Happy October, stay spooky my loves.

Playlist: 

La Almabra by Marina Herlop 

Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic

Downhill Lullaby by Sky Ferreira 

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Harper shields the twins from the stall trying to get them thrown out, as we make our way to the trail leads us to a farm that, every year, according to Charlie, they convert to a pumpkin patch. It was massive. Even for the day before the holiday, there were a greater amount of pumpkins than I had anticipated could be sold in one night.

"I can pick the biggest one," Harper says, charging into the field. Caleb right behind her, and Aaron, who takes a second more to progress what she meant, freezes.

"Hey wait for me!" He chases after them.

Charlie is laughing, but I can't rid myself of the odd sensation as I observe the others attempting to outdo each other. "Hey, Thea. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, yes, of course I am." I grin, but I can see the slight wrinkle in Charlie's brow that she didn't believe me. "I wasn't pranking you."

"Oh, I know, the fumes must have gotten to your head. When it was my turn, I also was a bit disconnected, out here in the fresh air, my mind is more clear."

She inhales the autumn air, and I do the same, the scent of leaves, a crispiness in the air, the scent given off when pure delight is about to happen mix together.

"I do feel better out here, too." Shutting my eyes, I let the breeze blow into my face.

"Do you think it's about Abe?"

I let my eyes open slightly. No, I hadn't even considered Abe. "I don't know, maybe."

"He was something new, and something you don't have control over right now. The sacrifice is your friendship with him, but if you stick to your intuition, you can make things work out."

"I don't think it's that easy."

"But," I turn my head in her direction, but her eyes were over the pumpkin patch, her hair blowing across her face. "We don't know what the last card is , if it works out."

"Charlie. I don't think it was about Abe. And if it was, I don't think the cliché of me believing in myself will win him back."

She tilts her head, a smile on her lips. "Thea, if you blink at him, he'd be on his knees begging for you back."

Sharply, I focus on Aaron, who comes into my line of sight. "Yeah, that's why he was with that girl yesterday." My heartaches for him, my hand twitching as I think of pulling out my phone and just calling him. But where do I start?

Maybe that it's my birthday.

And all I want today is to celebrate.

With him.

Just with him.

A tear falls slips down my cheek, a hand slip into mine.

"Tomorrow." Charlie gives my hand a slight squeeze. "Tomorrow, we make a plan to get him back, today, let's go find the biggest pumpkin."

A laugh spills from my lips as she pulls me into the field of pumpkins. Each one of us tried to pick out the biggest one, each caring one bigger than the others. Finally, Caleb wins by rolling a pumpkin none of us could carry even with help, we end up abandoning it and getting reasonably sized ones.

We witness the excitement of little kids running in the patch, screaming about finding the largest pumpkin, as we wait in line holding our own. "To be young again." Charlie sighs romantically.

"You're nearly 16, you are young." Harper laughs.

"Plus, I like my women older." Caleb scoots in.

"Oh my god, get away from us, you pervert." Despite my brothers, I maintain a cheerful expression even though I completely miss him with my kick.

"What were you doing this time last year?" Charlie looks back at me as she places her pumpkin where she needs to pay.

"I attended a Halloween party that was thrown by some wealthy guy, and the police arrived, which resulted in me being grounded." I chuckle, reflecting on the memory with affection, it was the night Julio and I, my first boyfriend, made that decision, but I keep that to myself. "My dad threatened to cancel the party my grandma had planned since I could walk, then she got mad at my dad. What about you guys?"

"In my opinion, we watch horror movies until we fell asleep."

"So, one movie?" I laugh knowing my friends' habits of falling asleep at movies.

We pay for our pumpkins and glance down the road once we are out on the farm. Five heavy pumpkins with a fifteen-minute walk, but the three of us shrug it off, as my brothers complain. Nothing puts a damper on the day I am having, not the pain in my arms ten minutes into our walk, not my brothers bitching about how tired they are, the only thing I miss is Abe. I direct my eyes towards the wooded path that leads to his unsettling house as we draw nearer to my home. I ponder the possibility of going there and bringing him back, but I lack knowledge of the rules of the treaty.

"Thea?" I glance back at Charlie. "Worry about him tomorrow, today celebrate you."

I grin at her and follow her up the road to my house. Once there, we dump our pumpkins on the counter as we cover the table with a thick layer of newspaper. Harper prints a template off the computer, but the rest of us draw on the faces, then carve accordingly. We talk about nothing particular, and by the time we put the pumpkins on the front steps, we are hungry.

Mom had come in the middle of our fun, and she took over the twin's pumpkins as they went off to play video games. Dad pulls into the driveway as we light the candles.

"Spooky." He gives my mom a kiss on the cheek. "The house looks great."

