Chapter 242: Halloween Trick or Treating (2)
[General POV]
-Flashback-
A day after Edward's live stream where he introduced Coldplay and promoted their album, the tension in the room was palpable. Edward was sitting directly in front of Linda, their knees almost touching as Linda had positioned the chairs to face each other intensely.
"Is this necessary?" Edward asked, his voice laced with slight uncomfortableness at the confrontational setup.
Linda's expression was determined as she replied, "I need to step up my game since your defenses are almost impenetrable." It has been an hour and 45 minutes since Edward started his session, but he barely talks about anything today. She then took out a pen from her cleavage, crossed her legs together, and said, "I want to ask you a few questions about the upcoming Holiday if you don't mind."
Edward, feeling a bit intrigued, said happily, "Halloween? Yeah we can talk about that. We can talk about that all day long."
"Great. So tell me Edward, why do you have 13 costumes planned out for Halloween?" Linda asked, her gaze unwavering.
Edward was surprised by her knowledge and asked defensively, "Wait. How did you even know that?"
"I have my sources," Linda said with a teasing smile. As Edward was narrowing his eyes at her, she revealed, "Your father told me just before you came in. Although, he just said that you're indecisive about picking one, and was just laughing at the thing the whole time. But, when I noticed the numbers…I realized there may be something more about the whole thing."
Edward nodded, feeling slightly relieved, before leaning backward on his chair and saying, "Like he said. I'm indecisive."
However, Linda refused to back down. She leaned in and said firmly, "Really? And it has nothing to do with, you feel that you are OWED to celebrate it? 13 costumes, one for each year of your life."
Edward leaned forward and gazed at Linda angrily, holding himself back as he joked, "You know what? It irks me so much when you psychoanalyze me."
"It's the only thing I can do given your non-commintement of undergoing your therapy session. Am I correct in my assessment?"
Edward rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Yeah. You are the smartest girl in the world."
"Thank you. I take that as a compliment." Linda ignored the diss and continued, "I am curious though."
"Curious about what?" Edward asked.
"Why 13? Why not 14?"
Edward paused briefly before he smiled and said, "Because I had that one time with my dad."
Linda was taken aback, and she smiled sincerely. She hesitated before carefully asking, "Why…wait 2 years before you enjoy it? I mean, if you're looking forward to it your whole life, then why wait? Why not go out and celebrate it the moment your mother left the house?"
After Linda asked the question, Edward rubbed the back of his head with some irritation before replying, "I could've if I'd realized that sooner. But, I'm a kid. I'm bad at understanding my emotions."
Linda nodded and said, "I understand that. It must have been tough for you. Especially since you had no people to guide you in processing your emotions while you were a child. And after your mom left, you had basically been alone."
She remembered what Edward said in the livestream and asked, "The effort you put in Halloween is phenomenal. Is Halloween your favorite holiday among other Holidays? Or, was it because you've been building it up inside your head, to feel what it's like?"
Edward scoffed derisively and said dismissively, "No, it's because of all the candy. And the time is up. Goodbye."
-Flashback ends-
[Edward POV]
Walking side by side with my ex-teacher, Miss Henderson, while holding hands, I felt like I was living the weirdest day of my life or quite possibly a strange dream– Dressed in a Phantom of the Opera costume I had bought from another kid, literally turning into a 7 year old, everyone was wearing a costume as they walked past me, holding hands with my ex middle school teacher which I claimed was my mother as I walked around my neighbourhood.
"Ummm...Miss Henderson?" I called out to her softly. "You don't have to keep holding my hand. I won't run away."
"I know. I just want to," she replied curtly, her attitude a complete opposite of how I knew her. Compared to her usual reserved demeanor, she seemed a bit clingy, and most importantly, she accepted the whole situation too easily.
In fact, it was suspicious to me that she hadn't tried to ask about my identity or my family. Nor did she even ask my name.
'Going on a trick-or-treat outing with a random child she grabbed off the street? I wonder if she's a mentally unstable person pretending to be a functional adult,' I thought, my mind racing with questions. 'Maybe I should've implanted some additional initiatives to open up the mental institutions back then?'
My thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly karate chopped the top of my head. "Ouch! Why did you do that?" I asked, shocked.
"You look like you were thinking about something rude," she said, pointing to the next house. "We're here now. They just left a bowl of candy outside, so you can take one."
"Alright," I replied, giving her a purposefully cute smile, but she didn't react, which only served to confuse me further. 'So it's not because of that…Then, why is this happening?'
