I need to know maud happiest halloween as kid with her big sibling
Smoll scene :) I think I made it a little bit too dark, so please don't read it if some of the warnings trigger you.
TW: bullying of a minor, suicide mention/encouragement, discrimination/prejudice against supernatural beings, emotional abuse by authority figure
The cafeteria smells like something that died three days ago.
Maud sits alone at the corner table. Again. Her tray holds food she won't eat because the moment she reaches for it, someone will knock it over. They always do. Like clockwork.
"Freak," Jessica whispers. Loud enough for the whole table to hear. Loud enough for the next table over to hear. "My mom says people like her should be locked up. That Umbras are all psycho killers waiting to happen."
The others laugh.
Maud makes her eyes go wide. Blank. Stares without blinking until Jessica looks away first. Holds it just long enough to make her uncomfortable. To make her wonder if maybe her mom was right.
It only makes things worse.
"See?" Jessica hisses to her friends. "Told you. Total freak."
Mrs. Henderson pulls Maud aside after class. Again. The teacher's perfume is too sweet. Makes Maud's nose itch. Makes her want to disappear into the shadows pooling in the corner.
"Maud, why can't you get it together? Are you even studying? Of course you're not... why do I even bother. Just try bette next time, okay? And stop with the... staring thing. At this rate, you'll never amount to anything. Do you understand?"
Maud nods. Doesn't point out that she really tried this time. Doesn't matter. Never matters when you're the wrong kind of different.
She stops listening halfway through. She's heard it before. Different teachers. Same script. Hopeless. Disturbed. Wasting potential. Needs intervention.
But Halloween. Halloween is different.
On Halloween, monsters belong. Killers get celebrated. Scary is good. Maud can walk down the street with blood on her face and people smile. Hand her candy. Tell her she looks amazing.
For one night, being frightening is the whole point.
This year she's going as a killer clown. Spent three weeks planning it. Black around the eyes that bleeds down her cheeks. Red smile carved too wide across her mouth. Fake blood dripping from razor-sharp teeth she fashioned from plastic forks and paint.
She practices the smile in the bathroom mirror every night. Watches her face transform from weird kid everyone avoids into something powerful. Something that makes people feel what she feels every day.
Fear.
Then you say you're too old for trick-or-treating.
Just like that. Casual. Like you're discussing what's for dinner.
"I'm sixteen, Maud. Teenagers don't do the candy thing anymore."
Maud doesn't cry. Hasn't cried in years. But something in her chest goes cold and small and tight.
So she goes alone.
The streets are full of younger kids. Parents hovering close. Everyone in groups. Families. Friends.
Maud walks by herself, pillowcase clutched in one hand. The makeup took an hour to get right. The costume looks perfect. But no one's there to see it except strangers who drop candy in her bag without really looking at her face.
Jessica and her friends catch her three blocks from home.
Of fucking course they do.
"Look," Jessica calls out, her voice carrying across the darkening street. "It's the psycho dressed like a—" She stops. Squints. "Wait, is that even a costume? Maybe that's just her real face."
The others laugh. Circle closer. Maud's hand tightens on her pillowcase.
"Where's your babysitter?" Another one asks. Emma, Maud thinks. Or Emily. They all blur together in her mind. "Oh wait, even your own family doesn't want to be seen with you." That's it. Maud swings her fist.
"There you are!" Your voice cuts through the darkness. Slightly out of breath. Slightly too loud. Maud halts.
She turns. You're really here. In jeans and a hoodie. Not a costume. But there.
Jessica's smile falters. "Oh. You actually have... someone you're with."
"Yeah," you say, stepping forward until you're shoulder-to-shoulder with Maud. "She does. Problem?"
Jessica and her pack melt away into the darkness. Prey recognizing predators.
"Thought you said you were too old for this," Maud manages. Her voice sounds strange. Thick.
You shrug. "Changed my mind. You know what Tolkien said—'It's the job that's never started that takes longest to finish.' Figured we should start walking now before all the good candy is gone."
You walk together. Just the two of you. Hit every house on the street, then double back through the rich neighborhood where people give out full-size candy bars. You hold Maud's pillowcase when it gets too heavy. Points out the houses with the best decorations. Makes stupid jokes that aren't funny but make Maud laugh anyway.
Best candy haul she's ever had. Best night, period.
By the time you reach Ace's house, Maud's face hurts from smiling behind her clown makeup.
The Reid house glows warm from within. Ace opens it before Maud can knock, grinning with that easy warmth that makes everything feel safer.
