“A what?” Miguel said. He’s not sure if he heard that correctly. No, more like, he was convincing himself otherwise. He knew what Joseph said.

A date.

Does that mean?

No. No, no. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Miguel tried not to look too flustered, and instead waited for Joseph’s explanation.

“A date.” Joseph replied.

Miguel was right! This slender, purple-haired Frankenstein’s monster had the courage to ask him out on a date.

“No, wait,” Joseph put his finger on his chin, rubbing it slightly, as if to coax out the right words, “It’s not a date, it’s more like I want to take you on a walk around the campus, play some games, and generally have some fun together.”

‘That’s exactly the definition of a date dammit!’ Miguel thought. He has been repeating the word over and over again in his mind that it was starting to lose its meaning. Date. Date. Date. Regardless, there was one question that arose in his mind.

“Why?”

Why, in the prime of his life, would a twenty-one-year-old university student ask a thirty, washed-up old man out on a date? Miguel’s hands would not be enough to count all the better looking people around him. Out of the several eligible fingers he brought up to count, why would Joseph pick the one that was counting?

“You seem stressed, so… Joseph clasped his hands together, “I thought the best way to get rid of that was to show you the charm of the school.”

Miguel’s eyes widened for a few seconds, and relaxed, ending his surprised look with a warm smile. He didn’t expect anybody to actually care about his wellbeing. If this is all Joseph was asking for as payment, who was Miguel to decline the offer?

“Alright. Lead the way.” Miguel said.

“Cool!” Joseph smiled. “Follow me then.”

Joseph began to strut, with each step showing off the confidence and happiness in his gait. Miguel tried to keep up but the nap-induced grogginess was proving too much to handle. All he could do was shuffle behind, stopping once in a while to stretch out his back.

“You alright?” Joseph asked.

“Hmm?” Miguel patted his back a few times, “Yeah, I’m fine, just shaking off the sleepiness.”

Joseph smiled, and turned his attention back in front. However, a few steps in, he stopped his tracks in order to let the large man catch up.

“So,” Joseph side-eyed Miguel, making sure he was beside him while walking, “what do you think of our school?”

“Pretty large ain’t it?” Miguel mused.

“Yeah.” Joseph chuckled. “Every so often we have visitors that ask for directions, but really, it’s much easier to bring them to where they want to be, since the place is so goddamn huge.”

“I can imagine.”

“What about your college?”

“It was pretty big I guess.” Miguel scratched his beard, “Can’t make a comparison though, since it’s been ten years since I dropped out.”

Joseph halted his steps, and looked at Miguel. “Dropped out?”

“Mhm.”

“I see.” Joseph continued walking.

“Huh,” Miguel followed suit, a bit perplexed at the reaction, “Back when I worked all those odd jobs, my colleagues were really keen in finding out why.”

“Well, do you want to talk about it?” Joseph asked.

“Not right now, no.”

“Well there we go.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m willing to listen though if ever.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The two kept on walking until they reached the place Joseph had in mind. It was a booth with a black table in front, and two posts extending upwards, ending on a wooden sign that had “Spooking Range” painted on it, littered with the typical elements of Halloween: pumpkins, bats, a moon with a black cat, and a witch. Behind the booth were two college students wearing witch hats, and a shelf with eight tiers. On top of each tier were neon-orange plastic toy pumpkins of varying sizes. Its four sides were covered with a few yards of black cloth.

“This is one of the places I wanted to try out first.” Joseph leaned over to Miguel. “Wanna give it a try?”

Without needing a prompt from Joseph, Miguel walked towards the table of the booth.

“How much?” Miguel asked.

“Three bucks for one minute.”

“What are the prizes?”

“Over here.” One of the students motioned over the sign on top of the shelf. The prizes are tiered based on how many shots a person can make in one minute, with one shot being a single, kind of sad, piece of candy, climbing up to the highest tier; thirty shots for a fat wolf plushie.

