Author's Note: I have decided to update a little earlier than usual for you guys because I received three lovely reviews! Thanks PhantomBialystock, Skullstarwrites2, and Iluvpushingdaisies for the feedback on chapter three, and as for Ossiana of the BPRD and filmgrl, thanks for the love at the start! Everybody else sends virtual cookies, but you guys get virtual Twoeys, 'cause, well, I think I'm the only one who did that so far. Enjoy your extraterrestrial plants and this chapter!

*S. Snowflake

Through Julie's Eyes

Chapter Four: Halloween

* * *

Julie Krelborn spent this time going about her routine normally, but she was truly sheltered and alone. She drifted through days, lonely and frankly bored. At least Halloween would provide a distraction from her lonliness. It was fun to be just a little bit scary for one night, and she knew that nobody in her class would guess what her costume was. It was just too unique. She giggled in her small desk just thinking about it, imagining the fright they would have themselves if they saw her trick or treating. Maybe that would at least scare away the boys who called her names on every occasion possible.

"Class, we have a new student," announced Ms. Straegle on that October 30th. "Her name is Maggie, and she's come all the way from Levittown to live here in Greenville. Let's all give Maggie a big welcome. One, two, three…"

"Hello Maggie," came the synonymous ring from the class.

A girl walked into the room after the invitation of her classmates. She was of slightly larger build than Julie, but not too tall either. Her skin was fair, but had a bit of a darker coloration to it as well, reflecting a mixed background. Her chocolate eyes darted about the room, staring into everyone's faces, and her dark brown hair smoothly fell down to her shoulders. She appeared to be trying not to attract any attention, but absorbing all of the information that she could gather.

"Hi," she stuttered.

"Yes, Maggie. Why don't you take a seat next to, um…" Ms. Straegle looked around the room and her eyes seemed to light up when she saw the empty seat next to Julie. "Right over here next to Julie," she finished and led the girl over to the chair. "I'm sure you two will get along fine."

Julie smirked at her teacher's comment, but she hid it with a half smile and looked over at Maggie who was now occupying the empty space beside her. As Ms. Stragle began reading a book aloud to the class, the two girls kept glancing at each other. Both of them were inquisitive about their desk neighbor out of simple curiosity, and Maggie watched closely as Julie started doodling something on a folder of hers. It looked like a green octopus or some creature with tentacles, but it also had sharp, shark-like teeth. It made Maggie even more curious about her neighbor, and she felt compelled to ask what the creature was.

At last the bell rang and all the kids without a ride home ran out to board the school bus. Maggie, a member of the crowd, cautiously walked over to Julie in the back of the bus line and asked simply, "What did you draw back there?"

Julie looked up at Maggie for a moment before answering, "A monster."

"Oh," remarked Maggie. "What kinda' monster?"

"It's a plant," replied Julie as she and Maggie went inside the school bus.

"A plant?"

"Yeah, but it's not just a plant. It eats people!" Julie proclaimed.

"Oh, I never heard a' that," said Maggie with a slight accent and sat down next to Julie on the bus. "Whas' it called?"

"Audrey Two."

"Oh," replied Maggie before deciding to break the silence. "What was your name again?"

Julie looked up curiously, surprised that she was still actually talking to this girl. "Julie."

"I'm Maggie."

"I know. Ms. Straegle said so," Julie said with a smile.

"Oh yeah, huh?" Maggie said with a small laugh. "Are you dressing up for Halloween t'morrow?"

Julie's earthy green eyes seemed to glow for a minute before she replied, "Yeah, my mom made a great costume!"

"Me too. I'm gonna' be a ghost. What are you gonna' be?" asked Maggie.

"I can't tell you. I'd wreck the surprise."

"Oh, okay," Maggie replied. "Could'ja give me a hint?"

Julie grinned and said, "If you liked my picture, you'll like my costume."

Their conversation continued until the bus reached the familiar Sunshine St. stop and Julie knew that it was time to go home. She stood up and walked by Maggie, but not before saying goodbye politely. Before she got off, she stored the girl's name in her memory and waved to her newfound acquaintance through the bus window before it drove away from her and the other kids it had dropped off at this stop. She made the short walk home in good time, stepping through the white gate out front and onto the front lawn where Rover lied lazily under the tree. He perked his ears up and sniffed her shortly, smelling the scent of another child, and followed her past the pumpkins on the front porch and inside the house.

"Ma? I'm home, Ma," Julie called.

"I'm out back, honey," came Audrey's voice from the backyard. Julie followed her voice and found her mother pulling weeds from the earth in the garden. "You look excited," she remarked after glancing at her. "Ready for trick-a'-treating tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Julie answered with excitement. "Everyone's gonna like my costume."

* * *

"I can't believe you let her dress up as that… thing!" Seymour yelped the following evening, nearly knocking off the fake eye patch and pirate hat that made up his costume. He was watching his daughter walk into the living room wearing a green shirt, green painted tube vines for hands, and a homemade foam pod-like mask on her head.

