A Bewitching Halloween

 

 “But Mom! It’s not fair!” I shouted, waving my arms in annoyance as I followed Mom through the house.

“Well, life isn’t always fair! I don’t want to have to work the night shift on Halloween, especially considering how many people get injured in stupid ways on Halloween, like drunks in pirate costumes impaling themselves on their own swords, but I have to go into work anyway!” Mom replied as she adjusted her scrub top. “Now, I don’t want Dana out trick or treating past six, but I don’t want her being left alone, so you’re to stay home with her tonight, is that clear?”

“But I wanted to go to Karl Henderson’s party tonight! Everyone who’s anybody is going to be there!” I insisted.

“You’ll just have to see Laurie Thompson in homeroom tomorrow,” Mom smirked as she picked up her purse.

“I-It’s not just that!” I blushed in response and started to stammer a reply.

Of course, Mom knew that I was hoping to see Laurie Thompson. She was the prettiest girl in my class and I’d pined for her over the past three years in high school, but was always too afraid to make a move. She was never dating anyone, but I figured that could change at any moment, so with senior year starting, I pledged to finally do it, and I thought the big Halloween party would be perfect for it.

“It’s the biggest party of the year! Can’t you get Dana a sitter or something?” I exclaimed.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have time to sit here and call the sitters, I’m already late as it is, if you want to try finding one, be my guest, but I have to get to work.” Mom walked over and hugged me. “And try not to take out your anger on Dana, please.”

“I won’t…” I muttered.

“Dana! I’m leaving, come say goodbye!” Mom shouted.

Suddenly, Dana, my ten-year-old sister, came running down the stairs and held her hands out as if they were claws, showing off her Halloween costume, which was a black cat, complete with a furry black bodysuit, cat ears and whiskers, and nose drawn on with makeup.

“Meow!” Dana shouted.

“What a ferocious cat!” Mom laughed and hugged and kissed Dana. “You be good for Max, okay?”

“I will!” Dana said obediently.

As Mom walked out the door, I sighed and slumped down onto the couch, taking out my phone to text my buddies the bad news.

Me: “Bad news guys, I’m on babysitting duty and have to take my sister trick or treating. Gonna miss the party.”

Darren: “the party isn’t until late cant you drop her off at home and still make it?”

Me:: “Nope.”
Me: “Mom wants me to stay home with her tonight. Unless any of you know a good sitter.”

Raffi “Laaame!

Darren: “nah not unless you count my grandma but she’s in reno rn”

Raffi:: “Do you want us to come over and hang with you instead? Could throw on some scary movies.”

Me: “No, don’t miss the party on my account, you guys have fun.”

Darren: “will do we’ll say hi to Laurie for you too lol”

Blushing slightly, I turned my phone off and moved it away from my face, not realizing that Dana had posed herself directly in front of me and in the perfect imitation of a cat, hissed loud enough to slightly spook me.

“Ahh!” I screamed, jumping in my seat, and then blushed even harder when I realized what had happened. “Don’t do that!”

I tossed a pillow off the couch at Dana, which she immediately tossed back at me.

“Haha! I scared you!” Dana giggled.

“I just didn’t realize you were there!” I defended myself. “What do you want, twerp?”

“Can we go trick or treating now? I see kids going around outside!” Dana asked excitedly.

As much as I didn’t want to go roaming around the neighborhood, tripping over kids who can’t see past their masks and their slow-walking parents, I also knew that the faster I got it over with, the faster we could come home, not that I had anything to look forward to. So, with her candy bag in tow, Dana and I headed out into the chilly Fall afternoon, leaving the house with just a candy bowl and a “Please Take One” sign outside for the trick or treaters.

The first houses we hit as he headed down the block were fairly normal, and because the neighbors knew us, it was a pretty painless situation, and I even got some candy myself, which I quickly ate while we walked. As we got farther from our own house, the next house we approached was one I usually steered clear of year-round.

It was an older, gothic-style house that was clearly built before all the other houses on the block were renovated. I always joked with Dana that the Addams Family lived there, but the running joke around town was that the woman who lived there was a witch. The running joke around the schoolyard was that she also ate children. Now, I didn’t really believe that anymore, but still. Not to mention that she mostly kept to herself, and I don’t think I’d ever seen her before. I was always too scared to approach that house on Halloween, and Darren and Raffi were even bigger chickens than I was about it. We lost a lot of frisbees and balls to that yard over the years… But Dana was fearless, and strolled up the driveway, towards the house, and rang the doorbell. I joined her, just in case, but kept looking over my shoulder to keep an escape plan ready in case I had to grab Dana and run.

