All Hallows

by Christopher Golden

Nothing could stay perfect, but if you were lucky and diligent, you could steal a few perfect moments in your life.

Outside, she felt a twinge of yearning for the years when her dad brought her around the neighborhood on Halloween night, holding her hand as she engaged in the most important ritual of childhood commerce—the plea for free sweets.

Thirteen might not make him a high school kid, but he had a working brain. She didn’t need to repeat everything ten times.

Me

Eleven-year-olds knew their neighborhoods better than anybody—every path that led to a friend’s back door, the length of every barking dog’s leash, which moms were generous with cookies, whose big sister might tousle a younger boy’s hair with a hundred-watt smile.

He laughed. Alice had never understood the appeal of horror, but she knew all of this made him happy, and that was enough. She caught his gaze, and they locked eyes for several long, bittersweet moments. Tony felt his laughter give way to a deep sadness he’d been suppressing for months.

This hurts

If she could have made every day Halloween, she would have done it with the snap of her fingers. In her witchy punk outfit, she felt more herself than any other night of the year.

“Holy shit,” Vanessa breathed. “What the fuck is wrong with all the parents in this neighborhood tonight?”

Mood