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HERE ARE OUR HALLOWEEN HEROES OF 1997

1. AURORA "RORY" COSTUME GENGAR

2. SEAN COSTUME BATMAN

3. LUTHER COSTUME GHOSTFACE

123

 




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


OCTOBER 1997 HALLOWEEN MISCHIEF

"I win!" ten-year-old Aurora exclaimed as Luther groaned "I get to keep my Gengar!"

"No fair!" Luther laughed, "your Charizard beat my Venusaur too easily"

"Grass type is weak against fire you know that Luther" Aurora said, "I'm not trading my Gengar"

"Aw man!"

"Don't worry Luther when I cream her with my Blastoise she'll have to trade with me" Sean said trying to get his Gameboy Color to connect with Aurora's. It was a lazy fall Saturday afternoon in October and the three fifth graders had rode their bikes over to their place in the park.

All three of them sat under a large maple tree in the cool grass playing Pokémon Red and Blue for what seemed like hours on end and so far Aurora seemed to be the only one winning all the battles.

"Oh gee" Aurora laughed, "what do you know? gotta go!"

She kicked up her kickstand and hopped on her bike and laughed as she rode off but it wasn't long until Sean and Luther were right behind her.

The three fifth graders spent almost every weekend together like this with out a care in the world.

"We're going to get you Rory!" Luther said

"Nope I'm too fast!" Aurora replied peddling faster causing some of the fall leaves to fly up from under the wheels of her bike.

This of course caused Sean and Luther to peddle their bikes faster too but they were no match for road master Aurora. She was a true bike kid she even boasted about how her father Victor was going to let her get a dirt bike in three years when she turns thirteen.

"Rory look out!" Luther called out after her

"Nice try Luther!" Aurora replied

"No really Rory look out!"

Aurora turned around to see their neighbor Mr. Clark step out his van with two big cans of purple paint. Aurora couldn't seem to reach for the breaks, fast enough which caused and domino effect. Since she couldn't stop both Sean and Luther crashed into her and the three of them crashed into Mr. Clark.

A half-hour later Jacquelyn Campbell opened her front door to see her ten year old daughter smiling up at her covered in blotches of purple paint along with the boys. Behind them stood Mr. Clark with his arms folded crossly since he was the one covered in most of the paint.

 

"Hey Rory stop that!" Luther said giggling wiping off the bit of paint she flicked at him and had landed on his glasses. Aurora snickered and Sean laughed out loud.

"Alright now you three how about getting more of that paint on the fence?" Mr. Clark said as he watched the three youngsters as he sat on the porch.

If there was a female version of Tom Sawyer then Aurora was it. She had on a dirty pair of overalls and her thick hair was sticking out from a battered baseball cap as she served her punishment.

The punishment was painting the fence that Mr. Clark was going to paint when they crashed into him last week. The fence had to be painted by the last weekend before Halloween or all of their parents agreed that the three of them wouldn't be allowed to go trick or treating.

This news of course didn't sit well with Aurora so she was determined to get the fence done even if she didn't go about it in the neatest way like Sean and Luther were doing.

"Rory you're getting paint all over the place" Sean chuckled

"We have to get this done" Aurora said determined "this is going to be the best Halloween yet"

"Oh yeah and why is that?" Luther asked pushing his glasses back on his face

"I'm going to be Gengar," she said proudly and Sean and Luther chuckled.

"What's so funny? Gengar is a ghost type and he's my favorite"

"That's not a Pokémon a girl would be" Luther explained "why not Clefairy or Jigglypuff?"

"Yuck!" Aurora scrunched up her nose "they're both pink I hate pink what are you going to be Mr. Know It All?"

"Ghostface" Luther replied excitedly "my dad got me the mask that bleeds and everything"

"No way my dad won't even let me watch Scream" Aurora said

"That's because you'd probably be too chicken Rory" Sean snickered "remember how you kept turning away when we watched Gremlins?"

"Those little bugged things were actually scary though" Aurora pointed out "Sean what are you going to be?"

"Batman" Sean replied confidently "I'm already going to be a millionaire one day anyway from playing for the Miami Dolphins"

"Yeah if you learn to throw the ball right butterfingers" Luther snickered.

"Sounds like you three have been doing an awful lot of giggling for having big plans for Halloween"

Mr. Clark came up to inspect the work that the youngsters were doing.

"We already know all the houses were going to," Aurora boasted

"Is that so?" Mr. Clark chuckled

"Yup all the houses that give out full size candy bars" Aurora went on to say "plus I'm going to have the best costume"

"You just be careful about which houses you go to" Mr. Clark said

"What do you mean Mr. Clark?" Luther asked

"You see that house up there?"