But it seems all my fears were for naught, as an older woman opened the door, but she was only probably a little bit older than our Mom and she was wearing a black cloak that looked very striking alongside her vibrant red hair, with her dark red lipstick it looked like she had a Morticia Addams thing going on. Was this woman the owner’s daughter? There was no way she could be the same woman that had been living there since I was a kid, she didn’t look nearly old enough to be the ‘old witch’ that I’d heard all those rumors about! Unless… Nah, that’s too ridiculous, even for Halloween.

“Trick or treat!” Dana exclaimed, holding out her bag.

“Oh my, what an adorable little black cat. Did you lose your witch? And what are you supposed to be?” She turned her attention to me, scrutinizing my choice of hoodie and jeans.

“I’m the chaperone,” I laughed weakly, trying hard not to make her think I was interested in a conversation. I just wanted Dana to get her candy so we could go.

“Max is grumpy because he can’t go to a party tonight and see his crush!” Dana giggled.

“Shut up, Dana!” I hissed.

“Oh, I think I understand, you’re not really in the Halloween spirit then?” the woman asked.

“Not really, no,” I said curtly and checked my phone. Only an hour left until I could go home and wallow in self-pity over missing that party. “Besides, I’m too old to dress up.”

“Nobody’s too old to dress up,” she motioned down at herself. “Besides, dressing up and being someone else for a night can be fun!”

I was a little uncomfortable at the level of conversation. I know as someone on the cusp of adulthood, I shouldn’t be concerned about ‘stranger danger’ but something about this house had always unsettled me, even if the woman at the door didn’t seem threatening in the slightest. Even so, I had a desire to keep moving.

“No offense, ma’am, but can you hurry it up? There’s a bit of a line forming,” I motioned behind me, where some other kids were waiting with their impatient parents and siblings.

“Oh, of course, enjoy! Happy Halloween!” she dropped a handful of candy into my sister’s bag, before holding out something in a nondescript pink wrapper to me. “You’re not too old for candy, surely.”

“I guess not,” I said, taking the candy and stuffing it into my pocket. “Thanks.”

“Thank you!” Dana smiled and started skipping down the driveway.

As I turned to walk away, she called after me. I considered ignoring her but decided that I didn’t want to be rude, considering the rumors.

“Young man! Max, was it? I’m sorry to inconvenience you, but are you by any chance heading towards the Town Square?” she asked.

“I might be, why?” I said, after all the trick or treat route seemed to be leading that way anyway.

“There’s a donation box there, to donate costumes to those without and I was wondering if you might drop this off for me. I was going to go myself, but I haven’t had a chance to get away. We’ve had a lot of trick or treaters this year.” she held out a black costume bag.

“Sure.” I took the bag from her.

“Thank you so much, and if you want to keep the costume for yourself, that’s fine too.” she smiled, almost knowingly, and I quickly rushed to catch up with Dana, who had started heading down the driveway.

“What did that nice lady want?” she asked.

“Oh, she wants me to deliver this costume for her to that donation box in the town square.” I looked at the bag, completely black, with no way to see what was inside. I can’t say I wasn’t curious.

“Ooh,” Dana said. “I wonder what it is! Open it!”

“I can’t do that, it’s not my costume,” I said, although it was taking all of my strength to resist the urge.

“But maybe it’s something cool for you to wear!” Dana insisted.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“You’re no fun…” Dana muttered but continued to walk along to the next few houses.

As we approached yet another house, inching ever closer to the center of town, Dana turned to me and looked up.

“I can go up to this house on my own!” Dana said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yep!” Dana said, triumphantly and started walking up the driveway, turning back to ensure I was there, to which I gave her a half-hearted thumbs up.

Dana continued her walk up, and as I waited near the street, I reached into my pocket for my phone but instead ended up finding that piece of candy. With nothing better to do, I took it out and unwrapped it, discovering a pink pumpkin-shaped confectionery.

“Weird color for Halloween…” I observed as I investigated the candy, never having seen anything quite like it before.

It was soft and squishy, with a powder coating it, giving it a tentative pinch led me to the conclusion that it was probably similar to a marshmallow Peep, but shaped into an appropriate Fall gourd as opposed to a Spring chick. Licking my fingers confirmed that it was indeed coated in a sugary powder, and was likely made of pure sugar. I popped it in my mouth and started chewing on it, the flavor being something slightly more than sugar, perhaps some sort of fruity or bubblegum flavoring was included, but I couldn’t tell.

