Night Of The Masks

Chapter 3
Part 3

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Chapter Description: With the truth slowly dawning on her, junior high student Tia Spitz races to find Miles and get her bearings before Halloween comes yet again.

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The group arrived at their first house then and after getting Sammy’s due candy, moved onward. A profound sense of deja vu began to creep over Tia as they went onward, arriving at the street corner nearest to their house, "So uh... Which way do you wanna go from he-"

"C’mon!" The bookworm jumped a little at the sound of another girl pulling someone across the street, "Don’t be such a scardy cat! This’s the last year we’re gonna get to do this!"

A turn toward the source of the voices found a couple of girls her age approaching. The one of the two that was in front had red hair with noticeable streaks of blond in it. The other was cowering behind her, with not many features to be seen through the darkness, but she had on a costume most resembling a teddy bear while the girl pulling her was evidentially dressed as fire the best Tia could figure.

As the two girls crossed, the cowardly one gave a loud squeak in response to AJ greeting of, "Howdy!"

The taller of the girls made a startled squeak in response to the unfamiliar greeting, choosing to cower behind her more brightly-colored (and slightly shorter) companion.

"Hey!" cried the new girl proudly. She looked only to be a year or so younger than Tia, but had a sort of proud way of carrying herself, "Whoa, cool Dracula look, kid."

"Thanks!"

"Oh, no, that doesn’t work!" With an accusing point, this unfamiliar girl loudly proclaimed, "You have to say it like, ’Vanks!’ Then you should suck Fiona’s blood!"

The girl with her, presumably Fiona, evidentially didn’t much care for that idea, as she visibly quivered at the thought.

"She probably doesn’t have blood!" Snickering and getting into the back and forth, Sammy pointed to the Fiona girl as she attempted to hide. "She’s a teddy bear, so she’s full of cotton and stuff!"

"Hmm..." You’re right..." Stroking her chin as she looked over her friend, the red-head in the firey outfit stepped forward instead, assuming a fighting pose, "In that case, you’re gonna have to take some blood from the Firebird! If ya can!"

"Oh!" That made more sense to Tia. Leaning nearer to admire the flaming costume, she asked, "So you’re a phoenix?"

"What? No...." A pout graced the shorter girl’s face as she explained, "I’m Firebird McBlaze." When that name was only met with blank stares, her pout grew more pronounced, "The professional wrestler?!"

When even this was met with unfamiliar looks, the redhead sighed before quickly regaining her composure. "Whatever. It’s Iris when I’m not bein’ the Blazin’ Brawler!" proclaimed the shorter of the girls in a tone befitting a pro wrestler.

"I-I toldja nobody would get it..." mumbled out Fiona shyly.

"It would’ve worked out fine if I’d found my belt before we left the house." Now with her fires of enthusiasm quite extinguished from the reaction, Iris pouted at the two members of the group not in costume, "What’re you guys dressed as? A nerd and a stableboy?"

"Nah, they say they’re too old for costumes," Sammy replied with a frown, before following that up with, "As if that’s possible!"

"Yeah, Halloween’s awesome!" Iris agreed at once. With a grin, she accused, "Or do you two just see yourselves as better and more grown up than everybody else for not wearing costumes? Huh, that it?"

"This is why I don’t hang out with people at school," explained Tia to her cousin before addressing the little wrestler. "Look we’re not better than anybody else. It’s just that you stop doing at some point. Not just socially- costumes and stuff just get silly after a while."

"I don’t kn-know about that," mumbled out Fiona, tugging at her cuddling teddy costume. "I still really like getting to go out like this... M-Me and Iris have been doing it forever."

"Uh-huh!" Nodding proudly, Iris jabbed a thumb at the taller girl, adding, "And she’s a freshmen at Kennedy High."

"Huh..." Interesting to note. With a nod, Tia explained, "I’m Tia, and these are Sammy and AJ. I’m a..."

Part of her was wanting to say senior, but for eighth grade that certainly wasn’t the right term. Or was it? Did middle school have names for things like that?

Confused now, Tia set to pondering that while AJ piped up, "Don’t hold’er weirdness ’gainst her, she’s too busy studyin’ to know howta talk to people."

"Very funny."

"See, there’s like so much you could do with that!" proclaimed Iris eagerly, gesturing at the bookworm. "You could get a crazy wig and go as like Einstein or someone. Or roll around in a wheelchair and talk in a weird voice and say you’re Stephen Hawking."