"It was what she wanted," replied Audrey to her clumsy, pirate-clad husband. Her voice provided a stark contrast to her somewhat rugged and dark (but admittedly attractive), pirate lass costume. "And besides, she's not really Audrey Two."

"Feed me, Daddy!" Julie said and tried to growl like the monster plant that her father had told her so much about. Despite her age and gender, the impersonation was somewhat chilling simply because of the familiar words 'feed me'.

Seymour smirked. "We'll see. Why don't you go and check on the jack-o-lanterns and see if they're still glowing?"

Audrey's green eyes seemed to glisten with pity under her dark make up as her daughter ran out the front door. "Come on Seymour honey, don't be like that. If anything, it just shows how much she loves about us."

"It's still something I'd prefer to leave in the past, Audrey. I don't want to honor that-that monster in any way," he said solemnly, opening up a bag of candy for trick-or-treaters. "And I don't want Julie to think what I did was okay."

"Jack-o-lanterns are fine, Dad," came Julie's voice as the plant girl stepped back inside the house.

"Great," replied her mother and stepped forward. "If you've got everything we can head out, Julie."

"Oh boy!" Julie exclaimed and clutched her pillowcase, ready for the candy to come.

Audrey smiled at her little green girl and then gave Seymour a look that said, Come on and at least smile at that. He agreed silently and smiled along.

"Goodbye my sweet captain Seymour," Audrey said to her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Oh, and make sure you don't lose your glasses like you did last year, honey," she reminded him as she escorted her daughter out the front door and onto the lawn.

"No need to tell me. You weren't the one who had to go asking every neighbor if they found a pair of glasses in their kid's candy bag the next day!" He smiled then and began to play his role of the pirate. "Farewell, me Audrey gal, and me plant daughter Julie too. Arg!"

Audrey and Julie giggled at his clumsy attempt at acting after they were free of the gate. Julie began to sprint with the faint twilight glow of the sky illuminating her path. Her foam tendrils smacked the fence posts as she went, and Audrey eventually had to tell her to stop running for both the neighbors' and her own sake as she was having trouble keeping up with Julie. Julie chattered with her mother excitedly while also sneaking a piece of candy or two into her mouth after she had collected some of her sweet loot. She asked what Halloween was like on Skid Row, and her mother tried to say something, but visibly shivered and said simply, "It was different from here."

"Did you ever go trick-a'-treating with grandmamma?" she asked.

Audrey paused and answered, "No, I didn't."

Julie kept quiet after her mother's unusually glum response, and continued to run up to the doors and beg for candy. Her unusual costume got some questioning remarks from the adults and kids that spotted her, but she paid very little attention to them. She was too proud and joyful to care about what other people thought of her costume. It was only when a woman slightly taller than her mother walked ahead of them with three children at her side did she realize that she might be recognized.

"Whoa, is that you Julie?" asked a familiar voice from behind a ghost costume.

Julie opened up her pod mask and tilted her head to the side. "Maggie?"

As the ghost came closer with its mother, Audrey and Julie stopped. The ghost child pulled back the sheet concealing her face to reveal, sure enough, Maggie. "Sure am! Wowie, you weren't kiddin' about the costume!"

Julie's mother tapped her shoulder. "Julie, do you know her?" she asked.

"Yes, Mama. This is Maggie," Julie breathed. "She's from L-Leveetown."

"Levittown?" asked Audrey and looked to the woman who appeared to be Maggie's mother. "Fancy place."

"Well, it's not too bad I guess," replied Maggie's mother. "Is this the Julie you told me about?"

"Uh-huh," replied Maggie to her mother and her apparent siblings; an older boy dressed up as a cowboy and a younger boy dressed like a pumpkin. "She's a big plant that eats people!"

"Oh… so she is," Maggie's mother replied and glared at her eldest child who was laughing, then back at Audrey. "Where are my manners? I'm Hailey Harris, and this is my brood Mark, Maggie, and Jody," she said and extended her hand.

"I'm Audrey Krelborn, and Julie's my only one," Audrey answered and shook the hand. "Glad to see our girls know each otha'."

"Yes. Maggie just needs to make some new friends here," Hailey smiled at her daughter shortly before speaking again. "Well, nice meeting you two."

"You too," Audrey said politely as the Harris family walked away. "And Happy Halloween!"

"See ya' later, Julie!" called Maggie.

"Bye," Julie replied and noticed that her mother seemed to be beaming a thoughtfully. "What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothin'," Audrey replied with a grin before her smile lit up like a child's. "Come on, let's find you some more candy t'night! The sea's ripe fer a' plunderin' candy!" she squeaked in a poor pirate impression and tried to run ahead of her daughter. "Bet ya' can't catch me!"

"Hey, no fair! I can't run in this, Mama!" Julie cried and skipped ahead of her mother again, laughing and falling under the spell of the night. She failed to notice that the smile on her mother's face had barely changed since their meeting with Hailey and Maggie Harris, and certainly did not know what she had in mind for her. For now, the only thing that the harvest moon and the chilly air promised was a momentary opportunity to pretend and some sweet treats for a few weeks of enjoying. Those things were all that mattered alone.