Spoopy Halloween: Audio and Story

It always bothered Eugene that his country didn't take Halloween off. As far as he could tell, it was a more significant Holiday than many of the ones that got their parades or whatnot -- why couldn't Halloween have the day off so people could spend the morning looking at spoopy floats?

He'd always had mixed feelings about the Holiday, too, though -- hadn't he outgrown this childish day of dress up? But he still liked it, nonetheless. . . and so, he put in, a full two months early, a notice that he'd be taking Halloween off.

"Denied."

He couldn't believe it. Eugene had given them a full two months notice, and he had more than enough vacation time--he was practically a workaholic!

"Dave, what happened?" he asked his boss.

"I'm sorry Eugene, we just can't have you off that day, the week after Halloween we have a huge string of deadlines."

He was dumbstruck. It pissed him off, of course -- who wouldn't get pissed about having a vacation day denied? But it was more than that -- Eugene wasn't particularly religious, and for him, this was maybe his biggest cultural day of the year. But why was that?

What was it about the holiday that got to him so much?

Or... who was it?

 By the time it was to late October, Eugene felt like he was at the end of his rope. It had been weeks since he'd bothered to do laundry. It felt like day in and day out they were grinding away, pushing at these deadlines that were coming up in November.

But each day, knowing that he wasn't going to have Halloween off, he had to realize that the reason he wanted to take Halloween off was because he wanted it to be her day.

He'd always known she was there, lurking in the shadows. But, taking off just that one day of the year, he could let her out--let her see the world, in her own way--through a mask, through a costume, through a gimmick. Even if he didn't go anywhere, it was important to him.

Dave was very apologetic of course--oh yeah, you can take off all sorts of time in November... when they wouldn't be doing any work anyway, when all the deadlines would be well past. "Wouldn't that be better--to not have to worry about a big backlog of work when you come back?" Dave asked.

"Sure," Eugene said, and then, glassy eyed, went back to his cubicle.

"Hello Dave."

Dave had been in his cubicle. He was relieved that the deadlines were finally coming up--but still terrified that there was so much more work to do. He wasn't even really thinking about Eugene, or anyone else--just the deadline, as he sat and worked in his cubicle.

"Uh, hello, miss. . ." Dave said, looking at the woman before him. She had long black hair, an unkempt suit, but there was something manic and sinister about her--how did she get into the building? Wait, was that Eugene's tie?

"Eugene, is that you?"

"Eugene?" the woman asked, cackling, giggling maniacally. "Eugene isn't here anymore, Dave." She laughed as her eyes lit up--practically glowing.

"Are you okay?" Dave asked.

The woman crept forward, leering over him. "Oh yes, Dave. I'm fantastic. I just wanted to come and wish you. . ." and her fingernails became long claws, her teeth sharpening into vicious spikes, "to wish you a Happy Halloween!"

It's said those November deadlines never did end up getting met... it was reported there was some terrible accident in the office on Halloween night, although the news never quite got around to covering it.

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Happy Halloween!