“I want that wolf.” Miguel said, both hands on his cheeks. He digs out his wallet and pulls out three bills, slamming it down on the table. “One minute please.”

“Alright.” One of the students took the bills and stored them inside a cash box. “Here, each magazine has five pellets in it. Do your best!”

The student placed a pellet gun on a table, and a tray of magazines loaded with violet pellets.

“Timer starts once you shoot your first pellet.”

Miguel took the gun and examined it. He took a look at the iron sights, which was just a single nub on top. There was a button that had to be pressed in order to take out the cartridge. Having known all these elements, he extended his right arm holding the gun, and supporting it using the left hand. He closed his left eye and took aim at an unsuspecting plastic pumpkin and pulled the trigger. A direct hit. The pumpkin fell with a hollow thud, as is common in cheap plastic toys. Without letting a second pass, he hit another.

And another.

And another.

One by one, they fell in rapid succession, only taking a break when Miguel needed to replace the cartridge. Everyone watching had their mouths open, watching the dexterity, accuracy and speed Miguel had in handling a fake gun. Once the time limit had been reached, Miguel was able to reach his target goal; thirty pumpkins – the obstacle between him and his fat wolf.

“Time! That was amazing!” The two students applauded.

Miguel could do nothing but laugh and run through his hair with his hands.

“Anyway,” One of the students ducked under the table and retrieved a large, rotund, wolf plushie, in all of its velvety glory.

Miguel’s eyes widened at the sight of the toy and took it from the students with both hands, hugging it tightly to his chest.

“Congrats!” Joseph clapped. “I didn’t know you had great aim.”

“Well,” Miguel scratched his chin, “Back in my home country there was this annual…”

Miguel took a few seconds to translate fiesta without losing its essence.

“Festival, I guess?” Miguel shrugged with both of his hand held upwards. “Some sort of carnival owners rent out the place and sell stuff, food. Anything really. But sometimes they sell games, like small-time gambling, and my personal favorite, a shooting gallery.”

“I see,” Joseph said, nodding to every point he deemed important, “So I guess you were a regular?”

“Mhm.” Miguel affirmed. “It was the cheapest way to possibly get a ton of prizes, so I went there every day until the end of the fest. I went from winning one piece of candy to a big bag of snacks and things. One time the owner got mad at me for being so good at it.”

“I can imagine.” Joseph laughed, thinking about a tinier Miguel. “Anyway, should we get a move on?”

Miguel nodded, hugging the fat wolf tightly.

“Where to go though?” Joseph pondered.

“That’s up to you,” Miguel pets the plushie with extra love and care, “I’m willing to go anywhere.”

Miguel let Joseph think for a bit, giving kisses to the plushie’s head. Or what he thought was the head. It was hard to tell due to the outstanding rotundness of the wolf.

“Ah, got it!” Joseph snapped his fingers. “Wanna watch the costume competition?”

“Yeah let’s go.”

The trio shuffled along towards the gymnasium to see all the costumes, crafted or bought, in full display. When Miguel and Joseph got there, the venue was packed with people, eager to see what manner of Halloween trickery the contestants were embodying through their outfits.

“Damn! So many people!” Joseph said.

Miguel trailed off and headed for the sign posted on a whiteboard beside the entrance to the gymnasium.

Trick or Treat Fun! School Festival Costume Contest

AEU Gymnasium

Grand Prize $100

1st Runner Up $50

2nd Runner Up $25

Prizes for Special Awards

Criteria:

40% Costume Quality

30% Skit

20% Originality

10% Audience Impact

Free Entrance!

Or so Miguel read. It was hard to understand due to the font’s excessive flair.

“Well, should we go in?” Joseph asked.

Miguel nodded, and Joseph took it as a signal to move forward. Fortunately for them, there were still available seats. As if on cue, as soon as the pair sat down, the lights in the gymnasium turned off, and a familiar voice boomed out of the speakers.

“Everyone, are you ready for a night of fright?”

