H4ppy H4110w33n

 Gusts of the October breeze fly past as you mosey down the sidewalk. School ended twenty minutes ago and Halloween is tonight, who better to accompany you than your "little brother", Mal0? He'd never known the wonders of this night, so it was no surprise when he felt indifferent upon hearing about the holiday. But now informed that he'd finally be able to roam the streets free of persecution, and at liberty to amass candy from the numerous people merely handing it out, he was thrilled to tag along. Approaching the house it was evident that mom and dad were gone, as per usual since they regularly worked late into the night. Now at the front door you could clearly hear the pitter patter of Mal0's feet scrambling just beyond the barricade.

 Upon pushing the door open, he lept from the nearby couch as he waived his arms and bared his gaping mouth at you. Emitted from you was a giggle, you stepped forward,  scooped him into your arms and raised him over your shoulder, as he began to thrash about. "Raaah! C'mon, I'm scary! Scream!" Mal0 hollered. Though he had no face and wasn't in front of you, it was apparent that he was happy of your arrival, with the exuberant waving of his tail and the talkative mood he was taking. "You know that doesn't work for me anymore. But you know who it will work for? Everyone out on the street who sees you tonight. You might just end up making a kid pee his pants." You told him.

 Setting him down was easier said than done, his flailing legs got you in the stomach twice. Now with Mal0 standing before you, it was apparent of his problem. Orange stains decorated his maw, even his hands were coated in the substance. "What's that stuff all over your face? Did you get into the left overs?" You said. "Well, you told me we'd eat before Halloween!" Mal0 said.

 "No, I said not to eat. Don't you want to have the candy tonight? Ah well, all that walking well help you along. Go wash your hands, we still have some time before the neighbors are ready to give out candy." You said. A burst of irritation that had swept over you quickly dissolved, you couldn't stay mad at Mal0. Now off to retrieve a toothbrush, the rush of water was audible but quickly subsideded. Mal0 came racing back to the living room, hands wet and face still a mess, you playfully grasped one of his wet hands and smeared his face with water, he gasped. You began to scrub away at the orange spots on his face and teeth, they came out easily but when you were done Mal0 emitted a slow and quiet yet high pitched growl.

 "Wow, sooo scary, Mal0. Hey, if you can do that tonight you're bound to scare someone, keep that in mind. Now go sit on the couch, I'll go get dressed and then we can watch TV until it's time to leave." You said. With that, he scampered off towards the couch, eagerly climbing it but impatiently sitting in it, swaying his legs back and forth as he leaned his head on the arm rest. Away now you went to your room, it was still as messy as the morning, but your costume was laid out on your bed. It was simple, an ebony robe paired with a body length minimalist scythe, you'd even bought a face painting kit along with it. You let the backpack slip from your shoulders and swiped the robe, quickly slipping it over your body.

 It was slightly oversized, but that didn't matter much, it even added onto the look. Next you swept the kit away and opened it, smearing your hand with white paint and then lathering it over your face. It took but a minute for your face to be coated, and to finish the look you'd even smothered your hands in the paint. Everything was falling into place, but you felt as if something was missing, some key details. The light bulb pinged, it was the blood, no simplistic costume was complete without blood.

 You pinched the tiny brush out of the pallet and dabbed it in maroon, without a mirror you began to drag it underneath your eyelids and down the edges of your mouth, cutting off the trail halfway down your neck. Now another idea popped into your mind, to try and scare Mal0. With this plan you hoisted the scythe in both hands and began to recollect the little bits of Latin you'd learned over the past week, carefully stepping towards the living room. Almost near the entrance you began to slowly stomp in, reciting random Latin words in a wailing voice as you trudged towards Mal0, your eyes over-exaggeratingly bulged open. His white orbs of eyes merely blinked twice, before he reached over for the remote and hurled it at you, hitting you square in the face.

 "Stop that. We already know who's the scarier one here, Anon." Mal0 haughtily said. Barely any pain was felt, you bent down to pick the remote off the ground and chucked it right back at him, getting him in the chest, evident with the puff of air he released. "Yeah, yeah...anyways, we still have an hour before we can go. Turn something on already, because it's gonna get boring." You said. Mal0 obliged, powering the television and clicking the remote twice before settling on a random cartoon. You laid the scythe down and sat next to Mal0, leaning back into the couch as he leaned into your side.

