Chapter 1 – Halloween Night
"Hey Fatty, how do you fit all that candy in?
"What do you mean? He's a bottomless pit!" The ginger cackled coldly as he and his buddies circled five year old Basil. His brother and sister had ditched him on the corner of Apple and Bartow Avenue to go hang out with their own friends. The boy was more than used to it by now. But did they have to ditch him on Halloween night? He had been so excited to go trick of treating with them.
Unfortunately, Archie, the local ginger kid and his buddies came across Basil stuffing his face with his Halloween candy. With his pillow case held tightly to his chest, Basil continued to hurry along the side walk hoping if he ignored them long enough that they would just go away.
Luck was not on his side.
"Hey, Fatty, we're talkin' to ya."
Basil gasped out as he was suddenly spun around by a strong grasp.
"He can't hear ya, because his ears are probably stuffed with candy too."
Archie sneered down at him with a crooked grin. Basil tightened his hold on his pillow case filled with the night's candy.
"Huh. Let's see what ya have in there."
No, no, not his candy! Basil had worked so hard to get that candy. He had pushed through hordes of younger kids, hiked up tall driveways and was extra polite for old ladies to get that candy. Archie clearly wasn't expecting Basil wot fight back because when Archie pulled at the bag, Basil gave Archie's face a rough shove. Archi stumbled as the pillow case flung against him, a hard wad of candy knocking him in the face.
Basil's eyes widened as he watched the boy spit out some bloodied spit.
"N-no, s-ssorry…" "You're dead meat!" The ginger kid roared with anger.
In sheer panic, Basil flipped on his skeletal mask, clutched a hold of his candy bag, and ran.
True fear laced through him as he ran for his life. He could hear Archie and his minions stomping behind him. This was bad! No one paid them mind as he ran past an occasional kid or two. It was Halloween. Kids were running around everywhere. A group of older kids chasing a young kid was not unusual for Halloween Night. Basil ran blindly, however, he was quickly becoming winded. He panted heavily underneath his mask. He had to stop.. He had to slo-
Suddenly, he was tackled to the ground. He grunted as his chin connected with the ground. His candy spilled and he reached for it. It was snatched away as sudden weight was on top of his back. In the midst of the struggle, he could hear laughter around him. He caught a glance of a house in front of them through he holes in his mask.
"H-help!" Basil tried to muffle out while flailing his arms around.. Maybe someone in the house could hear him. Strong hands reached for his shouldars, flipping him onto his back like a fish. Basil fought back wildly. His arms flailed and he was screaming. "Stop! Get off me! Leave me alone!"
Archie mocked the boy underneath him while his friends laughed around him. He flailed back at the kid, hitting him in the face a bit before grasping a hold of both arms and pinning them into the grass. He sneered in excitement at the sight of fear in the kid's eyes. "All you had to do was share candy with us! Damn, you're so stupid! No one can help you because…why? You have no friends! Who doesn't have friends on Halloween? You! Even your brother and sister ditched you to hang out with their friends!"
Grinning, Archie motioned towards the bag. A raven haired friend was already going through it. "If you like candy so much, why stop now? You've already eaten half of it, why not eat all of it?"
As soon as his mask was lifted from his face, Basil was screaming again. He hoped someone would save him. He hoped someone would realize that this wasn't just some stupid Halloween game that kids played. He hoped someone realized that he was in real danger.
Candy was stuffed into his mouth forcefully. Basil screamed in panic, but realized that he had to chew! He had to eat! But eventually he realized that some of the candy wasn't even unwrapped. Tears watered out of his eyes causing his makeup that his mother had spent so long on was watering down his face. He couldn't breathe! His arms tried to pull out of the ginger kid's grasp, but failed miserably. He cried and wailed as he felt sticky drool run from the corners of his mouth. Why were they doing this!? Why did he have to be there one who was i-
"Hey! What the hell are you doing to that kid! Get off my lawn!" An older voice was heard as well as the sound of a door slamming shut.
BANG BANG! The weight of Archie was lifted from Basil. He did the only thing he knew to do at that moment. He reached for his mask that was hanging loosely from his head and sprung up. He spit the remaining wad of candy from his mouth and ran, blindly, uncoordinated, desperate to get away from danger.
"Hey, kid wait! Are you o-" Those were the last words Basil heard before a car horn. The last thing he remembered seeing was a flash of light speeding towards him.