A Night to Remember

Chapter 1: New Friend

Your eyes vulnerably followed every single trick-or-treater that walks by with clear enjoying tendencies in the cold and yet blissful evening that struck. The day of Halloween would've been a celebratory so meaningful to you as much as the past 5 ones, if it weren't for your ruthless so-called "friends."
For the past hour, you've been sobbing in your room none-stop, trying your hardest not to blow your cover by sobbing loud. After calming down however lead you sitting slightly swaying on the swinging wooden bench resting on the front porch that ominously creaked with every sway.
Nothing would've felt worse than you do now. Especially on the night you've looked forward to with your friends.
Looking around as down as gray, a certain figure caught your attention. One of the street lamps thankfully illuminated the man's appearance for otherwise you were only to be naive about his watchful presence.
The color of his suit had a distinct color of dirty orange while he wore white gloves resting upon a cane in front of him. His long, black top hat rested snuggly tall on the man's head. His costume doesn't seem to have fazed you, until your observation came across his "face." You figured it was a mask or face paint due to how abnormally white it was so you'd be surprised if it was neither of those two.
Suddenly, your vision got blurry, making you rub your eyes and to your relief, managed to clear your sight. However despite that quick of your attention away from the man, he no longer stood once you gone back to seeing him again. This nerved you quite a bit while looking around for him, knowing how scary it is to lose track or sight of something potentially dangerous.
Just then to your left, the lights automatically turned on, taking you by surprise when a gloved hand with the familiar orange sleeve popped up from the corner as the faint sound similar to keys jingling occurred. The hand was positioned in a way to mimic a puppet as its mouth opened and closed chatting away. After the incident with your friends, you were not able to smile. Not even just a little bit until now. You amusingly watched the entertaining personal show as the other hand popped into view, petting and stroking the puppet one for a few seconds before both hands laid flat against the wall. At that moment, you were able to see the suited man up close when he rose himself into view. A mask he wore was the least of your concerns. It was how it looked.
With its ghostly white base, holding a scary ear-to-ear grin revealing the yellow teeth within and how exaggerated the expression held of a mischievous joker. To finish, one red diamond was carved on the forehead and one on the chin, as well as two half ones underneath both eyeholes.
He was seen lifting one of his hands to wave his fingers at you, making you happily wave back at the mysterious man. You halted when the same black cane slowly rose up behind the man, seemingly floating as if another person were holding it. In an effortlessly swift motion, the man was whisked away behind the wall before the lights cut out.
You hopped off the bench and scooted around the bush that's blocking the way, remaining a cautious eye on the direction the man came from. The more you went around the corner, the more the still silhouette of him becomes visible, arising a creeping feeling of alarm from you now currently being a few steps away. After your final step forward, the lights unexpectedly came on again, illuminating the bottom half of the suited gentleman. He stood still for an extra couple seconds until he went down to bow and tip his hat to you, revealing his brown hair. This left you surprised and in utter confusion.
"Hello?" you said in form of a question still attempting to process what is currently happening.
For a few moments, he stayed bowing as he was not moving a muscle and then proceeded to lean closer to you as he placed back his top hat on. You were frozen in place despite feeling the deep fear even just seeing him. Fortunately, the orange-colored candy he held between his index and thumb after reaching behind your ear deceived his eery looks.
Your eyes lit up at the candy. "Cool!" you exclaimed and applauded at the mini performance. The magician bowed in honor of his show being appreciated and handed the treat to you after. You took the candy and looked down on it with astonishment but then the memory of your friends flood back in your mind—reminding you why you were here in the first place. This caused your smile to falter. The man noticed this sudden change in behavior and playfully placed his fists on both his sides. You looked up at him when he did the gesture, acknowledging this indicated his want in knowing what was wrong by your expression.
"I-I'm sorry for being sad," you said. "I wanted to go trick-or-treating with my friends, but they stopped being friends with me all of a sudden today." You briefly explained your current situation, the man's shoulders softened realizing how cruel your friends were to put you in a position such as this one. Especially on Halloween. It wasn't something he had experienced before upon helping other children through hearing their situations other than being ditched so this was a new one. He felt awfully sorry.
    After a few moment, you asked, "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
    Your question pleaded an answer but no response was able to be given. Deep down, there was a sincere sympathy for the oblivious 10-year old. His stare only seemed to have grew your fear being around him for long. For aught you know, he could make a devious move. That was not the case however when you watched him lower on one knee in order to be in face-to-face level with you. A hand of his was placed on your shoulder with the intention of reassurance despite his menacing behavior a minute ago. You caught on quickly to the kind attempt of comfort  which was enough to make you feel better.
    "Thank you, mister, " you said smiling slightly. The man noticed your slight increase of mood and nodded as a response. He stood up after a couple moments and began tapping his chin with a finger. Watching as his body language indicated he was in thought, he lifted up the same finger as a way to announce he had an idea. He adjusted his hat and held on both lapels of his suit in preparation to tell you. You were curious—desired to know what he was thinking but was confused by him pointing at you and then himself. It took a good minute or two for you to puzzle it out but the man's patience never wear thin.
    "You want to go with me?"
    By this, the man raised both his arms up as a celebration for you figuring it out. This excited you and so your expression immediately lit up. The lights being cut out once again caught you off guard for a second, but the thought of finally trick-or-treating with somebody filled you with joy and so you jumped up and down muttering how excited you were. The lights turned on again, making you blink at the space where you thought the man would still be standing. You instantly began looking around anxious at the conclusion that he left you already. You fully turned around and was relieved to see he has been standing on the sidewalk with his back towards you. He himself turned around and motioned with his arm, gesturing you to come along.
Without a second thought, you ran up to him happily. When next to him, he took out a velvet-colored fabric bag from his suit and unleashed the bottom unraveling it before handing it to you.
    Now begins the journey of the night with you and your new friend.