 The time seemed to fly quickly, you awoke slouched over Mal0 when someone on the television started screaming. Looking down at him it was visible that even he, energetic as he usually was, had fallen asleep. Mal0's jaw hung slack, the white orbs of his eyes disappeared and left his sockets as two black windows into the void. He was still snoring when you awoke, his black tendril-esque tongue sprawled out over his chest left a dark but semi-unnoticeable stain on his robe. "Hey, wake up. I think it started," You said as you began to gently shake Mal0 awake.

 He was quick to come to, his tongue quickly slipping back into his jaw as it closed, and the fire of his eyes rapidly re-appearing. At the notion that Halloween had started, he gasped as he slipped away from the couch and ran towards the door. Not to be outdone, you grasped the nearby scythe and followed towards him, leaning the prop against a wall as you reached for two bags on a nearby counter. "Don't forget this, you wont get candy without it!" You said as Mal0 excitedly took a bag from your hands. Re-gripping your prop and waving for Mal0 to move away, you grasped the doorknob, turned, and pushed way to the orange and blue afternoon sky, the air heavy with the scent of corn, tree sap, and the cool gentle autumn breeze.

 Mal0 had rarely ever been able to venture out of the house, he was amazed at what was in front of him, despite it being rather minimalist by societal standards. Locking the door before shutting it, you kept a firm hand grasping on Mal0's wrist, forgetting your prop inside the now locked house in the process. "Damn, I left my prop inside. Whatever, anyways, I want you to stay close to me tonight, Mal0. During the night, the streets can get scarier than Halloween, I don't want someone to hurt you," You informed Mal0. He didn't seem to be paying attention, staring off towards the street at a dark maroon balloon floating at the end of the sidewalk, no longer gripping your hand. Gaining a little nervousness, you walked behind Mal0 and held onto his hand, as the two of you creeped towards the balloon.

 As you finally reached it, you took a gander at it's form. This was almost trance-like, you averted your eyes towards your side, there stood clown costume clad man, staring at you both. In a fraction of a second he let out a maniacal laugh as he charged at you, just as the balloon popped. Mal0 was already shaking at the sight of him, and he screamed simultaneous with you both made a one eighty turn, screaming down the sidewalk. Halloween had begun.

 There were many scares to be had during the night, but you and Mal0 would be focused on gathering candy door-to-door. And he seemed happy all the time, his tail wagging erratically almost every second of the night. With each house you two visited Mal0 would try and roar at the owners, his voice too high to be intimidating. Every time without fail you and the owner would laugh it off, and he'd get an extra piece of candy for his "performance". This happened on almost every street, until you'd reached the one that was hosting the speak of the town.

 An attraction from a foreign country, it claimed to be a room that would project your true fear. At the end of said street was a tent, with a single sign posted out front on the dead lawn reading "3887, entry is free". You figured that a free Halloween attraction wouldn't hurt, and Mal0 seemed to agree. The closer you got to the tent the more eerie you realized it really was. Everything screamed death, the rusty tricycle dotted on the brown lawn, the black trees and the faded color of the tent.

 At the foot of the trees laid the corpses of crows, all bony and dried out, their bodies hollow from maggots who'd long since feasted on the carcass's innards. You made special attention to avert Mal0's gaze from the sight, clamping your hands over his sockets as you guided him to the tent entrance. There wasn't a single source of light emanating from the tent, you reached out to pull the tent open, only for a gnarly green hand with freakishly dirty claws to stop you. This of course shocked you, to which you jerked your hand away with a gasp. The sound of creaking wood forced you to back away, Mal0 had taken cover behind you, his shivering body shaking you as well.

 The first source of light to make itself known were two V-shaped amber eyes, both of them emerging closer to the outside. Attached to the eyes was a large green head, it's shape similar to that of a bovine, but with two lighter green stalagmite horns parallel to each other, jutting through the creatures hood. Soon the rest of the creature came into view, it's arms were folded into the wide sleeves of it's robe. It easily towered over you by atleast two feet, it's cold emotion void stare affixed to you and Mal0, who by this point began to audibly whine. After a few seconds of eerie silence, the form finally spoke up.