I turned to see Dana skipping down the driveway towards me, and because I was looking away from the street, I only had a split second to react to the sound of approaching bikes and adolescent shouting before I was pelted with eggs, the kids speeding off before I could grab them to give them a piece of my mind.

“Son of a!” I started to shout, before curtailing my exclamation because of all the kids around.

“What happened?” Dana asked, running up to me.

“I got egged…” I replied, picking pieces of eggshells off my ruined hoodie.

“Gross!” Dana said, then looked a bit sad. “Does that mean we have to go home now? My bag isn’t even that full yet...”

“Well…” I started.

If we headed home, by the time I’d showered and changed, it would be past the curfew Mom set up, and we were almost towards the town square anyway, so at least I could hand off that costume and someone somewhere would be happy tonight.

“Just a few more blocks, okay?” I said.

“Yay!” Dana went to hug me but recoiled when she remembered the eggs. “Thanks, Max!”

“Don’t mention it,” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”

As we kept walking, I pushed a strand of hair that had fallen onto my face back behind my ear. Then I did it again. And again. I really have to get a haircut soon, or at least find something to tie it back with. Dana went up to a bunch of houses on her own, which left me to stand by the street and keep an ever-vigilant eye out to make sure those punks didn’t return, and if they did, I’d give them a scare they’d never forget. Looking down at my shoes, my pants seemed almost… baggy. I was sure they fit when I put them on, but I brushed it off as being uncomfortable in my egg-covered clothes. The egg residue had even seeped through the hoodie and my shirt, cause I felt how itchy my chest was getting but had to be careful scratching it so I didn’t get egg gunk on my hands.

“That last house was really great, they had full-size candy bars!” Dana smiled as she held up the candy bar for me to see.

“Looks like we saved the best for last, huh?” I asked, a grin on my face.

I might be bummed about missing the party, but something about her enthusiasm for the holiday was infectious and I wasn’t as annoyed as I had been when we started. But while we’d hit every house on the way to the Town Square, we still had one last stop to make.

“Can you see a donation box anywhere, Dana?” I asked.

“I don’t see anything!” Dana replied. “Maybe we should ask a grown-up for help!”

“Good idea,” I smiled and looked around for someone who looked like they worked for whatever local politician set up the donation program.

“Hey!” I asked one of the adults milling around the square. “Where’s that donation box?”

“The box was full, so they took it in and handed out the costumes.” the adult, an older, heavyset man said. “Did you have a donation?”

“Yeah,” I held up the black costume bag.

“I don’t think there’s anyone left who needs a costume,” he looked around, and I followed his gaze, sure that he was right as I saw costumed kids and adults alike wandering around. “Except you, of course. Maybe you oughta use it. You could certainly use a change of clothes.”

I smiled as I looked down at my egg-covered shirt. The man was definitely right, although I had no idea what the costume was even supposed to be, but I guess now was the time to find out. After having Dana stand watch outside one the stall in one of the public bathrooms in the nearby park, I opened the bag and pulled out what looked like a black shirt, with some designs of purple webbing on it.

“What is this, black-suited Spider-Man?” I asked aloud.

Upon further inspection, it wasn’t a shirt, but a dress of some sort, with the lower part looking like cobwebbing that billowed out into a skirt. It had no sleeves, what looked like a corset design on the torso part, and was accompanied in the bag by a folded up witch hat.

“A witch costume?” I wondered to myself.

I couldn’t wear a witch costume, could I? That would be wrong! Although I was having trouble remembering the exact reason it would be wrong. Although it would certainly look perfect next to Dana’s black cat costume. Wasn’t that the reason I chose it?

Shrugging, I stripped down to my underwear, which I thought had been a pair of boxers, but seemed tighter and shorter, and after wiping my torso with some toilet paper to clean any egg residue that got past my hoodie and shirt, pulled the costume over my head. I adjusted it and quickly slipped my sneakers back onto my feet, holding the hat tentatively in my hands.

“This is wrong…” I muttered to myself, trying to figure out what felt weird about it, but came up with nothing.

Sighing, I looked down at myself. Everything seemed normal, the dress went about halfway down my thigh, the corset was thankfully just for show, although I couldn’t see much of it with my chest in the way. Placing the hat on my head, I caught my reflection, although distorted, in the stall door. I cringed as I continued to feel like the costume wasn’t right for me, which was weird, considering that it was a perfect fit. What are the odds, right?

“Come on out, I wanna see the costume, what is it?” Dana asked, interrupting my reverie.

“I’m just gonna take it off, it looks dumb!” I said, embarrassed.

“Please! I really really wanna see it! Pretty please with sugar on top?” Dana whined.

