May Peace Grace Us

Specials 1: Halloween

Back in time when Aila still did not know that she was in her own novel, she and her friends once thought of what if scenarios. One of those was, of course, an apocalypse, though a little different from what has graced them.

A certain day of their fourteenth.

In the Hyenas' childhood meeting place: Playground Pavilion.

"It's Halloween again! What are you guys going to dress as?" Liza asked as she jumped into Eugene's back like some koala.

Eugene, being surprised by the girl's actions, did his best to not lose his balance. The nerve of the girl on his back, giggled as the two almost dropped down the floor like some domino. The boy could only sigh as the girl smiled cheekily at her antics.

"That is dangerous Liza!" Eugene couldn't help saying. "What would happen if I did not stand still?"

"That is impossible." Liza only shrugs as she lets go of the boy. "You wouldn't let me fall."

Eugene groans as Felix puts a hand on Liza's shoulder with a frightening smile. The girl visibly shuddered as the hand was placed on her shoulder, no doubt guessing who was behind her. Eugene fondly smiled as Felix gave Liza a few words of caution and of how dangerous her stunt was.

"What is happening?" Bella asked, as she had just arrived in the playground. Seeing the slightly upset face of Eugune and the mischievous giggles of Liza, Bella is simply curious about what happened to her to see such a scene upon her arrival.

"She did something dumb again." Aila replied as she gave her laptop to Alexa, who wore a smug smile as she received it. Aila, who saw her smugness, could sense something was brewing that she had yet to fully comprehend. Not too adept in reading the other yet with how unpredictable she is with her own brand of mischief.

Felix zooms in on Alexa, no doubt thinking about finding an opportunity to school the too-happy-girl for whatever she is about to unleash on them. Sensing the gaze of Felix, Aila added, "Felix is schooling her for what she thoughtlessly did."

"Well, Liza has always been the reckless type anyway.” Bella easily accepted Aila’s response and turned to the rest of them.

Today they are going on a treat or trick in their own neighborhood. It was not possible for them to be together on their Halloween adventure due to the fact that most of them are from different neighborhoods and their families have their own arrangements for the day. So the most they could do was to make their own costumes together or at least plan them together.

“I really don’t like this holiday.” Albert was pragmatic whenever this day came over. Something about having to deal with events and activities that his family has to prepare as a city official. Even if he is only a child, he has to be a poster boy if they deem it necessary.

“Well, the costume part is hard.” Jerome said as he complained that he wanted to be a Frankenstein creation, but his parents had prepared him a Dracula costume. He is offended by being dismissed and is seeking their help in making a DIY costume for himself.

“If the world suddenly becomes a different place like an apocalypse, there is no need to dress up and problem about costume anymore.” Travis said in a rare instance of being idealistic. “Everyone will be a monster and there is no need for make ups and stuffy clothing.”

“‘If that happens we cannot enjoy a good day like this, you know?” Harry said with a sneer on his face. “But I get your point. If the world descends into an apocalyptic era, we don’t have to worry about trivial things like that.”

Bella, not liking how nonsense they were, clapped her hand to make them focus on their work at hand. Like some sort of slave driver, she pointed out that they have at least three more hours before their families will call their teams for a search party. Saying that if they don’t want to keep their self-made costumes, she is more than happy to shred them before they come to be.

Afraid to provoke their resident boss, they did not speak for more and hastened their hands and strived to finish things on time.

Alexa, as someone who held the laptop for idea searching sent various pictures to their phones for each of them to see. Liza particularly liked the fairy costume that was sent to her and decided to make do with it. Albert settled on a vampire for practically(he had this costume last year and he is only adding some accessories this time around). Jerome decided on a scarecrow, Harry on a mad doctor, Felix on a zombie soldier, Eugune on a masked rider, Travis on a survivor, Bella on a cow girl, Alexa chose to be Tinkerbel for this year and Aila settled on a marionette.

Like quite a talented bunch of kids they were, they made quite a masterpiece with their hands. The making process was not at all smooth. There were incidents here and there, but they managed to pull through the time limit.

“I thought we would not make it.” Liza said as she packed her things and made sure the costumes she made were kept well by her. “I have to go now guys! See ya all next week!”

That said, she ran as fast as the wind, leaving only dust on her trail. The rest of the hyenas were also in the same state as Liza. They were in a hurry to get home before their family would find them there. The consequences are not something they can bear and they definitely don’t want to be punished for the simple reason of them wanting to meet and spend time together.

Aila, who was not really in a hurry as her parents were aware of what she was up to, watched and bid her friends goodbye as they left one by one. She told them that she would be the one who would clean up there and they ought to get going. Assuring them that as someone who has nothing that holds her back or something to fear at home, she had better take care of this than let them be in trouble. This made them be grateful to her and promise that they would get back at her someday.

Aila only smiled and started to clean up the mess they made.

“ Apocalypse huh?” Aila absent-mindedly said out loud. “If something like that comes, I just hope it won't be like what I wrote back then.”

And unwittingly, her words are like a jinx, for the fact because she and everyone else in the world she lives in now is in that very book. It was only in her third life that she thought of the irony of her amusement back then.