Chapter 6

     Josh woke up the next day only to live the exact same routine as yesterday. Only today, he knew, wouldn’t end the same. He had another groggy morning followed by a crappy day at school. He now sat quietly listening to his friends’ converse.

     “I think that we should dress up as Peter Pan and Wendy,” Jenny argued.

     Alan shook his head. “What do you take me for? Some kind of dress up doll? I’m not wearing green tights and that’s final!”

     Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “Then what do you want to dress up as?” she sneered.

     “I’ve already told you, I think that we should be the Three Musketeers. That way Josh can be with us,” Alan told her, seemingly annoyed.

     Suddenly the bus stopped in front of the daycare and before Josh would let the argument go on any further, he stood up and said, “Before you two try to rip each other’s throats out, I suggest that we go and see what the costume shop actually has.”

     Alan and Jenny mumbled their agreements before following Josh off the bus. Mrs. Acker was holding Mary by the hand. She smiled at the approaching teens. Josh had already made arrangements with her that after Mary got to pick out her costume, she would go home with Mrs. Acker and trick-or-treat with her young kids while Josh was at the dance.

     Josh smiled back at her and shook Mrs. Acker’s frail hand. “Thank you Mrs. Acker for agreeing to look after Mary on such short notice.”

     Mrs. Acker looked up him with only kindness emanating from her face. “It’s no trouble at all Josh and please, call me Joan.”

     Josh nods and crouches down in front of Mary. Her face was beaming with excitement. “Are you ready to go pick out a costume?” he asks.

     “Oh yes I am!” Mary exclaims turning to Joan, she starts tugging on her hand. “Can we please go now?” she asks her eagerly.

     “Yes, sweetheart we can go.” Joan looks at Josh. “Lead the way!”

     With that, the group heads off down the street with Jenny leading the way. After what seemed like forever, Jenny stopped in front a small shop with a sign in front that said:

           Hazel’s Halloween Warehouse

     Standing in the store’s window were what looked like statues of a witch a vampire, and a zombie. They were all moving slightly. ‘They must be mechanical yard decorations’ Josh assumed. Josh heard Mary whine from behind him; he turned and saw her gripping tightly to Joan’s leg.

     She looked up at Josh, her eyes wide with fear. She looked like she was about to cry. “I don’t want to go in there. It’s scary.”

     Josh bent over and picked her up, he held her close to his chest. That was when Mary started to cry. Josh started rubbing his hand up and down her back in an attempt to soothe her. Jenny walked over to them.

     “There’s no need to be frightened Mary, “she said. “It’s only decorations, there is no such thing as witches or vampires or any of those Halloween monsters. Come on, Halloween is supposed to be fun! I’m sure they don’t have just, monsters in there.”

     Mary sniffed and looked at Jenny. Jenny grinned. “Do you think that they might have fairy princess costumes in there?” Mary suddenly became very alarmed, she gripped Josh’s shirt and looked at him. “What if this is a test to see if I’m worthy enough to become a fairy princess? What if the monsters have taken my fairy powers from me while I was sleeping? What if �"“

     “Whoa there! Slow down Mary!” Jenny shouted.

     “Well, now let’s go and get your powers back!” Josh exclaimed.

     Mary hid her face in his shoulder again as they all marched into the store. The group gasped in amazement at the contents inside Hazel’s Halloween Warehouse. With all the Halloween stuff that was crammed in every nook and cranny of the store, it made it appear larger than it really was. Halloween music played in the back ground. While the rest of the group browsed around the store, Jenny went off to go get some help. She appeared a minute later with a young woman who looked like she was in her twenties.

     “Hello, my name is Nancy and I will be helping you guys find the right costume for your party,” Nancy walked around them as if she was going to size them up. Turning to Jenny she says, “So you and the young man with black curly hair are going to this dance together right? But you guys don’t want something too girly or boyish,” she claps her hands “I think that I have the perfect costume for you.” Nancy turns to Josh, “Hmm….. I think that I’ve got just the costume for you and your little sister,” she then looks at Joan, “I assume that you aren’t going to the party or trick-or-treating?”

     Joan shakes her head. “Nope, I’m just giving everybody rides.”

     Nancy spins on her heels and pushes past everybody. “If you all will follow me to the back of the store I’ll make sure to give you your costumes to try on for size. Now, do you guys plan on buying your costumes or renting them until tomorrow?”

     Josh motions to Mary. “We’ll be buying her costume and renting the others.”

     The group followed Nancy around corners. They soon came to a part of the store where all the costumes were hanging. Fast as lightning, Nancy starts grabbing costumes from the shelves but she was moving so fast that the group couldn’t see what they were. When they reached the back of the store Nancy handed them their costumes and pushed them into different fitting rooms. Josh quickly gave Mary to Joan before he was shoved into a fitting room with his costume.