 "Lemme guess, you're here for the attraction, no?" The stranger said, their voice heavy in "the south", but with a hint of European. "Y-yeah, we're here for t-the attraction..." You responded. The stranger lowered themself to eye level, focusing one yellow eye into yours, you could feel your heart pounding so fast that it could explode out of your chest. "...then come in. But only one, your friend will have to wait outside..." They said. You shook your head in agreement, the figure walked into the tent, turning back towards you and beckoning you in with their hand.

 With this you walked forward, turning around halfway when you remembered Mal0. "Just stay out here, don't talk to strange-" You managed to say, before you were violently yanked into the tent. Inside the tent was barren wasteland not much different from the outside. A tall wooden pole was stationed in the middle of everything, the only other light source being the lamp attached to the upper part of the pole. You were shaking right then and there, but there was more to come, you could just tell.

 Almost manifesting out of nothing, the stranger emerged from the darkness with a wooden chair. They set it a few feet away from the pole and waved you over. "Come, sit. It will begin soon." They said. You complied, the chair sounded as if it'd break when you sat down. The stranger approached thee pole and reached up, with one tap the flame inside the lamp died out, and it seemed as if only you were in the tent.

 Suddenly a beam of light shone from an unknown source above, what it illuminated was an old man, half asleep in a chair similar to yours. Out of nothingness manifested a dog, standing tall next to the old man, it's rough coat a matte black coloration. At first you felt your hear rate rising, they appeared to have popped in from no-where, but you calmed when you realized it's probably just an act. The man appeared to be enthralled in the dog's presence, he leaned over his chair to the dog and began to scratch it's chin and neck.  A thumping noise in response, the dog clearly liked it, further evident when it began to lick his hand.

 This confused you, wasn't this supposed to be scary? All this was doing was warming your heart, although you could barely feel a sensation creeping up. Behind the man emerged another tall figure, similar in appearance to the stranger running this attraction. There were no horns emerging from their head, rather just a hoodie adorned by a head concealed by darkness. They outstretched their arm towards the old man, resting their skeletal hand on his shoulder.

 Immediately the man's demeanor changed, his smile gone and his hand no longer playing with the dog. He appeared to shrink into the chair, folding into himself as his head rolled to the side, his gaze fixated to the ground. The tall figure released the man, he did not move, rather he went limp, much to the dog's distress. It began to whine and nudge his hand, the figure looked down upon the dog and it stopped, laying down and resting it's head down as it continued to whine. The figure bent down and lifted the dog, carrying it away into the darkness.

 A sob that'd begun to form within shook your body. And it was this sob that opened the flood gates for more, until you were a babbling mess of emotions sitting alone in the dark. You'd covered your face during your sobs, but soon the wave of sadness swept away, and you looker up. Through your sweltering tears you could see that the spectacle before you had dissapeared, the luminance from above fading out like a dying candle. It was then that the eerie stillness of before set back in, your heart began to race as you could hear wet footsteps approaching.

 Through attempting to rise, you discovered that you'd forgetten basic maneuverability, as you'd fallen upon rising to your feet. From the darkness before you a sharp hiss emanated, as if on cue you'd began to crawl back, soon frantically kicking away as the steps became stomps. The tearing of flesh and the cracking of bone matter blared alongside the hissing, you soon scrambled to your feet and tore off about face, the stomping only getting heavier. As you ran out into the autumn evening the heavy stomps halted, from the tent the stranger's whisper rang out, "Thank you..." It said. Your exhausted pants caught the attention of Mal0, he ran over as you keeled over, clutching your stomach in sickness.

 Jets of warm bile flew out of your mouth, searing your throat as it exited. Mal0 gasped, growing visibly upset as he began to whine, pacing about with his hands clutching his head. It was over soon, you spat out the vomit in your mouth and straightened your back. From across the street shocked bystanders looked on, some beginning to walk over. "Hey, let's get out of here..." You told Mal0, he was quick to agree, running ahead of you back towards the sidewalk.

