Late-October. The time of year where it transitions from the summery warmth to the wintry cold. And, of course, spooky season.

I’ve never been the biggest Halloween fan. I stopped going trick-or-treating when I entered high school. Not that I don’t like the season, but I think I lost interest.

Harrisburg usually holds their trick-or-treating on a Thursday night. Probably to make sure those little rascals don’t stay out too late because of school. Although, not everyone adheres to that.

Last year, back when I actually had a house, Colin had a run-in with a group of unruly kids who showed up at his place after trick-or-treating officially ended. He tried explaining that he did not have any more candy, but those kids, who looked about middle-school age, refused to accept it and vandalized his house in anger. What a bunch of dickheads!

I heard the next day that Colin wasn’t the only victim. An article in The Patriot-News reported that those children had attacked multiple houses across the city, after all of them refused to hand out candy. I escaped the torment because I wasn’t home at the time.

As trick-or-treating grew closer, Colin grew increasingly unnerved at the prospect of facing those kids again. So unnerved that he even suggested keeping all the lights off and having the door locked, to give the impression of us not being home.

He did have a brief glimmer of “hope”, with the weather forecast showing a line of thunderstorms that Thursday evening, but the city announced trick-or-treating would go ahead as scheduled. Not exactly sure why, but Colin was very distraught. I had to do something about it.

“You need to stop being so scared of these kids! It’s ruining your spirit!”

Colin, his fear melting into a sort of semi-depressive state, responded: “I know, I know, it’s foolish of me to be acting this way. But what am I supposed to do? Just deal with it?”

“Get back at them for it!”

“But I’m not that kind of person! I can’t just stoop to their level!”

After a brief silence, I sighed and told him, “The way I see it, you have to act or you’ll keep dealing with it. And I don’t want to see you keep dealing with it.”

Colin seemed a little better, but still unnerved. “You may be right, but how could I be able to do such a thing?”

I pondered for a moment, and, remembering my special ability, made a cutthroat gesture.

“Shannon, are you serious?”

“100% serious. If you want these kids off your back, you gotta scare ‘em off your back.”

“And you’re suggesting that I…”

“Absolutely. I give you full permission to do…that to me,” I said, making the cutthroat gesture again for the last part. “Not in front of the kids, of course. Don’t want to scar them for life.”

Colin mulled over the idea for a few seconds, then had a bright idea. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Five minutes later, he comes back with a Ghostface costume and a large kitchen knife. “I used this last time I went trick-or-treating.”

“Perfect.”

A few days of planning and rehearsing later…

6 PM on Thursday night. The sun was setting, and trick-or-treating officially began. The line of storms expected that night was supposed to hold off until around 8 o’clock, justifying the city’s decision to go on with the show.

“I’m still a little nervous about this,” said Colin, about to put on his costume.

“Don’t worry, you got this. Just make sure they don’t know it’s you.”

The plan was set. I would be the one answering the door. When the kids asked for candy, I’d tell them that the bowl of candy was in the kitchen and that I’d go grab it quickly. Colin, in position and in costume, would move in and cut my head off with a very audible scream and slice. We agreed on not using any fake blood or makeup to add a bit of surrealness, and to not be too scary. Then, he would approach and frighten off the children, while carrying my severed head.

At around 6:30, Colin received a text from his friend Jerry, who lives in Shipoke, a neighborhood in the south side of the city that is separated from downtown by the Interstate.

Jerry’s house was ransacked by the group of kids, after he forgot to grab candy from the store for that night.

“Goddammit, why Jerry? Why does it have to be Jerry?” Jerry was one of Colin’s closest friends in school, so this was particularly troubling to him.

“Relax, you’ll get your chance soon enough,” I reassured him. “I’ll keep watch until then.”

7:30 PM. City officials actually ordered trick-or-treating to stop at that time because of the impending storm. But we couldn’t drop our guard just yet. Judging by those kids’ actions, it was very likely that they wouldn’t listen to such “restrictions”, as they’d probably call them.

The minutes just kept flying by. Before we knew it, it was already 8. The tension was building.

Then, as if on cue, I saw four children, probably middle- or early high-school age, riding bikes obnoxiously down the street towards our house.

“That must be them. It is time.”

Colin, although still visibly nervous, nodded and moved into position. I did the same, as I heard a knock on the door.

I opened the door, and standing in front of me was a boy dressed in a red ninja costume, looking rather agitated.

