SR O: Grim and the Vampire (2021)

Ch.3: Treat Or Trick

Candy is really expensive. I saw one candy bar for a whole ten cents down at the store, with milk chocolate and nuts and everything. We don't really have the money to buy a hundred of them just to hand out to people we don't know. Everyone else around here does, but we can't get any of it because we don't have the money for a good costume, either.
Todd and I were just about to cut holes out of our mom's spare sheets when she stopped us, and told us there were OTHER ways to celebrate Halloween.
"But everyone else is trick-or-treating!" I complained.
"Yes," she acknowledged, "and they're going to feel very sick tomorrow from all of that candy."
I was kind of angry, but I knew not to take it out on family. Too bad Max Puissant wasn't there. Actually, scratch that. I'd rather just use a punching bag or something.
Genevieve went into the cupboard, and pulled out three pumpkins. She'd bought them just for today.
"You two are going to carve me some jack-o-lanterns, and we're going to put them on the door-step."
Now, we were excited. Our minds were swimming with possibilities – a black cat? A ghost? Or the old, reliable scary face?
Todd asked, "Are you carving one too?"
She grinned. "No, I'm using mine to make soup for all of us."
"SOUP?!" I exclaimed, unable to BELIEVE what she'd said.
She smiled. "That's right, SOUP! You carve your pumpkins, and I'll make my soup. And make sure to save the seeds."
Todd and I carved our pumpkins, with steak-knives. Todd made his into a witch on a broom, and I made mine into a big skull face. We put candles inside, and put the tops back on. Then we set them out on the front porch. Genevieve made sure not to light the wall lantern next to the door, so nobody came to us looking for treats. We sat on the deck, watching other kids walk by in their cool costumes, the little ones holding their parents' hands. We saw witches, ghosts, vampires, devils... one kid, dressed as a grim reaper, stopped and stared at me, silent as breath. He pointed at me with his completely ordinary, human fingers. Then he kept walking. Todd and I got chills, and then we laughed. That kid was obviously just trying to spook us.

When we came back inside, mom was hard at work on the pumpkin soup. She'd chopped up skinned pumpkin slices, spinach, onions, garlic, basil, chili peppers, and oregano, and put them into a big pot. She lit the fire inside the stove oven, and put the pot on top. The ingredients sat on the bottom, simmering with butter and oil. It smelled REALLY good. Then, in the oven compartment, she put inside a tray full of the pumpkin seeds we'd dug out of the pumpkin's guts. They were salted and oiled, too.

A couple hours later, we had the best soup we'd ever tasted, and baked seeds as a snack, for later. It sucked watching the other kids holding little buckets full of chocolate, nuts, and bottles of soda, but we weren't too bothered anymore. That was when Felix, Todd's dad, came home from work, with a candy bar for each of us. Even me! Normally, he does kind of play favourites, but I get it. All in all, I'd say I had a pretty good Halloween, even if nothing very scary happened.

No, the fear came about a week later. I didn't know it yet, but I was about to get the biggest scare of my life.