“Mommy, I can’t find my hat!” My seven year old daughter, Rosemary, yelled from her bedroom upstairs.

“Did you look in your closet where I hung it up?” I yelled back, semi-annoyed, as I finished buttoning the cloak her twin brother Ben was wearing as part of his costume.

A few moments of silence passed before a high pitched “found it!” sounded throughout the house. I rolled my eyes as I did a final once-over of Ben’s wizard costume before patting his shoulders and releasing him to go fetch his candy bag. Rosie came barreling down the stairs in her completed witch costume with a big ol’ smile plastered on her face.

Her long black curls matched perfectly with her frilly black witch dress and her black and white striped stalkings brought out her baby blues. The cheap little cinnamon broom I got her really tied the whole look together.

“Ta-da!” She said proudly doing jazz hands and everything. I smiled back at her and clapped my hands at the seven year old awesomeness standing before me.

Halloween is always a chaotic day in the Jennings household. Between last minute costume changes/repairs, decorating, and making sure Rosie doesn’t eat all the trick-or-treaters candy, it’s hard to keep my head on straight.

The twins have loved Halloween since before they could even understand what it meant. The day has its challenges, which is already harder since I’m a single mom, sure, but the big, bright smiles on their faces and the happiness in their eyes at the end of the night makes everything worth it.

“Ben, hurry up and come back here so I can take pictures of you and your sister!” I called out as I positioned my daughter in front of the front door and took some solo pics.

Ben emerged from his room and quickly made his way down the stairs and next to his little sister (he’s older by three minutes). I couldn’t help but feel a little sad as the photo shoot commenced. My kids were seven years old already. This would probably be the last year where I could convince them to dress up in twin costumes since next year they’ll want to dress up as something unique to them.

It’s kinda weird seeing my children grow into their own separate personalities. Ben looks like the gender bent version of Rosemary with his short black hair, freckles, and sparkling blue eyes, but other than looks, they are polar opposites. Rosie is my little firecracker. She’s very extroverted and loves talking and playing with the other kids, always has something to say, kind of a tomboy, and is a magnet for trouble. Ben, on the other hand, is more introverted, likes keeping to himself, reading, and is very clingy towards me.

I have to admit, I find myself favoring Ben a little more over Rosemary because of how easy he is to parent (and the fact he’s a total mama’s boy). Most parents lie when they say they don’t have a favorite kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love both my children equally and with all my heart, but being a single parent and having to deal with an energetic kid such as Rosie can be exhausting and that leads me to being short tempered with her at times.

I didn’t say I was a perfect parent, but I try my best with the both of them.

“Mama, is it time to go yet?” Rosie asked, jumping up and down as she tugged on my sleeve anxiously. Ben nodded his head and looked up at me with big excited eyes.

I checked the time on my phone, which read four-thirty. I then snuck a peak out of the window besides the front door and saw a few kiddos and their parents out on the street already. I sighed and began putting my shoes on. My kids started cheering giddily as they no doubt were thinking about all the candy they would score this evening.

I grabbed the large bowl with a pumpkin face on it full of candy and placed it on top of a tray-table I’d set up by the front door with a “take one” sign taped to it. Are there going to be kids that take entire handfuls? Yes. Did I care? Not really, since I’d be taking my mom tax out of whatever candy my children collected. I flipped the porch light on, shoo’d my kids out of the house, then locked the door.

“Where should we go first?!” Ben asked excitedly as he scanned all the houses he could see from the porch.

As if on cue, my next door neighbor came out of her house holding a baking tray with some type of treat on them. She turned her head, smiled and waved, then motioned for us to come over. Ben and Rosie’s eyes lit up and they sprinted across the lawn for her house. I waved back before chasing after my kids.

“Trick-or-treat!” They both shouted in unison, holding their empty pillowcases wide open for a delectable treat to be dropped inside. Laurie, my neighbor, smiled down at my children before saying,” Hi Ben! Hi Rosemary! Happy Halloween, why don’t you each pick one?”

