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“Noooo! I’m ok! I can go! I can! Please?” Goth begged. As he did so, he sniffled, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.
“I’m sorry, kiddo. I know you’ve been excited about this year’s Halloween, but I can’t let you go out and get even sicker.” Reaper said.
“I’m not sick! I’m ok!” Goth begged.
“Goth. Enough.” Geno said. His voice was rough. Geno also got sick, which is why Reaper was holding the baby instead of Geno. “You can’t go trick-or-treating while you’re sick.”
He pouted, his eyes going watery. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t! He’d been so excited to go trick-or-treating. He had been preparing to go as a plague doctor since August, but now that was ruined because of his stupid illness.
“Hey, kid, it's ok,” Reaper said. “I’ll put Ruby to bed and then maybe we’ll do something fun together inside, yeah?”
“Ok…” Goth mumbled.
Reaper retreated to the room to put his little sister to bed. Goth rubbed tears from his eyes, his night thoroughly ruined. Then, he felt a hand pat him on the skull.
“I know it sucks, but your health is way more important,” Geno said. Goth stared up at him with watery eyes. “Besides… You can help pass out candy to the kids who come by! And anything they don’t eat is yours.”
“Really?”
“Of course. And hey, since I know you’re really sad about not being able to go out this year, I’ll let you stay up as late as you want. Just this once.” Geno said. “Is that a fair trade?”
“I guess…” Goth pouted.
Geno sighed. “Sorry, kid. I-“ He was cut off by a coughing fit. Reaper came back in the middle of it, staring at him with concern. His cough was hoarse and each breath he took afterwards sounded rattly.
“You need to get to bed,” Reaper said. For a moment, Goth was scared that Reaper was talking to him, but then, Geno rolled his eyes.
“I’m fine,” Geno said. “It's just a cold.”
“Yeah, but your magic still hasn’t fully recovered from giving birth,” Reaper said.
“Reaper, we both know damn well that I’ve had worse than this. Really, it’s not a big d- ah!”
Reaper picked him up, slinging Geno over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. Goth was shocked for a moment before he giggled. It was amusing to see how indignant Geno got so quickly.
“Reaper! Put me down! I can walk for myself, stop!” Geno cried, voice getting further and further away as they retreated to the room.
Goth grabbed his blanket from his bed and dragged it into the living room, sitting down. He wrapped himself in the blanket and sat there shivering for a while. He hated being sick. He wished he could press a button to never be sick again.
After a while, the bedroom door opened again and Reaper came out. “Ok, kiddo. Looks like it's just going to be you and me. And maybe Ruby if she wakes up.” He walked over to the couch and sat next to his son. “Wanna watch a scary movie?” Goth nodded.
So that’s how they spent the first few hours. Reaper and Goth on the couch, watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. When Goth was little, Jack taking off his head used to terrify him. And Oggy Boogy getting unraveled and collapsing into bugs. Those things combined used to make this a horrific movie for Goth when he was five or so. But now, at eight years old, it was one of his favorite movies.
Occasionally, trick-or-treaters would come by and knock on the door. So Reaper and Goth would get up, greet them, and pass out some candy. But for the most part, they were left alone to enjoy the movie.
And inevitably, the credits begin to roll. “Damn, for whatever reason, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the end of that movie. Or maybe I just forgot.” Reaper said.
“Or maybe because you always fall asleep,” Goth said accusatorily.
Reaper laughed. “That too.” Then, he reached for the remote. “Ok… What should we watch next?” He asked no one in particular.
They scrolled through the catalog of movies that were Halloween-themed. They ranged from kids’ spooky movies to Halloween movies to true horror movies. Goth anxiously eyed some of the covers of these movies, trying not to let his imagination wander.
“Ooo, The Conjuring,” Reaper said. “Did you know me and your mom watched this shortly before you were conceived? Very shortly…” He coughed the last part awkwardly.
“Conceived?” Goth asked.
“Before your mom got pregnant with you,” Reaper said. Goth gasped.
“We should watch it!” He said. How scary could it be? The cover was a picture of a tree with a rope tied to it.
Reaper hesitated. “You sure? It gets pretty scary.” He said. Goth nodded vigorously. “Ok, we can watch a bit, but if it gets too scary, tell me and I’ll turn it off.”
“Ok!”
The movie wasn’t too bad in the beginning, just a little unsettling. Goth was never particularly afraid of dolls, even ones made to look intentionally creepy. But the fear began settling in when Reaper piped up.
“Did you know Ed and Lorraine Warren are real people?” He said. Goth looked over at him. “Yup. And there really is an Annabelle doll and there really is a Conjuring House.” Goth felt dread settling in the pit of his stomach. Reaper shrugged. “But the movies are made to be scarier and more exaggerated versions of what happened. Half-truths in the best case scenario and blatantly Hollywood nonsense in other cases.”
