A fishy Halloween

Halloween. A time of tricks and treats, devils and angels, and of staying up late to eat candy. This is the first Halloween I've participated in since that day that happened so long ago. The Headmaster, Mr. Hoffman, told us that we need to make our costumes and we would go into town to trick 'r' treat.

Everyone hasn't had a lot of time to make their costumes because Sir Joshua the bear is missing. The poster also says that the person who finds him will receive a red crayon and be apart of the Aristocrats.

Even though Sir Joshua is gone, the orphanage seemed quite normal. The orphans were either working on their costumes or looking for Joshua, if we weren't in class. When we had time to work on our costumes, I noticed Amanda, the Small-Hearted Princess, looked like she was working on something more than a costume. But when I tried to look at it, she hid it away. It almost looked like a person.

As the day of Halloween arrived, everyone was allowed to finish their costumes and there wasn't any lessons. As I worked on my outfit, I saw that Diana, the Duchess, was in her Halloween costume.

Diana had made a green skirt, and with the help of the Queen of Clean, Martha, had sewn and dyed green the tails of an old shirt to the end of her skirt. She also took a long, flowy shirt and cut a circle off the shoulders so the sleeves would go down more than they were. The shirt was cut to expose her belly button.

"Stop gawking, Filthy Jennifer!" Diana said, glaring at me.

"Umm.... sorry...." I mumbled and continued to work. After awhile, Diana the mermaid wandered out and the room was silent except for the sounds of the sewing machines.

A little bit after Diana left, Meg, the Baroness, and Eleanor, the Countess, stood up from their seats. Meg's costume, of course, was an owl. She said owls represented wisdom and knowledge and were really smart, like her. Her costume was basically a tattered brown suit, but she added some rags to the sleeves to make it look like feathers on the wings.

Eleanor's, like Meg's, was a bird. But hers was a red bird. Her costume was quite simple, like Meg's. She had a red dress and made a cape for the wings. She dyed some feathers red to make her mask. She said it represented her wanting to fly away and be free, but I think it represented her lost red bird toy. Oh, how she loved that little red bird of happiness. It's a shame it disappeared.

After the last of the Aristocrats left, it was just me, Wendy, the Lonely Princess, Susan, the Impetuous Princess, Olivia, the Tearful Princess, and Amanda. Susan and Olivia left soon after Meg and Eleanor because they were spies and only had to make masks. Wendy was making a rabbit costume because she likes taking care of them. She didn't make a whole lot, only the ears and a tail.

"Jennifer," Wendy said as she walked up to me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"It's almost time to go," she told me.

"Oh, ok," I said and shifted my costume around the machine. She nodded and was about to leave when she turned around and said, "Did you know that Nicholas and Xavier are using two of your Bucket Knight's heads as their heads for their armor?"

"Yes, I thought they might do that," I sighed.

She nodded slowly and then asked, "What is your costume, Jennifer?"

I smiled widely and said, "I'm going to be an octopus!"

"An..... octopus?" Wendy asked, confused about my choice.

"Yep! I was going to have Brown be a crab, but I wasn't sure if Mr. Hoffman would let me bring him," I told her.

Wendy nodded again, slowly. She looked sad...... or mad, I couldn't really tell. I watched her leave, still trying to decide her mood. I shook it off and finished my octopus head. As I put my octopus tentacles around my waist and the head on my own, I looked over at Amanda.

She hid whatever she was working on before under a sheet. But, a little bit of it was hanging out. It looked like one of my socks that I lost. There was also a little bit of fur, like a stuffed animal, by the sock as well.

She was working on a dress now. It looked like a princess dress, but it dirty and made of rags. Amanda looked up at me and smiled devilishly at me. She gather up her rag princess dress and headed out, leaving me behind.

I followed the Small-Hearted Princess and thought, "This is going to be a fishy Halloween."