cardigan [h.s.]

Chapter 9

Harry

October

I've always disliked the month of October.

I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween. Who in their right mind thought, "oh yeah, let's have a bunch of kids dress up for one night to get candy from strangers'?

Seems pretty ridiculously sketchy to me.

October is also just a reminder that I am now one month away from absolute torture, which is my dad during hockey season.

But still every year, my little sister drags me to the October Falls Festival we have here in Eden Falls.

A whole two weeks, the Fall Festival occurs, all leading up to the Halloween. There's a corn maze to get lost in, a pumpkin patch to pick from, farm animals everywhere to feed, and late at a night, a haunted trail to get scared in.

In Eden Falls, we apparently also take our Halloween very seriously.

"Are you sure you even want to go," I ask Jen, who is sitting in the passenger side of my Jeep. "Aren't you getting a little old to be going to this?"

"I'm thirteen," she replies, not looking up from the book she has in her lap. I swear, this kid never stops reading. The world could be ending and she still wouldn't put down whatever book she has until she's finished it.

"Like I said," I fix my grip on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead at the road, "Old."

I hear Jen scoff from her side as I continue to drive us to the festival, which takes place kind of out in the country. Close to the outskirts of Eden Falls. It used to take place in the heart of downtown Eden Falls, before some neighbor complained about it being too loud. They were forced to move it somewhere where there is not a lot of surrounding people or the Falls Festival would cease to exist.

I don't know why they didn't just go with the latter.

The drive isn't that long and before I know it, we are pulling into the freshly cut grassy field they have for parking. Jen is out of the car before I can even take the keys out of the ignition.

I get out, locking the car and putting my keys into my pocket, fixing my jacket because of the chill in the air. The weather in Eden Falls has dropped quite a bit since the beginning of September. It only gets up to about 35 degrees on a good day.

That only means winter is upon us soon.

"C'mon Harry," Jen drags me towards the barn they have out here with all the animals, and I can already smell their shit from the parking lot.

Jen walks a few feet in front of me, meeting up with some friends of her's from school. She turns around to let me know something that I didn't sign up for, "Oh," she starts, "Mum said you have to bring Piper, Suzanne and I back here tomorrow night, so we can go to the haunted trail."

Seriously?

Mum probably said no such thing.

"I-" I start to argue with her, but Jen and her friends are long gone before I can get a single word out. I definitely did not sign up to have to take my sister and her bratty ass friends back here tomorrow. I'm seriously going to need to have a chat with my mum.

With no idea where my little sister has run off to, I am stuck walking around this hellhole by myself. My hands secured in my pocket and the sounds of a bunch of screaming children to be my soundtrack.

The wind picks up and a chill runs through me. I guess my jean jacket wasn't the best thing to wear today — doesn't do much to keep me warm. It also doesn't help that every time I put on this stupid jacket I am reminded of a certain someone.