We all gaze up at the decorations my mom had put up: bats hanging from the gutters, a witch suspended from the tree using fishing wire, a little graveyard spread across our lawn, and now the pumpkins. "I have a broken-down fence, but I ran out of time. Is that the food?"

He beams at me, holding up the bag. "Thai food for my favorite daughter."

"Hey," Aaron pipes in from the living room. "I take offense from that."

My dad, ignoring my brothers, slides his arm around my shoulder, placing a solid kiss on the side of my head. "Happy birthday sweetie."

"Thank you, daddy."

We go in, and with the help from Harper and Charlie, we clear the table, and then set it. My mom serves us virgin versions of her famous vampire blood cocktail, decorated with fake vampire teeth and everything. It crossed my mind how Milo would react to this monstrosity, but we casually sip our drinks, pretending they weren't virgins.

"This is delicious." My mom exclaims after a few mouth fulls.

"You almost sound convincing." I tease. It was excellent, but nothing compared to the place we often visit in Santa Barbara, they knew us by name there.

"Man, I should return what I got you after that comment." My dad laughs.

"Is it a car?"

"Ha!" My mom laughs. "You can save up for one."

After I finish, I sit back and observe my family and friends converse, it was a moment I want to cherish forever. The three of us clear the table for my mom, who offers to do it, but we deny. "Relax Mom, we can do this."

"I can get too used to this, watch out."

She teases.

We each take up a job on cleaning the dishes, but as I wipe down the plates Charlie washed, my mom's hand touches my back. "I've been meaning to talk to you, I know your dad has, but what happened last week was not okay, how he acted was highly inappropriate. I love your dad, but how he gets when it comes to not you, but your brothers too can come off a little aggressive. We have talked about this, and I don't know what is going on with you and Abraham, but know we will try to be better about how we approach things. My mother had the perception that he was a low life and his family was strange, and I believe that race may have influenced her opinion. He was never what she thought." She looks down, then back towards my dad, who was talking to Harper. "Then the next boy I brought home she calmed down, less hard on him." I can see the smile. "He had his way with people."

"Yes," I look at Dad too. "yes, he does."

When we finished, we went to the backyard, and my mom brought out a cake with a picture of me in my large quinceanera dress from last year. Charlie compliments my appearance, but chuckles while saying it. I bury my face in my hands until it's time to slash into it. We sit outside looking up at the clear stars, eating cake in silence.

"I think I can see more stars here than anywhere else." My mom's voice is low, as if she believes she'll scare them away. I think she was finally giving into the small town world. For a moment, I envision Milo as a child, staring into the ancient sky, pondering the same thought.

"I told you; you won't hate it here." I glance over at my dad as he slides his arm around my mom, and she leans into him. "Our perfect slice of paradise."

Except for the kites living in the houses above us. However, I gaze upwards at the sky with my family. I'm intrigued by what Milo and Nya would consider if they glanced down at us, all seated on the patio furniture, reflecting on the limitless possibilities, our fleeting existence they were deprived of. As the existential of it all begins to weigh me down, I push it from my mind, remaining content with my little imperfect life.

Dad gets up, and when he comes back, he hands me a little box. "It's not wrapped." I laugh.

"Pretend it is, open it."

I pull open the top of it, and find a beautiful necklace, a blue crescent moon dangles at the bottom, with two little stars attached to the chain itself. "Dad, it's beautiful."

"It was my sisters, she loved the moon and the stars, and I thought I would give it to you."

I hand it to him. "Can you put it on me?"

"Uh. Sorry, I don't know how." He hands it to my mom.

She rolls her eyes and puts it on for me. "Thea, you are absolutely lovely, sorry it's not a car."

"It's better than one." I touch the pendent. "I love it, thank you." I hug both of them.

"Happy birthday." My dad whispers in my ear, giving me an extra tight hug.

We migrate back inside, and we settle down to view a movie. Charlie's mom arrives before the beginning credits roll, but she talks to my mom so long that they don't leave until midway through the movie.

"Happy birthday, one more time." Charlie gives me a tight squeeze before skipping off to the car.

Harper, who normally isn't much of a hugger, pulls me into a hug. "Happy birthday, Thea, don't worry about Abe; he always finds his way back around. If not on his own, then with my help."

"Thank you." I mumble into her hair. They pile into the car; I'm still waving, even when they are out of sight.

"We're going to bed, turn off the lights before you go up." My mom calls out to me and my brothers as I close and lock the door.

"Okay mom." I call back, looking back at the back door. Green eyes gaze at me as I make my way towards him.

"Thea, get me another slice of cake." Caleb calls out, but I'm out in the back yard, shutting the door behind me.