Well, here we are. My dad is pissed off because of me, and my sister is yelling at me. How did this happen exactly? Well, I’ll tell you how.

—A COUPLE OF HOURS EARLIER—

 “Hey Mattie, could you set the ingredients out for dad? I said I would do it, but I’m really busy with these notecards,” my sister pleading asked. “Of course, I need to take a break anyway before I begin my Spanish assignments; my back is killing me,” I exclaimed. She sent me screenshots of the two recipes (one for the cake and one for the frosting). I quickly began to set the ingredients out as I had work to do, and I wasn’t sure when my dad and her would begin. I grab the flour, vanilla, butter, eggs, milk, powdered sugar, sprinkles, and shortening. “Wait a second,” I thought to myself. “We don’t have sprinkles or shortening!” I anxiously blurt out. 

 “Hey, I also don’t have anymore notecards left if you could text momma and ask her to get some more,” my sister replied. I added sprinkles, shortening, and notecards to the Target cart. I swiftly called my mom and asked, “Could you please buy the stuff in the cart? Kaitlynn and dad need some of it for the cake, and she needs some more notecards to continue writing out her flashcards,” I explained. “Of course, hun!” my mom cheerfully replied.

 With that taken care of, I began to head to my room to begin practicing my Spanish key terms before I began my assignments. Hurriedly, and efficiently, I studied my key terms and gunned through half of my assignments with ease. I looked on Life360 to see where my mom was at. She was picking up our order at Target, “Nice!” I thought to myself. As she walked into the house, both my dad and sister ran up to her to claim their items.

 My sister looked confused, and my dad looked furious. He yelled, “Who ordered this?!”

“I did,” I faintly replied. “Why would you order this, it’s the wrong kind you idiot!” he scoffed as he threw the shortening on the floor. My sister began to speak, “These are the wrong kind too, God damn it!” she cursed. “I didn’t know, I was just trying to help,” I spoke as I defended myself. “You’re just an idiot! You don’t know how to do anything right!” my father declared.

 With tears in my eyes, I ran to my room. This is where I am writing this story from now. Lesson learned: don’t ever buy something without asking for the kind beforehand. BIG mistake.

I’m kind of new to this whole parenting thing. This is my first child I’ve ever had, but I learn from every experience with him. I cherish every memory we make together, and this one, is a memory I will never forget.

It was around December when this happened, I remember so vividly because the nights were always so cold. For a few days, my son had been begging me to sleep with him. I figured it was because it was cold out, and he wanted to snuggle up to me for warmth. After about a week of this routine, he started waking me up in the middle of the night. I’ve been woken up by him at any point in time imaginable. Every time he woke me up though, he always said one thing, and one thing only.

“Mommy! There’s a man with no eyes in the closet!”

I never checked the closet when he said this. I merely wrote it off as a nightmare he had and was confusing it for reality. I always told him, “It’s okay, mommy’s here. I promise you, there is no such thing as a man with no eyes in the closet.” After that, I always sung him a lullaby. One night when he woke me up though, I had a different plan of action.

He told me the usual. This time, I was already awake. I had a nightmare a few minutes ago about his father. You see, his father is not a good man. Before I got a restraining order and kicked him out of the house, he dealt drugs, got aggressive a lot of the times over nothing, and would physically abuse my son and I. After my son had said this, this time I carried him out of bed and put him in the car. I was planning to take him out on a drive. You know, just a little drive around our neighborhood to lull him asleep and calm his nerves.

Before I got in the car with my son, I locked the front door. After that, I helped my son into the car and got in myself. I put the child safety lock on, and locked the car normally. I cranked the car, turned the heat on, and handed my son a big fluffy blanket. As I waited for the car to heat up a bit, I got on my phone. It read 3:45 AM. I kept thinking about how I was gonna function at work the next day. Suddenly, I saw my front door fling open. It was my son’s father!

I immediately backed out of the driveway and floored it out of there. I drove around town, avoiding my neighborhood. Eventually I got so tired, I called my mom.

“Hello honey. What’s wrong? You do know it’s almost 3 in the morning right?” My mom groggily told me.