The kids all turned around to see the old neglected house that stood at the end of the block. It looked like Freddy Kruguers house from Nightmare on Elm Street. Dreary and run down.

"Blind Man Solomon lives there"

"Blind Man Solomon?"

"He's pretty much harmless if he's not bothered"

"What if somebody does bother him?" Aurora asked curious

"He's crazy as bat that's what" Mr. Clark warned "folks say he accidently killed his mother by pushing him down a flight of steps and once when he was cutting the paper he cut his scissors in his father's leg and went back to cutting the paper like it was nothing"

"How could he do that if he was blind?" Sean pointed out

"That's the thing" Mr. Clark went on to say "the man's not blind at all folks gave him that nickname on account of how he's always either squinting those beady eyes of his or just not paying attention to what he's doing"

"So he lives by himself now?" Luther asked

"Yup his father died long before any of you kids were thought of back in 1979" Mr. Clark replied "needless to say he's been living in that house by himself for almost twenty years"

The three kids stared in awe at the house and Mr. Clark chuckled "Of course most of those are just rumors and urban legends but if you kids know what's best for you you best stay clear of that house"

 

The doorbell rung on the Campbell house door on Halloween at five-thirty it was still light out but it was slowly getting dark. Aurora jumped up with excitedly to answer it.

"Slow down there tiger" Victor chuckled as he caught his daughter zoom past him at the corner of his eye from the dining room table

"Dad I'm not a tiger" Aurora said raising her arms to pose "I'm Gengar the Shadow Ghost Pokémon"

"Oh how many of those Pokeman are there?"

"Pokémon Dad" she corrected "not Pokeman how come grownups have such a hard time remembering that? There are 150 of them"

"Funny how you can remember that but you can't seem to remember your times tables" Victor smirked at her "but you do look ready for Halloween and probably more tricks than treats"

Aurora gave her most sinister grin just like the fictional pocket monster. She made the costume all on her own with all of her allowance money with her mother's help of course.

A large dark purple blanket stitched together and red make up around her eyes to mimic the eyes. Her mother helped to brush her thick hair into different parts of spikes just like the Pokémon.

This was certainly an emotional Halloween for the Campbell parents since it would probably be the last one when one of their children needed help getting ready.

Victor Jr, Calvin, and Maurice were older and in high school so they already had their Halloween festivities planned and were going out to parties. Now Aurora was old enough to go trick or treating with a group of friends with a curfew of course.

Jacquelyn never would have guessed that one day she'd be making a costume like this for her daughter. Most little girls wanted to be a princess, a fairy, or a witch for Halloween but not her little girl. Jacquelyn had to say she did admire Aurora's originality.

"Alright then my little Pokémon go get the door those are probably your friends now" Jacquelyn said as she stood next to Victor.

"Okay!"

"Trick or treat!" Luther greeted as he pulled up his Ghostface mask to talk "wow Rory you weren't kidding about Gengar"

"I told you," she laughed dumping some candy into his pillowcase "what's wrong with you Sean can't say trick or treat?"

"I am vengeance" Sean replied moving his cape dramatically "I am the night"

"Alright I guess Batman doesn't want any candy," Aurora teased putting the bowl back

"Trick or treat!"

"That's what I thought" she smirked dumping candy into his pillowcase too

"You ready Rory?"

"Yeah let me get my pillowcase"

"Hold on now I need my yearly picture of the three Musketeers" Victor chuckled getting his Polaroid camera together "alright now nobody's going to mess with these three tonight"

The kids laughed at all of Victor's corny dad jokes as Jacquelyn gave out some general safety rules and made sure they all had working flashlights.

"What time are you to be back home Aurora Jolie?"

"Nine" she said reluctantly

"That's right"

"But Mom it's Friday" she tried to reason "it's not like there's school tomorrow plus my brothers are staying out later"

"Your brothers are older than all three of you" Victor said "just be grateful because I actually wanted you home by eight"

"Yes" Jacquelyn added "plus Sean and Luther's parents will be back here at that time looking to take them home so the rule extends to them too"

"Yes Mom"

"Alright now you kids have fun," Victor said as they all made their way out the door

And off they went to have their Halloween adventure

 

By eight-thirty the kids' pillowcases were already halfway full with all kinds of candies and delicious goodies. All of which had to be searched by their parents once they got home.

"One candy bar can't hurt" Aurora said as she ripped open a Kit Kat bar and broke off a piece for each of them to share. The three of them sat on a bus bench stop taking a break.

It was looking like a pretty festive Halloween so far and everyone commented on how creative Aurora's costume was and the three of them looked pretty good. Even Mr. Clark was impressed and gave them candy apples.

Then of course some mean seventh graders dampened all their fun. The kind of kids who only pick on kids just because they were only a grade or two younger and these boys were no exception.

