Halloween memories

                                                        Halloween memories

As far as she could remember, Emi has always liked Halloween. Everything about Halloween.
Dressing up in these amazing costumes, costumes that her mother made for her. She never liked the idea of buying a costume from a store. Too impersonal, not unique enough. And it was nice mother-daughter time, Emi assisting her best as she could, though she wasn't much help.
The candy, the chocolate, the bubblegum, everything she could get her hands on.
And also, the running from a house to the next to collect it all. Especially the running. Just thinking about it, made her feel like jumping up and down.

This time, she was doing it by herself. The costume part, anyway. She had all the fabric she needed, the tools, and a step-by-step plan to use them. How hard could it be, really?
Well, turn out... Pretty damn hard. Nothing was ever right, the stitches were all crooked, one side was too long or too short... And she would only see it after she'd spent half an hour sewing it all together. Emi got herself thinking, she wished her mom was there to help. Or rather, to do it all by herself, and do it right.

She was at work, for who knows how long. She had planned to have the night free for Halloween, but a phone call ruined it all. It seemed to have made her angry as well; After hanging up, she repeated, in an annoyed tone, "Meiko, I need you to do this! Meiko, I need you to do that!". She calmed herself a bit, but, after telling Emi a few guidelines about the costume, she had to leave.

And two hours in, she was still on it. "Stupid bunny costume!", Emi said out loud. She could've just bought one from the store... Just this one time. No one would know, and no one would care. She had seen lots of cute ones in the past months, just through the windows, while walking around in town. But her mom insisted, as if it was some kind of family tradition. So she kept at it. If there was anything to take out of the experience, well, she knew she would never be a seamstress. One less potential job to worry about! Not that Emi was overly concerned about this anyway. Her long-term plans were very similar to her short-term ones, in a sense; Finish the costume's sleeves, then you can work on the bunny ears. Finish school, then you can worry about finding a career path. She still had plenty of time for that...

For the first time, when she looked at the result of her work, she was satisfied. It wasn't exactly perfect, but... It was probably as close to perfect as it would ever be. She didn't dare trying it again and making it worse. This was good enough. Just as she was looking at her work, not without a certain pride, she heard the car pulling into the driveway. When her mother opened the door, Emi almost tackled her to the ground, in a hurry to show her the costume. She took a close look and smiled enthusiastically. "That's excellent, Emi! I couldn't have done better myself!"

"Liar", replied Emi.
Meiko only laughed at this, not daring to reply, but she still seemed to like it as well.

"So, are you ready to go?" asked her mom.
"Huh, can you help me with this?"
Emi pointed to the box of Halloween makeup they've had for... Pretty much forever. She could probably do it herself in front of a mirror, wasn't all that hard, just a few whiskers, a black or pink nose, something like that. Still, it would be even easier if her mother did it.

Meiko pointed her toward a chair, and Emi sat on it, trying to stay still as much as possible. This wasn't very Emi-like though. She had never been one to just sit around and do nothing... She didn't play video games, and barely watched television. Always running around, like she was in a hurry. After just a few minutes, she was already fidgeting, not daring to open her mouth to speak when her mom was working on her nose, but the way she looked at her was telling anyway; "What's taking you so long?" Meiko could almost read in that look.

When her mom moved away a second to pick a different color, Emi couldn't stop herself anymore and asked her how'd it looked... Which her mom knew full well really meant 'Is it done now?'.
"Almost finished! Stop moving now, you want it to be cute now don't you?"
Emi moved her head back a bit and frowned at her as if it was some kind of insult to even imply that Emi would want to be cute.

Meiko just smiled at that, and went back at it again, for the finishing touch. She hurried a bit, and also didn't do as much as she originally planned, when she realized that if she was to take five more minutes to do it right, she would have to do the rest of it
while running alongside Emi, there was no way she would sit on the chair that much longer.

"I think this is perfect now!" said Meiko. And after a short pause, giving Emi a second to look at herself in the mirror, she added "You look adorable!", which earned her a defiant "Mommmmmmmmmmmm!"

Emi was about to put on the rest of the costume when her mom asked
"Don't you want to take that off first?" she asked, pointing at a medal she was wearing around her neck.
"No! I just won it this morning!" Emi replied with a big smile.

Knowing full well there would be no talking her out of it, she just congratulated her on another win on the track, and let her dress up. Emi was done fairly quickly, and ran for the door, waiting after her mom.

