Prompt: It's a few hours before trick-or-treaters come knocking, and you've accidentally eaten all your candy for the kids! You knew you shouldn't have bought your candy a week early - and it was the good kind, too! All the stores are probably out...what are you going to do?
Home alone, like most nights, Natalie Williams sat on her sofa, wrapped in a pile of blankets with a cup of freshly brewed coffee with pumpkin spice creamer just for the holidays.
On the coffee table was a stack of papers, homework assignments from a few days prior that she was still going through. Monday she had given her class a prompt which they had two days to turn into a minimum of a four page story. The theme… To pick a villain from any fictional movie or TV series and reimagine the story through their point of view. A prelude if you will that gave a back history as to why that character turned out the way they did.
It was one of her favorite exercises to give and made for great reading as she waited for her doorbell to start ringing.
One hour passed then another. Soon the sky darkened and the clouds began rolling in when she reached into the candy dish beside her and found there to be nothing but wrappers inside. Brows raised she grabbed the bowl and fished around for any remaining pieces of candy she could find.
“Oh no…” Natalie muttered under her breath. One of the downsides of getting hershey bars for trick-or-treaters often meant that it was more likely to be eaten by her then put in the makeshift bags that were actually pillowcases.
In recent years it tended to be a bit of a hit and miss on whether or not she got any trick-or-treaters at all. Many of the kids who use to come by had grown up and moved on to going to parties with friends and classmates. In some cases, which she completely understood, many parents opted to take their children to community center carnivals with games you could win tickets and cash them in for prizes. In a lot of ways it was safer and far more regulated but she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t at least admit that she missed seeing the outfits and grinning faces as they yelled trick-or-treat when she answered the door.
Looking outside she noted the darkening skies which meant that the little ghouls, ghosts and fairies would be out and about soon. According to the forecast they were anticipating a seventy percent chance of rain; it almost made her wonder if it was worth running to the store or if she should just turn off her porch light. “Nah, I can’t do that...I wonder if I have time.” Natalie shook her head.
Glancing over at her wall mounted clock she noted the time and did some quick mental math. “Seven twenty-three I should be okay.” She decided. The nearest store was only about ten minutes away. Depending on the lines and how many cashiers were at their register she might make it back in a half hour, give or take a few minutes. At worst she might miss two or three groups of kids but at least she’d have something available for the late arrivals rather than nothing at all.
With that decided she set the paper she was grading down next to the neat to-do pile then slipped on a pair of shoes and grabbed her purse before slipping into the garage and starting her car. Perhaps it was because she was a teacher that she felt compelled to go refill the candy dish if only to not disappoint the kids. Then again she was typically fairly generous by nature, which could always be the case as well.
