A Night to Remember

Chapter 3: Trouble

    This time you decided to follow The Jester to the next house he chooses. However, the house you both arrived at wasn't the one you expected at all. Lights off, little to no decorations, immediate red flag. The only light that was on throughout the whole house was the one inside. Its relaxing blue illuminance could be seen through the wooden door's blurry center. This didn't bother The Jester but it certainly did with you—confused as to why he brought you to a house like this out of all the other ones in display and spotlight that he could've chose and lead you to.
Wasn't he dressed up for Halloween? Shouldn't he have known the rules of houses when it comes to Trick-or-Treating by now?
    "The lights aren't on," you reminded in case he misunderstood.
    Standing on the path in a distance between you and the door, he stared at you. Despite being used to his mute voice, you can't help but feel a little intimidated by his silence this time compared to other previous times he has done the same. Or since the very beginning you met him. His stare and still behavior in this situation had gotten you feeling unexpectedly ill.
    "I don't think anybody is home," you reasoned with him one last time. It gave no results. The Jester walked down the rest of the path and stood to the side—creating space for yourself to stand on and knock. As much as you dreaded going to houses that gave clear indications they weren't handing out candy, you reluctantly walked forward and stood on the spot given to you right in front of the glowing door.
    You felt hesitant knocking and so you slowly looked up to your friend for guidance. Nothing. You felt a little grateful his eyes weren't visible through the dark shadows created by the eyeholes of the mask he wore but even that didn't ease the discomfort you felt by the way his intensive attention is currently being on you. The discomfort mixed with pressure had you to eventually knock on the door. You purposely knocked on the door softly in case there were people inside and awake. You hoped either nobody was inside, the knock was so soft they couldn't hear it, or that they were only ignoring it. The knock didn't seem to change anything as a result because you weren't able to hear footsteps towards the door and it relaxed your unnoticeable tense muscles.
    You thought this agonizing moment was over and the both of you could move on to another house but The Jester had something else in mind. To your horror, knocks of his own were made, making you spin back around.
    Occurred a man's voice behind the door mumbled but a clear, "Go away please."
    "Mr. Jester, let's just go," you say, trying to catch his attention away in order to prevent what you know the consequence will be if he had kept this up. Nothing you say could change The Jester's mind at that point when he impatiently knocked a bit more forceful this time. It shows he refuses backing down on his objective whenever you like it or not. It scared you.
    You harshly whispered, anxious for the unfathomable man being confronted by the person inside, "Mr. Jester. . ! Please, let us go back. . !"
    The door opened, revealing an irritated grown man. This made you feel desperate in wanting to flee the scene and make it seem as if you weren't apart of The Jester's antics but you stood frozen in place watching your friend extend his arm towards you. The man next to him lead his gaze to your direction and scoffed, "Sorry kid, I'm not handing out candy."
    Your eyes frantically went back and forth between the adults as your heart pounded against your chest, afraid at what will take place next. You watched the frustrated man peer back at The Jester with eyes giving off a warning and said, "You can leave now."
    Being frozen in place made you feel useless not doing anything when all you could do is watch the commotion going on between the men. What could you do anyways? You're only a child. A child who only wanted to trick-or-treat with a friend. And now that you finally have someone you felt safe with, things took a turn due to the current problem you are involved with over candy. Tears brimmed your eyes while staring at the ground helplessly. You were distracted by fidgeting with the rim of the fabric bag but your eyes shot up when overhearing about the cops being called if The Jester didn't get off the man's property. Your eyes widened full of alarm and terror when The Jester then was seen swiftly slipping his arm between the door and frame when about to be closed. The familiar sound of tinkering of whatever was creating that noise was the result to this quick motion. You took a brief step back but remained fixated on what is happening in front of you while slightly shaking due to the overwhelming emotion of fear you felt.
    "J-Jester. . ?" Your voice came out soft spoken saying your friend's name. Despite his calm and collected movements, this potentially dangerous action he is taking could possibly lead to violence. Something you had never seen him done and never thought he will do. You continue watching the stressful scene play out—the door moved back and fourth letting you know the man inside was trying to fully close the door while The Jester was making it hard for him to do so. This went on for a brief moment until the door swung open.
    You jumped further back away almost accidentally letting go of the bag of candy in your hands when the man yelled, "Get out of here!" as he held firmly onto a metal bat, positioning it in a threatening manner while The Jester casually acted as if this were a game. He stances himself in a way people who do fencing as a sport does while pointing his cane towards the man.
    He shouted, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
    Taking a brief glance at you, he lowered his bat not wanting to hit who he assume was your father right in front of you but if this maniac pursue his stubbornness further, he were to do something about it himself and so he simply said, "Last chance."
    Due to this, the suited gentleman lowered his cane. It made the armed man believe as though he will take this opportunity to finally leave his property but surely enough, he didn't plan letting the man go without teaching him a lesson. As a way to push the man to his limits making the first move attacking, he tauntingly tapped his cane against the metal bat, infuriating the poor man. You noticed the anger building up within the adult which right now would be the best time to take action.

    Without a second thought, you dropped the candy bag and ran up to The Jester before pulling at his suit as much as you could, hoping it was enough to at least catch his attention.
    "Please stop! Please! Please don't hurt him!" You pleadingly cried still tugging at his suit. You ended up pressing your forehead against your hands still having a strong grip on the orange fabric after running out of hope proceeding to beg. The only thing you could do at the moment is have faith that he would stop.
    Ever since you both got to this house, he ignored each concern of yours—not minding the apprehensive signals you gave off and to your relief, he has listened for once.
    Sobs and cries as well as the man's heavy breathing filled the silence around everyone. Your cries progressively calmed down the more time has passed without inconvenience. The man watched between you and The Jester still a little riled up but mostly cooled down and was grateful for you stepping in before he could jump at the suited guy. After the problem itself felt to have diffused, the man walked back inside his home while giving one last glare at The Jester before finally being able to close and lock his door, leaving The Jester to fix another problem.
    You up until now still held onto his clothing, but used your other hand to wipe off tears that kept flowing. The magician didn't bear looking at you not wanting to face the consequence he caused out of shame but to feel the disheartening tug of his suit.
    The only question he could think of was:
    What has he done?