Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month's prompt is “Halloween with a twist.”
This week’s
contribution comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara is an Italian author and
currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She writes fiction, with a focus on children’s
literature and science fiction.
The surprise party
by Chiara De Giorgi
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created with Canva
I remember being a bit worried because I didn’t know Andrew very well yet and
thought he was a dangerous guy. So I assumed his friends must be dangerous too,
and imagined they’d wreck that cute little house while Linda and I hid in the
closet to escape their destructive rampage.
Thankfully, reality turned out to be quite different! Neither Andrew nor his
friends appeared to be dangerous guys… in fact, I ended up having some of the
most interesting and intelligent conversations with them. But it’s not those
clever conversations I want to talk about now. I want to tell you about last Saturday’s
surprise party. I call it a “surprise party” not because it was organized
without my knowledge, but because Andrew and his friends wanted to keep
everything a secret from Linda and me—which meant we would be able to tell nothing
to Sabrina and Isabelle, who were also invited. But we definitely knew there’d
be a party. Okay, maybe I’m rambling a bit, sorry about that.
Early that afternoon, Andrew and his friends, Simon and Trevor, kicked Linda
out, so she came to my place. We’re neighbors, which is very convenient: she
just has to hop over the little fence, and she’s here. Even so, a typical
sudden, heavy late-August rain caught her while she was crossing the fence, and
she got soaked in those three feet between there and my front door. So, we had
something to keep us busy for the afternoon (namely, drying her clothes and
hair) while we racked our brains trying to guess what the boys were up to in
the house next door. We tried to peek from my bedroom window, but it’s not at
the right angle, so we ended up with stiff necks from all the twisting. My
sister Marina’s room is perfect for spying on our neighbors, but she was locked
in there drawing and didn’t want to be disturbed, saying we’d spoil her
inspiration.
Later in the
afternoon, Sabrina and Isabelle arrived at my place. They’d brought bags full of clothes, and we
started trying on different outfits, also raiding my closet. The problem was,
we didn’t know how to dress because we had no idea what kind of party the boys
were organizing. Sabrina and Isabelle wanted to try peeking too but eventually
gave up.
“Are you telling me your little brother Daniel doesn’t have a periscope
mirror?” Sabrina asked at one point. “He’s always tinkering and building weird
gadgets!”
Turned out, Daniel did have a periscope mirror. Full of excitement, we
tried it out, only to find that Andrew and the others had hung dark sheets over
the windows, so we couldn’t see a thing anyway.
When Andrew finally texted Linda to let her know the party was starting,
we were all still undecided on what to wear. I thought maybe the boys would try
and pull a prank on us, so I put on a silly little blue dress covered in pink
flamingos (I bought it at a flea market, and I don’t know what I was thinking;
I’d never had the courage to wear it, but the “surprise party” finally seemed
like the right occasion).
As we walked into my neighbors’ house, we were greeted by a thick cloud
of white smoke generated by a fog machine, and creaking noises and howls were playing
in the background. Just a few steps in, a giant spiderweb dropped down on our
heads. It was fake, of course, but in the moment, we all started screaming.
Then, out of the smoke appeared the three boys. Andrew was dressed as the
Joker, Trevor as Freddy Krueger, and Simon as a zombie.
Sabrina wasn’t
amused and started spouting profanities nonstop. Linda and Isabelle were trying
to disentangle themselves, and the more they struggled, the more tangled they
got. I regretted not wearing my Grim Reaper costume that I have at the back of
my closet and hated the pink flamingos on my dress more with every passing
second. I’d been trying to make a good impression on Andrew, but the more I
tried, the more awkward I got. Story of my life.
“Trick or treat!” the guys shouted, throwing gummy bears and Smarties at us.
I felt like laughing, but the other girls were pretty annoyed, and I didn’t
want to side with those tricksters, so I just grabbed a few gummy bears while
the three of them freed us from the giant spiderweb.
Then, before Sabrina, Linda, and Isabelle could follow through on their threats
to slice them into pieces, Andrew, Simon, and Trevor handed us baskets to
collect candy. We went outside and knocked on every door in the neighborhood,
shouting “Trick or treat?” and catching all the residents off guard. This made
most of them smile, and we soon gathered a decent following (led by my little
brother Daniel!). By the end of our rounds, our baskets were full of all kinds
of goodies. Not everyone had candy or sweets at home, so some gave us
sandwiches, others offered pieces of cheese, Tupperware with pasta, meatballs,
bottles of soda, and even some pork chops.
To finish off the night, we camped out in my neighbors’ yard, and it wasn’t
just the four of us girls and the three masterminds of the party anymore—we’d
amassed quite a crowd of kids and teens from the neighborhood.
In the midst of the chaos, Andrew came over to me and said, “You look great dressed as a flamingo!”
And that’s how that second-hand dress suddenly became my favorite piece of
clothing.
The Spot Writers:
Val Muller:
http://www.valmuller.com/blog/
Catherine A.
MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/
Phil Yeats:
https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/
Chiara De Giorgi:
https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/
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