"Mommy, are we going trick and treating tonight?" You cheerfully asked as your mother was on the phone, tugging at the hem of her shirt as you tried your best to get her attention. She was ignoring you, but you couldn't just let her go with you unnoticed.

"...As I said, Mr. Smith, I'll bring the paperwork done by tomorrow, don't worry about that." She messed around with the phone cord as she tried to subtly push you away with her leg, but you did not even notice. Instead, you wrapped your arms around her waist, happy that she was going to spend the whole day with you. She moved away the phone from her mouth, covering it as a loud male voice boomed, making you cower a little bit.

"(Y/n), go to your room and we'll talk about this." She sternly ordered, and you suddenly let go as she pulled you up by the back of your shirt and forcibly made you face the staircases as she was still in the hallway. "Up you go!" She demanded, and you obliged with a slight pout.

Did she not love you anymore? You were absolutely certain that she did, really, and besides, she sent you to your room to protect you! Maybe they had to do adult jobs she usually did with other boys when your dad was not home! She must be a good woman, taking care of people like that! And today was even the day you were finally six years old, much to your joy. She said she had so many things planned for just the two of you!

As you got in your plain bedroom, you noticed the mask you have been crafting by yourself. It was not a big deal, but you thought it was cute, with bunny ears flopping down as you tried to make the paper stand up. It looked like the bunny was sad, but you knew that you were happy.

You knew something was amiss with the mask as you took a better glance at it, and a brilliant idea shone in your mind! You needed whiskers, didn't you? Every bunny has whiskers. Maybe you could use a black marker for them!

You excitedly skipped to your mother's room, silently browsing through the mahogany furniture- you found several useless papers you couldn't figure out, but one stood out at the very top of one of the stacks- Divorce Notice.

What was a divorce? You have never heard that word before, and it seemed so foreign to you. Maybe it was a place mommy and daddy would visit together with you. Giggling, you took the paper and folded it into a hat, wearing it like a proud pirate before continuing your search, making sure to try to straighten the paper back after using it, so mommy won't scream at you again.

Your search was fruitless as you only found red markers and blue ones, useless to you. Maybe you could use the red one for make up for the rabbit mask! Your mother always puts it on her. You decided to slowly move a chair up to the window so you could look outside, wondering from where to get the whiskers, when you spotted Ginger, your neighbours' cat! Surely you could take some whiskers from her, she wouldn't mind.

You silently grabbed a pair of scissors before heading downstairs, trying to be as quiet as possible so your mother wouldn't hear.

"Wait, I'm fired if I don't finish this?!" Your mother sounded bewildered and distracted enough for you to sneak behind her, and you got out through the backdoor, happy to see the kitty laying on the grass as relaxed as ever. You didn't want to scare her, so you quietly approached her with the pair of scissors behind your back.

"Hi kitty!" You playfully greeted the cat as she was aware of you, not sensing any danger from the sweet child in front of her. You pet her a couple of times as she suddenly got into a sitting position instead of the lazy laying.

You slowly took the scissors out and tried to cut the whiskers, but the cat was suddenly startled by a dog bark and she started attacking you- scratching at your face as she bit your hand, and you screamed as you rammed the scissors wherever you could, sobbing due to the scratches and wounds the ginger tabby cat caused, until every hit against you stopped as a crimson liquid slowly dripped down on your black pants. Was the kitty asleep?

She had her eyes closed and was faintly breathing and you smiled, plucking the whiskers instead of cutting them, forgetting you had the scissors with you as they were smeared in the red substance. "Thank you kitty! Sleep well!" You cutely pat her head as you skipped back into your house, not knowing how to explain your mother that you had red water all over you. The dog barking finally halted as soon as you headed back into your home, and you let a sigh as the scratches were also leaving dark red water on your skin.

You knew water cures them! Mommy often washed stained clothing with water, and you could do it too. You sneaked once again upstairs, and your mother saw you through the corner of her vision, not recalling you to have climbed down in the first place.

You took glue from your own caramel drawer as you smudged the mask with it, carefully placing the whiskers on it. Four on one side, and four on the other! You felt bad that you smeared the paperboard mask which you cut in half- you always hated things that covered your nose, but managed to accept that it looked prettier! It was almost like a strawberry, and you only needed to paint the corner of the mask's eyes.

Once you were done, you were brimming with pride as you set the mask down to dry for tonight before going into the bathroom and throwing your dirty clothes in the laundry, leaving you off to clean your scratches as you washed yourself with warm water until the red liquid stopped flowing. Was it coming from you?

Nevertheless, you were happy it stopped since it made you feel dizzy, and you did not like that. Getting out of the bathroom, you snuck back to your room as you decided to dress up for Halloween, the streets were crowded already and you didn't know whether or not people still had candies to give.