A little frustrated, I faked a smile after I picked up the candy, and went back to her. She reached out her hand to me, and I reluctantly held it again.
"By the way, do you know me?" I asked her.
"E– I don't." She replied.
"Then, why are you helping me?" I asked curiously.
"I just feel like it." She replied ambiguously.
At the next house, a sweet, blonde Christian woman opened the door. "Aww, you are so lovely. Is the costume your idea?" She asked me.
"Yes. Because my mom here said that I can sing like an angel." I said innocently while pointing at Mrs Henderson who's standing behind me. Mrs Henderson was startled, but the mom was already excited.
"Oh, then why don't you sing a bit for me?" She requested.
"I'll do it for 2 more chocolate bars." I negotiated.
"Deal! James~! You gotta come see this!"
"Coming Christina."
A middle aged man with cheerful spirit and a thick head full of hair joined his wife.
"Oh, is he going to sing for us?" The husband asked in excitement after getting the story from his wife. "Give it your best big guy!" He encouraged me.
"It's better not to–" Mrs Henderson tried to stop me, but it was too late. I started rapping the lyrics to Baby Got Back with style.
"I like big butts and I cannot lie! You other brothers can't deny! That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist And a round thing in your face, you get sprung, Wanna pull up tough 'cause you notice that butt was stuffed, Deep in the jeans she's wearin'"
"Oh Lord." Christina held her cross necklace as she looked at me with a horrified expression. Her husband was bobbing his head as he enjoyed the song though, albeit subconsciously.
"I'm hooked and I can't stop starin'. Oh, baby, I wanna get with ya. And take your picture. My homeboys tried to warn me. But that butt you got makes Me-me so horny–"
Mrs Henderson covered my mouth and picked me up before I could finish the song. "Just forget about the chocolates." She said anxiously as she dragged me away. In the next house, I sang the lyrics to WAP, which made her do the same thing again.
"Are you going to act like this the entire time?" She asked with a slight annoyance in her tone. I laughed and said, "You know you can leave anytime you want."
"Mr Newgate, I'm not going to leave, so just forget about that." She said as she grabbed my hand and tried to walk forward, but I wasn't moving. She turned slowly towards me.
I looked at her intently and said, "I never told you my name. And if I had, I wouldn't have actually told you my real one. So how did you know it was me… Mrs Henderson?"
…
[Mrs Henderson POV]
When I received the call that he was in possible danger, I didn't hesitate. I rushed towards the neighborhood, frantic to find him. That's when I heard the desperate shout of someone calling me his mother.
As I turned to look at the child, my entire being was shocked when I realized who he was. I could never forget that face - the one I've been watching over since he was just born, from his first steps to his first words, from losing his baby teeth to the day his entire world lost its color.
This was the face of the child I've carried such immense guilt for. Why didn't I interfere in his life sooner? Why was I only ever a silent observer from afar?
"Mother!" he called out to me again as he rushed into my arms. My knees felt weak - the guilt and happiness of seeing him once more tore me apart. It was unsettling, this pull I felt towards him.
I realized he had fallen into his new guardian's scheme, made a child again.
While the method was unorthodox, I couldn't help but applaud this guardian for daring to break the rules in a bid to help him. Something I had been too afraid, and too busy to do in the beginning.
There was no logical reason for me to stay now that I knew I had been deceived. And yet, I found myself reluctant to leave. I wanted...to see him, to witness him enjoying the childhood that had been stolen from him.
His defiant behavior, meant to embarrass me into departing, only made me feel an odd sense of fondness. I liked seeing him act this way - it made him seem more like the child he was meant to be.
Rather than being locked up in his house, forced to mature early in his never ending struggle to make his mother proud of him. The external needs of validation that prevented him from ever truly trusting anyone with his true thoughts. I wanted to see him always be happy like this. Burdenless…
"So how did you know it was me... Mrs. Henderson?" he asked, catching me off guard when I misspoke. Or maybe I did that on purpose. I had no idea of knowing what exactly prompted my actions today.
Instinctively, I yearned to use my powers to make him forget, but then I remembered I had been stripped of them. Strangely, this realization brought a feeling of relief. I was so confused with myself right now.
Crouching before him, I found myself fixing his hair and removing his mask as I wanted to look at his full face, unaware of the uncharacteristic tenderness in my expression. Edward seemed surprised, but said nothing, waiting patiently for my response.
"It seems you already know the answer," I told him. To my own astonishment, he accepted this easily, even smiling as he guessed, "You're the one who spanked me as a baby?"
