Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Forty-One

Monday was mostly a free day and the work the kids had to do was only a word search and a crossword puzzle related to Halloween, which was of course okay in Kimmy's book. Not just because of her dislike of school in general, but because yesterday was still vivid in her mind and made things difficult to concentrate on.

For their art special, the teacher printed off Halloween-related pages for the kids to color, with whatever tool they wanted, including watercolors. Kimmy chose markers and colored a picture of a cartoon ghost holding a jack-o-lantern. It was only a free day for that week, so there was no rush to finish, and the kids also had their art projects from the previous month returned to them as well.

Most of the class had worn their costume to school that morning, while some had to be excused to go change in the nearby restroom. Mr. O'Reilly stood in the doorway to make sure the kids didn't mess around and came right back once they were changed.

Kimmy had worn the coveralls part of her costume over her clothes and stuffed the mask in her backpack, having to pull it out when she put away her art projects to make room. A surprising amount of her classmates knew who she was supposed to be, even though most did not. The ones who knew and seen skits on YouTube and TikTok with Michael Myers thought she had the coolest costume.

"Where's your knife?" David had asked her.

Kimmy could only shrug. Despite Kayla pointing out it wasn't a big deal for Kimmy to bring the plastic, fake knife to the event at the church, no weapons were allowed to be brought to school. Not even lightsabers when Kimmy noticed Lucy was dressed up as a Jedi but didn't have one.

Not long after everyone who brought a costume was ready, the class lined up outside for a parade the school put on for Halloween. During the parade march, Kimmy noticed a sixth grader also dressed up as Michael Myers. The kid held a thumb's up when they passed each other, causing a smile to appear behind her mask.

One of the teachers had dressed up like Jason Voorhees, minus his machete. He was even about the right size as the movie character. Seeing others dressing like iconic horror movie characters helped lift Kimmy's spirits, even if for a moment as they walked the outdoor halls of the school.

While crossing the eighth graders, Kimmy spotted Mary with her class and waved. But either the girl didn't realize it was her in the costume or did not notice the gesture was towards her because Mary didn't wave back. Kimmy's hand dropped limp at her side as her class crossed in front of Mary's class.

Back at the classroom, Mr. O'Reilly passed out bingo sheets he had printed off the computer, along with a handful of chocolate candies to use as placeholders. He warned them before passing the candies out, not to eat them or they wouldn't have anything to play with and made sure to have every single kid's attention.

During the third round, a few parents showed up to help with the Halloween party. While Bingo continued, the parents started setting up in the back of the classroom.

Kimmy listened as Mr. O'Reilly called out each Halloween character while holding her head in her hand. She wasn't expecting to get a bingo or anything, especially since it took her a moment to find the correct character. It wasn't until a girl had called, bingo, Kimmy eventually noticed she had already gotten one two characters ago.

While Mr. O'Reilly was checking the other girl's board, Kimmy scanned the horizontal second row she had placed a piece of candy on. Did she accidentally place a piece of candy on the wrong character? Or could she have knocked one?

Kimmy timidly put her hand up. Or tried to anyway. Her arm seemed to freeze mid-rise and she could only lift her hand to the level of her chest. To top things off, her heart raced and Kimmy could feel her body shake. Mr. O'Reilly even asked if anyone else had bingo after the other girl had received her prize. But Kimmy chickened out last minute as he panned around the room.