Oct. 3

I woke up like any other day. My eyes opened and I wiped the dried drool off of my chin. I stood up, got changed, used the bathroom just like a normal person. But… I knew it wasn’t that simple. Not after last night.

My brother Owen, still asleep in his bed, seemed to have turned back to normal. His skin returned from the pale milky white to his standard umber skin. My skin returned as well, along with my hair being a sandy chestnut color. I took a sigh of relief. I couldn’t imagine what Bubba would’ve said if we came out looking like ghosts.

I left our bedroom for the kitchen where I found my grandmother drinking her cup of tea at the dining table. I went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Morning Bubbe.”

She clenched her coffee with her old weary hands. “You came home so late, Grace.”

In the kitchen, I was making some toaster strudel for breakfast. I grit my teeth as I lied, “Well yeah, I was with Allison and Tamera studying, I just lost track of time.”

She nodded, but I twinge told me she knew better, “Well alright, just next time make sure you call, ok? First you with being out all night, then Owen refused to come out of his room.”

“Oh, I talked to him, he just said he wasn’t feeling well. Something with stomach issues-”

At the perfect time, he came out of our bedroom. With his two arm crutches supporting him up, he made his way to the kitchen table and sat down. “Hi Grace, morning Bubbe.”

He let out a soft yawn.

“Good morning Owen, glad you’re feeling better,” Bubbe took a sip of her teacup. “You both were acted so strangely yesterday.”

Owen went to open his mouth, but I cut him before he could say something we both would regret. “Oh you know, just high school!” She glared at me but decided that was enough of an answer for now. “Ok Bubbe, the bus is almost here. Come on Owen.” He was halfway through eating one of the brightly covered strawberry strudels. “Okay!” He gurgled, shoving the rest of the pastry in his mouth, grabbing his crutches and pulled him up.

Our grandmother waved us off, “Owen, don’t forget you have physical therapy today! Also, I want both of you for dinner tonight.”

We looked at each other, then called out in unison. “Yes, Bubbe!”

I helped Owen out of the door and we walked to the bus stop together. Owen stared focused on the path ahead. “So, I saw your note.” He lifted one of his crutches with the note I left him last night, ‘got answers talk later.’

I took a slow inhale, “Yeah… the voice last night was right. I found others.”

His eyes bugged out, “You did! Did they know what was going on with us? Are we… are we really dead?” He powered through a smile, but it was of hysteria. A single tear shed down his cheek at the word ‘dead.’

Both our lives changed two days ago. Life was hard enough when you have diplegic cerebral palsy, add on the pressure of high school and bullies made my brother's life terrible. We both knew the October curfew, but we just wanted to get a slushy at the 7/11 by our house! Then we ended up walking into something that ended our mortal lives.

“I met three others like us. Apparently, they go to our high school, so we can meet them at lunch. For now just keep it a secret, especially to Bubbe.”

He was apprehensive at that thought. I knew he had a deep bond with our grandmother. Since we moved in with her in middle school, she always did her best to take care of us, and lying to her was an awful thing to do. “Okay.”

I cracked a smile, “Come on, the bus will be here soon! Hurry up, slowpoke!”

He laughed in response, “Hey it's not my fault I can’t run!” When it came to me, it was always cool to joke about his legs. Anyone else, and they’d hear from me.

-

At lunch, Owen and I made our way to the meeting spot. Those guys I met yesterday told me to meet here. I remembered each of them vividly. There was the one with a wolf mask and a giant spoon. One of them had a skeleton mask; he was having trouble with the bat pumpkin. Then, there was that one in the scarecrow mask. He was really nice. After the fighting, he sat me down and tried to explain some things, but I was so tired afterward, he told me to just meet here. He said his name was Reyes, and that he could meet us in private to explain (hopefully) everything.

We got to the edge of the campus, where we saw two people sitting on a stone bench. I recognized one of them, vaguely, as Reyes. Now he had peach gold skin and blonde. As we made it over, he took notice and waved, “Hi! your Grace right?”

I guess I looked different now too, like a regular person. “Yes hello. And you are Reyes, the pumpkin hunter?”

The boy next to him snorted, “Reyes, more like !” Then continued to laugh at his terrible joke.

He scratched his head, “Don’t mind him. This is Caleb, another hunter.”

He took a bow them, “At night, Batter at your service.” His bouncy brown curls fell to his face, blocking out his mischievous eyes.

It took me a second to put two and two together, “Oh your the idiot who couldn’t get down from the bat last night.”

“Idiot…” Reyes, Owen and I laughed.

I turned to my brother, who was standing close behind me. “Oh and this is my brother, Owen. He’s also in my situation.”

He bowed his head as a greeting gesture, “H- hi…”

Reyes smiled at him, “Nice to meet you.” He began to stick his hand out for a handshake but retracted it quickly, realizing his mistake. “Oh gosh I’m sorry I didn’t mean- It was just a reflex and-.”

Owen reached out and grabbed his hand, tightly squeezing it in a handshake.”Its ok, but for future reference, my hands are fine, it's my legs.”

“Sorry…” The both ended laughing about the situation. Reyes offered his seat on the bench, giving it to Owen. “Wait, Caleb, both of them came back, but only Grace is a hunter? Is that possible?”

He itched his chest, “Well it has happened in the past. If two people died on the first around the same time, they may both come back. I’ve never known only one of them being called by death though; usually, both become huntsmen. Maybe… it could be to your disability?”

I could tell he didn’t mean any ill will, but Caleb really shouldn’t be talking about that stuff. I changed the topic, “So there are even more of us?”

The two boys looked at each other. Caleb coughed, “Let's talk about Halloween Month…”

Caleb and Reyes explained everything they could. We died on October 1st, we now are in an undead state of immortality, and now it's our goal as huntsmen to save the city from destruction. Simple.

I sat down next to my brother in disbelief. It was true, we were in fact… dead. I felt my pulse race, but I couldn’t even tell if it was my own. “How is this real?”

Caleb spoke somberly, “It all started with the curse of the witch. Because of it, we’re like this forever… I’m so sorry to tell you this.” We stayed quiet. What do you answer to that?

The bell rang, end of lunch. Caleb and Reyes put their backpacks on and shuffled towards us. Reyes tried to smile in the situation, but I couldn’t tell how. “Listen, we’re all here. If you need anything, just text me or Caleb. Anytime ok?”

I stayed silent for most of the day.

-

We walked in silence back from the bus stop. Every time his canes shifted forward, I felt more guilty for all of this. “I’m sorry Owen.”

His brow lifted, “Sorry for what?”

“It’s my fault. We’re dead because of me.” I tried to hold back my emotions. I had to be the strong one. I always have to be the strong one. Still, my hands began to tremble with anger and sadness.

“Grace.”

“It was my ideas to sneak out. It was me who was paralyzed in fear. I didn’t even try to run from whatever that thing was ”

“Grace.”

“What! You know it’s true!” I tried not to scream but I let it out.

“Grace… I don’t blame you. None of this is our fault. We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.” He repressed his weight on one of his crutches to give me a hug. “We can do this together. We’ve always done everything together.”

I wiped a tear from my eye and swallowed my sobs. I knew he was right. I couldn’t just power through this situation by myself. I returned the hug, holding my brother as tight as I could. I wanted to make sure he was there, that I wasn’t alone.

“Come on, let’s get home.” He took up his crutches again. We walked back home in peace. I tried to put the thought of all the crazy out of my head, but how couldn’t I?

How did my life end up like this?