"Hey guys look at the puny little fifth graders" one of them said "and look all the candy they got for us too"

"This is our candy Ed you can't have any" Aurora said firmly

Twelve-year-old Ed Warner smirked "Who says? What are you supposed to be anyway? A scary Pokémon?"

"Ohh I'm so scared and who are your friends scary Pokémon? Batman and Ghoulface?"

"That's Ghostface to you" Luther spoke up between bites of his Kit Kat

"Somebody's being sassy huh guys"

The boys snickered along with Ed and then turned their attention to Sean

"You got anything to say Batman?"

"I am the night" Sean replied both seriously and sarcastically to which both Aurora and Luther chuckled.

"Aren't you that same squirt whose football we took?" Ed said ignoring how Sean made him feel dumb for a minute "don't play tough guy now"

Aurora saw Sean bite his lower lip a little they never did get his football back. It was a special one too that he had gotten for his birthday.

"Yeah you wouldn't mind if we took some of your candy" one of the boys said as he reached out to grab Sean's pillowcase

"No you can't have Sean's candy" Aurora spoke up sternly

"Can't the wimpy little white boy speak up for himself?" the boy Jared Jones asked "he's Batman after all"

Sean balled up his fists as much as he liked hanging out with Aurora and Luther this part of the neighborhood was still predominantly black. Often times Sean was picked on for sticking out like a sore thumb.

"If that's the case we're taking all your candy then" Ed proclaimed

"Hey!"

The boys proceeded to yank all three of the pillowcases from their grasp, which resulted in a bit of tug of war going on between them. Of course with them being bigger and slightly older they of course won and darted off down the street.

"C'mon on!" Aurora said pulling both Sean and Luther to their feet "we're not going to let them get away with our candy!"

"Rory wait!"

It was a chase down the street light lit sidewalk between the candy snatchers and the kids who got their candy snatched. Aurora was in the lead after them closely followed by Sean and Luther.

After what seemed like a long run Ed and the boys turned around surprised to see that the little fifth graders were still after them.

"You babies still want your candy back?"

"Yeah you big jerk!" Aurora "get your own candy!"

"Alright then go get it!"

The kids gasped as Ed and the boys threw all three of their pillowcases on to the porch of the house belonging to Blind Man Solomon.

"Say hi to Old Solomon for us too"

Ed and his friends laughed as they ran off to go terrorize some other kids.

Aurora balled her fists in frustration as she started at porch where their pillowcase candies lay.

"Let's go back and home and get new pillowcases" Luther suggested "we still have two hours left to get more candy---"

"No" Aurora cut him off "I'm not going to let Ed and his stupid friend do this to us"

"Rory---"

"We're getting our candy back"

"But you remember what Mr. Clark said about Solomon" Sean said

"It won't take long" Aurora said pushing open the front gate "we'll just take our candy and go kick Ed's butt"

Sean and Luther looked at each other a little uneasy since Aurora made it sound like a walk in the park.

"C'mon Blind Man Solomon won't even know that we're here," she said already going up the walk way to the house.

The wind whistled a little and sent a breeze through the tree branches and the leaves. Some of those branches happened to tap on the window screens that were on the second floor of the house

"Ed is going to get when I get him," Aurora grumbled as they stepped on the porch "half of our candy got out the cases"

"Let's just take what's left in the cases then" Luther insisted

"I'm getting all my candy" Aurora insisted stubbornly already picking up a few pieces and bars

"Did you guys hear that?" Sean jumped a little

"Hear what?"

"Shh!"

Sure enough there was a creak coming from inside the house behind the door. Suddenly the front door knob began to jiggle and that was it. Sean and Luther both scrambled behind Aurora but this point even she was trembling.

The front door did open a bit but then shut again. Opened and then shut again.

It opened and shut for a third time.

"What are we waiting for?" Luther urged, "come let's go"

"Wait" Aurora said as she went in closer to the door "you think he's in there?"

"Of course he's in their Rory let's go," Sean said

"What if all that stuff about him isn't true though?" she pointed out "more than likely it probably isn't"

Aurora pushed open the door and went inside the gloomy home leaving Sean and Luther no choice but to follow her. The living room looked like it was caked with decades of dust and smelled like the inside pages of an old library book.

"Hello?" she called out "Mr. Solomon? We're just here to get our candy back"

No answer

"Mr. Solomon?"

No answer

"Welp nobody's home" Luther said, "let's go before someone is"

Aurora made her way further into the house and flicked on her flashlight; the boys sighed and crossed their fingers that nothing would happen as they followed her

"Mr. Solomon"

"Maybe he wants to be left alone" Sean said "he would have came out by now"

"What if something's wrong with him?"

"With Blind Man Solomon?" Luther said in disbelief "he's fine Mr. Clark said he's been living here since forever remember?"