"There's the killer clown," they say, stepping aside. "Nice work on the teeth. Creepy as hell. Ma and Pa will absolutely hate it."
Inside, Tasha and Keisha are sprawled on the couch arguing over which movie to watch.
Mrs. Reid emerges from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel, calling out in that distinctive lilt, "Maud, MC, dat you? Food almost—" She stops dead when she sees Maud.
Stares. Blinks.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," she breathes, one hand going to her chest. "Child, what dem do to yuh face?"
"It's Halloween makeup, Ma," Ace says, barely containing his laughter. "She's a killer clown."
"A killer what now?" Mrs. Reid moves closer, squinting at Maud's makeup like it might be contagious. "Yuh telling me yuh painted dis on purpose? All dis blood and... Lord have mercy, are those supposed to be teeth?"
"I made them from plastic forks," Maud offers proudly.
"Plastic forks." Mrs. Reid shakes her head slowly.
"Ma—" Ace starts.
"No, no, I'm not finished." But she's smiling now, that warm smile that makes everyone feel safe. "Maud, baby, dat's quite impressive work. Yuh have very steady hands." She pauses. "Terrible taste, but steady hands."
Mr. Reid emerges from the kitchen carrying a pot of rice and peas. Sees Maud. Nearly drops the pot.
"Marcia," he says urgently. "Why there's a dead clown in mi living room?"
"She's not dead, Pa," Keisha calls from the couch. "She's undead. There's a difference."
"Oh, well, dat makes it so much better," Mr. Reid says, setting the pot down with exaggerated care. "Marcia, did we invite de zombie apocalypse for dinner?"
Maud giggles. Actually giggles.
"Can I keep it on?" she asks. "For the movie after?"
Mrs. Reid and Mr. Reid exchange a look. The kind of look parents share when they're about to allow something they don't approve of.
But then Mrs. Reid smiles. "Alright, baby. Yuh can keep yuh zombie face. But careful with mi good couch, yuh hear? If dat paint get on mi cushions, yuh gonna need more than makeup to look scary."
After dinner when it's time to pick a movie, Ace gestures to Maud. "Your choice."
"Nothing too scary," Tasha adds. "Ma will come check, and if it's too much blood and guts, she'll make us turn it off. Trust me."
Maud picks The Lost Boys. Vampires and outcasts and found family. Perfect.
Halfway through, when Maud is absorbed in the screen, candy wrappers scattered around her feet, Ace nudges you. Jerks their head toward the kitchen.
You slip away quietly. Ace leans against the counter, arms crossed, studying you with that look they get when they know there's more to a story.
"So," they say quietly. "Real reason you decided to go?"
You don't answer right away. Instead you reach into your jacket pocket. Pulling out the crumpled piece of notebook paper you've been carrying all night.
Even in the kitchen's bright light, the words are ugly.
Freak. Freak. Freak. Kill yourself, monster. The world would be better off.
The handwriting is looped. Girlish. Probably Jessica's.
"Found it in her backpack when I went to grab my headphones," you say. Voice flat. The tone you use when something matters too much to show it. "There were others. This was just the newest one. I thought it had stopped. I tried to make it stop multiple times. I thought it was under control."
Ace takes the note. Reads it. For a moment, the easy warmth is gone, replaced by something harder. Sharper.
You both look toward the living room. Toward Maud laughing at something Keisha said, her killer clown makeup smudged but her smile genuine. Real.
"She's thirteen," you continue, watching your sister. "Just a kid. She should get to be a kid. Not deal with shit like this just because she's an Umbra."
You may not always get along but she's still your little sister. Still your responsibility.
Ace folds the note. Tucks it in their own pocket. Neither of you mentions calling parents or teachers or anyone who's supposed to handle this kind of thing. You both know how well that works.
"You did good," Ace says finally. Squeezes your shoulder. Tomorrow you'll have to think of other ways to make that Jessica bitch pay. But for today, you should focus on your sister.
You rejoin the others. Squeeze onto the couch between Tasha and Maud.
Later, when Mrs. Reid drives you home, Maud clutches her pillowcase full of candy and asks, "Can we do this again next year?"
"Yeah," you say. "We can do this again next year."
And you mean it.
Maud falls asleep in the car, clown makeup smudged, candy clutched close.
Tonight, for a few hours, she was scary-on-purpose Maud. Monster-by-choice Maud.
And nobody looked away. Everyone actually liked it.
Tomorrow, the face in the mirror will be just Maud again. Weird Maud. Freak Maud. Monster Maud.
School will be the same.
But tonight was different. That matters.
