Oct 1st

Halloween was a dreadful time to be Zariah Croft. To most girls her age, Halloween probably meant "parties." When she was younger, it had meant "Trick-or-Treating" and dressing up in costumes. Even to adults, Halloween was supposed to be a time for cartoonish horror and spooky playfulness.

But to Zariah, Halloween was a nightmare. It was a night that she spent locked up in a closet, with a tacky crystal necklace around her neck and not even moonlight to keep her company. Because while most parents seemed to treat Halloween like a childish game, Zariah's mother took it very seriously. While their neighbors' lawns were littered with plastic tomb stones or fake cobwebs, the lawn of Zariah's house was completely barren. And while the neighbors left a light on for trick-or-treating, Zariah's mother kept the house pitch black and welcomed no visitors. Every year, Zariah was teased for being the only kid with a Halloween curfew and for having the most boring house on the block.

So she was not particularly pleased when the date switched from the end of September to the beginning of October. Seeing the awful 'O' word on her phone made her grimace. Zariah picked her cellphone off of her desk and swiped up, checking the notification that had caused it to light up at all. Her best friend, Eliot, had texted her enthusiastically.

"Happy Halloween!!!"

Her frown deepened, tugging spooky wrinkles onto her face. Normally, she accepted any excuse to ignore her studies— That was probably why her homework never got done in time. This distraction, however, was not fun. It only served to annoy her. She put her phone aside and tried to finish her homework, but couldn't concentrate. Crossing City was the third city she had moved to this year. Zariah had been settled in Crossing for six months already and she was enjoying her new school life. High School was supposed to be the best time of a girl's life and she wanted to spend all four years of it in one place. The last thing that she needed was for her mother to act weird, which ended in Zariah being bullied until the pair had to move away. As soon as her mother heard other kids calling Zariah 'weird,' she would pack them up and move to the next town. And that happened a lot. Especially around Halloween, when Zariah felt like the only kid at school who was not celebrating.

Her hazel gaze flicked to the phone again. Eliot had sent another text message.

"Just 31 days left! Are you excited?"

She hesitated. Then pushed her homework aside in favor of her phone, "Not really. We don't celebrate Halloween at my house."

It was a scary text to send, but she trusted Eliot not to gossip. She hoped that talking to him about it might calm her nerves.

"Don't celebrate Halloween?!" Came his response, "How come?! It's so much fun!"

Why didn't they celebrate? The only reason Zariah could come up with was that her family celebrated "Lock Zariah in a Closet" Day instead… But while she trusted Eliot with almost all of her secrets, she trusted no one with that secret. If she told anyone, they might send social services out and take Zariah away from her mother. She couldn't let that happen: Ever since her father died, Zariah had been all her mother had. And with every move, Zariah's mother was her only constant friend. No, she couldn't risk a situation that might separate them. Even if the closet thing was unnerving, Zariah also knew it was well intended. Somehow.

So, she texted a half-lie back, "I don't know. Mom just doesn't like it."

"Will she let you celebrate, though? What about the school festival?" Eliot reminded her. She had heard the freshmen class representative talking about that. Apparently, Crossing Fields High School took Halloween very seriously. Enough so to have a schoolwide festival full of safe trick-or-treating and celebrations.

Zariah wasn't sure how her mother would feel about that. She had never even allowed Zariah to buy a Halloween costume, let alone go trick-or-treating.

"I don't know. I guess that I can ask her." She responded, "Don't we get graded in class for our festival participation or something?"

Her phone vibrated with a response. "Yeah. But you can be exempt for health or religious reasons."

Zariah snorted. "Does 'weird quirky mom' count as a health problem?"

"No. But maybe it's a religion." Her friend teased back.

The exchange at least got a smile out of her. Though she was still worried about how weird everyone else would think she was, at least Eliot was accepting. As long as she had him, she figured, there wasn't much to worry about. He had quickly become the most important person to her in this city. Whether it was his cute face or quirky personality, Zariah didn't know. What she did know was that she rather liked him.

Her phone vibrated again, with a second message from Eliot. "Why don't you ask your mom about it? Maybe this year can be different."

Zariah rubbed her finger across the screen. Somehow she knew that it wouldn't be different. This year would be another year spent in a dark closet. In fact, Zariah had already taken a bet on which closet it would be: The one in the kitchen, where the dry foods were stored. Her mother liked to keep Zariah away from any windows, and that particular closet faced a solid wall. She had already started hiding her favorite snacks in there, in preparation for Closet Day.

Still… When it was Eliot being hopeful, Zariah found it contagious. She smiled fondly at her phone and nodded to the boy who was not physically there.

"Maybe. Worth a shot. I'll ask her tomorrow morning."

"Please do!" She could imagine his big, infectious smile in the text message, "If she lets you, we can make our costumes together."

"Of course you make your own. Sounds fun."

"It will be. But it's also late. We should go to bed."

Zariah glanced at the clock. She had been exchanging text messages with Eliot for over an hour now. It was already one o'clock in the morning. Her homework was still unfinished. Well, she thought to herself, it's not like I was going to get the answers right anyway. The grade'll be the same.

So she pushed herself out of her desk chair and stretched her arms over her head. Then, after turning off her computer, sent one last text message. "You're right. Headed to bed. Walk to school tomorrow?"

While waiting for a response, Zariah had time to brush her teeth and change into her night gown. Right on cue, the phone on her bed vibrated.

"Yes! Night. Don't forget to ask your mom about Halloween!"

Zariah sucked in a nervous breath. Hopefully her mother would say yes. Maybe, for once, she could have a normal Halloween. But if not, things might turn out well anyway. It wasn't like Halloween was a big deal, right? It couldn't ruin her life.

At least, that's what she thought.