And that ‘Hollywood nonsense’ ended up being what terrified Goth the most. He jumped at every unexpected noise, he even ended up grabbing onto Reaper’s arm. The older skeleton looked down at him.
“Are you scared?” Reaper asked.
“No…” He mumbled voice hollow with terror. But despite being terrified, he couldn’t look away.
“There’s no shame in being scared, Kiddo,” Reaper said. Goth shook his head. “Ok… If you say so.”
As the movie continued, the fear grew. He kept glancing around into the dark corners of the room, scared that ghosts and demons were there watching him. His grip on his father’s arm got tighter and tighter and occasionally his mouth would fall open in a silent scream.
He flinched violently when a cry rang out. “Aw, shit.” Reaper sighed. “Ruby is crying.”
Reaper got up, heading to the baby’s room. And that left Goth there. On the couch. Alone. With the most terrifying movie he’d ever seen.
He sat there, arms subconsciously crossed over his chest defensively, as he stared at the screen. Goth jumped with a small terrified scream when the demon jumped onto the human girl. His whole body was trembling and he was completely wide-eyed, his mind (and subsequently the course of his life) was forever changed by this moment. Because in the future, Goth paradoxically fell in love with horror movies and found himself chasing this feeling; the feeling of being an eight-year-old boy terrified and trapped on the couch by suspense and the darkness around him.
Soon enough, Reaper returns holding the crying infant. He flicked on the kitchen light, walking around the kitchen to make formula since Geno was sleeping off his illness. The new light in the living room smothered some of the fear he felt. Not all of it, but enough to get him through the rest of the movie.
While Reaper was up feeding the infant, the last trick-or-treaters of the night came through. He passed out the last of the candy (extremely careful not to touch them), urged them to get home because it was getting late, and then closed the door. Reaper sighed, walking over to sit near Goth, cradling the baby who already looked half asleep while drinking her bottle.
“It’s a good movie, right?” Reaper said, watching the credits roll.
“It was scary…”
“I told you,” Reaper said. “Wanna watch something more lighthearted before bed?” Goth nodded stiffly.
They watched another movie, Hocus Pocus, so that Goth could calm down. Reaper was more focused on Ruby because she was being fussy. After eating, she refused to go back to bed despite Reaper’s efforts, she kept crying and squirming around. So Reaper let her have some tummy time to hopefully burn off a little energy.
“Great, it seems like I’ll be up for a while.” Reaper sighed. He looked over at Goth. “You should head to bed though. You look tired.”
“No, I’m not tired…” Goth mumbled sleepily.
Reaper gave him a knowing look. “You’re gonna be grumpy in the morning. We’re going to go see your cousins, you don’t wanna be too tired for that, do you?”
“Ok…” Goth said. He got up from the couch, still wrapped in his blanket, and moved around his sister to get to the room. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was very tired.
He trudged into his room, flopping onto his bed and grabbing his stuffed moth. Goth tried hard to shove the memories of the movie out of his head and close his eyes. Eventually, he’s able to drift into sleep. But not without turning on his night light.
Two hours later, Goth woke up.
It was dark. His night light must’ve turned off at some point during his sleep because the entire room was cloaked in a thick darkness that was only broken by the faint light of a lamppost outside. At first, he didn’t know why he woke up. Goth just tried to bury his face in his plushie and go back to sleep. But then, it came again.
There was a scratching noise. Faint at first but growing steadily louder until Goth had to look up. And right as he did, the noise stopped.
Wind howled outside, rain pounded at the roof and window like a wrathful spirit trying to make its way inside. Goth stared into the dark, terrified. It sounded like nails dragging against something, something in his room. His mind conjured images of distorted faces and demons from the depths of hell.
Lightning flashed through the sky. The shadows in his room snapped to new terrifying angles, taking shape as humanoid figures in his room and suspicious lumps. Goth whimpered, pulling his blanket higher over himself to hide from them.
Then, after a minute or two of hiding, thunder boomed. Goth jumped, a terrified scream tearing from his throat. He threw himself off his bed and ran as fast as he could.
Throwing open his parents’ door, he sobbed in fear and jumped into their bed. “Daddy! Mommy! I’m scared!” He cried, clinging to Reaper’s chest.
“Wh- huh?” Reaper mumbled.
“There are demons in my room!” He sobbed, tears soaking into Reaper’s shirt.
“Hey, it's ok,” Geno mumbled, wrapping his arm around Goth’s midsection. “It was just a bad dream.”
“I’m scared…” He repeated, voice cracking.
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Reaper said, patting Goth on the back. “If you want, you can stay with us for the night.”
“O-Ok…” Goth mumbled.
He squirmed to get under the covers, staring around at the darkness of the bedroom. But this time, he wasn’t as scared. He had his parents here. They could protect him from any danger.
Slowly, very slowly, he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep. This time, he made it through the whole night without incident.
God, Goth loved horror movies.