 The slow trudge along the cement path was silent, occasionally you'd catch a glimpse at Mal0, he wouldn't move or express emotion, his worried stare affixed in front of him. "...wanna go to the north end?" You asked, finally breaking the silence. Mal0's head shot towards you, the way his ears bent bespoke of slight surprise and confusion. "The north end is where all the rich people live. They always give out big candies, sometimes money, too." You informed him. Mal0's demeanor changed quickly, his back straightened, ears perked upwards and tail waggling with wild abandon.

 For him, money didn't matter much, but candy was always very enticing. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's go through these neighborhoods first, the rich people don't give out candy until it's a little dark out. They think it'll keep the poorer people away." You explained to Mal0. Of course, the opportunity to amass sweets wasn't something that Mal0 would just pass up, he eagerly followed close by as you and went door to door. Several houses you and him went to, each time you took a glance at Mal0 he was either hopping in joy or gaily wagging his tail. At one point, you reached a house where the owner inquired if you and Mal0 would want to see something more.

 Obviously intrigued, both of you shook your heads in agreement. He turned around and delved into his house, and in a few moments he came back with a plump white rabbit in his arms. "This is my pet rabbit, Walter. He'll eat absolutely anything you give him, watch this-" He said, reaching over past the door frame to presumably a table. From beyond your scope of view he produced a metal pipe, bringing it towards the rabbit's mouth and holding it just infront of him. "It takes a couple seconds, but he ea-oh, there he goes right now!" The man said, and with the sudden sound of metal bending and scraping, you took towards the rabbit, who's mouth was moving hungrily as the sounds of bending metal emanated from it.

 A glance at Mal0 revealed his tail unmoving, his ears still as bones whilst his eyes were glued to the rabbit. Soon finishing his mouthful of metal, he gaped his mouth open once more and clenched down onto the hunk of steel, once again piercing the night life sounds with metal bending. This was quite the spectacle to the both of you, what was more of a site to see was how sudden and quickly the rabbit consumed the pipe. After finishing the metal cheekful, it's mouth suddenly widened immensely, for a moment you could see right into the pit of it's stomach where piles of gooey steel lay. The rabbit's neck extended so as to ingest the rest of the pipe, it's face momentarily horizontal, it's neck also deforming to fit the pipe, before it was dragged into it's visceral pit and filled the hare with steel.

 "I don't know why or how he does it, but he's just able to do it. Pretty cool, ain't it?" He asked. You and Mal0 nodded in agreement, and with that he tossed to both of you an extra sweet for viewing his hare's oddity. That was one of the more unusual encounters during the night, but it was a welcomed one, at that. After that, everything went rather swimmingly, and as you neared the north side, the orange and pink sky waned, making way for the navy blue sky, bits of shimmering white speckled throughout the never-ending expansion. It must've been atleast seven-forty-something, at this point you didn't care if a curfew was set, the night was fun, both for you and for Mal0.

 He'd been skipping alongside, rambling about how much he loved Halloween. Though the night was cold, but you were warm, warmed by Mal0's changed attitude. Alhough your furry friend was always happy to some degree, it seemed different this time. He seemed more unbound and flamboyant than usual, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the many children, some as small as him, already accustomed to the holiday. At long last, the corner you turned gave way to the sight of many luxuriously crafted homes, with yards almost entirely occupied by conspicuous Halloween decorations.

 The north side has been reached, and with that came the gasp of awe and wonder from Mal0. Not long after seeing this, Mal0 ran off to go see the rest of the beautiful decorations and houses. Of course this prompted you to chase after him, not only had he ran into the fray of larger teens, but he'd left his bag of candies behind in search of a more hands on view. He was quick to catch up to, though he was very energetic in his movements, his shorter legs didn't allow him to move as far with said energy. "Watch it, asshole!" "Look where you're going!" "Hey, don't touch my precious angels!" "Control that kid!" The crowd hissed.

 You were excessively embarrassed, Mal0 was just disappointed he couldn't escape your grasp. Off you carried him out of the street of angry people, back onto the sidewalk where you two belonged. You set Mal0 down infront of you, he stared up into your justly vexated eyes. "Mal0, what did I tell you?" You asked him, arms crossed and foot tapping the concrete, impatiently waiting a response. "...Stay with you tonight..." He huffed out.