"Yes," replied Tia sarcastically. "Because impersonating someone with Motor Neuron Disease is so much fun."

"Yeah, but even if you wanna be lazy, you could get like a black robe and one of those graduating-flat-hats," added Sammy.

"Mortarboards."

"Nah, don’t encourage her." Smiling, AJ threw out a tease of his own by saying, "She’d prob’ly rather have somethin’ real big an’ elaborate anyway, right?"

"Oh, be quiet."

Iris raised an eyebrow at that, before challenging, "Some in joke Flora and I rudely haven’t been informed of?"

"Something like that." Coming nearer to the girls, Sammy asked, "Didja get any good loot yet?"

"Not yet, but w-we haven’t been out very long..." Holding open her back and checking inside it, Fiona noted, "What direction were you going to go?"

"We actually just about to figure that out," explained Tia.

"Kay, the obvious is to go where there’s somebody with money." Crossing her arms with a look of satisfaction that made it clear she thought she was clever for this idea, Iris continued, "Any of you know someone rich?"

"Well, I don’t know if he’s rich but..." Before explaining that further, Tia broke off with, "Nevermind, guy I’m thinking of was going to go out anyway. Think he said he likes the side of town over by the forest though. And he’d know a lot about the holiday."

"Sounds like as good a direction as any to me!" proclaimed Iris proudly. "I wanna avoid that lady who handed out apples last year. Not even caramel apples, but the regular kind."

As the group began to set out southward, Sammy and Iris leading the way, AJ asked, "Didja get ta bob for ’em, first?"

"No, she just had like a plate of ’em."

Well, that sounded boring. With a shrug dismissing the subject of whether or not there was a plate, AJ was quick to instead point, "Well, at least they were dipped in something rather than just apples, right? I like’em plenty myself but --"

"Bah, hate fruit. Too sweet." To say nothing of the fact that Iris was out here in the name of candy, but regardless, the girl quickly continued, "If you’re going to give out real food, make it something awesome like steaks or popcorn."

"Who in the heck gives out steaks for Halloween?" was the obvious question to that statement, made by none other than AJ.

"There was this nice lady I knew when I was little who gave out popcorn balls," chimed in Fiona weakly. As the teddy bear walked along behind the rest of the group, she added, sadly, "But she stopped handing those out because of those news stories about kids finding needles in balls like that."

"Ugh... What kind of nut job puts stuff like that in candy?" asked Iris, exasperated. "Don’t they know they’re ruining the whole holiday? Y’know, I wanted to go as The Undertaker but my mom said I have to wear a costume that’s really bright so I don’t get hit by a car?"

"Wouldn’t wearing a suit or something make it hard to tell you’re an undertaker exactly?" Confused on this subject, Tia further observed, "Like, could just look oddly nicely dressed for the occasion."

"Not like that! It’s -- nevermind, ugh." With a frown, Iris was quick to bemoan, "You people need better hobbies."

"Uh-huh...." As the short girl pouted, AJ noted, "Look, we ain’t into super-heroes. Let’s just focus on getting some candy."

"You mean we’ll focus on getting candy," teased Iris with a grin. "I don’t think they hand it out if you don’t have a costume."

"Really?" Sammy looked up at that, noting, "’Cause I see bigger kids walking around without costumes trick-or-treating all the time."

"Well, they should be arrested or something!" proclaimed the wrestler angrily. She soon swept out an arm and scooped Fiona into a tight hug as they arrived at the next house, "Fiona’s in high school and even she’s cool with dressing up! Even if she does look like a refugee from a greeting card!"

While that got the bashful girl to turn a bit pink, it wound up mostly ignored by Iris as she pulled the taller girl along with her. As they approached the house in question, Sammy while tempted to say something on the subject instead opted to point out, "See, Tia? You should wear a costume next year if they’re doing it."

Before her cousin could throw in any more teasing details on that subject, Tia was quick to throw out a quick, "Shut it, AJ. But no - there are better things to use the time, money, and effort for."

"Fine, be that way," grumbled out the farm boy, clearly annoyed at the snap. "Seem ya recall ya stopped doin’ it earlier than all th’ other kids anyway."

"I got sick of putting all this attention into these costumes and then nobody caring about it a week later," came the simple explanation. "The only people who really care about costumes past like eleven are either people who make costumes like Miles or grown-up geeks who’re nerdy enough to enjoy it."

