(... I wish this were a picture book. LOL.)
Annie was always scared of Halloween – scared of the decorations, the costumes, the music, the sounds. Everything. It had been her least favorite holiday of the year, ever since that scarecrow statue in front of the Dawsons’ house revealed itself as not a statue, and chased her around the yard (she also hated the Dawsons).
Still, every year it came back, and all of her friends would get excited about group costumes, and which neighborhoods they’d go to for candy, and how Billy would get more candy than Joe.
They all knew, though, that she hated Halloween; they all knew, so they never invited her to join a group costume, or asked her if she’d like to go trick or treating, or compete with her about how full their pillowcases would be.
Annie didn’t like that.
So, this year, she decided that she’d like Halloween. Yes, she would.
This year, she would pick a costume with her friends, this year she would suggest that they go through her neighborhood, and this year she would get more candy than Billy and Joe would combined – she even decided that, this year, she’d walk past the Dawsons’ house.
“Hah! You would never walk past the Dawsons’ house!” shouted Billy at Annie’s claim.
Joe chimed in, “Yeah! Even WE don’t go near the Dawsons’ house.”
Several of the other children nodded in agreement.
“Yeah! And you haven’t gone trick or treating since you were like, a baby! We’re in third grade now; trick or treating is different!” bragged Billy, sticking his nose into the air with his arms crossed over his chest. “We know how to do it right. You don’t know how to do it!”
“You can’t get more candy than US,” Joe followed up again, the two boys hovering over the little girl.
But Annie didn’t waver. She smiled and said, “I’m going to do it!”
The boys looked at each other and laughed.
Annie smiled.
--
Halloween night. D-day. It came very quickly.
This year, her friends had decided to be Strength Rangers; Annie was the one who suggested the idea, and everyone liked it, so she was happy. Everyone was surprised that she had an idea to begin with since it had been so long since she’d trick-or-treated, but the Strength Rangers were very popular on television, so they all thought it was a great idea!
They didn’t know, though, that she picked the Strength Rangers theme for a very particular reason.
She picked them because their costumes were not scary at all; in fact, she knew that the Strength Rangers were the good guys who always fought off the scary ones. It made her feel better walking around in the pink jumpsuit and helmet.
Today, she was a Strength Ranger.
Today, she’d fight off the scary monsters, including the Dawsons’ scarecrow.
Today, she wouldn’t be scared of Halloween.
And she wasn't.
1 comments:
Sandy:
HAHAHA I can see why this would be a picture book. You could've included illustrations anyway :O!!
Really liked the idea! Although it didn't sink in as OMGCOOL until the end. I feel like you could've milked it a little better. This would be more interesting as a plot-driven story and not just a narrative of events. Unless you made it into a picture book.
PICTURES!
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