 "That's right. Now, do you wanna go back home? Because what you just pulled tells me that you want to go home." You stated. He shook his head in response, you gave him his bag back and began to walk, soon after hearing his footsteps behind yours. "I mean it when I say it, Mal0, the streets can get dangerous, especially at night. I'm sorry I had to be stern with you, but you have to learn." You told him. "Now, how about we just finish off this neighborhood and go home? We can eat candy and watch any movie you want." You offered. And that was enough convincing for him, he soon sped up to walk beside you, as he caught up and looked at you, you couldn't help but flash him a smile.

 You couldn't stay mad at him, and maybe he too knew of this. The night went on with little bumps, each house you immediately went for produced handfuls of chocolates, which Mal0 was exuberant over. By the time you reached the fifth house, Mal0 was stopping every couple minutes to retrieve the stray candies that would fall from yours bags. Deciding that he needed another, you reached into your own bag and began to root around for something. Eventually, you produced yet another plastic sack, folded neatly as if it'd not been used.

"Hey, gimme that, it's overflowing. Have this one, you can go get candy from the rest of the houses, I'll hold onto our bags." You told him, handing him the new sack as you tied both of your bulging bags. And off he went to the next house, tail waggling away as if he'd just been told he's loved. At this point, candy didn't even matter to you anymore, Mal0's visible excitement was good enough for you. Eventually, the sky had grown a darker shade of blue, now black. The crowds on the street had long since dissipated, just a few wary stragglers remained to collect from what few houses they missed.

 Almost as if on cue, the light inside the lamplets hung above the doors began to fade away into the darkness. All but one, the house you were standing in front of. With one last "thank you!" from Mal0 and a click of a lock, that lamp too died off and joined the other houses in the dark, awaiting for the next night to dawn and reinvigorate them with purpose. Mal0's bag had been almost completely filled, coins, notes and candy bars alike bursting at the seems. He was more than thrilled, practically jittering in place as he let off a squeal unheard of before.

 "So, how was your first Halloween, Mal0?" You asked him, though the answer was apparent even without a question. "It was great, I loved it!" He exclaimed. "Thank you so much for taking me, Anon!" He said. "Well, I'm glad you like it. However I'm afraid we can't go anywhere else tonight, Mal0. Let's just go home, I'm sure my parents are waiting." You told him. Though you saw the flare in his eyes die slightly, he still agreed to the come home.

 "Sure Anon, let's go." He said, his head hung low ad he sauntered beside you. Though he tried to appear melancholy in his movements, his tail gave away his still energetic and happy mood. "I see you, Mal0. Don't try to act like all sad." You teased. He gave off a whine and tried to cover his face with his hands, though his tail only moved faster. The trek out of the neighborhood to which you were alien to was a rather emotionally dull walk, with the sole exception being Mal0's aura of innocent, cheery happiness, and your fraternal satisfaction of seeing your brother, who wasn't even of your lineage, in such a state as he was tonight.

 Now only about a hundred ought yards away from the street connecting the rich to the poor, a voice rang out from behind you two, harsh and vengeful. It was familiar, but unwelcomed. "Hey, the fuck are you two doing in my neighborhood?" The stranger asked, their voice now accompanied by quick stepping. You recognized the tone, and almost instantly the dread began to set in. The voice was of none other than Kevin, the one kid who was the bane of your attendance at said school.

 To put it bluntly, Kevin was an asshole, through and through. But of course, none of the staff cared of the complaints of you and others, what they cared about was money, and disciplining a disruptive kid was not something that would add onto their payroll. Sometimes the teachers would even encourage this pest to bully peers that the teachers deemed an annoyance. So of course, school was nothing but a shooting range for Kevin's torment and insults. For some reason, out of all the other kids in much more high stakes situations academically and home wise, he singled you out as his punching bag.

 Mal0 shot a look towards the boy in the back, and then back to you, his stare full of worry. "W-who's that?" Mal0 whispered. Despite Mal0's concern, your stare kept to your front, and he seemed to get the message, he too continuing to walk towards the street. "Don't fucking ignore me, Anon, I know you can hear me!" He barked. His angry footsteps only became louder, and with it, your speed walk soon morphed into a desperate run.