You pulled a white jumpsuit on you, which you wore back in December where you played the winter soldier, and you got a pair of white sneakers which almost did not fit because of the black shoelaces they had on top, but you thought they were pretty.

Heading back downstairs, you spotted your mother hanging up on her friend, looking quite distressed before settling her gaze upon your tiny form. She picked you up in her arms in a loving manner, sighing. "I'm sorry, little meerkat." She dotingly whispered as she checked you out, wondering as to why you'd wear such clothes. Her eyes widened as soon as she pressed her fingers on the red substance that gingerly adorned your mask in a grotesque way, and she suddenly let you down.

"(Y/n), what is this?" She sternly asked and you shrugged, confused.

"It's red water, mommy!" You giggled as you looked back towards the garden, and she offered you a look of extreme disbelief as she pinched her nose bridge, exhaling a shaky breath.

"Red water does not exist. From where did you get it?!" She snapped as she bent the knee in front of her sweet child, checking you for any wounds as you gasped, the minor cuts still stinging.

"From t-the kitty in our yard!" You silently cried as she immediately retracted and ran towards the indicated place, her shocked expression surprising you. She looked at the cat as she put two fingers on the feline's neck, whipping her head back at you in an instant.

"It's... Dead..." She whispered as she approached the door, and you immediately locked it as soon as your eyes met, a look of anger brimming in her shock-struck eyes.

You did not even await for her yells as you leaped towards the entrance door, opening it and getting out into the crowd of children that were roaming around for Halloween. You felt oddly weird, unsafe. Did you do something bad?

You checked your wrist, one of the places the cat had scratched as you panicked, the stinging not going away as you were utterly confused. You rolled your sleeve up as you spotted a weirdly shaped triangle from the cat's scratches. You shivered as you ran your fingers across it, feeling uneasy.

You saw your neighbours and silently waved at them, but they didn't spot you as you passed throughout the sea of people, heading towards a secluded place as you thought that the world was trapping you, struggling to breathe amidst many others.

The moment you reached Haddonfield's outskirts, you were met with a deep, dark forest you've never witnessed, the mood quickly changing into an eerie, spooky one. Was it because of Halloween? Yes, that could be it.

As you turned around you noticed a sturdy, mouldy fence made out of bricks stood in your way, obstructing you from returning home as you felt suddenly cold, shivering as you walked next to the fence. There must be a gate if there is a fence!

You quickened your pace and soon enough you saw fire to your left- it must probably mean danger, as your mother instructed, and you chose to head the opposite way as you spotted an opened, metallic gate.

As soon as you got in you were shocked to feel a hard slam behind you, the doors closing themselves immediately as you couldn't move for a while. What was going on?!

Your distress ceased as soon as you broke free from the invisible restraints, shaken to the core as you saw a couple of red, weird machines with several pistons on them. They looked dead and extremely used, more of the crimson liquid staining some of the components.

Your street didn't have the weird red things! Now that you mentioned it, the city was suddenly empty, most of the houses locked tight, barred with wooden planks and boarded away, almost as if keeping something inside, or protecting whatever was inside from a certain thing. Only few empty houses were open, but the doors seemed to have been forcibly torn away as the hinges were missing, a hole left where they were supposed to be.

The windows themselves were neatly removed, although some of them had several shards of their mighty previous form, making you wonder what happened. This was all too surreal, and you were quickly overwhelmed. You needed your mother, didn't you? Clutching onto your pair of scissors, you longingly looked at the abandoned house that was a few houses away, and your eyes widened. It brimmed with both light and life as a pumpkin rested on the porch, making you wonder if there was someone who could tell you what was wrong.

You hurriedly sprinted towards the building as you heard several howls ring in the air. Unbeknownst to you, the silent stalker had just finished sacrificing the final survivor, awaiting for the match to be over, to be called back to his loadout in order to sharpen his knife for the next murder spree.

The last soul was sacrificed, yet he did not feel the tug at his heart to go through the secret exit, much to his disappointment. The moment he headed out of the basement, which was reeking of blood and ammonia, he was shocked to see a child looking at the pumpkin his family set a long time ago. Silently ghosting behind the little one, he tilted his head as he noticed their odd interest in the tiny candle that seemed to run out inside the jack-o'-lantern, making him almost crack a faint smile.

The youngling was interesting enough. He thought, unwilling to kill a child just yet. He smiled as he saw the bloodied scissors in your hand, and took in a deep breath under his mask, hoping to get your attention. He did enjoy stalking you.

You suddenly felt chills crawling up your spine as you turned around, screaming as you spotted the man clad in a boilersuit, a dirty white mask with empty eyes and dark hair hid his features from you, but you could feel his eyes taking in every single detail about you.

