1. The night was dark except for the ghosts and ghouls roaming the streets and the bright beautiful shimmer of the moon. Family from near and far gathered at our humble home for dinner and trick or treating every year like witches around their cauldron casting spells. This year was different for our family though. All of us older kids came together outside before eating tamales and posole to give out treats. My cousins and I borrowed my mothers car to decorate the trunk with bright orange candles and pumpkins. We backed it up to the end of our driveway and placed a huge bowl full of Snickers, Twizzlers, Hershey Kisses, gummies, lollipops, ect. Our parents and family came out to see how it was going and told us we should add someone to the middle in a costume. I only had the Ghostface mask so I put on black clothing and my grandma had a long black poncho I put on. My aunt let us borrow her speaker with lights to put in the back seat of the car so we could play creepy music. We couldn’t decide on what we would play, my aunt wanted an hour long version of the Halloween song, my cousin wanted a video of eerie music and dolls talking in the background, and I just wanted whatever. I got tired of them playing their choices back and forth after ten minutes. Finally we found this random hour long Youtube video full of different creepy music, thank god. We all went outside so I could fix myself in the middle of the car trunk because it was almost time. I felt uncomfortable sitting with the poncho on because it was too big so I gave it to my cousin. I figured he wanted it to hide in the bushes and jump out to scare the little kids, but he just thought it looked funny. I got tired of sitting criss cross waiting so I hopped off the car till the trick-or-treaters came, and to my luck a little boy in a power ranger costume caught me off candy duty. He said “trick-or-treat” and I turned to hand him some candy and he hid behind his mom. I was offended for a second, but then I remembered I had a Ghostface mask on. I said Happy Halloween and went straight back to my post for the other kids. We stood outside for about an hour till we ran out of candy bags when a little boy asked for a picture with me. I said yes and hopped off the car to take a picture. All the parents were smiling at how happy the little boy was and it made my night. After this my family and I headed into the house to sit down at the dinner table and eat my grandma’s posole and tamales. The little ones didn’t want to eat yet though, they were to busy making trades of all the candy they got. They all fought for the skittles and lollipops, they were like rabid animals. Then they made a big pile of all the candies they didn’t want. They went around asking if anyone wanted them, and I took a few of the Twizzlers. I snagged one or two of the good candies too, and before they noticed what I had done, we ended the night with a movie, Coco. This was one of my favorite Halloween nights.

I was sitting on the floor in front of TV watching the Scary Godmother Spooktacular with my Scream robe on. My hooded skull mask was laying on top of my jack o lantern bag beside me. The glow coming from the TV illuminated the entire room creating a ring of light protecting me from the shadows of the dark. I peered through the window, wondering if people dressed as monsters and ghouls of the night were roaming the streets. Sadly, no one was out yet. The streets remained cold and empty with the only light shining being the streetlamp downhill. I quickly ran up the carpet covered stairs to my room. I hop up for the light switch frantically trying to turn the light on. I look through a drawer searching for a flashlight. I find the flashlight, shining into my eyes making sure it still works.

 

******

 

I finish watching the Spooktacular movie and gather all my belongings for the night. I walk outside with my uncle ready for the spooky night ahead of us. The cold breeze hits us, sending shivers down my spine. I was able to clearly tell it was fall with the rustling of dry leaves in the dark frigid night. I put on my latex skull mask. The warm cloth from the hood draped down my neck as I felt each thread grazing my skin. I frantically walk into the darkness of the cold halloween night ready to get as much candy as my jack o lantern bag can fit. As I step out of the light into the darkness a family sees me, a dark shadowy figure in a cloak. I extend my arms outward exposing the tassels of the cloak, making my presence known to the other family. Their son, a fellow trick or treater, got scared and quickly ran behind his parents.

 

It all started as an ordinary halloween for any 10 year old. It was 4:40 P.M getting ready for halloween putting my costume on. My parents were helping me out with putting my mask on which was very hard to breathe through. As soon as I was ready I started walking towards my friend’s house. They lived pretty close so it wasn’t a far walk although I did have to walk across the woods to get there. It was getting pretty dark fast so I decided to sprint through the woods, halfway there I was starting to get tired so I went back to walking for a little while. *crrck* I heard the sound of a branch snapping. I look around and there’s nothing and in a semi-scared voice I yell “who’s there?” no response. This time I start jogging but again I hear the sound of a branch crack along with the sound of leaves rustling. I look back again, this time even more scared I look around and see nothing until then I feel something touch my shoe. I get startled and jump until I see a cat “don’t do that” I said as if the cat understood me. Soon I arrived at my friend’s place and there were already others there. “Hey!” I said there were 4 of my friends all ready with their costumes on Axle, Allie, Angel, and Chuy. Both Axle and Angel came as clones, Allie was a pumpkin, and Chuy was dressed as the grim reaper.