 As you soon reached the crosswalk back towards a more familiar side of town, Kevin roughly grasped onto the back of your costume hood, yanking you backwards and sending your bags flying forward. "Where do you think you're going, huh? Back to your little ghetto part of the town, I assume?" He jeered. All of the pent up hatred for this kid had now reached beyond boiling point, and a burst of built up steam manifested itself in your next action. Just taking a guess as to where he stood, you hung your head low and then reared it back as hard as you could handle, hearing your clothed head violently smack right into his nose. The anger still left afterwards invigorated you with a confidence you didn't even know you had.

 You turned around to the sight of Kevin reaching for his nose, his lip quivering as his fingertips met with the red liquid oozing from his nostrils. His nose leaked maroon ichor like a broken faucet, the blood was viscous enough to run down his fingers and coat his hand with his own essence. He reached for his lips and pursed them together, at first failing to emit a sound, before letting off an ear piercing whistle that made a few neighborhood owls open their blinds in frustrated curiosity, before closing them only seconds later. From neighboring shrubs emerged two other kids, another vaulted a fence and soon assimilated himself into the trio of boys coming to Kevin's aide. Of course, each prick with a well off family that picked on people deemed lesser wouldn't be caught dead without a group of yes-men following them around.

 The group easily towered above Kevin by a good foot, somehow that little pest had managed to get other people under his command. These other kids were familiar to you as well, often time they'd accompany Kevin in his tirade against everyone. The new factors in this impending brawl were now clear, you turned to face Mal0, he'd been standing there bags in hands as he watched with anxiety of what was happening. "Go, get out of here, I'll come home when I'm done" you said, urging him away with your pointing finger. "B-but" he stammered "I said, g-" you managed to yell out.

 Halfway through your plea to Mal0, Kevin had walked up and shoved you down, your arms softening your fall somewhat. You rolled over to the site of Kevin's sweat and blood stained face, he was bent over as he angrily reached for your collar. Grasping onto it and pulling, he raised his free fist and quickly slammed it into the side of your head. He'd momentarily dazed you, in those few seconds you could barely feel another strike connect with your forehead. Suddenly, the anger that'd been reserving itself shot back into your conscious, your facial muscles tensed up as you raised one of your legs, that he neglected to attend to.

 In one fluid movement, you brought your leg towards your body and violently kicked forward, connecting with his abdomen as the wind was knocked out of him. His grip loosened in that moment as he keeled over, clutching his belly in pain. You took this moment to rise, scrambling off of the pavement and to your feet. His group of sheep stood there awe-struck as they watched their leader falter to one of his adversaries, one of them in the midst of joining into the fight before Kevin straightened his back and looked toward you. His glare was fiery with anger, though it did nothing to intimidate you, months of that pent up frustration had yet to be fully released.

 In a moments notice your courage made it's way back into you, before Kevin could break his fruitless glare to respond, you clenched your fist and pulled back as far as you could reach, flying it forwards and into his leering face. Kevin was pushed back once more, his hands once again brought towards his scrunched face. This time another response didn't hesitate to execute, you charged forward and grabbed him by the shoulders, and not a second after that he was thrown onto the cement. You peered down at him and spat a mixture of blood and saliva into his face. He was quick to scramble after that, though he couldn't rise, rather he would fall harder onto the cement.

 As he'd begun to get up, you'd stomped your foot onto his back, he hit the pavement with a loud exhale of breathe. Seeing him so powerless in this single moment brought an adrenaline rush, you greedily raised your leg again and began stomping onto him at random. It was only after a few heated kicks to his person when Kevin's goons decided to step in, and you'd fallen to the ground once again with a feeling of numbness to the back of your head. Before you could arise, a burly set of hands lifted you from the armpits, and when you were hastily brought to your feet, your face was met with a flying fist. One strike opened the gateway to a flurry of hits, and soon you were phasing in and out of consciousness.

 Blow after blow your face grew redder, now splattered in ichor as the assault continued. Eventually, you heard the angered demand to stop, and after a few more hits you were left to a blurred half view of the burly young adult infront of you. He stepped out of the way to Kevin, bruised and bloody nosed. "How does it feel, Anon? You got your fifteen seconds of fame, and this is what it lead to. Tough, you would make a great member to my gang, if I weren't gonna kill you." He said, reaching into his pocket, a moment later he produced a shiny silver object, and slipped it over his fingers. The sudden change of events lead you to strenuously pry your eyes open, you pursed your lips and weakly spat a glob of blood at him, staining his grey hoodie.