I got a closer look at the treats in the baking pan and it was a bunch of different colored lollipops wrapped in plastic wrap with cute little light blue bows. My kids looked at me for approval and I nodded my head.

“Ooh! Ooh! I want the red one!” Rosemary said as she picked one off the tray.

Ben thought carefully, tapping his chin, before picking his,“ I want blue raspberry!”

I rolled my eyes as of course they each picked their favorite color.

“What do you say to Ms. Laurie, children?”

“Thank you!” They both said in unison, again.

“You’re very welcome,” Laurie started before gesturing to the pile of sweets,” why don’t you try them? I made them all myself!”

I was very surprised and caught off guard when I heard this. While it was sweet of her to go through all that effort, it was totally unlike her. Normally on Halloween Laurie’s porch light is off and she never hands out candy. I think of her as The Grinch but for Halloween sometimes. That’s probably why she was standing outside so people could see she had treats with her.

“Don’t worry Lisa, I didn’t poison them or anything!” Laurie laughed jokingly,” I recently got into candy making as a hobby and I’m thinking of opening a small business. Tonight is a trial run for my lollipops.”

I felt a little better after hearing her explanation and gave my kiddos the go ahead. They ripped the wrapping off instantly and popped the treats into their mouths. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were pretty good.

“That’s very impressive! Can I have one?” I asked while reaching my hand out. Laurie jerked the tray away from me and slapped my hand.

“No!” She yelled defensively. They are for the children only! It’s Halloween after all.”

I rubbed my stinging hand,“I thought you said it was a trial run for your small business. Shouldn’t you want opinions from all demographics?”

“My demographics are children, since mostly children eat candy. Now please continue onward, you’re crowding my porch and more children are coming.”

I looked behind me to see a kid in an Ironman costume and his mother walking up behind us. Grabbing my kids hands, we started walking to the next house. An uneasy feeling sunk to the bottom of my stomach and I started to regret letting my kid eat those lollipops. Maybe she really did poison them? If she didn't, something definitely felt off. Call it a mother’s intuition.

My train of thought was broken when Rosie tugged on my sleeve. She pulled a green lollipop out of a pocket in her dress and handed it to me. “Ta-da!” She said like she pulled it out of the ether.

“Rosemary!” I said in surprise. “Did you steal this from Ms. Laurie?”

“I used my witch powers to magically teleport it from the tray into my hand when she wasn’t looking.” She admitted.

“We do not steal, and if you do, the item is to be returned.” I lectured, unwrapping the lollipop and sticking it in my mouth. It was green apple flavored. It was pretty tasty with just the right amount of salty and sweetness.

“But mom, you’re eating the stolen thing right now!” Ben pointed out.

A muffled,“Do as I say, not as I do” came out of my lollipop filled mouth.

The kids then ran up to the next house to get some more candy.

---

About an hour later, in a less crowded part of the subdivision, we came across Jackson Hunter and his friend Luke smashing pumpkins.

“Hey!” I yelled from across the street. The two boys ignored me.

“Hey!” I yelled again, dragging my kids across the street with me. “Jackson where is your little sister? I thought your mom told you to take her trick-or-treating!?”

The Hunter family lived across the road from us. Jackson is the oldest of the two and Jaime was born after the cut off so she’s almost a year older than my little ones, but in the same grade as them. His mom , Jennifer, and I are on the PTA board together and we like to gossip sometimes.

Jackson wiped some pumpkin guts off the pants of his pirate costume and pointed down the street to a small blonde figure dressed as Glenda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz. “She’s just down the street. I can see her.”

The overprotective mama bear in me made me see red, but I kept it in and kept my cool.

“Just wait until your mother hears about this.” I said under my breath as I left the twelve year old tween and his friend to their pumpkin destruction. He just sucked his tongue between his teeth and went back to goofing off.

“C’mon children.” I said back to my kids as we made our way to the house where Jaime Hunter was trick-or-treating at.

“Mooooom, please don’t make us go over there and talk to her. She’s weird!” Rosie begged, holding on to my arm and dragging her feet.

“Rosie! That is not nice to say about someone,” I scolded,” besides, I thought the three of you were friends.”

