The dreams came to him again. October was their time and Halloween was when they culminated. The same dreams with the same voices, but always a different request.
"Give us your wife," they said.
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Evan Connors looked at Daisy and smiled at her frantic attempts to carve the pumpkin into something presentable and not like something stabbed at by a psycho. She wore her Halloween costume -- tight, red velvet shorts, a black t-shirt, black thigh high boots, and an eye patch. Her pink and blond hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her piercing blue eyes were focuses on the pumpkin, her pouty lips frowning slightly.
"I think it's already a goner," Evan said as he prepared small bags of treats for the kids that usually washed across their residential street in a tide of superheroes and Pokemon.
Daisy stuck her pink tongue out at Evan before adding a finishing stab at their hollowed out proto jack'o-lantern. Evan move behind and nuzzled the soft, pale skin of her neck. He said, "I can of a few other uses for that tongue of yours, missy."
Daisy turned and wrapped her slender arms around Evan's neck and kissed his deeply, her tongue a snake the cave of his mouth, seeking him like escaping prey -- he kissed her back, matching her as their tongues met. He marveled at how their chemistry persisted despite their age difference. Evan was a 47 year old substitute teacher and Daisy was a 27 year old up and coming arts teacher and artist in her own right. They met during her first internship at his school and they hit it off immediately. Five years later they had bought their first house and were preparing for their first Halloween.
"That's an idea, old-timer," Daisy said. "But maybe after we come back from Kim and Paula's seance party. We'll have had wine and you know how horny I get around spirits and wine."
"Great," Evan said. "You've just told me that you're going to get drunk and fuck a ghost."
"Well, now you know what to dress up as," Daisy said while squeezing his ass.
"I was gonna dress up as dad-bod Spartacus or lumber-sexual Leonidas," Evan said as he pushed a strand of hair from her face.
"Those aren't costumes," Daisy said as she slowly pushed herself away from his arms. "They're just pimped out loin-cloths."
"They're cheap costumes to make -- and hey, I haven't really celebrated Halloween in years."
Daisy laughed and they went back to preparing the candy bags. Evan smiled like he hadn't smiled in a decade.
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He had first noticed the odd looking kids when he was fourteen -- Evan and his buddy Dennis had a plan to dress up as Jason and Michael Myers from the movies and since they were already both big for their age, they would be even more intimidating in the masks.
Dennis was the first to notice the strange looking kids early that Halloween evening. Three of them were across the street and staring at the two teen age boys who were hanging out on their BMX bikes. Their costumes were grotesque combinations of fur, dirt and blood and tattered clothes. Their masks gave them scaly, reflective cheeks and their eyes glowed red in the light. The boys were creeped out by these strange kids.
"What are you guys looking at?" Dennis yelled after picking up a rock.
"Give us your mother!" the monstrous kids yelled back. The words sent chills down Evan's back and he uncharacteristically picked up a rock and flung it at the strange kids dressed like monsters. The rock hit the sidewalk next to the weirdos and they scattered in all directions making shrill noises.
The two boys looked at each other and busted a gut at the thought of the little freaks scattering, but behind their laughter was the active imaginations of teen age boys. What if they were monsters?
"I gotta go help my mom with the candy tonight," Evan told Dennis. "Meet you at your place at 9?"
"You got it, dude," Dennis waved as he sped off of his bike, but not before doing a wheelie. Evan envied his friend's skills on his bike.
Back home, Evan's mother had prepared multiple bowls of treats for the ghouls and ghosts that were wandering the streets.
"What're you doing tonight?" Lynn Connors asked her son after he'd put his bike away in the garage.
"Not much, " Evan answered his mom. "Me and Dennis're gonna dress up and hang at Pat's place. His dad has a bunch of classic horror films."
"OK ... but you're not going to dress up as that horrible Fred person, are you?"
"He's called Freddy, mom," Evan corrected his mother. "I'm going as Jason."
"Which one is that again?" Lynn asked.
"The one in the hockey mask," Evan said from the bathroom as he washed his hands for dinner.
"Well, at least he's Canadian," Lynn chuckled. "By the way, is Josie Pearce going to be there?"
Evan rolled his eyes after hearing the name of his crush and sat down for dinner with his mom before they occupied themselves with candy giving for the next few hours. They had hot-hamburger sandwiches with peas, fries and gravy.
After the meal, around, 6:30 pm., the kids started ringing at the doorbell. The youngest kids with their parents were the first the arrive, and would get mostly sweet candies and chocolate while older kids would get chips and chocolate.
Things were winding down after 8 pm and Evan was anxious to get his costume on but his mother insisted all the bowls had to be empty or they waited till 8:30 before they closed up shop. At 8:25 the doorbell rang and Evan saw tiny figures through the smoked glass widow of the door. He found it odd that such young kids were out so late, but whatever. He grabbed one of the nearly empty bowls and opened the door.
What he saw made his drop the bowl of candy.
The strange kids from earlier in the afternoon were staring at him, with glowing red eyes and scaly cheeks. Their arms were small but thickly veined and muscled and some had open sores that oozed pus. They all had their mouths opened in smile that were closer to snarling grimaces. They had too many tiny, needle like teeth that twinkled in the light and spit dribbled when they spoke in unison.
"Give us your mother," the little monsters said.