"Just once," I replied, matching his lightness.
"Are you the one labeled in my file as 'First Guardian'?" he asked again.
I nodded silently, unsettled by how effortlessly he pieced it together. Given his remarkable mind, I knew there was no point in denying the truth.
"So you have been watching me all these times?" He asked.
"Yes." I replied. "Are you disappointed?"
"Well, that should make our connection artificial to me." He replied. But he continued, "However, I don't know why, I don't feel an ounce of anger or disappointment at all."
"And why is that?"
"Well, when I met Sage, I…realized that, you don't have the obligation to help me. But, when I saw my files, I understood that you have been working behind the scenes to do it, unlike Sage who likes to bulldoze through. So, what I wants to say is…Thanks–"
Before he could finish, I hugged him abruptly. He was startled. Then, he was shocked.
[Edward POV]
Mrs Henderson was crying. She cried as she hugged me. The Ice Queen broke down.
"I'm sorry. I should've watched over you more." She said as she apologized sobbingly to me. My chin quivered as the emotions affected me, but I played it off cheerfully, "Why are you apologizing? You're not responsible for what happened to me, at all! In fact, what happened to me wasn't even that bad compared to what the other kids are going through."
I wanted to console her, to make her understand that I held no ill will. This woman had been a constant, if silent, presence in my life. Even if our connection was artificial, the knowledge that she had been watching over me all these years filled me with an odd sense of comfort.
She burst into crying even harder. So I continued trying to console her. While patting her back with my tiny hand, and my voice a little shaky, I said, "Listen, I'm really fine! I had a bad mom! I don't have a terminally ill disease, nor was I living on the street. What I have is already good enough. You don't have to apologize to me, at all!"
"Just because someone else has it worse, you don't have to try to diminish what you have experienced.." She suddenly said. She pulled herself away from me and looked into my eyes.
"Sure, the kids in hospitals have it worse, that doesn't mean you have to feel guilty for having thoughts about your own life. It doesn't mean you can't complain. It doesn't mean that you can't be hopeful."
"I…"
I couldn't reply to what she was saying. She held my hand again and said, "Others might not know it, but I know exactly why you love Halloween."
"The candies, right?" I joked.
"Yeah. Especially the part where you don't have to work hard to get the candy. It was just given to you."
"And I'm assuming there's a deeper meaning behind that?" I said jokingly. Mrs Henderson smiled tiredly and said, "There is, but we can talk about that later. How much time do you have left?"
"Around 45 minutes. Why?" I asked.
She stood up and held my hand again, "Rather than me walking you around, I think, there is someone else you'd like to spend the last 45 minutes with, don't you?"
"Well I do, but it'll be impossible for me to have that anymore." I replied with a sad smile as I rewear my mask.
Mrs Henderson said, "It's impossible to do if you're alone. But, you have me to help you smoothen things out."
"Wait. Since we're already here, we should stop by first," I said, gently tugging Mrs. Henderson's sleeve as I pulled her towards the unsettling scene beside us.
The Dunphy house loomed before us, a sinister silhouette against the inky night sky. Twisted, gnarled trees lined the walkway, their bare branches clawing at the air ominously. Scattered across the front lawn were human-sized puppets, their lifeless eyes and vacant expressions sending a chill down my spine.
"Claire went overboard. It's really exciting." I said with excitement as I admired the view. Mrs Henderson looked at me weirdly, but she didn't say anything.
The front porch was shrouded in darkness, save for the flickering orange glow of jack-o-lanterns that leered at us with malicious grins.
Despite being like a house straight from a horror movie, Claire stood among the eerie display, her normally cheery demeanor replaced by a frantic, almost desperate energy as she tried to coax the few remaining trick-or-treaters towards her door.
"Wait! Come back! You forgot your candy!" she cried, her voice desperate.
"AHHH! RUNNNN!" The children rushed away after she tried to get close to them.
Phil emerged from the house, his face ashen. "Honey, maybe we should call it quits. It's too much for the kids to stand." He shuddered as he glanced back towards the interior, where the ominous silhouette of the "Doll House" could be seen, its countless eyes seemingly watching his every move.
I subconsciously gripped Mrs Henderson's hand tighter before pulling her towards the house. Claire and Phil beamed up as they saw me.
"Hey! Aren't you Alex's teacher, Mrs Henderson?" Claire asked with some surprise. And when she saw me, her eyes shook, "You have a son?"
Mrs Henderson was taken aback and said, "No. I'm just looking out for him."
