The Season of Spooks!

Maple squirmed in place, unsure about moving forward, even though she had said she could do it…

So far, it had been a wonderful Halloween! She had gone to so many different houses- gotten so much candy from every single one of them! She had seen so many cool decorations, each one different from the rest! But this next house… She was… nervous.

When they had first passed by, she had convinced Clementine to have them both cross the road to get to those houses first before they continued on. Then Maple had done her best to go every other direction besides this house. She wouldn’t say it aloud but… It made her nervous. There were just so many skeletons… and so many bats, some lights were flashing, and she swore that the scarecrow on the side was moving when the lights were off.

Luckily, Clementine had no idea about her fear, (she did know), and Maple was going to do her best to show that she was a big strong girl! That she could handle this… Despite the way her legs shook when she thought about taking any more steps closer.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but quickly composed herself when she saw it was just Clementine, who was looking down and giving her a small smile. “If you’re scared, you don’t need to go up there,” she said, looking towards the house. “We can head back, we already got a massive haul of candy,” she added, lifting up the bag of candy that she was holding for the smaller Grem.

Maple was quick to shake her head, wanting to show that no she did want to go up there, she knew she could do it! Though at the same time, she had trouble forming the words to actually say it aloud…

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she stomped on the ground, pointing towards the house that was definitely not scaring her! Although at the same time, she had unconsciously moved closer to Clementine and had grasped onto her free hand, causing Maple to feel even more embarrassed by her nervousness… Which totally wasn’t real anxiety!

Smiling in slight exasperation, Clementine gently squeezed the splice’s hand in her own, “Alright, c’mon you can do this, I’ll be standing next to you the whole time.”

Unable to form a good response, Maple nodded while unwilling to truly look up at the other Grem, as she started walking forward. Clem followed alongside, Maple continued holding her hand in a death grip. Or at least as much of a death grip as a child could give.

As they got closer and closer to the front door, (why did this front yard feel like it would never end!?) Maple couldn’t help but huddle closer to Clementine’s leg, barely able to keep herself going, and only the presence of Clem giving her the power to continue. She found herself doing her best to avoid getting closer to that scarecrow (which she KNEW was watching her!!), she eventually managed to reach the front steps of the house.

Knowing that she had to do this last part on her own, she took a few seconds to breathe and settle her nerves, before letting go of Clementine’s hand and walking up to the front door. Even though they were past all of the major scary parts, she still found herself nervous about what might actually be behind the front door, and wondering if it might be worse than everything else she had gotten past…

Wanting to finally get this over with, even if she ended up running right away, she steeled her nerves and finally knocked on the door.

There were a few seconds of nothing, in which her fears grew further and further, and she felt she might just turn back and flee. Before finally she heard a sound behind the door. She closed her eyes, unable to keep them open out of fear of what might be there; she did her best to find her voice.

Once she heard the door open, she lifted up her little pumpkin bag and managed to scrounge the words: “T- T- Trick o- or T- Treat!”

After nothing happened for a second, she finally managed to open her eyes, and saw a tall Grem looking down at her, with long red hair behind her. And in an instant, all the fear left at how pretty she was! Now she had trouble speaking for a different reason.

The taller Grem smiled down at the child in front of her, leaning down to be more at eye level. “Well, aren’t you a cutie! You must be really brave to have made it all the way here,” she praised, causing Maple to nod eagerly.

Laughing to herself, the homeowner continued with “You can call me Bordeaux, and as a reward for your bravery, I would like you to have this!” She exclaimed, bringing out a bar of chocolate and putting it in Maple’s bag.

Near instantly, the child was overtaken with joy, finding her voice once again and exclaiming: “King sized!!! Thank you, pretty lady!” as she started bouncing in place, eager to eat her candy when she got home. Her little child brain instantly decided they needed to head home now so that she could do that!

She turned to Clementine to show off her prize, quickly running back to her, all of her fear of the front yard vanishing as she tried to drag the older Grem alongside her back to their own home.

Clementine gave Bordeaux a tired smile, quickly mouthing a ‘thank you’ to them, before letting herself get dragged along, while Bordeaux found herself laughing once again, happy to have seen such a cute little tyke this Halloween. She went ahead and headed back into her house, placing her candy bowl back down as she waited for the next group who managed to brave her yard.