 He looked down at the blotch of blood and grimaced, pulling his silver adorned fist back as his goons tightened their grip on your body. You looked him in the eye as he would up, but he just stood there, face transfixed and leering at him as his fist stood suspended in air. "What the fuck are you doing? Hit him, you fucking dick!" One of his grunts seethed. Kevin did not move or speak, rather his eyes did all the speaking for him. He bestowed a look of terror, his eyes twitched from angle to angle, his tear ducts watering from not being closed.

 "Fucking worm, I knew you were a pussy, but this? Fuck it, I'll get him myself!" The grunt said. He moved towards the frozen Kevin and began to pry at the aluminum frame affixed to his knuckles, no matter how much elbow grease he put into it, it wasn't budging. As he continued to stubbornly pull at the metal, there was a loud crash mere yards away that demanded the attention of everyone, save for Kevin. At the origin of the crashing was a part of the wooden fence deforming with each crash. Eventually, the crash was accompanied by cracking noises, to which Kevin's grunts dropped you and nervously retreated. Even you had retreated, backing up into the group and watching as the fence's crack began to grow.

 You felt small hands grasping onto your sides, an asuring glance confirmed it was Mal0, his head peering around your abdomen as his grip nervously quivered. Not a second later the wood gave way and scattered to the asphalt, and from the massive hole emerged a stick of multiple colored balls, adorned to an eye-catching pink head. The head attached to the multicolored horn did not appear natural, the eyes were large and unmoving, it's fur jutted out at random in thick paper like strips. Finally, the form in it's entirety stepped out into the moonlight, from where you stood it looked to be level with your abdomen. Not a single part of it appeared realistic, in fact, every feature on it seemed as if it were constructed from paper material.

 It's head eerily turned towards you and the now cowering group of boys, it's eyes still un-expressive and menacing, although not even being natural. It wasn't even looking towards you, instead focusing on Kevin, who was still positioned as if he was about to deliver the finishing blow to your face. Suddenly, the pink creature abandoned it's stiff movements and turned it's body to Kevin, who's eyes by this point were blood shot and oozing hot tears onto the cement. The pink quadruped ambled towards Kevin, it's eyes trained onto his side, when it finally reached him, it laid it's muzzle into Kevin's side in wait. This was merely just a mind trick for Kevin, precursory taunting of his inevitable doom.

 A moment later the pink creature reared it's head back and slammed it into Kevin, emitting a cracking noise from the boy as the creature faltered from the sheer force of the impact. After it recovered from the shake up, it focused back onto Kevin, charging into his side as it deformed from the second impact. By that time his eyes had fallen dead still towards the ground, though tears continued to fall down his face. The creature pulled back for yet another hit, charging forward horn first. The horn penetrated into Kevin with an audible "thunk", and as it pulled it's head away brightly colored pieces of plastic wrapped candy spewed from his broken side, littering the ground in the sweets.

 As the candy continued to spill you heard the squealing of the boys  behind you, followed by hasty footsteps. You would've ran off too, but this rather grim sight was morbidly fascinating, to say the least. With one last nudge from the creature's head, Kevin's entire side fell off and mixed into the mess of candy. Bone, skin, muscles, and clothes scattered into the odd looking sweets, though there was not a single visible drop of blood in the pile. With a large chunk of his abdomen gone, Kevin's body soon fell, stuck in the same position he'd been trapped in.

 He hit the ground with a loud precursory smack, before his body broke into millions of pieces, bones mixed with clothes, muscles with skin, and all of it mixed into a now larger puddle of candy. The sight of one of your long time adversaries reduced to sweets and pieces set a shock unto you, how could something like that, do something like this? As you pondered about this, the creature had not taken long to begin it's feast, munching on anything that was in it's mouth, bone and all. "Hey! What are you doing out here, kid!?" A random lady asked. Not a second later you heard footsteps, small and moving quickly, you dashed off after the sound, assuming it was Mal0, as the lady continued to berate you two.