"Oh." Claire laughed a bit. "What's your name?" Claire asked me.
"Harry Styles." I replied.
Phil greeted with friendliness, despite wearing the Jigsaw costume, "Oh, your name is like a name for celebrities. I'm sure you will be big one day."
Claire, who was dressed like the female version of Jigsaw, smiled eerily and said, "Welcome Harry, to the DollHouse of Nightmares!"
"Sweet!" I exclaimed, which made Phil bewildered,"He likes it?!"
Claire laughed in satisfaction and opened the door to the house wide, welcoming me to enter. There were numerous dolls inside the living room, filling every nook and cranny of the space.
"Aren't you afraid that they will come to life and haunt you?" I asked the duo with an innocent tone.
Claire smiled while Phil looked a bit worried. She said, "You shouldn't worry about us, but you should worry about yourself! Naughty boys who don't listen to their parents, when entering the Dollhouse, will be turned into a doll themselves."
"Sweet! I always wanted to become a doll." I replied, throwing a wrench in Claire's ploy to scare me. Phil chuckled and rubbed my hair, "Here, take the candies."
"Phil, he didn't even flinch. How can we scare Edward like this?" Claire asked her husband.
"First of all, are you even sure he's coming? Won't he go straight to his party?" Phil asked.
Claire opened her mouth, but she couldn't reply. While I was filling my buckets with candies they placed on the table in the living room, Enid, Jenna, Alex and Elsa came downstairs.
"Why do you even bother coming out with a plan? Ed's not coming." Elsa said.
Enid replied, "He will come! Then, we can bring him trick or treating. As long as Alex and I stay in front, the parents will give all of us candies."
"Mom, we're going to go now." Alex said before she suddenly turned to the teacher, "Mrs Henderson? Why are you here?"
"She came to give you your report card! You fail in every subject!" I shouted to scare her from behind. Alex and Enid flinched before all of the girls turned towards me.
"Who's this midget?" Enid asked mockingly as she pointed at me. However, as she saw the exposed part of my face, she became confused. Even Jenna noticed it too.
[Alex's commentary]
"It might be the Halloween vibes and all, but I almost screamed when I heard what the kid said."
[commentary ends]
"Mom, let's go." I took Mrs Henderson's hand and said to Claire, "Thank you Doll Lady, and Doll Gentleman."
Both of them chuckled in satisfaction as they waved me off. "Bye Harry Styles." Phil shouted from afar.
…
*Ding Dong*
"I'm coming!" Ted brought a bowl of candy with him as he walked to the front door, eager to give out treats to the trick-or-treaters. Suddenly, he saw two familiar faces standing in front of his door.
"Teacher Henderson?" He muttered as he saw her. He turned to look at me and said, "Is this your son? Aren't you single?"
Mrs Henderson almost rolled her eyes, but she held herself back. Well, the original plan was for me and Mrs Henderson to act like she needed to get home, but I still wanted to continue trick or treating.
Knowing my dad, he would volunteer to take me for a while, allowing her to respond to something personal or tend to her work matter. But I suddenly had a bad thought when I saw his face today.
"Hi! I'm Harry." I introduced myself.
My dad smiled, not knowing what's about to hit him, "Hi Harry. Here, take some candy."
"Thank you daddy~" I replied innocently, before I acted like I shouldn't have done that. I turned to Mrs Henderson with a horrified voice while both of them were confused, "I'm sorry Mommy. I misspoke. I know you want to hide me, but I'm so excited to finally meet daddy."
"I'm-I'm sorry. What?!" My dad was extremely shocked. I was chuckling inwardly while Mrs Henderson pinched my cheek and punished me greatly. "Stop that. I'm sorry about him. He's a pathological liar."
We did continue with our original act, and my dad did volunteer to take me around, so nothing came out of my mischief. Or that's what I expected it would be.
[General POV]
5 minutes earlier. When Enid and Jenna saw child-Edward's face. They whispered with each other. Enid said, "They really look similar, right?"
"I know. It's like they are brothers! Should we take a picture of him to show Ed?" Jenna suggested.
"That's a great idea." Enid said before both she and Jenna followed Mrs Henderson. They were confused at first as to why the duo went straight to Edward's house, and when they heard what little 'Harry' said at the door, both of them froze in place.
They ran away before they could hear the whole thing, and hid behind the bushes. They gazed at each other with a blank stare. Enid spoke first, "Did you hear what I hear?"
"Edward has a half brother? And Mrs Henderson had hooked up…with his dad?" Jenna muttered with disbelief.