"Listen to Tia on this," explained Sammy as he, Fiona, and Iris came from the house, bags slightly heavier. "She’s one of the grown-up geeks who’s too nerdy to enjoy it."

"Ugh. Look --"

Tia broke off there, as something occurred to her. Confused and at once directing her attention to Sammy, she was quick to ask, "We were at this house last night, weren’t we? Do you... Do you remember what for?"

"I don’t think so," came the simple reply from the little vampire. As he turned and stared back at the house, he added, "I don’t think we know the person who lives here, do we?"

"Well, I’m betting you weren’t giving advice on what kind of candy to hand out," growled the wrestler as she looked into her bag. A pout on her face, she declared in a low voice, "This lady’s so getting her house egged."

"Iris, you shouldn’t say mean stuff like that," said Fiona in a weak scold. When the shorter girl pouted at her, the eldest girl present gave Tia a pat on the shoulder, "Are you feeling, okay, Tia? Y-You look a little stressed out...."

The girl gave a quick shake of her head, as if trying to get the cobwebs out, before she explained, "I don’t know, felt weird all day. And I can barely remember yesterday."

And, now that the girl thought about it, the day before it. That was probably not a very good sign, but she didn’t focus on that much as she went on to comment, "And I’ve been getting headaches when I try to think on it."

That caused a bit of a pause, during which Tia found herself now feeling rather put on the spot. Without quite noticing, as her face started to turn a bit pink due to the sudden focus gave a low, instinctive mumble of, "Gilne?"

"What now?"

"Sammy, Gilne!" Nearing her little brother and placing her hands on his shoulders, Tia insisted, "Do you remember the Gilne? Miles was dressed up as one?"

"Erm..." Worried even more now, Sammy asked, "You mean uh.... When he was in his shop today?"

"No, it was..."

Was that last night? It was hard to remember, something that Tia wasn’t particularly surprised about. After a moment, though, something seemed to register for the girl - and all at once, she explained, "Yeah, Sammy, we were out with Miles and Sylvia last night, and he was dressed as that and told us what it was. Remember?"

"Umm... No.... I was at Billy’s house last night."

This twist was raising even more worries about the bookworm’s mental health, not just from her brother but the group at large. Before Tia’s aching brain could attempt to make sense of his twist, she found her back being rubbed by Fiona.

"Erm... A-Are you sure you’re okay, questioned the teddy bear nervously. "If you w-wanna go to bed early tonight, we could watch Sammy for you. .... A-A-Although I know w-we’re basically strangers so uh... N-Nevermind, that’s probably a bad idea..."

"Well, there is me an’ all." Smiling in a consoling way, AJ assured the older of his cousins, "Maybe you should skedaddle back ta the house, get your head on straight."

"Yeah, maybe. . ."

Good thing AJ had opted to come along, Tia guessed. Though now that she thought about it, heading to bed would solve nothing - she was going to need to find Miles.

"Yeah." With a nod, Tia now lied, "I think I will head on home. Sorry about this."

"Are you sure you want to go home by yourself?" asked Fiona worriedly, putting a hand back to Tia’s head. "I can go with you if you want."

"Jeez, Fiona, tone it down..." The wrestler in the group rolled her eyes, annoyed, "She didn’t faint or anything, she’s just not feeling that good."

While Fiona blushed heavily at her own over-helpfulness, Tia squirmed away from the group, reassuring them, "Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just uh... AJ, you know to have Sammy home by nine, right?"

"Ya got it." The way AJ gave a nod as an echo to the confirmation meant that he probably wasn’t going to take it too seriously, but that wasn’t really Tia’s major concern at the moment. "Just get home an’ get some shut-eye, got it?"

"Right."

Beginning to slowly pace away now, Tia added on, "Just make sure, okay? You know how Mom gets when he’s out late."

"I don’t get what the big deal is," grumbled the vampire as he was led away, "It’s not like I have school tomorrow."

"Well, it’s still really dangerous to stay out late with things like..."

Fiona began to rattle off something about delinquent behavior that was on the rise for Halloween, but Tia didn’t get to hear it. She was already heading up the street, head growing clearer with every step she took.

Okay, Miles’ house was a few blocks away, but there was a good chance he was taking his sister trick-or-treating, figured the girl. If that was the case, they’d be trying to hit the good houses. What direction were those in?

