Welcome to the first ever short in the story! I want to surprise you all with this little slice. Enjoy!

It was another typical evening in Aberdale; the crows were chirping loudly throughout the neighborhood and the residents were enjoying their night out or relaxing comfortably in their homes. Clarence, however, was doing the former, with his mother and stepdad accompanying him, having got back from a party with the Breehn's family. Knowing the parents personally, Mary didn't have a particularly great time over there, but she put up with it, as her son and Breehn had a great time together, and seeing the two kids made the whole party more than bearable. After all, her son's happiness was the most important thing to her and she was even happier that she was getting ready for a good night's rest.

As they approached their neighborhood, Clarence spotted a familiar face who was laying a trail of pedals on the sidewalk: It was Emilio, with his face matching a skull, barring a few purple linings

"Emilio?! Why is your face a skull?!" Clarence gasped in shock at the sight.

"Hey, Clarence!" Emilio happily greeted, before bashfully rubbing his head. "Sorry if my face is terrifying you. I was celebrating a holiday that most of my family do every year: the Day of the Dead."

"The Day of the Dead?" Clarence was perplexed. He never heard of this particular holiday before.

"Allow me to explain…" Emilio began. "Day Of The Dead is a holiday that originated in Mexico, where we celebrate the people we love that aren't with us anymore."

"Aw, that's very sweet of you," Mary was touched by Emilio's explanation.

"Oh it's nothing, Mrs. Wendle," Emilio casually said.

"But If you don't mind me asking, what's with the trail of petals?" asked Chad.

"They're for our departed loved ones to come find us," Emilio replied.

"Oh! How interesting," Mary was intrigued by this. "Well, I'll let you continue in peace. Have a good night."

"Likewise! Goodnight!" Emilio bid his farewells to the Wendles, as he watched them drive away until they were out of sight.

"Well, that was very nice of Emilio to honor his family members." Mary happily said.

Chad quietly listened, while Clarence stoically sat still in his seat, reflecting on his classmate's words: why he was creating the petal trail for the dead to find their way back? There were so MANY questions to ask about it. Did Emilio mean that they would come back as zombies or as a ghost to haunt them for the rest of their lives?

Despite being affectionate towards everyone, there was one person he makes an exception with: Grandma Dilliss. He never got used to her at all, as her controlling nature was too much for him to form any positive connections with his grandmother; in fact, when he and his parents went to her funeral, he only had mixed feelings the whole day, but everything else was nothing but a blur to him. Sure, he did talk now and then but he wasn't his usual self and his mom didn't blame him for it either, as she never reprimanded or scowled at him for his behavior during that time, being not particularly fond of her own mom either.

Eventually, the Wendles finally reached their residence and decided to head on to bed for the night. Clarence however, has far more urgent matters to attend to.

It was now three in the morning and Clarence was dressed in his green dinosaur onesie, armed with a bat, salt and garlic patrolling the living room; he had been awake ever since his parents went to bed and took matters into his own hands to protect them, whether it be ghosts or zombies, Especially Grandmother Dilliss. Although he did doze off several times, the loud noises from outside kept him awake.

"Okay Clarence, everything has been quiet thus far. You got this," Clarence talked to himself, as he slowly patrolled the kitchen and took a look outside in the backyard. Aside from a stray cat casually minding its own business and a couple of dogs barking from a distance, there was nothing worth investigating.

After he finished his round, Clarence let out a yawn and retreated to his bedroom. Fatigue had started to set into the boy; as soon as he reached his bunk bed, he allowed himself to lay down and closed his eyes. However, he woke up at the last minute and went out to resume patrolling the hallways. After all, the lives of his parents and his own are on the line.

Mary slowly woke up from her slumber as the sun illuminated its rays in the bedroom, as she sat up and yawned while stretching her arms, before getting out of her bed and going into the bathroom, while allowing Chad to sleep just a bit longer. After brushing her teeth, Mary made her way to her son's room.

"Clarence?" Mary called out to her son, before she opened the door and found the bed empty, much to her surprise. She then went to the living room where she found her son lying on the couch, cuddling the bat, as she approached her sleeping son.

"Clarence sweetie, it's time to get up."