Well, what’s the harm in showing her, right? She’s my sister, and it’s not like she had a phone to take a picture of me, so there was no reason not to at least show her. If she laughed I could take it right off and be done with it. I took a deep breath and unlocked the door to the stall, stepping out and adjusting the hat on my head slightly.

“So, what do you think?” I asked.

“Wow!” Dana’s eyes were wide. “You look…”

“Stupid?” I asked, grimacing.

“So pretty!” Dana exclaimed and rushed over to hug me.

“You think I’m… pretty?” I asked, catching a glimpse of myself in the dingy mirror hanging on the wall.

I guess she’s right, it’s strange, before tonight I’d have never considered wearing a witch costume, but there’s something about it that suits me. And it looked perfect next to Dana’s black cat costume. I smiled and thought of how well-coordinated my makeup was, with my black lipstick and black eyeshadow perfectly accentuating the costume’s black and purple design.

“We’d better get home, it’s almost your curfew!” I said, quickly stuffing my egged clothes into the costume bag and rushing out of the bathroom. 

Walking home, I shivered in the cold Fall air, my arms and legs fully exposed and smooth, I envied Dana slightly for having a warmer costume than I did. I knew I should’ve bought a pair of tights for it! As we arrived home, Dana excitedly dumped her candy onto the living room rug and started sorting through it, while I plopped down onto the couch in exhaustion, still in the costume, I glanced at my nails, had they always been this long? And since when did I wear nail polish? The shiny black polish was very pretty, but something about it seemed… wrong. Suddenly, I slapped my forehead with incredulity, how could I have forgotten? I painted them last night, and I was so proud of how they came out, too! Did I post a pic on Instagram? If I didn’t I totally should later. As I watched Dana shove a handful of candy into her mouth, I remembered that it was nearly dinner time.

“Hey, Dana! Why don’t you go wash up and I’ll throw that leftover pizza in the oven for dinner.” I said. “And try not to fill up on candy.”

“No promises!” Dana shouted as she rushed upstairs, her lips smeared with chocolate.

I headed into the kitchen, checking my phone, no messages from Darren or Raffi, which wasn’t surprising, the party was starting soon and they were probably already on their way there. I pouted as I put the pizza in the oven, still mad that I had to miss the party, as much as I loved my sister.

“DING DONG”

“The doorbell?” I asked aloud, breaking myself out of the funk I was in.

Oh right, probably some trick or treaters, that ‘Take One’ candy bucket can’t have still been full when we got back. I skipped to the door, grabbing the spare bag of candy, and opened it. But behind the door wasn’t a trick or treater, it was Laurie Thompson, wearing a bloody cheerleader’s outfit with a fake axe sticking out of her head, attached via a headband.

“Laurie? What are you doing here?” I asked, my heart nearly stopped.

Laurie Thompson was at my door! Did Raffi or Darren put her up to this?

“No time to talk! Can we come in?” she replied, holding up her perfectly manicured, but red-stained, finger.

“We?” I asked.

Laurie stepped aside to reveal another girl with her, a little nerdy, with glasses and braces, but an unmistakable resemblance to Laurie. Same blonde hair, although the younger girl’s hair was in pigtails as opposed to Laurie’s ponytail. Oh, that’s right, it’s Laurie’s little sister Sophie. I saw Laurie picking her up from school one time on my way home. They both stepped inside the house as I stepped back, still extremely confused.

“Are you ready for the party? Nice costume, beeteedubs.” Laurie said.

“Party? But I…” My mouth was dry.

“I know, your Mom said you couldn’t leave Dana alone without a sitter. So I got you one!” she motioned to her sister.

“Your sister?” I asked.

“Sophie babysits our neighbor’s kids all the time, and she owed me a favor anyway, isn’t that right, sis?” Laurie grinned as she patted Sophie on the back. “I wasn’t gonna let my best friend miss the party on account of bad luck, now was I?”

“Best friend?” I asked.

Weren’t Darren and Raffi my best friends? Laurie didn’t even know I existed! But that can’t be true, she was standing in front of me and clearly knew me. Wait a minute, what was I saying? Of course, Laurie was my best friend, at least my best girlfriend, Raffi, and Darren were my best guy friends, we grew up together and when Laurie and I met when we did the school musical together freshman year, we expanded the group to include her as well!

“Hi, Laurie!” Dana exclaimed as she came walking into the room, her cat whiskers only half washed from her face. “Wow! Great costume!”

“I heard you were quite the cute kitty cat tonight!” Laurie said. “How do you feel about hanging out with my little sister tonight?”

