Trick or Treat: Part I

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Trick Or Treat

Part I

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

by

R.L. Mathewson

“Why are you still here?” Sebastian asked, as he kicked off his boots and threw himself on her bed.

“Not going,” Mikey said, shrugging it off and hoping he just dropped it.

“Why not?” he asked, shaking his head and still not bothering to look at her as he reached over and helped himself to the stack of books that he kept by her bed.

“Just changed my mind,” she said, even as she struggled to figure out a way to get him to change him mind about skipping Trick or Treating, but she honestly couldn’t come up with anything beyond free candy.

It should have been enough to make him to put on a lame costume and drag her around the neighborhood, but Sebastian had decided to skip going out tonight since his twin brother was going with some of the kids from his school and his little brother and sister were going to a party instead. Biting back a sigh, she double checked the zombie makeup that her Aunt Sara and Uncle Eric had spent the last hour working on, and fighting about, grabbed the large white construction bucket that Grandpa Ethan had turned into a Halloween bucket for her, and looked up at Sebastian, hoping that he’d somehow changed his mind in the last thirty seconds only to end up glaring at the most stubborn person that she’d ever met.

“Did you eat?” she asked, deciding that she could at least salvage the rest of the night with pizza and movies with her best friend.

“Yeah,” he said, reaching up and flipping the page.

“Mom said she’d make pizza tonight,” she said even though she really didn’t have to convince him to eat again.

Her mom was an amazing chef and was known to put many a Bradford into a food coma. She was also pregnant, cranky, and had recently developed a craving for buttercream frosting, brownies, and anything and everything baked with jelly. It also meant that she probably wasn’t going to be able to find anyone to go Trick or Treating with her since everyone would end up hanging out in the kitchen, helping and waiting for the next baked good to be taken out of the oven.

Well, this was depressing, she thought, as she placed the bucket back down and decided to go check on her mom. She’d been looking forward to going tonight, especially since this was the first Halloween that they didn’t have to go to the mall to go Trick or Treating. She’d always loved their house in the Cape, but it had definitely had some drawbacks, lack of neighbors giving out candy on Halloween definitely being one of them.

When she headed downstairs she wasn’t surprised to find Sebastian following her. As soon as they made it to the kitchen, he tossed his book on the counter, gestured for her mother to get away from the small stepping stool with a glare, and reached up and grabbed the large bag of powdered sugar for her. Once that was done and he was sure that she wasn’t going to do anything else foolish, he grabbed his book, checked on her sleeping baby brothers, and then sat down on the floor between their playpens, leaving her standing there, trying to figure out what she was going to do.

“I thought you were going Trick or Treating?” her mom asked, as she started putting powdered sugar through a sifter.

“Change of plans,” she said with a shrug.

“I thought Reese was going to take you?” her mom asked.

“He’s working,” she said with a shrug, deciding not to mention that he was also passed out at his desk from exhaustion and she really didn’t want to bother him.

“How about Sara or Eric?” she asked, adding butter and shortening to the bowl.

“They were both on their way out when I came in,” Sebastian said absently, as he turned another page.

“Well, maybe you can go with Zoe and Haley?” she asked, already reaching for her phone.

“They already left, too,” Sebastian said, making her mom frown down at the frosting that she’d probably been craving all afternoon.

“Well, I guess that leaves me,” her mom said with a warm smile as she reached back to untie her apron.

“No, mom, that’s okay,” Mikey said quickly, because she wasn’t about ask her to go, especially since the morning sickness usually hit at night and she’d probably end up curled up on the neighbors yard begging for a quick death.

Again.

Her mother looked at her for a long moment before shaking her head and taking off the apron. “I’m taking you,” she said firmly, as she tossed the apron aside and smoothed down the shirt over the barely-there-baby bump.

“No, mom, that’s okay. I’ll-”

“I’ll take her,” Sebastian said, setting his book aside.

“I thought you wanted to hang out with me tonight?” her mom asked even as she shot Mikey a wink that had her rolling her eyes.

“And miss all the free candy? Never,” Sebastian said easily as he picked up the discarded apron and put it on.

“Are you sure?” Mikey asked, worrying her bottom lip and really kind of hoping that he didn’t say no, because she really wanted to go.

“Of course,” Sebastian said, stealing some powdered sugar to dab on his face right around the time that she shot from the room, deciding that it would be in her best interest to grab the bucket before he changed his mind, and she really hoped that he didn’t change his mind.  

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