Hal-Lolly-Ween

"Wait, where are you going? the good houses are this way."

"Didn't you hear? There's a rumor that Mr. Cravitz is actually doing Halloween this year!"

"Old Man Cravitz? The guy who tries to get the city to ban trick or treating every single year? Yeah, no. That's a hard pass..."

"Come on, I heard he's giving out something real special."

"Are we talking about the same man here? Everyone knows to never disturb him on Halloween, lest you face the wrath of Old Man Cravitz!"

"Maybe he's had a change of heart, like a Halloween Scrooge."

"Oh yeah, Jack Skellington showed him the errors of his ways and he totally gets the true meaning of Halloween... Whatever he's handing out, it's probably poisoned."

"Fine, I'll go get my awesome, speciality treat alone if you're going to be a chicken about it!"

I left Jack behind and strolled down the short side-street that dead-ends at Mr. Cravitz's house. Another kid passed me in the opposite direction. I vaguely recognize him from the year above me in school, Frankie or something? He had a glum look on his face, probably disappointed by the lack of Halloween festivity in the air. None of the houses had their lights on, a bowl of candy on the porch, or even a pumpkin. What a load of killjoys. Despite the lack of decoration, this street always gives me the creeps. And Mr. Cravitz's house is the creepiest of all. It's a shame the guy's such a buzzkill, this would make an awesome haunted house. At least he's warming up to the holiday, if the rumors are true. Though looking around, there aren't many takers. Just a couple of grouchy, middle aged guys giving me an icy glare, I could just feel their loathing of Halloween. Probably friends of Old Man Cravitz...

Flew The Coop

As Luke stepped off his school bus, he immediately picked up on the sound of loud arguing coming from the direction of his house. He rolled his eyes, it was obviously his dad arguing with his girlfriend again. Or rather, his ex girlfriend as of the previous week when he unceremoniously dumped her via text message. Knowing how hot-headed his dad could get when he was upset, Luke hurried to the door in the hopes of maybe cooling the situation a bit. He entered the house, dumped his school bag on the floor, and followed the sounds of discontent to the kitchen.

The back door was open, so Luke peeked his head round to see the two in mid-argument in the back yard. He expected to see his dad screaming right in his ex's face, yet was surprised to instead see him cowering in the corner of the yard. More worryingly, he held his hands out to block his face as the vengeful woman approached him. Her arm was held high, a thin, jagged rod clutched in her hand. Luke thought she was going to strike him. Instead, she pointed it downwards at his dad and yelled something unintelligible. A beam of sparkling light jettisoned out of its tip, striking his dad square in the chest.