“Hey nice costume” Axle said

“Thanks!” I said.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Allie asked me Axle, Angel, Chuy and me all looked at her as if she was joking and knew.

“How do you not know who Michael Myers is?” I said.

“Oh wait I remember now he’s the one that shows up when you’re sleeping right?” she said. All 3 of us look at her disappointed. We all hopped in Axle’s dad’s car. He took us all to bancroft woods which is where we normally trick or treat and by the time we got there it was 5:20 there were already a lot of kids there and it was already pretty dark.

“Stay safe you guys I’ll be back for you all in 4-5 hours” said Axles dad “we will” we all said.

“Make sure nothing bad happens” he told Axle since he’s the oldest.

We started off in the area with the least amount of kids hoping to find king sized candy. “Ok if we wanna make sure to find king sized candy we have to split up” said Angel “Chuy and Allie check the houses on the right, Axle, David and I will check the houses on the left” he said.

We all nodded in agreement we started running towards the houses “Any luck?” I yelled “No just a bunch of mints” Allie said in disgust. “Grab me some” yelled Axle “ew” said me and Chuy in unison “what? they make my breath smell nice” he said chuckling. As we continue walking we hear Allie yell at us to come quick saying “I hit the jackpot!” 

We all rush over and see a bowl full of king sized candies with a sign that said “only take one please!” Axle after reading the sign said “I’m sure it’ll be fine if we took 3 I mean just look at the size of this bowl and it’s still full maybe we can even each take 5!”

“I don’t know Axle the lights are still on inside meaning someone could be in there and it just doesn’t feel right I feel as if somethings or someone is watching us.”

As we each grab 5 pieces we hear a snap and see 2 white glowing eyes like objects it starts moving getting faster and faster we stand there in shock until one of us starts running then we all sprint. I look back and it’s still there, a black shadowy figure none of  us could make out what it was but when we turned a corner it was gone.

“What was that?!” I said

“The hollow man..” responded Axle after that we all stood there trying to comprehend what happened.

The Loss

 

Walking through my home. The home I was raised in. not knowing this would be the last time I would be there. And the last time that I would see my family together and at peace. As the day started it went on as any other. My Mother waking me and my sister telling us to get ready for school. Me going down the long grassy hill my house stood on and Saying goodbye to my father as he got his machines ready to cut grass. Then walking down the long gravel road where the school bus would pick me up to take me to school. As the day came to an end I noticed how quiet the house had been. No shouting, no screaming, and as dinner came along sadness swept my sisters and mother’s eyes. as i looked at my mother holding papers with negative  numbers on it, she looked defeated like she lost something she had been fighting just for it to mean nothing in the end . At the time I wondered what was wrong with them. But as the day went along and I started to realize something was wrong. From my sisters moving boxes to my father walking around the house over a thousand times. As I sat at the window playing with legos and sipping my gatorade, I was told it was time to go by my mother. Thinking we were going somewhere fun i joyfully hopped of the window ledge walking down the the long beautiful hall that was painted with beautiful red paint, and the long red carpeted stairs way down to the largse kitchen where my grandmother would prepare dinner for me and my sibling, with the shelves and cabinet painted with glowing brown paint that made it look freshly painted. as we walked out the door. Me, my sisters, mother and father walked down the long gravel road. With my dad walking to the left, and my mother walking to the right with my sisters. both very far apart from each other and As we got to the end of the road my father and mother both turned to me asking who I was going with. Then it started to set in, we were leaving my childhood home and at that moment. I Was to choose two options of who I was going to live with. My mother or my father. But as I know now. It didn’t matter who I chose. Because the moment I lost my beautiful house. I lost my beautiful family

A Day at Disney
On November 16th, 2017. My family and I went to Disney World for Thanksgiving. We rented a house that held 11 people, maybe even more but the room I stayed in was a Frozen themed bedroom with bunk beds and I got it for myself since I was the only girl kid there and the boys themed bedroom was superheroes, the boys bedroom also had a bunk bed but also a full size bed. Outside was even a pool and hot tub and it was so pretty and amazing. At all the parks they were decorated for Christmas. It was so pretty, with all the lights and the characters’ outfits. Waking up at 5 in the morning to get to the parks early to spend the whole day there, walking around the park with my family enjoying the rides but not the wait lines. Picking up food while walking from ride to ride, smelling churros while walking down Main Street. After spending the whole day walking around and enjoying the rides. It was finally night and time for the firework show, there is nothing better than the firework show. Even though they are mostly the same every night, the feeling you get when you watch them are so magical, the sound of the fireworks when they are in the air and lights on the castle are beautiful.

