothing but what I had on while trick or treating that evening. I even poked it a couple times with the bat. Needless to say, nothing happened. It was kinda weird, but to be honest, I didn't spend much time thinking about it. I put it back in the hall closet, and went to bed. After all, I had school tomorrow.

The next morning, it was back to things as usual for the most part. Woke up, went to school, and found out a lot of the kids from the neighborhood ether skipped or had been taken out of classes for the day. One of them was the friend I visited last night, so I dropped by their place after I got back home. I found out sometime the night before that his older brother died during his sleep. The guy was still on the couch when morning came, stone white and cold to the touch. At first I though it was strange, given how I dressed up as the reaper, and the guy up and dies that same night. Turns out he wasn't the only one because my dad found out the guy at the video store also died that night. As it turned out, someone from every other place I went to had experienced a death in their household that very same night.

Even the most intelligent person would figure I had something to do with the deaths, but all of them were ruled as natural causes. No signs of forced entry, no signs of trauma or foul play, not even a shred of evidence that would point to me as some sort of costumed killer. Of course, I was something of the quiet kind that people would have to be on the look out for, but I had a problem of my own to deal with.

I wasn't suppose to have candy in my room...