Green Halloween
The final day of October was Halloween.
Bruce Banner hated Halloween.
It was a day when kids and adults alike dressed as different monsters.
Some big and colorful and sometimes demonic.
They became monsters for a night and went from house to house, given candy to have more than their fill of.
On November first, they took off their masks and their monster costumes and went on about their merry lives.
Bruce had a monster costume of his own, and his own mask.
One big and green and full of near demonic anger.
But instead of going from house to house, he tore through city after city.
Instead of being given candy from nice neighbors, he received bullets and missiles from soldiers and monsters who wanted to dissect him.
And after the trick or treating was over, he couldn't take his costume off and go on with his merry life.
Yes, he technically could, but it was always there.
Lurking in the dark recesses of his mind. Stalking him in the back of his own head like a big, green predator. It never devoured him, but everything he loved suffered.
Halloween was a day of turning into monsters.
Bruce Banner hated Halloween because he lived it every single day.
Halloween was a day of putting on costumes and then getting to take them off when the day was over.
Bruce Banner hated Halloween because it reminded him that he would never be rid of his.
Halloween was a day of people pretended that they were monsters.
Bruce Banner hated Halloween because he was a monster.