“She is my friend, mom, I don’t mind going trick-or-treating with her.” Ben said, grabbing my open hand.

“See?” I said to Rosemary, who had an upset scowl on her face,” you’ll be fine.”

After a few more steps we caught up with Jaime. “Hey, sweet! Got a bunch of candy?” I asked from behind in my nice mom voice.

“Hi, Mrs. Jennings. Yeah I’ve got a good amount! My shoulder is starting to hurt a bit.” Jaime answered timidly.

“What do you say you come trick-or-treating with us? Don’t worry, I’ll text your mom and tell her.” I stuck my hand out for her to grab. She took it and we started towards the next house, texting her mom in between houses.

Ben struck up a conversation with Jaime about how they were all dressed in the same theme and how Jaime and Rosie were both witches. Rosie walked a bit slower than the rest of us and kept quiet when Ben started to compare her to Jaime. It was unusual to see Rosie so quiet and reserved. I didn’t want to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do so I didn’t say anything and the kids candy sacks got heavier and heavier.

---

We went home around seven forty-five because Rosie started to not feel well. Rosie, the stubborn child she is, wanted to keep going, even though we got a good four hours and fifteen minutes of trick-or-treating in, but I pulled the plug because she wasn’t looking too hot. Since Halloween was on a school night all the youngin’s went home early, so a lot of the older kids were out now.

“I’m hot!” She kept complaining on the way back home, even after she took off her cape, hat, and gave me her candy bag to hold as we walked. I cursed myself for not bringing a bottle of water for them to drink out of. Ben looked a little pale as well, but if he wasn’t feeling good he wasn’t saying anything about it.

Again, my mind went back to Laurie Powell’s lollipops and the thought of her poisoning my twins had my stomach in knots. We didn’t really know much about her anyway since she mostly keeps to herself. She says hi every know and then when we see her out of her house but other than knowing her name, I don’t have a single clue about that woman or her background. She could be a convicted felon for all I know, and I let her feed my children homemade candy that could’ve been poisoned, or even drugged.

I dropped Jaime off at her house before walking across the street back to mine. Laurie was on her porch just observing the neighborhood. The lollipop tray was empty and she was just rocking back and forth in a rocking chair on her porch smoking a cigarette. I didn’t acknowledge her as my sole focus was on my child.

I started to draw a bath for Rosie as I sent her to her room to change out of her costume. Ben ran to his room to probably start sorting his goodies and prepping for their “store” they held every Halloween.

The tub was almost full of water when the smoke detectors starting blaring throughout my house. I stopped the faucet and ran out into the hall. My heart sunk when I saw smoke coming out from under Rosie’s door.

“Rosie!” I screamed as I raced to her room. Ben quickly emerged from his room and followed me. I didn’t even care that the door handle burned my hand when I opened it.

The sight before me was… shocking to say the least. Rosie’s room was on fire alright, but the fire was coming out of her hands. A terrified expression was glued to her face as she stared at the inferno coming from her.

“Rosie?” I said quietly, not believing what I was seeing. When she looked over to her brother and I, the flames direction changed and started spreading right for us.

Suddenly loud creaking and moaning came from within my walls. There was barely anytime to register what was happening when my walls burst open and water started spilling on the flames. Great! On top of fire damage, I can add bursted water pipes to my list of shit to worry about.

I looked down at Ben as he stood there wide-eyed. He then looked back at the bathroom and suddenly the water that filled the tub was gliding in the air and into his sister’s room.

“B-Ben? Are you doing this?!?” I asked, bringing my hand to my mouth, shaking.

When he looked up at me the giant puddle of water flying through my house stopped. Well there’s the answer to my question. A small shriek escaped my lips when the window in Rosemary’s room shattered from the heat. This prompted Ben to control the bath water and he dumped it in the room. In a second the flames were put out and all that remained in Rosie’s room was the scorched remains of her bed and a soaking wet Rosie.

“Rosie, oh my god!” I screamed as I dashed straight for her, locking her in a bear hug.

