Salem, Massachusetts, 2019

An older woman in black steps through the aisles of desks as her students listen to her tale. "And so, the Sanderson brothers were hanged by the Salem town folk. And now, there are those who say that on Halloween night, two black cats still guard the old Sanderson house. Warning off any who might make the witches come back from the dead." The teacher threw a handful of plastic spiders at a student in front of Roman Prince. The student shrieked before the class dissolved into giggles.

Roman scoffed. "Give me a break."

The teacher raised an eyebrow. "Do we have a skeptic in our midst?" She asked

Roman rolled his eyes. "Halloween is nothing but a holiday invented by the candy companies to earn more money. It's all a conspiracy."

Now normally, Roman would be all for Halloween, but due to a recent event that had him crying to sleep most nights, he was all too grumpy and hurt to properly get excited for the spooky holiday.

"It just so happens that Halloween is based on the ancient feast known as All Hallow's Eve. It's said to be the one night a year where the spirits of the dead can return to Earth," a young teen, wearing a soft cream-colored sweater corrected. Emile Picani. Roman groaned. He loved his friend. He did! And he really appreciated his friend trying to cheer him up with some knowledge on one of his favorite holidays, but at this moment he really couldn't deal with it. He was just too down in the dumps. He really shouldn't let it affect him. He should be happy and bright, but he just couldn't find it in himself.  

"Whatever."

The bell rang and teenagers filed out of the classroom. Emile grabbed his things and then waited for Roman to gather his stuff before they both left the classroom to meet up with Patton.

They found their cheery friend outside waiting for them underneath one of the tall trees outside of the high school. The two friends watched as an orange leaf floated down and landed in Patton's curly auburn hair. Roman let a small smile spread across his face at the sight of his friend with a leaf in his hair. The two friends walked up to stand by Patton as he finished a conversation with someone in his cooking class. Once he was done and the other person left, Patton turned to his friends with a smile.

"Hey, guys! How was Miss Dennison's class?" The bubbly teen pushed up his circular glasses and pulled his grey cardigan tighter around himself to offer some protection against the crisp fall air.

Emile shot a glance towards Roman, his warm brown eyes twinkling with concern. "Well, she told the story about the Sanderson Brothers. So that was nice." He left out the part about Roman's "outburst", unsure if whether or not he should mention it. The three set off towards their neighborhood. Their feet crunching on random leaves as they walked down the sidewalk.

Roman sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He suddenly felt incredibly guilty. He dropped his arm and shoved his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket. "Hey, Emile," he called softly, his friend in question turned his attention to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so grumpy."

Emile gave his friend an empathic smile. "It's okay, Roman. I know you're feeling a little down."

The elephant in the room made Patton grimace. The knowledge of his friend hurting made unpleasant emotions storm his mind.

He forced a smile on his face. "So, what are we doing for Halloween tonight?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

Roman bit his lip. "I don't think I want to do anything tonight."

"What?!?!" Both Emile and Patton exclaimed, shock evident on their faces, Halloween was one of their friend’s favorite holidays.

Roman shrugged and looked away as they walked along the sidewalk. Young children in costumes ran by excitedly on their hunt for candy in the late daylight. "I just want to get my homework done before the weekend."

Emile and Patton shared a look as they followed after Roman. "But you love Halloween. You always have the best costumes."

"You always spend months planning and working on your costumes. So why....?"

Roman's shoulders hunched up by his ears and he pulled on his jacket sleeves. "Well, I just wanted to be mature, you know." Roman picked at the red and gold stripes of his jacket. He forced down the lump in his throat. "I-I mean, Matt didn't like that I was so immature. He was tired of the singing and dancing and childish movies. That's why he left so I just thought that I should probably grow up if I ever wanted to actually be able to be romanced." He forced his line of sight on a distant tree to avoid the sympathetic looks from his friends.

Emile bit his lip as he tried to come to a decision on how to approach this conversation. Meanwhile, Patton was fuming. He half wanted to strangle Roman's ex. How dare he make his best friend feel this way?!?! It made him so mad and upset. He let out a silent huff of breath. After taking a deep breath to slowly calm down, he took a few moments to think up a plan. Then he rushed forward to catch up with his friend and walk beside Roman. "Hey! I have an idea!" Roman raised an eyebrow as he shot a glance towards Patton, Emile sharing a similar expression.