“That sounds awesome!” Dana exclaimed and rushed over to Sophie, pulling her towards the living room. “You can help me sort my candy!”

“That takes care of that, now grab your purse, and let’s go!” Laurie said.

“Purse?” I questioned, but glancing over at the table, I spotted a black handbag, sitting where I was sure I’d left the black costume bag. After grabbing it, I tossed my phone into it and started walking towards the door, but Laurie stopped me.

“You’re going in that?” Laurie asked.

“What do you mean?” I looked myself up and down, trying to figure out what she meant until my eyes zeroed in on my black sneakers. “Oh, right…”

“You’ve been gushing about those shoes for a week now, you can’t forget them now!”

“BRB!” I quickly rushed upstairs to my room, kicked off my sneakers, peeled my socks off, wiggled my toes, which sported the same black polish as my fingernails, and slipped my feet into the black heels I’d bought to compliment the witch costume.

Of course, I hadn’t owned the costume until a few hours ago, but I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for that, and I was in too much of a rush to notice anyway. I carefully made my way downstairs, and after striking a pose for Laurie to take a picture of me for her Snapchat story, we were off to the party.

Arriving at Karl’s house, we found a fairly standard house party, with the added exception that Karl’s parents were the type to decorate the inside of their house too, so the whole place was decorated with cobwebs and pumpkins and all the traditional Halloween stuff, even if his parents were away on business. Walking in, we brushed past several people, some costumed, some not, all of whom complimented both mine and Laurie’s costume. I’d been nervous about the heels, but even on the walk over I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable, so I think I made the right call.

“Max! You made it!” Darren exclaimed as he walked up with Raffi.

Neither of them were in costumes, but that wasn’t surprising, Laurie and I got more in the spirit for Halloween than they did.

“You didn’t bring your sister, right?” Raffi asked, looking around worriedly. “This isn’t the place for a kid, you know.”

“Don’t worry, guys, I got Max a sitter for Dana. You can thank me later.” Laurie said. “Now, let’s go mingle!”

As we hung around the snack table drinking sodas and talking to various classmates, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing. A reason I wanted to come to the party. To hang out with my friends, yes, but something specific, something involving Laurie…

As if she was reading my mind, Laurie popped up behind me, having gone off to talk with some of her friends from the cheerleading team. She’d tried to get me to try out last year, but unfortunately, I wasn’t graced with coordination, so I had to decline.

“Boo!” Laurie giggled as I jumped slightly. “Gotcha!”

“First Dana, now you…” I laughed. “What’s up?”

“I think I might have torn my costume, can you check for me?” Laurie asked.

“Sure,” I went to look, but Laurie pulled away.

“Can we go somewhere a little more private?” Laurie asked.

“Oh, of course,” I replied.

Laurie grabbed my hand and led me through the house until we were upstairs, away from everyone else in one of the bedrooms, what looked to me like a guest bedroom, given the lack of personal effects.

“Okay, what did you want me to check?” I asked as I checked to make sure the door was locked and Laurie removed her axe headband from her head.

“I think I got my arm caught on something, so take a look.” Laurie held her arm up.

“Got it,” I walked over to Laurie and began to inspect the costume. “You know, it’s funny, I keep thinking there was something I wanted to tell you tonight, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was supposed to be!”

“Oh, I think I have an idea. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at me all those times you think I’m not looking.” Laurie said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked nervously, trying desperately to keep my gaze on her costume and not her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I get it. And I feel the exact same way. Why do you think you’ve never seen me with a boyfriend?” Laurie quickly turned the tables on me, grabbed me by the shoulders, and planted her lips firmly against mine.

I didn’t know what to think, so I stood there frozen. Fireworks went off in my head, Laurie Thompson kissed me! That’s what I was supposed to be doing! I wanted to make a move on Laurie tonight, but I’d been a boy when I wanted to do that. Wait a minute! I’d been a boy! It was like floodgates had opened in my head and the fog that had permeated my brain for half the night had been lifted. As Laurie pulled back after finishing the kiss, I stumbled backward, suddenly unfamiliar in the heels I’d been effortlessly gliding across the floor in only a few minutes earlier. I felt vulnerable, my arms and legs devoid of hair and smooth to the touch, I felt makeup on my face and my long nails brushed against the skirt resting on my legs. But what was more disturbing was what I couldn’t feel, an emptiness between my legs that I was now acutely aware of. I brought my hands up to cup my breasts… MY BREASTS, which now hung from my chest and heaved as I took shallow breaths, nearly hyperventilating from the shock.

“Max? Are you okay?” Laurie asked.