“I-I don’t know what happened.” She stammered out. “I was fine one second then the next… fire.”

“What was that? Rosie…” I then looked behind me to her twin brother,” Ben, you… what the hell is going on? How did you do that?”

“I- I dunno.” Ben muttered, still stunned.

Suddenly, Rosie burst into tears. “G-get away from me!” She yelled as she seemed to realize what happened.

“Rosie…” I said calmly.

“I-I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not going to hurt us, Rosie. Just calm down sweetie.” I reassured her.

“No! I- I’m always screwing things up! Always getting in trouble… I’ll never be as smart and perfect as Ben! Even now, he’s the one that saved you, mom. All I ever do is destroy.”

“Rosie, that’s not true!” Ben said, running up to his sister and grabbing her hands.

“No!” She yelled again, ripping her hands away from Ben,” I don’t want to cause any more damage.” Rosie then made a dash for it downstairs. Ben and I rushed after her, but she was too fast and was half way down the street when I got out of my house.

Crazy and maniacal laughter sounded from Laurie’s porch before she stumbled off her porch and into my side of the yard.

“I can’t fucking believe it! It worked! I’m going to be so fucking rich!” She cackled.

“Wha-what the hell are you going on about?” I stammered out. My eyes still on my daughter running from me.

“My serum, It worked! My synthetic neurotransmitters successfully created new pathways in the brain, unlocking the children’s ability to use superpowers! Freaking superpowers! I’ve just created a new race of super soldiers, and those fuckheads that call themselves my fellow scientists told me I’d never make the impossible possible! I’m a genius!!” She ranted.

“You experimented on unsuspecting children?” I screamed as I finally understood what she was talking about. “You gave children superpowers?!” My rage bubbled up within me as I marched towards Laurie.

“Ben close your eyes!” I yelled behind me, giving him time to cover them. I then wound my arm up and upper-cut the confused looking Laurie square in the jaw. Pain burst around my knuckles, but I didn’t care at this point. I’d deal with Laurie later. For now, her being knocked unconscious was enough for me.

I quickly got my car keys from inside and headed over to my Jeep, only to find that my tires had been slashed.

Great. I’ll have to find Rosie on foot.

It wasn’t until after I turned around back to get Ben that I noticed Jaime watching everything from across the street.

“Jaime?! How long have you been out here?”

“A while. My parents starting fighting about Jackson again.”

“Don’t repeat what you just saw me do, ever, okay?”

“Okay, Mrs. Jennings.”

“Did you eat a lollipop?”

“Yes, Mrs. Jennings.”

Fan. Fucking. Tastic.

“Just stay out of trouble, okay?” I said, grabbing Ben and heading the direction Rosie went in.

“I-I’m coming with you!” She shouted as she began following us.

“Stay here out of trouble, Jaime. She gave out all of her lollipops, there’s no telling what kind of chaos is about to go down.”

“I’d be safer with you then, wouldn’t I? Instead of by myself? I’m coming.”

I caved, rolled my eyes, and started jogging the direction Rosie went in. “Just tell me if you start feeling weird or anything.”

It wasn’t long before things started happening.

Someone’s kid got electric powers or something and a whole block’s lights were fried.

Screams of all varieties sounded through the streets as kids started developing different powers. Soon police, fire, and EMT sirens could be heard and weird smells started filling the air. I made sure Ben, Jaime, and I stuck to the sidewalk and guarded them as we searched for Rosie. Luckily for us we found a trail of small Rosemary sized burned footprints in the concrete and started following it.

I grew weary as the sounds of wet squelches and familiar laughter filled the air as we neared the street I’d encountered Jackson on earlier. When we created the hill I wasn’t thrilled to have been right. Jackson and Luke were still smashing peoples Jack-O-Lanterns and pumpkins, but with a disturbing new method.

It seems Jackson also ate one of Ms. Laurie’s power pops and developed an ability where he could enlarge his fist to the size of a basketball and smash pumpkins using it. He seemed to be having a blast using his new power to destroy things. Luke must’ve gotten super strength because the ground shook every time he punched a pumpkin.

