Dissociation

Halloween night

« Mom look, I'm a monster! » said little Arya who was dressed as the grinch for this Halloween night.
« You look adorable my little baby, though I still don't understand why you  wouldn't wear the fairy costume I bought you » her mom replied with a genuine yet worried smile on her face.
« That's because she's a weirdo duh.. » said her elder sister while climbing the stairs, holding a a bowl full of popcorns.
« Moooom she's being mean again !! »
« Stop disturbing you little sister, Anaëlle » replied her mom in a joking tone.
It was Arya's first night out on Halloween, she could finally do this thing she saw other children do in her favorite cartoons at this time of the year ; trick or treat.
« Okay now honey, remember what I told you.. »
« Yeah yeah.. don't go too far from the house, don't lose sight of John and be back before 11pm » Arya said, interrupting her mother mid sentence.
John was the neighbor's kid, he was a little older than Arya and proposed to tag along when he heard Arya pleading to go trick or treat few days before.
« Yeah, now go before I change my mind » her mother said with a warm smile on her face.
Arya was very excited, this was her first night trick or treating, her mom never granted her the permission the previous years, claiming it was too dangerous for a cute little girl like her to walk alone at night but now thanks to John, she could finally fully experience Halloween.
« Hey, where're you going?! » asked Arya with a confused and irritated look on her face.
« I'm going to meet my friends to do a prank on the Sanders ».
The sanders were the oldest habitant of the village, they were very wealthy and private people who only talked to others when they deemed necessary to, because of that, they weren't really liked by the others who called them snobbish and full of themselves.
« But my mom said you should come with me! I don't want to play with your stupid friends » Arya said, annoyed.
« Then don't! Listen, I only proposed to keep you company so I could spend the night out too.. okay let's do this, you go trick or treat and we meet right here at 10:45 so we could go home together and pretend we were together » he replied.
Arya thought about it for a second and then agreed.
« Great! See you then » John said while waving her goodbye.
Arya just stood there not knowing what should be her next move, this was her first time trick or treating and she was scared to go knock on peoples' doors. She then saw a group of kid about her age with bags almost full of candies and decided to spend the night with them.
As she approached them, she could hear them mumbling while looking in her direction.
« Why's the weird girl approaching us? »one said.
« We should run before she starts talking to us » the second proposed.
« She's so off, look at her costume! The grinch? Really? » said the third one with disgust in her eyes.
Arya stopped midway after hearing those horrible things, why were they so mean? She wondered.
Arya basically never left the house, she was homeschooled, never went to the store with her mom to buy groceries and wasn't even allowed to play in the yard, all of these made it really difficult for her to make new friends despite her being in this village for almost 2 years.
She wiped her blurry eyes and cursed her mom out, it was because of all these rules that she couldn't make any friends.
She finally decided to go trick or treat alone like the big and independent girl she thought she was.

On the other hand, John had meet up with his friends Rick and Snow. Rick had messy copper curls that invaded his face and a missing tooth because he plays too much, he likes to do pranks and was the one who proposed they should do a prank on the « perfects » as he called them. John didn't mind, he was just glad to spend the night with Snow, she was an Asian girl with long dark hair and the cutest smile but was very quiet and shy.

« so.. what's the plan? » asked John to Rick
« We're going to place this dead raccoon in front of their door and then ring the doorbell and hide » Rick said with excitement while showing the dead animal with a putrid smell in a bag.
« Beurk!! Where did you even find this?? » exclaimed John while trying not to throw up.
« It doesn't matter, let's go!! »
The trio made their way to the gates of the Sanders, jumped the fence and advanced to the door. Snow stopped walking, second guessing this whole mascarade but Rick persuaded her that nothing would happen, so she continued walking with them.
The three hid behind a huge tree that was in the property while wondering who would have to go and place the dead animal in front of their door.
« It was your idea so you do it moron » said John hoping to have some alone time with Snow.
« 'right jackass, I'll do it » Rick said, shrugging his shoulders.
He then started making his way to the door while John and Snow stayed there awkwardly, not knowing what to say to each other.
« So.. how are you feeling? » asked John while rubbing the back of his head.
« I'm scared, I have a really bad feeling about this, why are we even doing this in the first place?? » she replied with shaking hands.
John noticed this and  held them while looking into her eyes « don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you »
Just as he said that, a loud scream could be heard from the entrance of the house. Snow and John immediately turned their heads to face the door of the house and Snow let go of Johns' hands to get closer to the scene.
All she saw was Mrs Sanders grabbing Rick by the ear while scolding him, she giggled as it was really funny watching Rick desperately trying to free himself.
« Ah! Ah! Let go of me! I'm sorry Mrs Sanders! » he shouted until she finally let go of his ear and warned him to never place foot in their property again.
« Damn, well the night is ruined now » said Rick to Snow while checking the time on his watch.
« Damn! 10:57 pm! John said he has to go back at 10:45 pm » he panicked.
« Hey, while we're at it, where's John? » asked Rick while looking over Snow's shoulder.
« I think he's still behind the tree » she said
« Scared little cat, he was too scared Mrs Sanders would see him if he came nearby hahahaha » said Rick while laughing.
They both made their way to the tree
« John come out now, the witch is gone » said Rick in a joking way. Snow was walking slowly behind him while looking around and contemplating how huge this property was, she was almost daydreaming but had to snap back into reality when she bumped into Rick who was now quiet and cold.
« Hey, watch it! Why are you just standing here anyway?? » she said with an irritated face.
« Rick ? Helloooo??? » but Rick didn't move a muscle.
« Hey!! » She pushed him to the side to get a reaction and instantly witnessed the most horrifying scene she had ever seen in her life! She slowly covered her mouth and fell back to the ground. In front of her was her sweet little friend who promised to protect her at all cost, he had been dissected like a lab rat, most of his internal organs laid next to him and his eyes once full of light were now empty, showing no emotion at all.
« Aaaaaaargh!!!! » shouted Snow so loud that the people passing by heard her. Mrs Sanders immediately opened her door and made her way to the two teenagers who had their back to her.
« I told you little scums to get off my— » she stopped and gasped for air when she saw the body of John on the ground. She called out to her husband while panicking « Rob! Rob! Someone help!! » she said. Mr Sander immediately came out of the house to see what all the commotion was about, only to find two petrified kids and a panicking wife.
« OH MY GOD! I'm calling the cops, nobody moves! » and did as he said.

« Arya! Do you have any idea what time it is?! I was getting worried » shouted Arya's mom but little Arya didn't say anything, she just made her way to the couch with an empty bag in her hand and tears in her eyes « why does everyone here treat me like I'm some monster? » asked the sad little girl to her mom. Shocked by her words, her mother stayed still, not knowing what to say.
« Oh hun, don't say that, they don't hate you, they just don't know you.. here, why don't you tell me what happened hm? » said her mother while sitting down next to her little baby but as Arya was about to tell how John ditched her and other kids made fun of her, their neighbor who had spent the night there waiting for her son too, screamed in the kitchen.
« WHAT?? No, there must be some mistake!! », Arya's mom rushed to the kitchen to understand what was happening and met their neighbor crying on the kitchen floor « my son, my only son, why me??! ».