The day was still young, and technically, or at least in the mind of most people, it wasn't Halloween yet, so Emi had some kind of small party to go, before the real fun started. Nothing too big, just a few friends, watching Halloween themed movies. Nothing scary either, some of her friends didn't like horror or violent movies much. Emi thought them silly... They're just movies, whats the big deal? But she didn't care much about movies, scary or not, so she never bothered arguing about it.

It was just a twenty minutes drive, and after saying goodbye to her mom, and making sure her costume was still fine, she walked the few steps and knocked on the door. It opened almost right away, and a girl in a witch costume made a move to come and hug her, but upon realizing they both had their Halloween faces on, she stopped herself before messing them up.
"Hi, Emi! Come in!"

"Hina!" She replied cheerfully, then looked at the crowd, sitting on the couch, at the table, all over the place. "Shiori, hi! Ryusei, hi! Miyu, hi,  hi,  everyone hi!"
She didn't know everyone in there, plus, with costumes, makeup, and masks on, it was hard to recognize them all anyway. It made her smile that another girl had a similar bunny costume, but it wasn't anywhere as good as her own, or Emi didn't think it was.

They made some small talk about this and that for a time, then Hina's mother gave Emi a glass of strawberry milk, and after letting her pick her favorite candies and chocolate bars from a big pile of sweets on the table, she let her decide where she wanted to go. Most of her friends were among the movie-watchers, so she sat with them, even though she had little interest in the movie. She was barely paying any attention anyway, she was just thinking about the night, she was so excited it was all she could do to stand still on that couch.

An hour into the movie, a bit more relaxed now, Emi found herself watching her friends' reaction to the movie, more than the movie itself. She just found it funny, the scary scenes were so silly that she was laughing while her friends were closing their eyes, looking away or even screaming in horror. She thought them a bit childish. The crowd watched the movie in silence for a while, but the doorbell ringing provoked a new chorus of screams from the people too focused on the movie. Hina's mother quickly walked to the door with her hands full of candy; It was still a bit early for that, but perhaps some of the younger kids from the neighborhood would already be at it with their parents, so they could still go to bed in time without missing too much on the fun.

She was proven wrong though, and called out: "Emi! There's a scary monster waiting for you at the door!".
Emi jumped from the couch and ran to the door, almost bumping into some girl she didn't know, who was standing in the way with her chocolate milk. She stopped at the door and was surprised by a man in a mismatched outfit; Blue shorts and used running shoes almost seemed out of place when complemented by a teared up shirt covered in blood, and a mask, probably at the image of some fantasy monster, though Emi couldn't say. She was not exactly confused, just a bit surprised, and only for a few seconds before the man removed the mask.

"Hey, Emi! What's that movie you're watching?"
It took her a second to realize what he was talking about, given that she wasn't exactly watching it in the first place, then she saw him look at the television.
"Oh, I don't know", she replied. "Some scary movie! Are we going now?" she could barely contain her excitement about the night, she had been half tempted to ditch the movie and just go for a run at the nearby houses.

"Sure thing Emi! Say goodbye to your friends!"
She did, in a hurry, then ran out the door and to the car, as if she would if these witches, zombies and vampires in the house had been real monsters and not just costumes. She was first inside the car and used the waiting time to look in the mirror if her costume and makeup was still ok, after all the eating and running around the place she'd done. Good enough, she thought! There was a tiny pink smear going from her bunny nose almost to her mouth, and one of her whiskers was missing, though she could not recall when this might have happened... But that wasn't so bad.

The sound of the car door opening brought her back from her thought, and she turned to talk.
"I was expecting mom!", Emi said with a look of curiosity on her face.
"Oh, she told me about the place when I called, and I had just left the track, wasn't too far! Figured I'd come and pick you up! We could grab something to eat on the way home? Faster we've had lunch, faster we'll be ready to go! How's that sound?"
"Sounds good, dad!"
"Alright! I will need some time to put on the rest of my costume too".

He closed the door and they drove away from the house, heading to someplace Emi didn't know, but she didn't care either; Too excited about too many things to care about what they were going to eat. She looked at him, and his half-costume. The fake blood on the shirt was so realistic, it troubled Emi more than these stupid horror movies. He had some on the side of his head too, seemingly coming out an equally fake wound, that looked like it would've been caused by an axe or a large knife. She thought it looked a bit too real, and she didn't like it... But she could not let him know that, she'd just feel silly. Like these other kids at the party. So, she put her finger on it to get some of the blood, and smeared it on her face. He looked at her, smiled, then rolled his eyes, in a way that said 'We're gonna have to fix this, fake blood doesn't fit so well on a cute bunny!'