“I-I… I don’t know....” I muttered in response.

Laurie clearly knew me as a girl, but I knew that I wasn’t one, and I wasn’t entirely clear on how everything had happened or why I’d been so calm up until a moment ago. I’d accepted my transformation pretty well until the kiss snapped me out of it! With my hands still shaking, I fumbled with the lock before rushing out of the room and running downstairs as fast as I could in the heels.

Reaching the bottom of the step, I ran directly into Darren’s chest, had he always been taller than me? I wasn’t sure anymore!

“Max, what’s going on? Where’s Laurie?” Darren asked, and when I didn’t respond, he grabbed my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. “Are you all right, Max?”

“Why are you calling me that?!” I demanded.

Was he blind? Could he not see what had happened to me? Heck, was I blind for not having noticed the transformation as it happened?

“That’s your name, isn’t it? Max? Unless you want to go by Maxine now,” Darren said. “But I thought you always hated your full name.”

“Ew, Maxine? That’s my great aunt’s name, stick with Max, buddy!” Raffi said.

“I’ve got to get out of here… Tell Laurie I’m sorry!” I quickly pushed past Darren and Raffi and rushed out of the house and into the cool Autumn night.

I took a few deep breaths to clear my head and wiped my eyes with my hands, before grimacing as I remembered the makeup. Wiping my hands on the skirt of my dress, I started walking down the block, trying to figure out where to go.

“Okay, let’s think about this rationally. At least as rationally as I can think about having been transformed into a girl after putting on a witch costume! Or did the transformation start earlier? I can’t remember!” I shouted at the night. “But I know who caused this.”

 With a newfound determination, I started heading back towards that gothic-style house. If anyone knew what was going on with me, it would be the witch. It was a rather unpleasant walk, owing to my lack of expertise in heels, but a few minutes later I was furiously banging on the door. A moment later, the door slowly opened, and the woman stood before me once more, still in the black cloak.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we ran out of candy some time ago… Oh, it’s you.” the woman, the witch, smirked upon seeing me. “I see you kept the costume…”

“What the hell did you do to me, lady?” I demanded, stepping forward towards her.

She effortlessly stepped backward and gestured with her hands.

“Come on in,” she led me into the house. “And by the way, my name is Tabitha.”

Normally, I’d have never stepped foot in there, but under the circumstances, I didn’t have any other choice. The inside looked a lot like the outside, very old, with a lot of vintage items strewn about mixed with modern ones, a couch that looked like it was from the ‘70s, but a plasma screen TV in the living room, a phonograph but also a modern sound system.

“So, tell me what’s happened, Max. And if I might say, you look rather pretty like this.” the witch smiled, motioning for me to take a seat on the couch as she sat in a leather chair.

“Isn’t it obvious? I turned into a girl because of that stupid costume! And I didn’t even notice it, I mean, I noticed the changes but it was like something made me write them off as normal and then Laurie kissed me and I suddenly realized that I’d been transformed! And then I came here to make you change me back!” I shouted.

“I see. And what makes you think I had anything to do with this?” she asked incredulously.

“Are you kidding? It started after you gave me that costume bag! Not to mention all those schoolyard rumors that you’re a witch!” I replied.

“Very astute, humans usually aren’t quite this genre-savvy. Although usually those under this spell don’t become aware of the changes until after the spell wears off. And even then they write it off as a weird dream. What did you say happened?” she thought for a moment. “A kiss? Ah, now I understand. True love’s kiss can cause glitches in the spell.”

“True love’s kiss? But Laurie isn’t my… is Laurie my true love?”

“You tell me! Isn’t that why you wanted to go to the party?”

“Yeah, but… She’s not into guys. She told me that.”

“You don’t look like a guy right now to me.”

“But I’m supposed to be a guy, and I want to go back to being one! So how does it work? I just take the costume off and I change back?”

“It’s not quite that simple, and it wasn’t the costume that did it.”

“But if it wasn’t the costume, then what changed me?” I asked, before suddenly realizing the bowl of that same pink-wrapped candy that she’d handed me earlier. “The candy is what did it.”

“Exactly. The costume was exactly what I claimed it was, a gift. It still would’ve fit even if you hadn’t eaten the candy, and would have been a costume designed for a man, but I’d hoped you would, after all, a familiar without a witch is just wrong.”

“But why turn me into a girl? Is that what all those stories about missing kids are about? You changed them into girls?”

“What? Of course not! The candy isn’t for changing gender, it’s simply to allow the person who eats it to have a wish granted. And I have no idea what those rumors are talking about, my guess is those kids just moved away suddenly, it used to happen a lot in the age before telecommunications.”