‘Lo and behold, it was Celine, the designated master of ceremonies for the evening. She was wearing a simple, green dress that was styled to give an impression of a plant. Her face was covered in makeup, painted to look like roots and stems are coming out of the upper-part of her head, finished off with prosthetics that made it look like actual roses were coming out of her head.

“Go Celine!” Joseph screamed, cupping both of his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

“Folks, welcome to Trick or Treat Fun! The first ever AEU Costume Competition, I will be your master of ceremonies, and your lovely alraune tonight, Celine!”

The gymnasium was filled with the rounds of applause from the audience. The energy Celine gave off was the right one, which was only amplified by the setting sun; a perfect time for mischief. Celine explained the mechanics, criteria for judging, and the prizes, which, understandable enough, were met by the students with roaring applause.

“Now, before we begin, I would like to thank our sponsors who made this event possible: Miguel’s Café, located at…”

There it was. The name of Miguel’s pride and joy. It only lasted for a second, but the thrill stuck with him much longer than that.

“And now, without further ado, our first contestant.”

The lights went dim for a few seconds. Smoke started coming out of the sides of the stage. A single red light shone on the middle of the stage; position zero.

“Everyone, are you ready for the darkness?”

It was the student council treasurer that helped Miguel out clad in a scarlet witch get up, directly under the spotlight, and pulling off a pose that she could not see himself doing. Frankly, he thought that if he posed like that, it would gross a lot of people out. But the way she was posing, at that moment, was enough to send the crowd into a frenzy of applause.

What followed next was a sizable amount of gymnastics, cheesy, but not at all cloying, lines, and a generally mystic aura, as if there was an actual fire witch standing before the audience. By the time her performance ended, everyone felt like there was a part of joy missing within them. The next contestants were neither unwanted nor bad per se. In fact, they were actually good! But the audience was left wanting more.

The rest of the contest flew by quick and before Miguel knew it, the members of the audience were leaving one-by-one, and the treasurer was holding a gold medal in the shape of a bat, a certificate, and a bank check.

“That was amazing wasn’t it?” Miguel heard Joseph speak right next to him.

“Very.” Miguel said, still ecstatic about the wonders of the costumes.

“Hey,” Joseph put his hand on Miguel’s left shoulder, “I know it was selfish of me, but, thanks for agreeing to this.”

Joseph’s touch made Miguel shudder. It felt unnatural. But, not unwanted. There was a slight discomfort at first, but it transformed into something that Miguel did not know he needed. Physical contact. It was only for a few seconds, but Miguel could feel his shoulder melting onto Joseph’s palm.

“Not at all,” Miguel smiled, trying to hide the whimper in his voice that came out. “In fact, that was really fun. Thank you.”

Joseph smiled, and withdrew his hand into his pocket. “Are you gonna stay for the concert?”

“No, I have to get my stove and boxes home.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. The council and I talked it over and we’re just gonna bring it back to you the next day.”

“That would be a big help. But, I’d still like to go home early.”

“I see. That’s a shame, there’s gonna be a concert ya know.”

“I know, but, I’m kinda tired.” Miguel laughed.

“That so? Alright then, I’ll see you when I see you. I haven’t had your coffee in a while so that may be soon!” Joseph joked.

“I’ll be expecting you then.”

“Well then, see you!” Joseph waved, “I’ll be staying here for a while, I want to talk to Celine.”

“Tell her I said fantastic job then!” Miguel turned around and began the trek back home.

Outside the gymnasium, he could hear the university students talking about various things regarding the festival. The upcoming bands, the treasurer’s performance. Hell, he even heard one of the students make fun of their friends for not being able to try out his burger. Miguel tried to stifle his chuckle, lest they found out he was eavesdropping.

The night was cool, the moon’s bright side was winning. Miguel clutched his rotund plushie and hummed along to the equipment check of the band. He rubbed his left shoulder, and for a moment, he felt a tinge of sadness.