Some time passed, apparently, that place they were going wasn't all that close. Her father asked her "So, how was your day?"
"Great! I ran in the morning, and then I made my costume! Made it all by myself too!"
"All of it? All by yourself?" her father asked.
"Yeah...", she replied, a bit shy, looking at her feet. "Almost all of it...!"
He smiled at that, unsure about how much 'almost' really meant here.

"You know dad, I'm not that hungry..."
"Oh?"
"We had a lot of candy and chocolate back there", Emi explained, smiling. "I could just start my Halloween run while you're having lunch! I wouldn't go far!"
"I don't like you going out alone at night Emi. It will only be like half an hour, what's the rush?"
"I'm old enough to go out by myself you know? I'm almost twelve!"
"Which makes you eleven now" replied her father. "Which is too young to go out late at night to knock on stranger's doors. We'll see in a couple years".
He saw the disappointed look on her face.
"It won't take long, you'll be out and running before you know it. Or you know, bouncing like a rabbit!" He pinched her nose, probably not caring about the makeup anymore given that it was already ruined and would need to be done again.

Before she could argue some more about going out by herself, he tried to come up with something else to talk about...
"So, you went running too? How was it? I was running too, before I got this anyway", he said, pointing at the fake wound on his head "Couple friends from the team knew a makeup artist, figured I might as well get something done. Though I suppose I'll have to find an old pair of pants and rip them up to fit the costume! Anyway, how about you?"
"It was great!" said Emi, a wide smile on her face. "These were our team finals, after that it's gonna be interschool stuff! I won all my races too, so I'll be going! Of course!" she said, obviously proud of herself.
"Nicely done!", he said. "Couldn't make it this morning, but I'll make sure to watch the next one!"
"It's fine! It wasn't all that exciting anyway, I won the sprint by almost a full second, and the quarter-mile by five seconds, they could never catch me! The other runners on the team aren't very good. Or they don't try hard enough", said Emi, with an half-bored, half-angry look on her face. "I don't have much competition, I'm much better than they are".

"Emi", her father said, a sad smile on his face. "You should be proud of what you've accomplished. But not at the expense of the other runners. You should not speak of them like that, and not of yourself either. Humility is the sign of a good athlete.".

"I know... " said Emi, chewing her lip, feeling a bit guilty now.
"You know, they might be doing something wrong. Not all of them have been running for years, and not all of them has a father who ran with them for years either. Not everyone is gifted! If someone's struggling to improve, or just doesn't do it right, you should try to help them. You could make someone a better runner! Or you could just make a friend!"

"You're right, dad..." Emi said, softly. "I'll try to help them".
He looked at her for a moment, then smiled, and ruffled her hair a bit, as much as he could with her costume on.
"That's my girl!"

He let her reflect on all that for a while, driving in silence, then, to lighten up the mood again, continued :
"So, you were THAT fast huh?"
Emi beamed at that, and, not without difficulty, managed to pull her medal off her neck despite the costume, and handed it to her father.
"This is for the sprint. It says 'Champion!' on it!" she said, the smile still on her face. "It's real gold too!"
This time it was her father who smiled, aware that a medal of this size in gold would be worth over a hundred thousand yen, but no use telling her otherwise.
"So you better take good care of it!" he said.

He held it in front of him, trying to read the writings on it, trying to remember the first medal he won on the track, a long time ago.

Emi was the first to react to the distinct sound of screeching tires, sitting straight in her seat and diverting her attention from the medal to the road, where a car, apparently out of control, was swerving in their direction. Her eyes grew big and she opened her mouth to let go a barely audible "Dad?". He slammed on the brakes, adding even more of that scary noise no one likes to hear, and, without even taking a split second to drop the medal from his hand, he held his right arm in front of Emi, and grabbed the side of her seat, holding her tight against it, like an extra seatbelt, and... It happened.

Emi heard a loud crashing sound, but she also felt relieved not to hear these tires screeching anymore. It all happened so fast, she opened her eyes and didn't know whether she had just closed them for an instant, or if she fell unconscious and had just woken up from it then. She was still a bit groggy, confused. She looked down and thought that the front of their car had been turned toward the inside, as she could not see her feet, or her legs below the knee, as if she had been on her knees, with her legs under the seat; But there was no room under her seat, and she could not make much sense of the situation. Maybe it was just the costume making it hard to see her legs. In any case, she didn't feel any pain so it couldn't be that bad.

