The Spookiest Night Of The Year

It was the spookiest night of the year. The moon was full, the wolves were howling and the ghosts and ghouls were roaming the earth, probably. This made The Crow very nervous. The Crow didn’t like spooky things despite the stereotypes folks typically associated with him. 

Mostly, The Crow was afraid of being alone in the dark. Not just the lack of light necessarily, but more so afraid of what the dark could conceal. The Crow was worried that something was waiting for him in every shadow and every corner where even light was afraid to venture. 

The Crow knew he just had to—

CRASH! BOO! RAWR! GOTCHA!

“Ah! What the hell!” The Crow yelled, startled, as he jumped high into the air. He landed on the ground, looked around, and struggled to get his bearings. “This is it,” he thought, “The ghosts have found me. I am dead... I wish I ate more French Fries...”

Then he heard the laughter. His two roommates, A Raven and an Owl, both of whom can’t seem to get enough of spooky scares had jumped out from the darkness of a closed cupboard and crippled the Crow. 

“Oh my God! You should have seen how high you jumped!” Said the Raven, laughing so much he had to wipe a tear from his eye. 

“His last words were about French Fries, French Fries!” The Owl added and guffawed (Guffawing is how educated folks laugh, and as The Owl will surely tell you, he was highly-educated indeed).

“You two are chumps! Nothing but a couple of low-life chumps!” The Crow shot at them. 

The Raven and The Owl knew how much The Crow hated to be scared, so they wouldn’t scare him at all during the year. But then, on the spookiest day of the year… they would scare him all day. 

The Crow knew it was coming but didn’t know when, or where, or how scary it would be - So it was pretty much the same as not knowing. He couldn’t believe he said the thing about French Fries though, the Crow certainly believed it wholeheartedly, but it was embarrassing to say in a moment of fright. That would be tough to live down. 

Later in the day, the Crow had just finished being scared by a falling skeleton that the Raven and the Owl must have rigged to drop from the ceiling when he opened his closet door. This was a small scare in the grand scheme of things but annoying nonetheless. The Crow slammed his closet door shut and went to yell at the Raven and the Owl some more but they were nowhere to be found. 

“They must be setting up for the next scare.” The Crow figured. 

He cautiously made his way through the house and saw in the kitchen an order of French Fries sitting on the table. 

“What’s this now?” The Crow said gleefully as he quickly went over to steal a fry from whoever may have left them here. “Serves them right anyway, trying to bait me with fries. They go so low...”

As the Crow made his way to the fries he saw a note attached to them:

For My Friend, The Crow, Don’t Be So Afraid…

These French Fries were a gift? That’s strange. They smelled so good and were warm and crispy, just the way the Crow liked them. Despite knowing that this was likely a set-up the Crow took a bite, he just couldn’t resist. 

After one fry he ate another and another and another and another. Now, he was almost finished and there didn’t seem to be any scare coming. This was very unsettling. 

Maybe it’s late and this was actually a treat from the Raven and the Owl? Maybe it was their way of saying, “no hard feelings,” at the end of another scary and dreaded Halloween day. 

Then the Crow got a text message from the Owl:

“Do you want us to pick you up anything from this McDonald’s we’re at? French Fries?”

The Owl then quickly added:

“Haha, as a highly-educated being this is the first time I’ve asked if someone wants fries with that!”

The Crow mumbled under his breath that this joke was a stretch. But then, confused, he replied:

“I could always go for some more fries, and thanks for the ones you guys left for me at home. That was cool of you.”

Maybe the day was over. He wouldn’t have to worry about being scared for a whole ‘nother year. Thank god. 

The Crow received a response:

“What are you talking about? We’ve been out since we scared you this afternoon...”

The lights went out, a shrill scream pierced the air, a gust of wind slammed the creaky shutters repeatedly against the house. It was dark, it was late and the Crow was not alone...