"Trick or Treat," sounded the voices of yet another group of children dressed in different costumes.
"Here we are," said Thomas as he placed a generous fist full of candy into each of the children's candy bags which were already full with a long night's work of going door to door.
Thomas loved Halloween; the decorations, the costumes, the changing fall colors. It had been a while since he had dressed up and actually gone trick or treating, let alone going to any sort of halloween party. He never really did a costume anymore, but Thomas still loved Halloween.
As his doorbell buzzed again, Thomas got up from where he was sitting and put down the mystery novel he was reading. He'd already figured out who'd done it, but it was something to pass the time between the trick or treaters and the creepiness fit with the holiday.
This time it was the little girl from across the street, Sybbie, at the door. she was only four and a little shy, so her mom, Sybil, was there to encourage her.
"Go on, say 'Trick or Treat'", Mrs. Branson said kindly to her daughter.
Instead of saying anything, little sybbie just turned into her mother's legs to hide.
Thomas felt bad for the girl. Halloween was supposed to be fun, not scary, well it was supposed to be scary too, but not for little kids like Sybbie. To make her feel a little less intimidated, Thomas bent down to her level. When he did, Thomas noticed she didn't have any candy yet. He realized that his was the first house they were stopping at. Hoping to make Sybbie's night of trick or treating start off well, he decided to pushed a little extra candy into her pumpkin bucket than normal.
Upon seeing the candy fall into the bucket, Sybbie's eyes lit up and she turned to her mother with a big smile on her face. "Thank you," she said turning back to face Thomas.
"You're welcome, your highness," Thomas said in his most regal tone of voice, taking note of her princess crown and dress.
"Thanks" said Sybil turning to follow her daughter to the next house.
Thomas shut the door and headed back inside to his book, but before he could sit down, the doorbell buzzed again. Thomas walked back over to his front door and picked up the candy bowl. When he opened the door, he was surprised. Instead of more kids in costumes, he was met with a much older guy, in highschool probably,dressed in all black with a jacket hood up over his hair and some face paint that made him look like a skeleton. All this made it hard for Thomas to see the man's face.
"Trick or Treat," said the man in a much deeper voice than Thomas had been expecting.
"Don't you think you're a little too old to be trick or treating?" Thomas asked."You must be in high school."
"I'm 26 thank you," said the man with a grin on his face,"but I'm not going to pass up on the chance to get free candy."
Thomas looked at the man again. He didn't believe he was 26, but he guessed it was possible.
"Well anyway, sorry, but it looks like I've just ran out of candy,"Thomas lied.
"Really? On Halloween? Seems like you weren't prepared," teased the man.
Thomas was annoyed. No, he wasn't really out of candy,but he felt that this was a night for kids, not 26 year olds.
"You're old enough, why don't you just buy a bag of candy for yourself?" Thomas asked.
"Because I like it when others buy it for me. Saves me a trip to the store. And besides, it works most of the time because my pretty face is hard to say no too," the man said.
At this point, Thomas just wanted the guy to leave, but he wasn't just going to give in. "I'll tell you what, If I have some left over tonight you can have it," Thomas said in a way that sounded much more like an invitation for something other than candy than Thomas had intended. To explain, Thomas added,"I just want to make sure that I have enough for all the kids that come by."
"Alright, But I'm going to hold you to it." said the man as he flashed Thomas the biggest smile he could manage.
Suddenly, Thomas was a little distracted from the conversation. The man's smile made his face light up. Really looking at the man before him, Thomas could tell that he was gorgeous. As the man turned to walk away, Thomas couldn't help but stare. The black jeans the man had on were tight fitting and outlined his muscular legs perfectly. Thomas could feel a blush on his checks and hurried inside.
A few hours passes and Thomas has had several large groups of kids come to his door. He never knew just how many kids lived in this area. Before he knew it, Thomas was looking at his clock and saw that it read just a couple of minutes past eleven p.m. He couldn't believe how late some kids stayed up on Halloween. When he was younger, he had to be back by eight o'clock by his parents orders.
When he shut the door on the last group, Thomas saw that he, in fact, really was about to run out of candy. There were only a few chocolates and one lollipop left in the bowl. After a hectic night of handing out candy, Thomas decided to lock up now and enjoy the last bits of candy himself. He didn't even recall his conversation and promise he made only a little bit ago. As he reached for the handle to turn the deadbolt, the doorbell buzzed.
Oh well, Thomas thought. I guess this next kid will get the last bit of candy. I probably shouldn't eat it anyways.
Thomas turned the handle and opened the door; however, instead of a little ghost or witch, the man fro before with the bad skeleton make-up was stood in front of him.
"Trick or Treat. And I really hope it's treat this time," the man said with that grin on his face again.
Thomas stood confused. He hadn't actually believed this guy would come back. How could this guy think Thomas had been serious. Thomas was confused, but he couldn't deny that the man's presence made him smile. He couldn't really just be coming back for candy?
"So, did you have any candy left over?" the man asked.
"Right," Thomas said. The man really only did come for the candy. Thomas had to admit he was a little disappointed. "As a matter of fact I do."
Thomas handed over the candy. A promise was a man smiled again, and Thomas could feel the blush coming back to his face. Why did a smile have this much power over him? Thomas looked at the mans face and could see more of it now. Most of the skeleton make-up was gone. Thomas could tell it had been picked at. All around the man's face little red scratches appeared, and Thomas guessed that he was allergic to whatever was used to make the cheap costume makeup. As if reading his thoughts, the man began to scratch and tear at the makeup.
"I think you're allergic to your face paint," Thomas said.
"Yeah, it's been bothering me all night" the man paused before continuing, "Do you think I could use your bathroom sink to wash it off?"
Thomas immediate thought was,absolutely not, why would he invite a stranger into his home. however he knew it was probably better to get the offending makeup off now that let it irritate the man's skin any longer.
Against his better judgement, Thomas said, "sure, come on in."
"Thanks" said the man. "My names Jimmy by the way. Jimmy Kent."
"I'm Thomas," he said with a slight smile. "Bathroom's just through here."