Giving up on trying to figure out what was happening exactly, she moved her head back a bit, and saw her medal right in front of her, in her father's hand, as if he was handing it back to her. She absentmindedly moved to take it, but somehow he was still holding onto it, his fingers keeping it stuck, with great strength.

"..Dad?" she asked timidly, before looking in his direction, still unable to think clearly. She shivered just by looking at him. This fake blood really made her uneasy. There seemed to be more of it now. "Dad? Are you ok? Come on dad!" she tried again, this time more loudly, but with a hint of fear in her voice. It was all slowly coming back to her now, the screeching noise, the road, the car... The blood. Too much. There should not be this much blood. She tried to shake him a bit, but it seemed like all strength had left her body, even moving her hand was difficult. She tried to turn a bit to the side, but her body seemed to have forgotten how to move, and was unresponsive. "These stupid legs", she thought.

She gathered all strength that was left in her, and pushed her father on the shoulder, to wake him up. His head only wobbled a bit from side to side, then he fell forward, just slightly, held back only by the seatbelt, and he stayed there, limp, his neck bent in a weird angle. She tried once again to move him, putting a hand on his head. She felt the blood on her fingers, did not know whether it was real or fake. She talked to him softly, as if trying to wake him from a deep sleep without scaring him.
"Hey, dad... wake up dad... please".
There was some blood past her wrist now, and Emi, coming back to her senses, was beginning to realize what was happening... And to panic. Tears were running down her face. This time she didn't hold anything, and practically yelled it;
"Dad!"

...

Emi was woken up by an arm gently shaking her shoulder.
"Hey, you okay?"
That nightmare again, thought Emi... It'll follow me for the rest of my life.
"Huh? What?" she replied, feigning confusion. "Hisao?"
"You had a nightmare, I think".
Why did it have to happen on this day...
"Y-yeah, I guess so".
"You wanna talk about it?"
"Hmm?"
How can I possibly talk about this, thought Emi... How can I open up on... that. While still keeping my distances, not getting close to him.
"Nah, I don't really remember much of it."
She looked at his reaction... I think he's buying it.
"Sorry for falling asleep on you like that!"
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Hisao reassured her.
Getting close to him, of all people... Well done Emi. Afraid of losing people, and you just befriend the one person in the school you might just lose. Hell, you almost killed him on the track on his second day running with you. Tears welled up in her eyes. I need to stop thinking about that...
"Well, prepare yourself for tomorrow morning Hisao! We'll have to go twice as hard to make up for today!"
I would go for a run right now, but Hisao would never let me, or he'd ask questions... questions I'm not prepared to answer.
They exchanged some more pleasantries, then Hisao made for the door, but turned right before leaving.
"Hey, Emi... Anytime you need to talk, let me know, okay?"
Damn it... He didn't buy it at all. I can't, she thought... She felt a pang of guilt. I'm sorry Hisao. This is never happening. I just can't.
"Sure thing Hisao!" Emi replied, with a wide grin.
She felt the tears coming again. Leave... Please just leave now...
"See you in the morning!" she said, with a cheerful tone.

She listened to the sound of footsteps growing fainter, to make sure Hisao was far away, before going back to her bed, and cry in her pillow. Tomorrow morning, she thought. I need to be on the track. I'm not gonna let him down. And I'm not gonna let him die either.
I'm gonna help him. I'm gonna make him better.


She stayed there for a time, almost falling asleep again, when the phone rang;
"Y-yeah?"
"Hey Emi, how are you feeling?"
One of her friend on the running team. Can't people just leave me alone?
"I'm great, thanks!"
She was so used to lie like that to everyone now, that it came to her naturally.
"Alright! We, I mean the track team, we got something coming up for Halloween, some party, you want in? It's gonna be a blast!"
JUST LEAVE ME ALONE
"Ahh... I think I got something planned out already, sorry".
"Oh, it's not the 31st, we're doing it a bit early, figured people might be busy that day"
NO
"Well, it's just that I'm still recuperating from my cold, you know? I might just go see the nurse"
"Oh? That bad huh? Want me to come with you?"
Pleaaase hang up
"Nah, I'm good, just making sure! Tell you what, if I change my mind about the party, I'll let you know, ok?"
"Alright, Emi. Get better soon then!"
"Will do!"
Please don't call back. Please don't ask me about it again.

A Halloween party, she thought, not paying any attention to the tears flowing down her cheeks again. Why would I ever want to go there?
As far as she could remember, Emi has always hated Halloween. Everything about Halloween.

End.