In My Town
By Victoria I. Pritchard
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
A Dull Town
I grew up in this town. My parents loved this place because this is where they met, when they were young. Unfortunately, they died, over three years ago, leaving me alone in this town that I never liked even as a kid. Every day I look out the somewhat dilapidated window of my 100 year old cottage and watch the rain pour hard. Every rain drop echoes the melancholy tear drops in my eyes.
It rains almost every day and when it doesn't, the cold produces an icy sheet of snow that kills every single living plant in its path, including my happiness. The sky is so grey and the streets are always empty; almost everyone I knew as child has moved away.
There were hardly any people around; my nearest neighbor was more than a mile away. I didn't know if I could stand to live here another year. I have no friends and no place to go. All I do is clean. Clean the windows, sweep and mop the floor, dust the furniture, clean the bathrooms, straighten up and then I repeat the routine.
Living alone sometimes gets pretty boring. I long to do something with my life, I long to fall in love, to feel a deep longing to wake up and be excited about the day instead of wanting to just sleep it off. The only problem is - nothing ever happens in this town.
I looked at my watch, its 11:01; it was time for me to fix lunch, but I'm not surprised that I'm not hungry. Instead I throw on my long, slim, black coat and walk out the wooden door. A breath of air escapes from my lips, another cold, misty day. I don't understand why I still live here. Ever since my parents passed away I can't ever think of a reason to stay any longer. This town is so depressing; it reminds me of my lonely childhood. It makes me miss my parents more and more each day.
There were hardly any cars in the street. So I was easily able to cross it. Along the road was an old super market called Stop-N-Shop. I walked in the double doors to buy some bread and cold cuts. As I waited in line, I noticed some Halloween decorations: a cheap little ghost hanging from the ceiling, Halloween decorated bowls to place the candy in, a plastic grave stone, a rotted pumpkin with badly cut eyes and a smiley face sat on a shelf. As lousy as their inventory was, I smiled. I also noticed a shelf full of those jack-o-lantern buckets, they were all smiling at me as if they were all trying to say "Buy me, buy me! Take me home!"
Halloween is and will always be my favorite holiday. When I was little I couldn't wait until my friends came to my house so we could go trick or treating together. We had so much fun walking from house to house, excitedly admiring each other's costumes. That's what I loved about Halloween. I still love the costumes, the candy, trying to scare each other. I still loved Halloween, only now I enjoyed watching the kids come to my house.
I decided to buy a jack-o-lantern bucket. I paid for everything and quickly walked out the exit glass doors. My jack-o-lantern bucket bobbed against my leg as I jogged out the double doors. I dogtrotted back to the old cottage, trying to beat the rain.
When I got back home, I set my jack-o-lantern bucket in the middle of the kitchen table as a centerpiece and fixed a sandwich for myself. I noticed that on the ceiling were spider webs. I don't mind spiders, as long as they keep their distance. I'm perfectly fine with them living here with me.
I spent most of the rest of my day decorating the place for Halloween. I tore up some cotton balls and placed them on every one of my bushes to look like cob webs. Then I replaced my usual rug at the front door with a Halloween one; it had two witches stirring their brew. I hung some paper black widows on the ceiling and taped a plastic skeleton on my door.
I was quite giddy that Halloween was tomorrow. Although there's not that many people left in town, I always make a big deal out of it. I love the little children that do come to my door and shout out, "Trick-or-Treat!" as I drop candy into their jack-o-lantern buckets or their bags. I was especially looking forward to seeing their costumes.
I cleaned up the place, more than usual. Even though nobody will ever set foot into my, old cottage I wanted it to be as clean as possible. So I swept the wooden floors, washed the windows, scrubbed the kitchen table, and dusted the rest of the furniture, it gives me something to do. I gathered some ragged blankets and wrapped myself in them, gazing at the small fire I managed to create in the fire place.
I closed my eyes and pictured my parents sitting next to me, imagining life at its best. I remembered a time when I had friends; I was six or maybe seven; a little girl, who loved this tiny place. I didn't care that it was small and didn't mind the pathetic paint job. That little girl only cared for people that truly, unconditionally loved her. Wishing I was still that girl was pointless, I'm not. I've lost everyone at some point in time.
It would be wonderful to move to a different town; start my life all over again with new people, but where would I go?
The thought of moving made me feel some-what excited. I always wanted an adventure and to maybe even fall in love. All my fantasies would come true for the first time in my life. I smiled at that thought. But then I realized that dreams are dreams and reality is reality.
I glanced at my jack-o-lantern bucket and considered it as my friend. He seemed to be smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back. I seem to always get carried away when it comes to Halloween. My heart started to pound and I suddenly felt jittery; excited that my favorite holiday was tomorrow.
I decided to get some fresh air. The fire started to burn against my face and the urge to cool off outside became great. I grabbed my black, knee-length coat. I grabbed my jack-o-lantern bucket as well. As I opened the front door my black, wavy hair flew as the wind traveled through it. I blocked my eyes against the wind, careful not to have anything dangerous blow into them. It was quite windy.
I closed the door behind me and walked over to the isolated part of town. It was nothing but a forest. This was where my most wonderful memories came from. When I was just a child I would always play here. I'd take a knife and whittle a branch into a spear. I'd climb the trees and look down at the ground to see how high I was. Sometimes I'd fall asleep up there until my mom and dad would grow worried and come searching for me.
So I decided to take a walk here. Yes, it was cold and maybe even colder than usual, but I just needed to feel the good from my childhood rather than only seeing the bad. I didn't think it was healthy for a woman my age to be living alone. I knew I needed a companion or a group of friends to fill the emptiness in my life. I knew I needed to start my life over again!
I suddenly shut my mind off and focused on what I was passing by. I crossed my arms and pressed them into my chest for warmth, the jack-o-lantern bucket hung down. I gazed at the tall, thin trees as they stood proudly while I walked past them. I admired the clear, white sky; it was so bright, even though there was no sun. The leaves were all a beautiful red and yellow color, such a wonderful autumn day.
The thought of autumn brought me back to Halloween. As a little girl; I considered today to be Halloween Eve; since today was the day before Halloween. I laughed at that. Suddenly the dead, cold feeling disappeared. It was a nicer feeling, though it was still very cold out.
I was still wandering deeper into the forest; I'm not sure how much time had passed by until I realized I didn't recognize anything. You would think I would have been scared of being lost and not finding my way out, but for some reason I felt glad that I was lost, I didn't want to be found.
I then discovered a new variety of trees. They were lined up in a circle. It made me curious, so I slowly made my way smack, dab into the middle of the trees. I noticed each tree had some sort of weird design on the trunks, carved in wood, along with its own door knob. They were doors, I realized. Each door seemed to represent a different holiday and led towards a different abode. I was frightened by the thought. Not that it was scary, but, because I had never seen nor heard of anything like this. It must be some type of magic, not that I'd ever seen magic. I admired all of the trees. The one that really stuck out the most was a Halloween tree. It was a wooden Jack-o-lantern; the black, triangular nose was its door knob. I was just about to open it when I was startled by a loud thump. I turned around to see that it was my Jack-o-lantern bucket. I must have accidently dropped it. I knelt down to pick it up. That pumpkin faced me with a sinister grin. It looked just like the face on the door I was just about to open. I let the handle of the bucket slide down my left arm as we both confronted this new world together.