Skeletons In The Closet

By Niyah Jacob

Sunlight streams in through the gaps in the drapes

There's a gentle breeze playing around

I open my eyes, lying in bed.

The breeze opens a door with a creak

Revealing the decorations behind it.

Ah Halloween, I remember.

My favourite day.

I get out of bed to repeat

The mundane things I do all year round.

But today there's a skip in my step

And a song fills the big lonely house.

You see,

I have no friends. No family.

I'm the creepy man who lives in the haunted house in the neighborhood.

Children run when they see me

They scream when they accidentally step on my property.

Everyone thinks I'm a little odd.

(I suppose I do have my fair share of skeletons in the closet)

But every year when this day comes around

Everyone gets a little odd.

They hang fake entrails of human bodies

Where their fairy lights and cute little flowers used to be

They deliberately make their houses

Appear disheveled and dilapidated

With cobwebs and bats.

But when my house looked like that all year round,

I was asked (and not very nicely)

To take it all down!

The hypocrisy, I tell you.

Granted, my decorations weren't plastic and artificial.

I wanted it to look authentic.

Nothing better than the real deal, right?

I took the skeletons out of the closet to hang on the tree outside.

They're not fresh anymore.

I should get new ones.

Neighbour Bob says my house looks very spooky.

"Good job! Everything looks very realistic."

"Thank you, friend. I try." I shrug. He laughs.

It's gotten real dark by now.

I'm just sitting in a rocking chair on the porch,

Watching people go by,

Laughing and screaming

Admiring my own decoration.

"Trick or treat!”

A puny little 7 year old in a superhero costume.

Not very scary.

"Aw, kid I don't have any treats...

How about a trick? Come on inside."

What a shame that Halloween was over.

I can't add this one to the decorations out front.

By Niyah Jacob