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“Seriously?!” Aaron asked perplexed as he opened his front door and took in the sight of Emily’s Halloween costume. Emily gave him a fake blood smeared grin and despite the bright white contact lenses she had in, he could tell she was pleased with her choice of costume.
“Too soon?” Emily teased as she gave a twirl. It was a simple but effective costume. Some cheap tights and a dress that she could tear up, snip tactful holes into, smear with dirt and fake blood. Her make up was mostly fake blood splattered across her face, neck and arms as well as dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was back combed, tousled and liberally doused in hairspray. Besides, it was a perfectly suitable costume.
Who else could dress up as a zombie mere weeks after literally returning from the dead?
“Anyway, where’s your costume? I thought the plan was to all dress up to take Jack trick-or-treating?” Emily challenged as she looked at Aaron, who was dressed casually in jeans, and a black polo shirt that allowed her to admire his biceps. “Wait, don’t tell me. You’re dressing up as a serial killer and they look like everyone?”
“You’re hilarious,” Aaron retorted sarcastically. “I didn’t have time to get anything, even if I wanted to. And I didn’t.”
“Killjoy.” Emily teased. “Where’s Jack?”
“Just getting his shoes on.” Aaron replied as he turned around and called towards Jack’s bedroom. “Jack! Emily’s here!”
Jack hurried down the hall, his cape flapping behind him. Emily felt her heart swell at the sight of the adorable little vampire standing in front of her. Aaron had clearly spent the evening carefully gelling Jack’s hair back and painting his face to create an adorably spooky vampire. “Hi Emily! I’m a vampire!” Jack announced, his voice slightly muffled due to his plastic fangs.
“I see that, do you like my zombie costume?” Emily asked and Jack nodded. “It’s a shame your dad didn’t dress up.”
“Daddy doesn’t like it,” Jack explained. Even when Jack suggested a cool costume like Batman or a Ghostbuster, his dad still said no. “Anyway, we gotta go and get some candy!”
“OK so what is our plan?” Emily asked and Jack beamed as Aaron pulled on a jacket and led them out of the apartment.
“We go up to the top floor first because everyone starts at the bottom. Then we’re gonna go to Aunt Jessica’s block. They give out full size bars there!” Jack explained excitedly. Although he always got a good haul from their apartment building, his aunt Jess’s street was the best for candy.
“Awesome, if we have time, we can go to my new apartment building. There’s ten floors.” Emily pointed out and Jack nodded with excitement, his mind racing with what ten floors worth of candy would look like.
“That sounds like a lot,” Aaron warned and got a glare from the vampire and zombie in response. “Therefore we better get started.”
Aaron smiled to himself as he watched Jack take Emily’s hand as he led her down the street towards Jess’s house. After they had gone around his apartment building, they had already had to empty Jack’s candy bag before they headed to Jess’s street. It was a flurry of activity with kids in costumes rushing from house to house. Some preteens and teenagers were already starting to meet in back gardens, backpacks in hand for their own Halloween activities to come later in the night. Every so often, the sounds of fireworks screeching into the air were followed by bursts of colour.
Emily was showing off an impressive zombie walk and groan and Jack had been practising his best vampire hiss and how to flap and hold his cape like a ‘real’ vampire. Their evening had been filled with as much laughter as candy and he was pleased that it wasn’t over yet. Jack pulled Emily by the hand up the path to Jess’ front door and eagerly knocked on the door before holding his cape the way Emily taught him to just as Jess opened the door.
“BOO!” Jack yelled as he threw down his arm and beamed at his aunt. “Trick or treat!”
“That costume is amazing Jack,” Jess beamed at him as she handed over a larger handful of candy than she had already given out. “Hi Emily, where’s Aaron?”
“Coming now,” Emily replied as Aaron joined them.
“I know, Emily and Jack already called me a killjoy,” Aaron quipped at the sight of Jess’ smile as she held up her hands innocently.
“I was going to say that you did a great job with Jack’s costume.” Jess said as she smiled at Jack’s costume. He was definitely the cutest vampire she had ever seen. “Anyway I’ll let you guys go and get more candy. Happy Halloween Jack.”
“Happy Halloween!” Jack grinned as he examined the contents of his bag. Along with the candy at home, he definitely would have more than any other kid tonight and they weren’t even done yet! This was the best Halloween ever!
An hour later, Aaron carried a sleeping Jack into the apartment and Emily followed with Jack’s bag in her hand. They had only managed two of the floors in Emily’s building before Jack began to get tired; the excitement of the night, the anticipation of candy and the lateness of the hour had worked together to have him fast asleep by the time they got him into Aaron’s car.
“You didn’t have to come back here, I could have picked you up in the morning,” Aaron pointed out and Emily smiled as she set the candy bag next to the jack o’lantern whose candle had long since burnt out.
“I know but I had to see him home safe. We undead creatures have to stick together,” Emily joked as she headed into the bathroom and dampened a towel for Aaron to clean the face paint off of Jack’s face. Her own face paint and fake blood were beginning to show their wear for the night. Some of the dried blood was starting to peel off of her cheeks and she knew she would have to scrub the hairspray out of her hair before she went to bed.
“I’m glad you came with us, he had a lot of fun with you,” Aaron said softly as he finished wiping the face paint from Jack’s face and kissed his forehead before he tucked the duvet around him. Jack stirred slightly but didn’t wake up. Emily kissed his forehead lightly and followed Aaron out of Jack’s bedroom towards the door.
“It was fun for me too, I forgot how much I loved Halloween,” Emily smiled as she looked at Aaron. “And maybe next year you’ll wear a costume.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Aaron teased as Emily smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
“I always push my luck,” Emily smiled as she winked at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Aaron watched her go, a soft smile on his face as he watched her walk down the stairs. He shut the door and shook his head fondly. He had almost forgotten how much fun he and Emily had when they were together and he was glad he had invited her to join them tonight in the first place.