"H-Hi..." You whispered as you faintly blushed, slightly waving as you hoped to get a positive reply from him. He did not do anything, and instead approached you, looking carefully at your mask.

A mask said a lot about its bearer, but one could never be certain. His mask was made to show the fact that he kills without remorse, without emotion. Out of pure pleasure, or merely to just pass his time. He sought no appraisal, but it was always welcomed, as long as it did not turn into blatant flattery.

As he looked at the child's mask, he moved his hand on to the whiskers, and grinned under his own mask. Real cat whiskers and blood, he could already guess what the naïve human has done before they arrived here.

Knowing that the only way for them to communicate would be through mere messages, ever since he refuses to talk to anyone, he grabbed your hand without warning as he dragged you downstairs into the basement, and you looked at four survivors, hanging from each hook as they appeared to be 'sleeping'.

"Oh! The kitty I took the whiskers from also slept while red water flowed down! They're so cute!" You excitedly said as you tried to ignore the horrendous smell, which you've never even sensed before.

He crouched down to a particular spot, an empty map miraculously untouched by the life essence he effortlessly drained from his victims, and he browsed the lady with the eyeglasses, seeking out a pen.

"ᗯᕼᗝ ᗩᖇᗴ Ƴᗝᑌ? ᕼᗝᗯ ᗪᎥᗪ Ƴᗝᑌ Ǥᗴ丅 ᕼᗴᖇᗴ?" (Who are you? How did you get here?) He messily scribbled before you arrived next to him, curious as to what he was writing on the large parchment. You immediately stated your name, seeing that he was not up for greetings.

"... I ran away from my mommy since she was angry I got these cute whiskers, and I ended here..." You pouted as Michael sympathised with you, the trauma he had to go through as a young child after murdering Judith still lingered within his deranged thoughts, still recalling the way he begged his death, or the staff's, until he became immune to anything they gave him.

He felt oddly comfortable near you, his wrist oddly tingling before going to write again. "Ꭵ ᗩᗰ ᗰᎥᑕᕼᗩᗴᒪ ᗰƳᗴᖇᔕ. ᕼᗩᐯᗴ Ƴᗝᑌ ᕼᗴᗩᖇᗪ ᗝᖴ 丅ᕼᗴ ᗷᗝᗝǤᗴƳᗰᗩᑎ?" He inquired, interested about what has become of him. You merely shook your head and he frowned, the nightmarish man turning into rumour that quickly faded... It made him enraged.

His attention quicky switched to you once more as you yawned, and he shook his head discreetly. He recalled the fact that you have probably gone through a lot for the day, and midnight seemed to be approaching.

He lifted you up as he slowly carried you on his shoulder, shocked as soon as you broke into giggles, tickling his back. What was the kid doing?! Did the little duckling have no idea that he was a well versed, cold blooded, ruthless and merciless killer?

... Probably not. But then, he had to explain, didn't he?

He slowly climbed out of the basement and immediately headed for the first floor of the building, climbing another set of shabby stairs before going into the left room, where a dirty mattress lay on the ground. He put you down in an instant as he disappointedly looked at the thing, and sighed. He tore the linen cover as it reveal a rather clean mattress, still a bit yellow due to the time it went by without cleaning.

This time, he swooped you up bridal style, plopping you on the mattress as you gave in to another yawn, yet shivering due to the autumnal cold. The match was over in a way, so he could find material to shut the other windows while he would be looking for a blanket as well.

He took his knife, deciding to carve a message on the wall before going away, making sure you don't disobey him. "D૦ Ո૦੮ Ն૯ค౮૯.Wคɿ੮ Բ૦Ր ɱ૯." ("Do not leave. Wait for me.")

He made sure to use a higher pressure for the negation, making his one and only rule clear. He wouldn't want you going in other Trials, meeting other killers. No, you were his little friend, and he would raise you right.

(...)

After a fruitful search in most of the buildings he could get into, he victoriously returned with a blanket and a pillow, delivering them to you as quickly as he could. He was shocked to see you laying asleep, and a ghost of a smile adorned his hidden features, stifling a chuckle. He kneeled to your sleeping form as he gently lifted your head, sliding the pillow there before getting the emerald blanket, covering you with it as he made sure that you weren't too cold.

To his horror, you coughed twice in your sleep, and he could feel... Stress?! He didn't have anything to do with you! About to check your forehead for fever, he noticed something amiss on your wrist, and smiled, noticing the curse on you as well.

You would fit in here just right. All he had to do is train you the very next day, teach you how to make everyone 'sleep', as you put it. His own young child, taking after the new father~

[Decided to put A/N below. CrissuCytus here. I've been feeling really awful lately, so please excuse me for the quality of the one-shot. I'm still healing bit by bit so I should be back to my health until the month ends. I hope you enjoyed this particular oneshot! It took me like a whole week to write this, not gonna lie.]