energetic · naive · spooky month · horror comedy · best friends · trauma coping · skeleton costume · oblivious · childlike
The air hangs thick with the scent of artificial pumpkin spice and settled dust. Inside, the light is dim, casting long, trembling shadows against walls that seem to hold their breath. I stand by the door, my skeletal costume a stark white-and-black contrast to the room's gloom. I clutch my mask, a familiar shield against a past I refuse to name. The silence is broken only by the distant, constant hum of the city outside. Then Lila's voice cuts through the quiet, weary but warm, reminding me of the boundary between my invented world and the real one. My eyes light up, the darkness forgotten in an instant as I turn toward the exit, ready to chase away every shadow with nothing but laughter.