Suddenly a chair knocked over in the dining room and a painful moan sounded out.

"What was that?" Luther jumped "I'm scared let's leave already!"

"Luther calm down" Aurora insisted as she quickly used her flashlight "let's go see exactly what it is okay?"

To their surprise when the kids turned the corner into the dining room there was the notorious old man on the ground howling in pain and crying. This was Blind Man Solomon? This was the old man that everyone in the neighborhood stood clear of?

"Mr. Solomon?" Aurora reached out to him "Mr. Solomon are you alright?"

"Ahhh!"

Solomon swatted at Aurora in response obviously scared and not wanting her to come any closer

"Mr. Solomon we're not going to hurt you"

"Rory look" Sean pointed out "there's something stuck in his leg"

Sure enough there was a huge splint of wood that dug deep into the skin of Solomon's leg and blood was leaking down his pant leg. No wonder he was in so much pain.

"He needs to go to the hospital" Luther said "that looks pretty bad"

"We have to call our parents they'll know what to do" Aurora said "Mr. Solomon do you have a telephone?"

Solomon nodded pointing to the landline on the wall; he wasn't a man of much words.

"We're going to get you some help okay?"

"C'mon Mr. Solomon" Sean said as he and Luther gently helped him to an available chair "you'll feel better if we put your leg up"

Solomon of course had a much older phone the kind where you had to loop your finger with every number and wait for the circle to dial back.

"Mom?"

"Aurora Jolie Campbell" Jacquelyn scolded her from the other side of the phone line "where are you? You and the boys were supposed to be back almost twenty minutes ago---"

"Mom we need you to dial 911 it's an emergency!" Aurora cut off her mother urgently

"Aurora sweetie are you and the boys okay?"

"We're fine Mom it's for Mr. Solomon" she explained, "he's really bad and needs to go to the hospital"

"Solomon on Vernon Street? What are you doing there? Nobody messes with that crazy old man---"

"He's not crazy Mom he needs help!" she insisted, "please could you call the ambulance and come get us?"

Jacquelyn felt a little embarrassed that she went off the superstitions that the neighborhood had about the lonely old man. In that moment her ten-year-old daughter sounded more like an adult than she did.

"You kids hold tight I'll call an ambulance and we'll be there as fast as we can"

 

About an hour later Aurora, Sean, and Luther found themselves in the waiting room of the local hospital as the paramedics had quickly rushed Solomon to the be treated right away.

They managed to get their candy back too and their parents allowed them to have a few pieces of candy too.

"I wonder if he's okay" Sean said between bites of his Milky Way

"Dad is Mr. Solomon okay?" Aurora asked

"The doctors are tending his leg right now" Victor explained "they'll let us know as soon as they can or if it gets too late they'll let us know in the morning"

"You kids did the right thing" Hugh Sullivan Sean's father said "who knows how long that old man has been up in that house by himself"

"Yes an it looks like that infection on his leg was going to get worse too" Brenda Jenkins Luther's mother added

"Sean and I can't take the credit" Luther said "if Rory hadn't insisted on getting our candy back after Ed and his friends stole it from us we wouldn't stumbled on Mr. Solomon"

Jacquelyn smiled and Aurora smiled back at her as she leaned down to her eye level

"Well my little Pokémon it look like you, Batman, and Ghostface saved the day"

"I'm sorry I cut you off on the phone Mom" Aurora said, "I know I'm not supposed to do that"

"We'll make any exception this time since you were helping somebody"

"Mom I think Mr. Solomon could be a nice man he's just shy" Aurora said "everyone thinks he's crazy because he likes to keep to himself"

"Yes well come that maybe because his father abused him"

"Why would his father abuse him though Mrs. Campbell?" Sean asked

"There are some people in this world that are like that unfortunately" Jacquelyn replied

"Well his father is long dead so he doesn't have to worry about him any more" Luther Jenkins Sr. said "but he can't stay in that house by himself he can't take care of himself"

"Where will he go?" Aurora asked

"A senior assisted home where he'll be loved and taken care of" Victor reassured "and you kids will be able to visit him any time you like"

 

Two weeks later the whole neighborhood pitched in to help Solomon move out of his dreary old house into Sunrise Senior Assisted Living; where he was doing much better. The kids visited him almost everyday after school too

"Mr. Solomon looks like your visitors are here"

Solomon leaned up in his seat by his window and gave a little smile when the three fifth graders who were the first ones in years to save him entered the room.

"Hi Mr. Solomon" Aurora greeted as she and the boys came to his bedside "how are you feeling today?"

Sean never forgot how Solomon's whole face brightened when Aurora greeted him.

Solomon softly replied

"Much better young lady"

 

 












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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.