𝖢𝗋𝗎𝖾𝗅 𝖶𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽 || 𝖲𝖳𝖤𝖵𝖤 𝖧𝖠𝖱𝖱𝖨𝖭𝖦𝖳𝖮𝖭

𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖯𝖳𝖤𝖱 4

Leah

And finally Halloween arrived, and I was actually excited for Tina's party. It had been a while since anything happened, and I was starting to get pretty bored. So, I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen for my morning coffee.

In the kitchen, I saw Jim making breakfast. As I headed to the already prepared coffee, I saw him working on the stove: three slices of bread that looked like French toast, but drier. Now I'm more used to it, but I have to say it was very strange to see him preparing breakfast since, in normal times, he wouldn't even be home when I woke up. To hear him wishing me a good morning now was even weirder.

"Good morning," he said

"Hi," I limited myself to answer, continuing sipping in my drink and walking to the sofa.

And there we were. He continued what he was doing, and I kept doing what I was doing, imagining how tonight would be. But it didn't take long for my silence to end.

El emerged silently from her room with a sheet over her head, walking stealthily to Jim, who was still facing away. When he turned around slightly, he was startled by her.

"Fuck!" He said, surprised by the girl's presence.

"Ghost," El explained, with just one word.

"Yeah, I can see that," he replied, finishing breakfast. "Now it's breakfast time, alright? Come on, let's eat," he said, putting what he made on plates. "Leah," he called me too, making me roll my eyes.

To be honest, I couldn't stand seeing him act like a father. He wasn't convincing, like a bad actor pretending to be one. It seemed like a stupid joke from the universe to see him acting like a father now that he had a new daughter.

Not that I wanted El to not have an actual father figure, far from it. But, I don't know... couldn't he have woken up earlier?

"They wouldn't see me," she said, after coming back from where she left the sheet, looking at Jim as if asking for something. "The bad men," he added.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, picking up his coffee cup and sipping.

"Trick or treat," She replied.

Ah, she wanted to go trick-or-treating. She would love it for sure. I loved it when I did it. Going out disguised, knocking on neighbours' doors, and getting candy from those who were smart, or causing havoc for those who refused or didn't answer the door. Truth be told, I loved the candy, but I much preferred to mess with them without them being able to say anything about it.

Nowadays my Halloween was spent getting drunk at Tina's party. 

Good old times.

"You want to go trick-or-treating?" Jim asked, incredulous at the question. I was just there observing everything. It was obvious he wouldn't allow it. "You know the rules and already know the answers."

Bingo.

"But they wouldn't see me."

"I don't care. You leaving the house, as a ghost or not, is a risk," he explained, holding her.

"But Leah is going," she replied, involving me in the story.

"Believe me, the last thing she'll do is go trick-or-treating," he explained. "So, sit there and eat. The food's getting cold," he requested, sitting back down.

Eleven obeyed him, sitting next to me, but keeping a sulky face, upset by the response and not touching her food. I felt sorry for her. Locked in a lab since birth, unable to do anything, and when she manages to escape, she still can't do the things other children her age are doing. And the worst part was that I knew Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Will would go trick-or-treating tonight, and I also knew she would have a great time with them.