Okay, Miles had told her that... Toward the center? No, that wasn’t it, and that wasn’t far from where they were in the first place...

"Think... Was it toward... the forest maybe?"

That sounded right to the girl. Well, if nothing else it’d have to do - she needed to see the boy as soon as she could.

As Tia took off toward the forest, she did start to see fewer and fewer trick-or-treaters. That was odd enough at first, but one thing that began to sink in the further she walked was that they seemed to get progressively younger. While most of the kids nearer to her house were about Sammy’s age, with a few even about her own, they now seemed to be primarily made up of preschoolers.

That meant most of them were primarily accompanied by parents, so the relatively-short figure of Miles looking over an even smaller one was easy to spot.

"Miles!" Dashing toward the boy in a huff, Tia cried, "Wait!"

That got the boy’s attention, and he soon turned his head in confusion. Upon seeing that turn to a smile, Tia quickly began to rush over.

That was interrupted, however, when another trick-or-treater stepped into her path. This one was, much like the others she’d met in recent days, her age, but unlike Tia she wore a costume of... Something. It looked like something like a brightly multicolored bird, but regardless, the stranger interrupted with a giggle and a cry of, "My name’s not Miles, silly!"

"Uh.... Hi..." Inching away from the slightly-taller girl, Tia attempted to lean around her, watching Miles and Sylvia slowly get out of sight. Not wishing to be rude, the bookworm politely interjected, "Eheh... of course, not, I was talking to someone else... Excuse me-"

As Tia attempted to walk around the colorful trick-or-treater, she found herself blocked again. The girl appeared to be little more than a gigantic smile surrounded by feathers, "That’s okay! I mistake people for other people all the time. When I was a little kid, I used to think my dad was Chef Boyardee because he always wears the same funny hat when he was at work. And then when he shaved his mustache, I was confused why the cans didn’t lose their mustaches too!"

"That’s very interesting." And it was, for all of the wrong reasons, but right now Tia had something else to worry about. Trying her best to sidestep this unfamiliar girl, she at once called out once more, "Miles! Wait a second!"

"Miles? That is kind of a funny name. Reminds me of this time --"

Upon seeing that the bookworm looked more ticked off by this than anything, though she was clearly trying not to show it too heavily. Taking the hint, however, this girl offered, "Oh, you wanna know how many miles long the town is? I can help!"

"Ugh... Yeah, whatever! Just...."

Tia finally just gave a long hop to the side of the bird-creature blocking her, grimacing a little as that put her sneakers into a sizable mud puddle. But she soon shrugged that off and took off running toward the boy and his sister.

Unfortunately for her patience, the girl she was with ran alongside her, flapping her arms around in tune with her bird costume, "It used to be thirty-nine square miles, but since the city expanded around that new factory, now it’s fourty-two square-"

"MILES!"

"Exactly!"

"Oh?"

Now being sure of his name having been heard, Miles fortunately did turn around in place just as Tia and this unfamiliar girl were catching up. Confused at once, the boy asked, "Tia? Do you need something?"

Sylvia, meanwhile, had the somewhat less pressing question of, "Hi! What’s your friend’s name?"

The little girl’s question only made Tia sigh, "She’s not my friend. We just-"

"Pammy Diane!" proclaimed the happy bird, apparently not even hearing Tia’s point. She further explained, without being asked, "Pammy’s short for Pam!"

"That is not how you shorten a name," grumbled out Miles, clearly annoyed. Turning directly to Tia, he asked, "Where’s your broth-"

"My Mom and Dad own a bakery so they named all their kids after cooking supplies!" continued Pammy, quite without being asked, "My brother’s named Morton after the salt, and my baby sister’s named Splenda!"

"Okay." Tia mentally made a note not to question that any further. Instead, she decided to cut straight to the subject at hand and ask, "Okay, Miles, is there anything else you can tell me about that Gilne thing? Anything at all?"

"Hm? Odd subject to bring up, actually..."

Tia nodded in agreement, tuning out the confused look Pammy was giving her and explained, "Yeah, I know it’s crazy to chase you down to ask about something I just heard of and don’t remember when but --"

"Not what I mean." With a shrug, Miles explained, somewhat hesitantly, "It’s odd but I haven’t been able to get the subject out of my head all day."

 

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