My name is Ted and I was originally a pumpkin. My leaves and stems turned to hands and feet by the wave of a magic wand. She was tall and thin, blue-eyed and with hair that was unnaturally blonde. My roots were deep but her magic went steep and turned me into this, the one true thing I really wanted, my one Halloween wish. A boy with tinted orange skin and long brown hair through, green eyes like my stem and a button nose too. I thanked her greatly with all my heart and hugged her gentle self, but then she disappeared from me and I let out a yelp. My hands held onto nothing not even my familiar stem, but this was just the beginning definitely not the end.

One haunted Halloween night, the time when witches roamed the Earth, a spell was cast upon me. Long I waited for this night and it finally came. I wanted to become a real boy to experience the event of carving pumpkins, making pumpkin pie, and the slaughter of other “Halloween Fun”. I waited and waited until finally she came, and with a twirl of her magic wand I transformed into a real boy. I thanked her and took off into the night. I saw many monsters prowling in the hours of darkness though I wished I was safe back home in my pumpkin patch, I had a mission and I planned to fulfill it. I tracked a monster to a mansion while they held out a sack. I was sure that the other person from inside this mansion was giving some kind of poison, but it came in small burnished wrappers. “Trick or Treat!” said the monster.



“Trick, what kind of trick is this? This is certainly not like any treat that we get at the pumpkin patch.” I reflected wordlessly to myself. I copied the monster by pressing a round ball of light and said, “Trick or Treat!” It felt eerie to speak but it was a good bizarre. A man clad from head to toe in orange made me jump with fear, he look me up and down like all of the people at the pumpkin patch did when they considered taking me to assassinate during their merriment. He handed me a silver wrapper that was filled with something hard. I looked for the monster and found him a good distance away. I trotted to keep up with him and I finally reached him. I at last got to see exactly what he was wearing. He was cloaked in black with a black ski mask and I cowered behind him so he couldn’t see me trembling. I followed him to another house where he repeated the procedure. I was confused, I didn’t understand why people would risk going to these gigantic beasts for something that doesn’t even taste that good. Even though I didn’t like the taste, I popped another piece into my mouth. Even since my pumpkin years, I’ve always been a stress eater. I finally followed a smaller monster into a house where she stayed there. “Her “pumpkin patch”, this is where she must live.” I contemplated this until she turned around and screeched. I screamed too and ran right out of the house. I walked up to a gap in another house but it wasn’t like any burrow hole. It looked like there was nothing there but when I touched it, it was hard. Another human walked past and to escape the same fate as last time I encountered a human, I ducked down so that only my hair could barely be seen. I peered through the unbreakable smooth texture and saw something familiar on top of a table and what looked like paper. There was also… Something unusual poked at my shoulder. I looked behind me and swallowed a scream and a cry at the same time. It was the witch who made me a real boy, “You have a mission, do you not? Why don’t you fulfill it? That’s why I turned you into a boy so you could experience these “rituals”. But I fear that there is one drawback to my witch craft, it only lasts for twenty four hours.”
Although I was intently looking at her angelic face, I didn’t hear a word she had said. She reached for my hand and pulled me along beside her. I followed carefully cautious of where she was taking me, until finally I saw a giant banner saying Pumpkin Carving Contest. This is what she brought me here for! The Horror! ” I don’t know if I can do this. I mean I did at first but now I’m not so sure.” I spoke slowly so I wouldn’t stutter. I gulped loudly with more fear than I’ve ever had. I walked up to the table and grabbed what looked like a small flat spear. When I looked at the pumpkin it looked very familiar for some reason but I wasn’t sure what had triggered my thoughts. I took the first stab and exerted as much force as I could. I felt horrible but good as well. “Maybe for a human this is just a fun activity. But then again in a pumpkins point of view, it’s murder.”I thought to myself. I elaborately cut a picture of the witch’s face and she smiled with compassion. Breaking our stare, a booming voice announced “And the winner is… (Hey what’s your name kid? Uh Ted.) Ted!” I was happy yet remorseful that I was good at something but it was killing my own kind and turning them into beautiful carvings. The witch grabbed my hand and she led me to another spot where I saw another banner saying Make Your Own Pumpkin Pies! The humanity!!! This was worse than the first Halloween event! I stepped up to the table while a person read from a sheet in front of her. “The rules are that you may use only what’s in front of you and you can only work at your station. After you are done baking, judges will come to each station with forks to taste each pie and rate it from one to five. Then the winner will be announced after the competition. Alright, ready, set, GO!”

I looked at the instructions carefully and followed them slowly. I must have finished just in time because as soon as I put it on a plate, a loud buzzing sounded and rang in my ears for a while after. The witch looked at me with pride, as if she created life… wait, she did. The judges finally reached my table and tasted my pie. I sighed with sadness while they probably ate some innocent pumpkin that I knew. If it was possible it looked like their eyes would pop out of their heads. One of the judges came around to me and lifted my arm. “Well it seems like we have our winner. Apparently Judge Morrison couldn’t wait to pick a winner, ha-ha-ha.” She laughed this off.

The judge called her over and he made her taste my, my pumpkin pie. Her eyes bugged out like the rest of them. “How do you get your pumpkin pie to taste like this?! It tastes like heaven in your mouth!”

I shrugged. She gave me a look like she didn’t believe me then she just walked away. The witch pulled me over and asked me, “Are you having fun?”
“Oddly enough I am, but only as much fun as I’ll ever get slaughtering my own kind.” I sighed. Although, I was sort of having a good time, I missed my pumpkin patch and all of my friends in it. “Do you want to see one last thing before you turn back into a pumpkin?”She asked.
“One more then I will go home.” I agreed. She took my hand once more and escorted me along sinister streets full of eeriness and darkness. Until I saw a strange light up ahead. It was many more houses and mansions covered and decorated in orange, black, green, and red lights. I was awestruck at the beauty. “Maybe Halloween isn’t all slaying and dread. Maybe there is goodness to Halloween after all. “I stared at the beauty of the lights until my eyes were sore. “I wish that I could stare at these lights forever.” I yearned.
“I could put another spell on you if you wanted but this one would have a few catches. You would be a real boy every Halloween night and that night only. Also you would have until midnight to return to the pumpkin patch. Lastly I won’t always be there to guide you so you must remember all of these things on your own.” As she explained this I became very excited.
“Yes, Yes! I would want you to do that if you could. Thank-you!” By now I was jumping up and down and people were starting to stare so I stopped so I wouldn’t draw any attention to us. We walked back to the pumpkin patch together with a smile on both of our faces. I thanked her once more and settled down in my usual spot. I sat in the dirt as I turned more orange, rounder, and I started to shrink. We said our goodbyes and I finally lost every human feature that I had. The witch smiled, patted my stem, and walked away.
(Many months later…) I opened my eyes to a smiling face and I too smiled. It was a face that I remembered well. I stood up and instantly trapped the witch into an unbreakable hug. Although I was sore from the many nights that I stayed curled into a ball. She laughed softly and hugged me too. “Are you ready to take a second trial at Halloween?” she asked.
“You bet! You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this!” I listened to her laughed again. That was the last thing that we said before we took off again for our next Halloween adventure.