"Pick Me!" A Halloween Tale

As I reached into the bag of candy I thought I heard a voice saying “Pick me! Pick me!”

“What? Who’s there?” I call out into the dark night. It has been a long night of trick or treating and I just began my trek home. My friends and I had a good time together getting all kinds of delicious candy and I was just beginning to dig into the loot.

I heard the voice again.

“Pick me! Pick me!” The voice is a soft one. Almost like it lives in a shadow. All traces of the voice are gone before one hardly even hears it in the first place.

“Hello?” I say.

“Hi,” says the voice. After the third time I hear it I realize it sounds like a little kid.

“Are you okay? Do you have your parents with you?” I call into the darkness.

“My parents are dead,” the small voice replies. Well that wasn’t the answer I was expecting.

“What?” I ask, hoping I’ve misheard.

A small girl steps out of the bushes. Her big blue eyes look up at me. “I said my parents are…” she fades away. Literally, she turns invisible. Where the girl once stood is an empty spot where the grass is padded down from her small feet.

“…dead…” whispers a voice in my ear. The voice doesn’t come from the outside. It’s as if the voice came from within me, from the depths of my mind.

What was in that candy? I think to myself.

“Can you help me?” the girl asks.

“What do you need?”

As soon as I ask that question the girl is back. This time instead of being a cute little girl full of life she is thin, pale, and emaciated. Her shrunken in cheeks and natty blond hair add to her already gruesome appearance. “I’m hungry,” she says.

“Do you want some of my candy?” I offer.

“Yes, yes, that will do,” she says with a crooked smile.

I dig into my bag of candy and pull out a caramel.

“You are going to have to unwrap it for me… my hands don’t work.”

I unwrap the caramel and toss it into her mouth. She has a satisfied smile on her face. “More? More?” she asks.

This continues until I’m well over halfway into my candy. I unwrap a piece for her and she eats it and then asks for some more. Each time more assertive.

“More?”

“More?”

“More?!”

“More!”

 “More!”

 “Yes, yes, you may have some more,” I say submissively. Before I know it, I’m down to one piece.

“More?” the little girl asks, creepier than ever. Her face has gotten even more sunken in, her skin more pale, and her body more emaciated.

“This is the last one,” I warn her. I don’t want her to freak out when I have no more.

“Okay,” she says with a smile. The previously adorable form flashes back for an instant before returning to the present hideousness.

I pop the last caramel into her mouth. She grabs my arm and latches on. “Thanks for picking me,” the voice from within whispers. After swallowing the caramel she begins munching on my hand. It doesn’t hurt, in fact I don’t really feel anything. I struggle to break free.

“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to escape her tightening grip.

“I’m hungry,” she whispers before continuing devouring me.

She’s thorough, I’ll give her that. I’ve almost completely disappeared…

But then I’m back. Right as she finished eating me I’ve returned in full form.

 “Hello,” the little girl greets me. She begins floating up into the dark trees.

“Come with me!” she says joyfully. As if I’d been doing it for centuries I float up and join her in the trees.

Before I know it, another child walks down the road towards us. As he reaches into the bag of candy that he is carrying, we both whisper, ”Pick me! Pick me!”