“Hey mom. I know, I know, but this is really urgent.” I whispered.

“What is it? The cat scare you again?” My mom chuckled.

I started to raise my voice as I spoke. “No, I’m serious mom! Stein’s father just ran out of the fucking house! Can we please just stay at your place tonight?”

My mom sounded worried and concerned. “Of course you can. Are y’all alright? I’ll handle everything while you two sleep.”

“We’re fine. That just scared me so badly. Thank you so much mom. I love you.” I was so grateful my mom let us stay there for the night. As we slept, my mom called the cops and they reviewed the camera footage at my house. They found Stein’s father and arrested him for trespassing and breaching the restraining order. He’ll only be behind bars for two years, but I’m glad my son and I will sleep soundly now. We’re moving next month, closer to my mom. Remember, ALWAYS listen to your kids, even if it sounds like a bunch of crap.

There is only one way to start the day. A cup of joe for some, but I Love eating blueberry pancakes for my display. Sitting on the porch, listening to the birds cry, Eating my fresh blueberry pancakes.

The birdsong of nature amidst sunrise is special. Birds chirp, chickens crow and bock, cows mooing, it’s essential. Those noises warm my heart like a fisherman on a dock.

For many days now, my brother has been begging me to go with him everywhere - school, his bedroom, the kitchen, and even the bathroom. He keeps saying, “Someone is following me”. I thought he was crazy for awhile because even when he was in the house and all of the doors were locked, he would still repeat this. Now, I regret shaking off his “nonsense” as I look for him.

He went missing about 3 days ago, which was yesterday. I only noticed something was really wrong when it was about 5:30. He should’ve gotten out of school at 3:00 and got home at 3:45. When 4:00 rolled around, it wasn’t a big shock to me that he wasn’t home yet as sometimes the buses get crowded, or he falls asleep and misses his stop. As time went on, I got increasingly worried.

When my parents got home, I told them about the situation. Immediately, they called the school my brother attended. 

“Hello, this is Mr. and Mrs. Collen speaking. My son hasn’t came home yet and was wondering if there was a delay for bus 6108,” my parents spoke.

A young lady answered the phone. “Yes, good evening. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten any notice about any buses being delayed today,” she whispered. I wondered why she was being so quiet, but I assumed it was because she was tired from the day. After that phone call, my parents frantically called the police and filed a missing person report. 

They found him today. Broken nose, fractured left arm, and half an ankle was what was left of him. The rest of him, neither I, nor the police know where it is. He was found in a local park, but the medical examiners say the blood they found with the body parts was dry, and the limbs had maggots in them. It doesn’t make sense. How was his body parts in that park for so long and no one noticed? It’s a popular park. 


                      —2 DAYS LATER—

The police have interrogated us and other suspects. They think…they’ve found whose done this. The police found the same clothes my brother was wearing that day in my dad’s office, and a pen with my brother’s blood on it. I cant believe it. The killer has been right over our own roof. Fake grieving, fake love, fake father. He’s going to jail for 25 years. God, I hope he dies in there.

There once was a man who loved Halloween. He only comes out on Halloween night, when it rains. Since it rarely rains on this exquisite occasion, people nearly never see him. People describe his costume to be fantastic, but is it a costume?

Many people, like I, speculate that he doesn’t wear a mask and gloves; that it just happens to be his real look, permanent look. With slate matte eyes, bony, thin hands and fingers, and pale-yellow, almost translucent skin, there is no way that he is wearing a costume. He also always wears a black trench coat with a turquoise butterfly ring placed on his finger. Since it’s always raining when he comes out, he always carries a black, customary umbrella. Has anyone ever seen him without his “mask”? No. Has anyone ever seen him before or after Halloween night? No.

Many questions, little answers. Everyone I have interviewed, whom has seen him, has said they will only describe his appearance, and that’s it. After that, they refuse to tell me anything else about this mystery man. It drives me nuts. I have a void that must be filled by the knowledge of knowing this being! Tis’, I fear, I wish to visit the man. It’s 11:46 PM, October 30th, 2046. The forecast calls for a rainy Halloween night; I shall see him tonight.