 "God damnit! Fucking kids leaving their candy all over the side walk! I'll find you two and report you to your school!" She yelled, her empty threats echoing through the neighborhood grew more faint the farther you moved from them. The many neighborhoods you passed through on your way back home were all pitch black and lifeless, having already retreated for the night atleast an hour ago. All throughout you'd been chasing Mal0, assuming he knew the way back. Eventually, you made it back to your familiar neighborhood, to which Mal0 had stopped, and so had you. "Alright, I think we're fine. Mal0, stay outside the house, my parents can't see you get in. I'll lift you in when it's safe, just hide in the bush." You huffed out.

 Mal0 had turned around, his frightened eyes stood out from the mostly dark color palette the night had taken. "Anon, I'm scared...what if they come back? What if that thing comes back for us?" Mal0 asked, his ears had levelled with his head, his robe had a print from where he'd tucked his tail away. "They wont, I'll make sure they wont. Now come on, we gotta get home." You told him. Off you walked, Mal0 nervously following behind, you stopped just before you were on the property line of the house. "Now, I want you to go in through the left, go around the backyard, and hide in the bushes on the right side of the house. I'll pull you in when I give the signal, now go!" You whispered to him.

 Mal0 scampered away, head lowered and frantically moving as you tried your best to calmly walk towards the front door. You nervously knocked, glancing about the minimalist Halloween decorations as you awaited a response. After three minutes, no one came to open the door. You knocked again and waited a minute longer, still nothing. You were beginning to grow nervous and scanned the front lawn, nothing, the driveway, nothing.

 And then it hit you, today your parents were working late, that's the only reason you were allowed to celebrate Halloween. You raised your hands to your mouth and pursed your swollen lips together, blowing a high pitched whistle. Mal0 came scrambling over to your side, clutching you as if he'd never see you again. "Hey, it's okay, we're fine. You can come in through the front door, my parents aren't home." You assured Mal0. His grip had loosened slightly, although he was still rather fidgety.

 You moved along with Mal0 attached to your side to retrieve the spare key kept hidden under the broken porch tile. With the click of the lock the door was open to the dark living room, having long since been void of your presence, the red numbers of the digital clock sticking out like a sore thumb. You reached to the side and flipped the lights on, and all was calm, even Mal0 had calmed. He detached from you and walked into the living room, although inside you'd been yearning that he'd hold on. He sat down on the couch and exhaled a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Anon..." "For what?" You asked.

 "For tonight. It was fun...maybe too much fun, though..." He replied. "Oh, well, you're welcome, I guess. The fun's not over yet, Mal0. If you're up for it, we can watch a movie or two before we sleep." You offered. Mal0's head perked up, as did his ears, his eyes free from worry and back to their usual lively state. "Sure, let's go!" Mal0 said, sliding off of the couch and scampering upstairs. You turned around and went to lock the door, before heading back up.

 Upon reaching the stairs, Mal0 had already ran into your room, you sped walked after him but he'd shut the door before you could walk in. As you pushed the door in, Mal0 lept from the bed towards you, landing onto your chest and pushing you over, which knocked the breathe out of you upon landing. Normally someone pulling this kind of behavior on you would've warranted a violent response, but Mal0 was different, you couldn't be mad at him. He laughed away as he got up and walked back into your room, "you should've seen the look on your face! You were scared!" You laughed it off and dusted your dirty cloth robe as you rose, soon entering the room with him.

 He'd already taken his spot on the bed, and you approached the television on your drawer as he began to fidget about. Once the TV was on and the movie was selected, you turned around to the sight of Mal0 bringing the mouth piece of your trumpet to his teeth. He managed to blow out one note before you confiscated the instrument. "Awww come on, it's that time of year again, Anon!" Mal0 exclaimed. You chuckled in response, the movie began and you retreated back to the bed with Mal0.

 You'd taken the spot against the bed board, and about halfway through the movie was when you recalled Mal0 crawling into your arms, his fuzzy head pressed up against your chest. He'd wrapped his arms around your torso, and you returned the favor, and as the movie droned on you felt yourself slumping into a sleep, until eventually, your eyelids clamped shut for the night.