“But it’s pink!”

“And I like the color pink, honestly, you humans get so caught up on gender normative stuff it’s a wonder you made it out of the dark ages. It could’ve been colored purple or orange, but I had a lot of pink food coloring that was about to expire!” the witch said. “I didn’t change you into a girl on purpose, the candy simply transforms you into what you need to be in order to get your wish, your wish being able to go to the Halloween party and confess your love to that girl.”

“But why did… Because the girl version of me is friends with Laurie, and Laurie’s sister babysitting Dana is why I was able to go to the party.” I smacked my forehead. “That makes sense.”

“Bingo! I was wondering how long it’d take you to figure it all out!” the witch grinned and clapped her hands.

“Wait, how did you know all this if I just now told you about it? Have you been spying on me?” I demanded.

“Spying is such a harsh word, I would be an irresponsible witch if I didn’t keep an eye on the effects of my spells. I was simply observing to ensure that you weren’t in any imminent danger, you probably don’t realize how dangerous house parties can be for girls...”

“You’re distracting me! I want you to reverse this. I want to go back to normal!”

“Unfortunately, that’s beyond my power at the moment.” the witch said.

“You mean I’m stuck like this forever?” I asked.

“Remember what I said to you before? Think hard, I know sometimes these spells play havoc with the short-term memory, but really try.” the witch said.

“Besides, dressing up and being someone else for a night can be fun!”

“For a night. The spell has a Cinderella effect built into it, at the end of the night you’ll go back to the way you were.” the witch said. “If that’s what you desire, of course.”

“Well, why wouldn’t it be? I didn’t ask to be a girl in the first place!”

“No, but the spell wasn’t designed to do anything that you weren’t okay with. I’m an ethical witch, all of my spells have a consent charm. The spell can change you, but only if at some level, even subconsciously, you’re okay with it.” Tabitha said.

“That’s ridiculous!” I shouted. “I don’t want to be a girl! Why would I be okay with that?”

“Because maybe a small part of you thinks your life would be better that way?”

“No way!” I crossed my arms in defiance.

“Give me your cell phone,” Tabitha said. “I can temporarily reverse the spell on an object to show you how much has really changed.”

Realizing I hadn’t checked my phone since before the party, I quickly grabbed it out of the purse, noticing several missed calls and texts from Laurie, Darren and Raffi on the lock screen, with a photo of the four of us together on it, but Tabitha quickly wiggled the fingers on one hand and snapped with her other hand and suddenly, the screen glitched and my lock screen was clean and my wallpaper had returned to the previous state of being a poster for a movie I like. Unlocking my phone, I started scrolling through, not sure what I was looking for.

“Check your messages,” Tabitha said.

“There’s nothing here,” I said. “At least nothing new.”

Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and a message from a number I didn’t recognize popped up. I quickly opened it,

555-0173: “Hey Max, it’s Laurie. I’m really sorry for embarrassing you at the party. (Got your # from Darren and Raffi, hope you don’t mind) I thought it was really sweet what you said and I’d love to talk more and maybe become friends, but we can’t ever be more than that. It’s not you, it’s just that I don’t like boys. Do me a favor and please keep that to yourself though, but I felt you should know, and I’m sure any girl would be lucky to hear that from you. Talk more in class on Monday?”

“I guess I ended up running out to that party regardless… Except, hold on a minute, I wouldn’t have been able to go to that party if I wasn’t a girl!” I said.

“Correction: You weren’t allowed to go, but you’d have snuck out of the house anyway,” Tabitha said, to which I nodded with acceptance, it sounded like something I’d do.

“Okay, so I got disappointed, that still doesn’t convince me that being a girl is better,” I said.

“And now…” Tabitha snapped her fingers again and the screen glitched once more, and my messages app was full of conversations I’d never seen before with classmates I barely knew.

Darren and Raffi were really my only close friends, but apparently not if I was a girl. Apparently ‘Maxine’ had a bunch of friends, likely stemming from the fact she’d done extracurriculars, while I was satisfied to just hang out and play video games with the guys. I guess that was nice, being a boy I always felt too scared to talk to girls, but evidently, it was easier as a girl. I checked the group chat that I’d been talking to them in earlier and saw that Laurie was now a participant, and while the conversation went roughly about the same, it also featured Laurie chiming in with a comment about how she’d try to work something out to help me find Dana a sitter.

