I don’t mind quiet Halloweens at home, but they’re not everyone’s thing. I wouldn’t have liked it as a teen, and I think sometimes it’s hard to make that transition from kid to an adult, especially if things feel out of your control. Especially when things are most definitely out of your control.
Trick
Tandy hated staying home on Halloween, but there was no point going out. She hadn’t been invited to any of the good parties, and she sure as hell wasn’t going with her parents to their couples club…thing. She was too old to trick or treat, not old enough to hit the bars, so horror movies and candy duty were the only options left.
Which was why she was curled up on the couch with Baxter the dachshund. Even he looked bored with the B movie on TV. “It isn’t fair. Halloween used to mean magic, like anything, could happen. Now it just means making sure the house doesn’t get egged and pretending to care about whatever the hell the kids are supposed to be,” she grumbled. “Or maybe I just fail at this growing up thing. I seem to fail at everything else,” she sighed, cringing at the memory of failing her Algebra test and how well her parents had taken that. Or her midterm grades. Or losing the money she’d been given for volleyball fees. She dug through the candy bowl to fish out the good chocolate to make herself feel better.
The doorbell rang and she sighed. “I can’t believe this is my life,” she grumbled and opened the door.
And stared at herself. She wasn’t wearing a costume, unless Tandy, herself, was suddenly it costume option this year. No, the girl in front of her had the same long dark hair, the same pajama pants, the same hoodie she was wearing.
She even had her freakin’ face, down to the very same acne scars. It was freaky as sin to see every detail up close in something that wasn’t a mirror. But it wasn’t staring at herself that was the worst thing. No, the small, wicked little smile that had never appeared on her own face was worse. The fact that Baxter went right to her and didn’t growl or even acknowledge the fact that she, herself, was the real Tandy was worse. The words she spoke in her own voice before she stepped inside and raised the knife were the worst of all.
“Good, because it’s my life now.”
***
Selah Janel writes weird stuff, both short and long. She has stories in several anthologies and magazines and co-wrote the collection Lost in the Shadows. Her fantasy/cross-genre novel Olde School combines a lot of fantasy and horror elements together (along with fairy tales and the just plain strange), and her shorter e-book only titles explore a range of genres and ideas. Catch up with her and see a full list of her titles at http://www.selahjanel.wordpress.com http://www.facebook.com/authorSJ or follow her on Twitter @SelahJanel
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