“Hey! Quit that!” I yelled. Jackson raised his enlarged fist at me and I took a cautious step back.

“Or what? Tell my mommy again? Tch. Please.”

Jackson and Luke started laughing again.

“If you don’t piss off, I’ll do more than slash your tires!” He jeered.

“Why you little shit-“

Jackson then raised his fist and me again and then walked towards the closest car parked on the street. He then raised he unnaturally large fist and slammed it on the hood of the car, causing the car to flip in the air and land on the hood. It started beeping and the owners of the car rushed out of their house.

“Awesome!” Jackson laughed to himself.

“Dude, what the hell?” Luke said as he went to punch Jackson in the arm for the scolding of a lifetime they were about to get. As soon as Luke’s hand made contact with Jackson’s arm the sound of bone crunching and skin and muscle tearing apart sounded through the street.

Jackson’s arm went flying in front of the angry couple storming towards them. It took a second for Jackson’s agony filled screams to come out of his mouth. In a panicked retaliation, he enlarged his other fist and went for Luke’s head like it was a pumpkin. Blood and brain matter flew everywhere. I quickly scooped up Jaime and made a run for it, not wanting her to see anymore carnage. I heard Jackson’s body fall limp on the ground behind me, followed by the woman’s shocked screams.

I kept running and searching, screaming Rosie’s name, holding Jaime tight in my arms as I did so. Ben kept up behind me, also screaming his sisters name. The pit in my stomach told me things were going to get much worse the later I stayed out, and I wanted to find my daughter and get her to safety as fast as I could.

Soon, kids who figured out their powers were roaming the streets, talking to their friends and showing one another their powers. I’m assuming the rebellious ones learned how to detain their parents in a way, but there was also the chance a lot of parents were murdered by their kids powers, like how I almost died earlier.

An obnoxious little girl stopped talking to her group of friends before stopping right in front of us, with a devilish little smile on her face.

I didn’t want to engage so I tried to go around, but she just moved in my way again.

“Excuse me.” I said timidly, afraid of what this little girl could do to me.

“Not so fast. I wanna show Jaime my superpowers!” The girl, dressed as Isabella from Encanto, said in a sickly-sweet tone.

I slowly set Jaime down on the ground next to me. Ben held my hand and hid behind my legs.

“Look weirdo!” She then twirled in her purple dress. “I’m just like Isa, I can grow flowers!”

“Very cool, Natalie. Can we go now?” Jaime said in an unamused tone.

“Nope! I bet you didn’t even get a power because you’re so weird!” The little girl teased.

“Hey that’s enough!” I shouted. Suddenly a vine grew over my mouth and prohibited me from talking.

The fire hydrant next to me started shaking as Ben stared menacingly at the girl, but I waved my hand trying to call him off.

“Even if you did get a power I bet it’s a lame one!” Natalie jeered as her friend standing a few yards away we’re laughing and pointing at Jaime. “You’re just a loser! A nobody! A weirdo!”

I looked down next to me to see Jaime staring intensely at the little girl in front of me. Suddenly the little shit stopped talking and terror flooded her eyes. Natalie’s eyes grew red and blood started pouring out of her nose the more intense Jaime stared. Then two wet pops sounded out as the little girls eyeballs fell out of the sockets. The girls watching from afar screamed as they watched their friends face swell up and explode. Blood, guts, and body matter sprayed everywhere as the little girl imploded right in front of me. The vines from my face fell as bits of the purple dress rained down from the sky.

Jaime then shot a glare at the group of girls which caused them to scream and scatter away. Ben’s grip on my sleeves tightened as he processed what just happened. I took a cautious step away from the blood covered Jaime. Her once blonde hair was stained a sickening reddish brown. The cutest, nicest, and most timid, little girl I’ve ever known just murdered a girl with her mind in front of me and my son.

She smiled, wiped her face, and looked up at me. “I don’t like bullies.”

I gave her a small, nervous, smile before we stepped over what was left of Natalie, and continued to search for Rosie.

Who in the world thought it was a good idea to give children superpowers?!