“Treat others how you wish to be treated,” my mother taught me, often with a tear desperately waiting to escape her lid. As a child, I would tilt my head with a bit of curiosity, and a little cluelessness when she told me her very words.

Today, I thank her in silence.

She helped me to float, but I had to teach myself to swim. Respect is not handling disrespect. I learned to fight my own battles, rather than bathing in them. If you bathe yourself in your battles, you reflect them onto others. You receive what you give. You attract what you avoid. What comes around goes around. Karma will always make its way around.

This doesn’t necessarily just mean if you perform poorly, you will have poor results. Rather if you treat yourself poorly, you will. In my experience, I grew up as a people pleaser. I took my mother’s guidance for granted, and put the security of others before my own. I treated others how I wished my father treated me as a child. My mother told me to “Treat others how you wish to be treated,” not how I wish he had.

The universe will teach you what you are yet to learn, or what doesn’t serve you. The lesson I received was my Sophomore year of Kennett High School. I grasped my chest, holding my new wounded heart with its unbandaged childhood scars. I breathed in and out the child within me into the present.

No matter how much you know yourself, or present yourself, people will always have a perception of you. That is their own struggle to strangle, and karma will come full circle.

 

Out of all the vacations I have been on throughout the course of my life, there has always been one that stood out to me. I collected the most memories when I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My sister, brother, mom, and dad all went together with me. Me and my family decided to go on vacation near my 10th birthday since not a lot of tourists would be there, and the hotel room would be cheaper. Being able to spend my birthday out in paradise filled me up with joy and happiness.
We arrived at the hotel, and I remember there being 8 pools inside and outside, and there was a whole lazy river outside, too. On the night of August 24th, I remember being pushed off the fluffy, soft bed by my sibling, and I ended up waking up on the floor in between the bed and the rough wall. My dad woke me up and I checked my phone, my blurry vision making it hard to see the numbers. As my eyes adjusted to the light, and I was able to make out the time as 8:34 am. My dad then told me to look outside on the balcony.
I walked across the small hallway to the living room, opening the sliding door. A cold breeze hit my face and arms, with goosebumps popping up on my skin. I looked out to the calm ocean waves, and once my eyes moved down to the beige sand, I saw my mom waving her arms frantically, trying to get my attention. Next to her were the words, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAINA!” carved into the sand. There were hearts all around her hard work as well.
Me and my dad rushed down to the first level so I could go see my mom. I’m sure that the people passing by knew it was my birthday because of the bright look on my face, and some of them even said happy birthday to me. However, there was this one nice woman who came up to me and asked if it was my birthday. She explained that her name was also Alaina, and she was surprised and confused when she looked at the sand when she woke up.
Later that day, we decided to go swimming at the beach. I got my suit on and we walked down to the lukewarm water. I’d never go farther into the ocean when the water was beyond my hips, mostly because I was afraid of getting aggressively knocked down by a strong wave and drowning in the sandy water. So, I stayed by the shore. I soon gathered up the courage to go deeper, softly swinging my arms around me. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my fingers, assuming I had gotten attacked by a shark.
I immediately squeezed my own hand, tight, attempting to stop the bleeding. Then I sprinted out of the water to my mom, screaming out that I got bit by a shark. I didn’t cry, but I was very panicked. The sand stuck to my feet and flung up into my eyes as I was kneeling down in front of my mom. She made me take my hand off of my fingers, and there was no damage. No cuts, no blood, nothing. My fingers were very swollen though, and there was a streaky mark on my skin that stood out bigger than the rest of my skin. We called the lifeguard over and he diagnosed it as a jellyfish sting. He poured some water and vinegar on it, and told me to keep eating foods with a lot of vinegar.
Turns out, my siblings also got stung. That was my first time getting stung, and hopefully my last. The best part about that experience was that I got to eat a lot of pickles with the homemade chili we made in the hotel room. Not to mention, there were some pretty sick thunderstorms I was able to watch that night. I’d go back to Myrtle Beach any day.