"Not now, mom. I need to keep us safe."

"Come on sweetie, you don't want to be late for school." Mary shook her son again, to no avail. Then, an idea came right to her in an instant. "I got just the thing to wake him up."

Mary went to the kitchen and began making breakfast, starting with the bacon.

"The smell of bacon always wakes my two boys up."

Sure enough, Chad was the first to wake up, having made his way to the kitchen in a matter of seconds.

"Good morning, Mary," Chad let out a yawn.

"Morning Chad," Mary kissed her boyfriend and watched him get ready for breakfast. She glanced over her son to check on him, but to her dismay, her son remained asleep.

'What's going on with him?' Mary wished she had the answer, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. Then, there was only one option for her to take.

"I'm sorry what I'm about to do sweetie."

It was another day at Aberdale Elementary as the students took their seats and waited for their teacher to arrive, while the students talked among themselves, particularly among two students.

"Clarence isn't here," Jeff noted. "I wonder if he has gotten sick from eating too much candy."

"You can't get sick from eating too much candy, so that's impossible," Sumo insisted.

"I'm pretty sure you can," Jeff stated otherwise.

Several minutes passed and the teacher finally arrived and to their relief, it was Ms. Baker, followed by Clarence, who finally managed to make it to class, but there was something off about him: his eyes were bloodshot red, his hair was shaggy and his clothes were somewhat wrinkled as if he had just got out of bed.

"...Hey," Clarence gruffly greeted everyone, as he went to his desk and ignored the glances from his shocked classmates, just as Ms. Baker cleared her throat up, getting everyone's attention.

"Good morning, class. We will be watching a science documentary and afterward, we will be heading outside."

"Uh huh, sure…" Clarence tried his best to listen to Ms. Baker's lessons as much as he could, but try as he might, it was not helping him and he drifted off to sleep, with the last thing he heard was the explanation of the forest's ecosystem.

"I'm finally here." Mary said, breathing heavily, making her way to the nurse's office, who had Clarence with him, still sleeping peacefully.

"Thank you for coming, Mrs. Wendle."

"How's Clarence doing?"

"Aside from sleeping peacefully, he's doing fine," Mr. Reese replied. "Though he did cough several times. I think he might have caught a cold."

"Oh no, that would explain the little amount of sleep he got." Mary expressed her concern. "Why didn't he tell me earlier?"

"Perhaps he didn't want to worry you," Mr. Reese suggested. "He likes it when everyone is happy and doesn't like to see others sad or concerned.

"I guess you're right." Mary couldn't help but smile as she took a look at her son. "My son is always thinking of others."

"You are free to take him home."

"Thank you, Mr. Reese. Have a good day."

"You as well, Mrs. Wendle."

Mary grabbed her son and left the nurse's office, carrying him on her back until she reached her car, putting him in the front passenger seat, before getting to the driver's seat herself and drove away.

"Wha? Where am I?" Clarence finally stirred up and saw Mary in the driver's seat. "Mom?"

"Hey there, sleepy head," Mary happily greeted her son. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"...How long was I out?"

"The whole morning and half in the early afternoon according to Mr. Reese," Mary replied.

"Ugh, I'm sorry, Mom."

"Hey, it's okay. I should have known you were sick. I will have Chad stay home today to look after you."

"Okay," Clarence accepted without much fuss. "I love you Mom."

Mary pecked her son on the cheek, before focusing her attention on the road, as Clarence allowed himself to rest. Before he could relax, though, he spotted a familiar figure from high above: it was Grandma Dilliss herself, who happily waved at him in silence, causing the boy to scream.

"What's wrong?!"

"I think I saw Grandma Dilliss!" Clarence pointed up at the sky and Mary looked up, but there was nothing but blue skies and a few clouds.

"You must be seeing things because you are tired."

"I…I think that must have been it."

With that, Mary continued driving toward her destination, with a cranky Clarence sleeping once more, wanting to forget what he saw just seconds ago.

And that will be it, everyone. Hope you enjoy this little short. I was very weary of doing this in fear of culturally inappropriate a holiday. But I think it worked out in the end.

See you again next chapter! Ciao! Happy Halloween and Day Of The Dead!