"What is it?" Emile asked.

Patton began to physically vibrate as he held in a squeal, building up the excitement. "Come on Patton? Share with the class." Roman chuckled, thankful for the distraction.

"We should go to the Sanderson House!" He burst out energetically. His friends raised an eyebrow in sync.

"Why?"

"The kitties! What if they're there!!" He squealed. Roman snorted.

"But you're allergic," Emile said.

"No one can stop me."

Roman scoffed. "You wouldn't go alone, there could be spiders."

Patton shivered, the cool autumn air not being the cause but certainly not helping him. "Mm. While the idea of the creepy-crawly death dealers is scary, I still want to see if the cats are there."

Roman rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that the 'brothers turned cats' are there, Patton."

"It's scientifically impossible," Emile added once he caught up. "But, it does sound very appealing."

"You too, Emile?" Roman asked.

Emile grinned. "Hey, cats are worth everything."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Alright, yeah, let’s go to the Sanderson house tonight. Sounds fun. Sounds dangerous. Let's go!" He exclaimed as they finally entered their neighborhood. "When are we going?"

Patton shrugged and pulled out a bag of trail mix and began munching on his snack. "Sometime tonight. I guess." He munched on his food thoughtfully for a few moments, deciding the best way to approach the subject he was about to bring up. "So, are you going to dress up?"

Roman bit his lip. "I guess I could throw something together real quick if you wanted me to."

Patton nodded and Emile let out a soft breath. "I'm going as a Dad."

Roman nodded. "Interesting. Why?"

Patton shrugged. "I don't know, just sounded like a good excuse to use a bunch of puns."

Emile nodded. "Sounds nice. I'm going as a therapist." He fixed his glasses smiling brightly.

"These are things you guys actually want to be, why dress up like them?" Roman asked.

His friends shrugged. "Well, we want to see if it actually makes us happy."

Roman nodded absently. His thoughts trailing off towards what he could possibly do for a costume in just a few hours. Soon enough they came to his house. He waved goodbye to his friends and rushed inside and up the stairs to his bedroom as fast as possible before bursting through his door and dropping his backpack on the floor. He shut his door and leaned back against it, resting his head as he let out a deep sigh. He took a glance around and felt his heart twist painfully.

Roman used to like his room. There were Disney posters everywhere. And there were musical posters and playbills pinned to every surface. There were stuffed animals on the bed, a sewing machine on the desk, complete with a box of fabric sitting underneath. That's how his room looked when he first got together with Matt. And that's how it looked through their whole relationship. Unfortunately, it was the same room they had their breakup fight in. All Roman had asked was if they could watch Moana. Then Matt exploded, calling him immature and childish because of all the things he did and enjoyed. Then he left. And Roman was left alone in his room that was too childish for his first boyfriend. After a few hours of crying Roman had ripped the posters and playbills off the walls and shoved them on a shelf in his closet. He shoved the stuffed animals, sewing machine, and fabrics behind his clothes in the closet.

He hardly opened his closest anymore. He grabbed most of his clothes from his dresser. He didn't like his room anymore. It was so bare. So, boring. He didn't like being in his room anymore. He glanced towards the closed doors on the opposite side of his room and bit his lip. He suddenly remembered what he had been working on before his boyfriend had come in to break up with him. He inched over to the doors and braced himself to open them. He whipped open the doors and found all of his favorite things sitting neglected in boxes.

He kneeled down and dragged out one of the boxes and began shifting around and then his hands closed around a piece of white fabric. He pulled it out and felt a tingle in his fingers as he spread out the mostly finished costume and felt his lips twitch slightly. He set the costume on the floor before pulling out the rest of what he needed. He suddenly felt a little more excited about tonight. It would be nice to get out of the house. Sort of like an adventure.

Roman smiled as he set to work finishing his costume. He had the eerie feeling that this was an adventure that was going to change his life. For better or worse, he had no idea what it would be. He just hoped it would be for the better.