“Trick or treat, now where’s the candy?” he questioned angrily.

A chorus of agreement came from behind the ninja, and there stood the three other boys. One was dressed as a stereotypical 1920s gangster, another as Bumblebee from Transformers, and the third one, ironically enough, was dressed as SpongeBob.

“Oh, silly me, I left the bowl in the kitchen! Can you wait here please while I go get it?” I replied, trying to sound as nice as I could.

The group drew together to discuss the matter before the ninja, presumably the group’s leader, agreed, but told me to make it quick.

I chose the kitchen because it was out of view of the doorway, it could disguise my movements perfectly. Colin was standing outside the back door, and me walking into the kitchen was his signal to start.

He knocked on the back door, and as I went to open it, I said, “Now who could that be?” in a relatively soft tone of voice.

Colin is standing there, dressed as Ghostface, with the signature mask and long, draping black robe. I let out a gasp and, trying to inject fear into my voice, yelled “Wwwwhat do you want from me???”

The ninja, growing impatient, called out from the front door. “Lady, what’s going on in there?”

I did not answer him, completely focused on my “enemy” in menacingly standing in front of me. He pulled the large kitchen knife behind my back, and my eyes bulged.

Colin slowly approached me, and I stood there “frozen” in my steps, “unable” to move. He spoke in a fearsomely low tone.

“Don’t you dare move, or even make a sound, or else…”

But my “instinct” told me to scream. Loudly. And so I did. Colin took the knife and sliced my head clean off as I made some choking noises for added effect. Then, I fell silent as my now-severed head hit the ground with an audible thud.

Colin crouched down to pick my head up, and I, snapping out of my “fear” state, very quietly told him: “Now it’s your turn to put on the show. Like I said, you got this!”

In return, Colin responded in his normal voice, also very quietly. “Thank you, I didn’t think I’d get this far. But I’ll try nonetheless.”

He walked towards the front door with the kitchen knife in one hand and my head in the other, with me giving it my all to pull off the “dead” look.

I could see the fear in three of the boys as we came into view, but the ninja remained unmoved. Colin nevertheless began his speech in a dark and sinister tone.

“I heard you boys were making trouble across the city. Terrorizing many people. Causing a lot of damage. It needs to stop.”

Although the three others were trembling in fear, the ninja was still undeterred. “Why should I? You’re not my boss!”

“That may be so, but look who also didn’t listen to my directions.” Colin raised my disembodied head for them all to see. “You don’t want to end up like her, do you?”

The boy dressed as Bumblebee turned to leave, before the ninja furiously stopped him. “Ohhhh no you’re not chickening out on me! Besides, that head isn’t real. Looks so fake.”

He reached forward to prove to his gang that it was a ruse. When he did so, I let out a low growl that erupted into an angry yell, revealing that I was still alive and everything they were seeing was completely real.

“You fools!” I screamed, which finally made the ninja recoil in fear. Simultaneously, a roar of thunder cracked in the distance.

I summoned my headless body to the front door as I began my speech. “You goddamn fucking assholes! How dare you go around ransacking this great city without fearing the consequences! You’re fucking lucky that the police didn’t get you last year!”

My body now came into full view behind us, and the ninja soon started to tremble in fear like his comrades. Colin leaned over the ninja, holding the knife in front of his face.

He moved forward to finish the job, lowering his voice to a whisper. “But this year will be your last. You boys better stop this chaos for good. If I hear about your group again next year, you all will end up like her.” He raised my head into view again.

“She may be fine, but if I do it to you, well, may God have mercy on your souls. Do I make myself clear?”

I could now see the sheer terror in the ninja’s eyes. We got him.

“UHHH YES SIR LOUD AND CLEAR SIR! I WILL MAKE SURE IT NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN SIR!!!” he shouted. “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE GUYS!!!”

As such, the four boys sped off on their bikes as fast as they could. The deed was done.

My body grabbed my head from Colin’s hand. “Welp, we did it. And I highly doubt they’ll be back again.”

“And thank fuck for that. I can finally rest easy again.”

As he said that, we heard another crash of thunder. The two of us looked to the sky overhead, and there was an incredible display of lightning.

Re-attaching my head to my neck stump, I retorted, “Guess you spoke too soon, eh?”

I heard a notification go off on Colin’s phone, and he read it. “Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 9:15 PM. Yeah, totally forgot about that. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut.”

We both laughed as Colin removed his costume and prepared for another weather-watching session, and I prepared to join him.