Feeling Blue

• Sarah Muir, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

Halloween always put Joshua on edge, but it did have the remarkable ability to make him feel alive. He enjoyed the candy, and admired the cob web covered houses. But he was not quite fond of the costumes.
He found this year practically uncomfortable; there was too much exaggeration. The majority of the fence posts were covered in an abundance of fake blood. He decided the giant plastic spider that covered one kid’s whole roof was alright, with its massive legs creeping over the gutter.
He noticed one child wearing a cheap plastic mask that he estimated to be worth a fifty cent coin and briefly grimaced at the dentist the child was going to need in the near future. The unfortunate mask had three large bulging eyes that make the plastics pale pinkie- grey colour look particularly revolting. The child had his arms straight out in front of him as he staggered after a giggling girl wearing a lady bug costume. He was making all kinds of strange and peculiar groaning noises. Not very accurate, he decided. Joshua knew that if the child were a zombie, his skin would be blue and he would no longer have any eyes.
Shaking his head, he decided to enjoy the evening as best he could. As he dragged his feet towards the spider clad house, he avoided making contact with the fake blood on the gate. Why do they always put it in the most inconvenient places? Shaking his head, he trudged to the door and rang the doorbell.
Several moments passed before the door opened to reveal a humble looking woman bearing a pirate hook in one hand and a plastic head stuffed with sweets in the other. Revolting.
The women looked surprised as she looked Joshua up and down. “You seem a little old for dressing up,” she said.
He grunted.
“Very realistic costume you’ve got there,” she added. Another grunt was her reply.
The women then used her hook to scrape the sugary sweets into Joshua’s basket. It consisted of cheap candy corn and an assortment of various hard wrapped lollies. When the woman was finished, Joshua smiled and took leave.
Carefully, he weaved his way through the busy streets until he reached the outside of town. Beyond him was the town cemetery. It’s normally grey, foggy atmosphere was illuminated by party lights. Joshua limped towards the front gate; it was adorned with ordinary looking objects; spoons, tissue boxes and the odd toilet roll and dish cloth.
“You came,” a shallow voice called. He turned to see a pretty looking girl named Lacy. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She looked very ordinary except for her skin. It was clear; not the kind of pimple free clear that people normally think, but a transparent kind.
Joshua could not see this, but he knew, and he couldn’t care less. He was simply happy that someone could didn’t mind his missing eyes, zombie blue skin and his dead presence.