Flipping to the photos app, I found a bunch of photos of ‘Maxine’ doing various activities around school and with her friends, most of whom I only knew in passing, although the vast majority of the pictures included Darren, Raffi, and Laurie, which made me feel good. But there were also a bunch of pictures of me and Dana. I didn’t have a single picture of Dana on my phone when I was a boy, and frankly, I think tonight had been the longest I’d spent doing something with her in years, certainly since our interests didn’t really align that much. But as sisters, it seemed that they did and I even spotted a photo of us in our costumes that I didn’t remember taking. I felt a warmth as I remembered how she’d complimented me after I’d changed into the costume, but brushed the feeling away since that was clearly the spell’s influence.

“S-still…” I said. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

“Really? Well, if you’re that sure of it, then I guess that settles it!” Tabitha said, standing up. “You’d better get going, you don’t have that much time left before you change back.”

Stuffing my phone back into my purse, I bid Tabitha farewell and headed back out into the night. As I made it down the driveway back onto the sidewalk, I was suddenly embraced in a hug by an unknown figure. I felt afraid at first, but the fear evaporated when I realized who was hugging me.

“There you are, Max! We were so worried about you!” Laurie exclaimed while simultaneously trying to catch her breath. “She’s over here, guys! I found her!”

Darren and Raffi quickly jogged up and were similarly out of breath.

“Didn’t you get any of our calls or texts?” Darren asked.

“And what were you doing over here, anyway? This is where the witch lives! You’re lucky she didn’t eat your soul or something!” Raffi exclaimed.

“I’m fine, and I wasn’t looking at my phone. Oh, and Tabitha is actually really nice.” I said.

“Tabitha? You’re on a first-name basis with the witch?” Darren asked.

“Yeah, I, uh… caught her name while I was taking Dana trick or treating,” I replied, not wanting to explain why I’d been inside her house moments earlier.

“Whatever, I’m just glad you’re okay. Can we uh… talk privately? I promise it won’t be like before.” Laurie said.

Darren and Raffi simply nodded and headed off around the corner, while Laurie took a deep breath.

“I’m really sorry about what happened before, I thought there were signals and I totally misread the situation,” Laurie said.

“No, no, I’m the one who should be sorry. The kiss was phenomenal! I just… wasn’t expecting it. I mean, all I planned to say was that I really really liked you.” I said. “And when everything happened so fast, I just sorta… got overwhelmed.”

“Oh my god, I’m so relieved! I was so afraid that I’d made things weird, and I really didn’t want to lose you as a friend if I was wrong.” Laurie gushed.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I think we’re finally on the same page.”

I leaned in and now it was my turn to catch Laurie off-guard with a passionate kiss on the lips. This time when we kissed, my thoughts were much more clear and I realized that I did love Laurie. Whether it was true love or not, at that moment, I wasn’t really sure whether or not I wanted to give all that up. Throwing in the other benefits to this new life I’d been handed made my decision a whole lot easier. I wasn’t unhappy as I was, but I couldn’t deny that I’d felt a lot happier tonight. Could it really have been as simple as not being who I was meant to be?

“How was it this time?” Laurie asked.

“Great, but uh… you’ve got a little something…” I motioned towards my cheek.

Laurie reached up to scratch it, before remembering that she had fake blood on her face from her costume and rolled her eyes before playfully punching me in the arm.

“Come on, do you wanna go back to the party?” Laurie asked, grabbing my hand.

“Yeah, but I’ve just got one thing to do first. Wait right here!” I pulled my hand away and ran back up towards Tabitha’s house.

The door opened before I had a chance to knock on the door, and Tabitha stood before me with her hands behind her back.

“What do you want now?” she questioned.

“Uh, about the spell. I know you said it was gonna wear off at midnight but… what if I don’t want it to?” I asked.

“I had a feeling you’d be back,” Tabitha replied and held out an orange-wrapped candy that looked identical to the pink one from earlier in all but color.

“And this one…” I started.

“Makes the spell permanent, and it’ll give you all the memories that ‘Maxine’ is supposed to have. But it won’t mess with your existing memories, so you’ll always remember how it was before, even if nobody else does,” Tabitha finished. “Consider that a gift.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it, and if you have any problems, come to me and I’ll see what I can whip up.” Tabitha winked at me and I nodded and headed back down the driveway to where Laurie was waiting for me.

“What was that about?” Laurie asked.

“Just some last-minute trick or treating,” I said, unwrapping the candy and putting it in my mouth.

“Trick or treating? Aren’t you a little old for that?” Laurie asked.

“You’re never too old for candy,” I smiled and grabbed Laurie’s hand. “Let’s get back to that party.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Tabitha on her porch smiling as Laurie and I walked away, hand in hand.

The End