It was time for the second flash essay. This time, we could go up to 1000 words. Man, I did my best to use them all. It was also due October 30th, so what better time than to write about my favorite holiday?
The fun part was selecting various years. I wanted to spread it out through different times in my life. As I was selecting them, I wanted to experiment with how I wrote them, trying to mimic my age at the time based on what my life was like. I'm not sure how well it works, but these are the years I chose.
988 Words
"Halloween"
1978
It is my favorite day of the year. Halloween has arrived! I run home after school. Oh, it is on Tuesday this year. I have to get ready for the best night ever! First, I have to help my mother carve a Jack-o-Lantern. Then we must clean the seeds. That is because we roast them. Then have dinner. Mom will not let me go Trick-or-Treat if I don't eat. After that, I will get dressed in my new Dracula costume. The cape is ok. It is just a black cape. The plastic mask is white like snow, and the green hair reminds me of vomit. Ha-ha! It even has blood in the corners of the mouth. Spooky mask! I just hope the string does not break like last year. If that happens, then I will only be in a weird costume. Not that it will matter. I will still fill my plastic Jack-o-Lantern with candy. First thing first. Mom made caramel apples. They are the best!
1983
At last! Halloween is finally here. It seemed like it took forever to get here this year. 6th grade really sucks! It’s Monday, which sucks because we had school today. Oh well, I'm finally home and ready to get the night going.
I walk into the house, and I can smell pumpkin seed roasting. I am so glad my brother is the one that helps our mother now. It's just so gross with all that stringy gunk. He seems to enjoy it, though.
My Aunt Candy is here and has a surprise for me. My birthday was on the 5th, so I wonder what this is? I take the present and open it. Inside the box is the coolest Dracula cape I have ever seen! It's shiny black on the outside and a deep, glossy red on the inside. It even has a high collar. I run to my room to try it on. It's amazing! I come back into the room, striding as stealthily as I can, just like Bela Lugosi. The cape is just a few inches from the floor. I grab the right edge and pull it over my face, only revealing my eyes. I say in my best Dracula voice, "I vant to suck your blood!" I then laugh creepily and chase my brother from the kitchen. Turning to my aunt, I thank her profusely. She then shows me what I didn't see in the box with the cape: costume make-up to complete the Dracula look. There is even fake blood, the kind that drips. This is going to be so much better than wear a plastic mask. I'll even be able to breathe!
But first, I really need to eat one of those caramel apples. Maybe two.
1996
Oh man, what a fucking day. I swear those F-16 pilots have to be intentionally fucking up the Targeting pods. Fucking officers.
I digress, though. The fact is I'm home now, and it is Halloween and I took leave for tomorrow so it’s going to be an all-nighter. I figured now that I am 25, I would no longer participate, but I still do. It's still my favorite holiday, and yes, more often than not, I even dress up.
I wasn't sure what I would go as this year, but when I was looking through some of my boxes I brought with me to Boise, I found the Dracula cape that my Aunt Candy made for me. Curiously, I tried it on, and to my surprise, it works well. It goes down to my knees, so I decided I would be Dracula.
When I told the girl I am dating that I would dress up as Dracula, she decided that she would be one of Dracula's brides. This past weekend she gave me a preview of her costume choice. I'll just say this: I'll be Trick-o-Treating tonight, but for a different kind of candy, that's for sure!
I throw the cape over my shoulders and look in the mirror. I smirk and say, "I vant to suck your…" I laugh and stop myself from finishing that sentence out loud. My roommate's kids are in the room next to the bathroom. I pull the cape off my shoulders and fold it neatly in my arms. I take a deep breath to calm the rush of amorous testosterone racing through my veins.
Man, I could really use a caramel apple right now, just not the kind my mother made.
2020
Halloween is coming in a week. While I have almost everything I need ready, I am still working on a contraption to pass candy in a "socially distant" kind of way. What a damn joke. The only thing I can think of is I have that guillotine from two years ago. Maybe I'll put a headless body in the frame with a tube that ends at the body's neck that will spill down into the kids' Halloween buckets. It's a suitable solution for this shitty year, but I'm not going to let it ruin Halloween for my family and myself.
I recently read Dracula in one of my classes, and it reminded me of the cape my aunt made for me all those years ago. That thing still looks new. So I tried it on yesterday and debated if this was the year to be the vampire again. As I looked in the mirror, I laughed at myself. Well, sure, I can be Dracula if he looked like a blood-bloated tick! No way I can pull this off. Instead, Plague Doctor it is! Flowing black robes with brown leather mask and hat. I just need to find my bell. But next year, it's going to be Dracula. I'll make sure of it.
I must be going now. It's time to coat the apples in that rich, melted caramel and chill them. Tomorrow is going to be a tasty day!
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