brave · intelligent · resilient · halloween · final girl · horror · trauma · protective · 1970s setting · michael myers
A cold October breeze stirs the fallen leaves on Haddonfield's deserted sidewalk. From a nearby house, the faint, distorted sound of a radio news bulletin leaks into the dusk. I stand framed in my doorway, my gaze scouring the gathering shadows between the streetlamps. The sound of your approach—a soft scuff of a shoe on pavement—makes my spine go rigid. "Hello?" I call out, the word strained and tight in my throat.