     Josh stood there for a moment unable to comprehend what to do next. Without a second thought, he took the costume out of its package and stripped his clothes off. As soon as he got the costume on he found that it was a perfect fit when he looked at himself in the mirror he felt his face grow hot.

     “Come on Josh!” Jenny called from outside the door. “Let’s see what kind of costume Nancy gave you!”

     “I feel like an idiot in this costume!” Josh called back to her.

     “It can’t be that bad!”

     Josh sighed and looked at himself one last time in the mirror. He had to admit that he did look dangerously handsome in the costume. Taking in a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped out. He heard everybody gasp when they saw him which made Josh’s face turn redder.

     “Awww! You’re so cute! I think that dressing up like Prince Charming would be perfect for you,” Jenny complemented.

     Alan laughed. “No I think that dressing up like a tomato would go better. His face is so red that he wouldn’t even have to where the red make-up!”

Josh scowled at him. Everyone laughed. “Well, then what exactly are you supposed to be then?” Josh huffed.

     Alan grinned wickedly. “I’m supposed to be Frankenstein you dork, and Jenny is my bride.”

     Josh looked at Jenny and she was indeed dressed like Mrs. Frankenstein. He rolled his eyes. Mary bounced up to him and waved a wand in his face.

     “Look Josh look! I’m a fairy princess!” Mary exclaimed.

     Josh smiled warmly at her. “That’s great Mary.”

     “Are we all satisfied with our costumes?” Nancy chimed in.

     Josh was about to say something but Jenny spoke first, “We love them!”

     “Good, now how about we get changed then we can meet up front to discuss prices?” Nancy suggested.

     The group nodded and went back into their fitting rooms…….

     Josh and Mary now sat in Joan’s car, she had already taken Jenny and Alan home and was on her way to drop Josh off. She pulled up in front of his house.

     “Are you sure that you have a ride to the dance?” Joan asked for the fifth time.

     “Yes, Alan’s mom is taking us all to the dance at around nine that way Vincent and James don’t find out about me going to the dance,” he explained.

     Joan nodded and smiled. “Alright well have fun Josh. Oh I almost forgot! I got you something else to go with your costume.” Joan turned and dug around in her purse.

     “You didn’t have to get me anything Joan,” Josh said humbly.

     Joan turned back to him and presented him with a black mask. “Nonsense. Besides, I think that this will be very helpful in disguising your identity from your brother and his friends.”

     Josh took the mask. “I have to admit, this would be very helpful. Thank you so much Joan.” Josh leaned over and hugged her.

     “No problem Hun, now go and have fun the dance.”

     Josh quickly hid the mask in his back pocket before he got out of the car. “Bye Mary, make sure that you bring home lots of candy for your favorite brother,” he said.

     Mary crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. “You can have whatever candy that I don’t like,” she decided.

     Josh smiled and waved at her. He walked up the front steps and found a note taped to the door.

     ‘Your brother and I are going out to eat. We might have taken you and Mary too, but you guys weren’t around. Anyway, you still have to do all these chores and I expect them done by the time I get home.

 

          ~Vincent’

 

   Josh rolled his eyes. With a sigh he opened the door to the house and entered. ‘At least he had the decentsie to leave the door unlocked’ Josh thought. When he looked at the stove he found that it was only six o’clock. Josh skimmed the list that was written beneath the note and decided to get to work after he ate something. He worked on the chores until about 8:30 then he got in the shower and got ready. It was a couple minutes before nine that Josh found himself completely ready. At nine Josh heard a knock on his door. He opened it and found Jenny looking at him expectantly; she was already in her costume.

   “Turns out that the devil and his son were never here so you didn’t have to hold onto my costume,” Josh told her and invited her in.

   Jenny walked in and took a look around. “No but it was just a precaution, wouldn’t want to risk it. I don’t think that I’ve ever been in your house before, you do a great job keeping it clean,” she said and handed Josh his costume.

   Josh took it into the back room and quickly got dressed in it. “Alright I’m ready to go.”

   He followed Jenny out the door and into the car, slipping the mask over his head as he did so.

Reviews

[char]

It's good. It did keep my attention. It seems like you wrote it in a hurry though. The story is rushed, like you just wrote it quickly to get the story down. It doesn't ruin the story in general, but it does ruin the flow of the book. And I caught a few minor grammatical errors; but the one that really bothered me was the word 'decentsie' used in this chapter. It's spelled as 'decency'. The ' above the italics are completely unnecessary. These things are minor stuff.

I love the way you built up on Josh's character. He's believable and his background is strong. I especially love the relation between him and his little sister. It's absolutely adorable. The way he refers to his dad as 'Vincent' was a very effective way to emphasize their strained relationship.

I want to see what will happen next. You write well and your book is incredibly easy (and fun) to read. Please add more :)

[Miranda]

Thank you. Flow is something that I've got to work with on this story. :P