“Trick or treat!” Bluebery and the others in her group smiled as they held up their plastic pumpkin baskets.
The elderly couple, who answered the doorbell, scooped out a handful of tootsie rolls and dropped them into their baskets. “Here you go kids, happy Halloween!”
“Thank you!” The Scribblers cheered.
As soon as Bluebery’s group left, another group of Scribblers arrived at the doorstep. Once a house ran out of candy and sweets, the Scribblers moved onto the next house. Wave after wave swept each house clean until an entire neighborhood was devoid of treats.
This was the childish yet righteous plan that the senior Scribbler – Alverost – came up with. After all, candy was life. Although Zero300 and some of the older members of the community did not participate in the process, there were plenty of younger Scribblers who could complete the task.
As the last group of Scribble Hub left the front porch of the house at the end of the street, Ducky looked at her map and declared. “Welp. That’s the last house in this neighborhood. According to my watch, there’s about half an hour left till midnight. I’m sure the other groups are close to finishing as well. Should we head back?”
“Hmm.” Ispheria paused for a bit before agreeing. “Okay, let’s head back and see how much candy the others were able to obtain.”
The group of sixty made a beeline towards their base. Along the way, they met with Hyde’s group and Ace’s group. Hyde was busy munching on a stick of cotton candy while Ace was gnawing on a candied apple. Riese waved towards the two and asked how they did on their end.
“I just heard from LostLibrarian’s group and Nyanko’s group. We cleaned up the entire city. I don’t know about Feather’s group and OpWolf’s group.” Hyde held up a peace sign while smothering his face with sugar. “Most of the residents don’t even pay attention to our costumes. Me and a few others in my group switched costumes with each other and swept the place a couple of times.”
“Haha, that’s good. Come, let’s head back together.” Ispheria chuckled as the group of sixty increased to a group of two hundred.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Hyde nodded.
***
As Bluebery and the other Scribblers arrived back at the main entrance of their community building, they saw that most of their friends have already returned. Upon seeing the last of their community returning, they greeted Bluebery and her friends with smiles of happiness and accomplishment.
Shortly, Alverost arrived with a ringed notebook and pen. Carefully, he checked with each group for their candies. He was going to tally up the results. Since baked sweets did not count towards the final result, Scribblers have been snacking on them while they waited.
Soon, Alverost finished counting up the scores. He handed the results to Ispheria who walked up to an elevated platform and announced the results. “Scribblers! I would like to make an announcement! We have tallied up the amount of candies each group managed to collect and I am proud to announce our results. We have over ten tons of candies and five tons of chocolate! This is an unprecedented record! Give yourselves a pat on the back. You have deserved it!”
“Woooo!” Many Scribblers cheered as they clapped in excitement.
Zero300 climbed up onstage and stood next to Alverost. “It’s five minutes before midnight! Now’s the time for late night events! I heard there are a few parties around here as well as a few Halloween contests! Go wild and have fun but remember to be responsible!”
The crowd cheered once more before dispersing to form groups. Once they agreed on where to go, they bid farewell to the other groups before heading off. Some went to the contests to view the amazing decorations and sample the Halloween-themed food while others went to the parties to dance the night away.
There were even some who decided that they had had enough for the day and left for home. Meanwhile, a red-haired young woman giggled in excitement as she wrapped her arms around a red-haired young man. The two friends muttered a few words to each other and even brought about a few hearty laughs between them.
While many viewed their close interactions as what friends would normally do, some could see that the two Scribblers were more than just ‘friends’. One of them, in particular, was Daisy.
When Daisy saw the way the red-haired young woman smoothly slipped her arms around the young man, she realized that there was something special going on between the two. When she saw the harmony generated by her two best friends, she realized that the tingling feeling deep inside her was none other than loneliness.
It seemed that her time away had distanced herself from her friends and especially from the young man. Instead of her being the one to spend time with him, her other best friend had taken her place. However, Daisy still believed that nothing was really going on between the two. She quickly dismissed the fact and blamed it on herself for overthinking the matter a little too much.
When the young man and the young woman squeezed through the crowds and walked towards her, Daisy quickly sobered up and cleared her throat. “So, where should we go next?”
The red-haired young woman released her hold of the young man and pounced towards Daisy. She clung to Daisy’s arm and exclaimed in a cute and high-pitched voice. “Daisy! I heard that there will be a haunted house contest in one of the neighborhoods nearby. You know how much I love haunted houses, let’s go check it out!”
“Alright, alright, don’t gross me out, Joy. Do we know where it is exactly?” Daisy patted Joyheal’s head and wiggled her arm free.
“I heard Zero knows. Let’s ask him.” The young man replied as he pointed at the black-haired oriental youth standing in the distance, snacking on some candy corn.
“Alright.” Daisy nodded. “We’ll go with that, Blaze.”
Blaze led the two young women towards Zero300 and asked. “Hey Zero, you know where that haunted house is at?”
“Haunted house? Which one are you talking about?” Zero300 asked after swallowing a handful of candy corn.
“You know, the one in the neighborhood closest to ours.” Joyheal interjected.
“Oh! That one?” Zero300 clapped his hands. “I know where it is.”
“Yeah? Can you tell us where?” Joyheal asked with puppy eyes.
“Ugh! Don’t show that face to me.” Zero300 gently moved Joyheal’s face away. “I can tell you, but better yet, me and my group are heading there soon. Why don’t you join us?”
Joyheal saw the large group Zero300 aimed a finger at and nodded. “That’ll be great! Come on, Daisy. Let’s go join them.”
The two girls bounded over to Zero300’s group of scribblers or rather, Joyheal dragged Daisy over while Blaze shuffled closely behind. While the trio familiarized themselves with new group, Zero300 stayed back for a bit and checked to see if anyone else was interested in going with them.
Suddenly, Zero300’s phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, the young man couldn’t help but gasp with surprise. It was a familiar ID. He quickly took the call while a small smile showed itself on his face. Seeing one of Zero300’s rare smiles, Alverost couldn’t help but walk up to him and ask what had happened.
“Some old friends of mine are coming over to visit.” Zero300 replied as he ended the call. “They said they’re just entering the city and would be here in five minutes tops. Do you think we could wait for them?”
“Friends of yours? No problem! We can wait five minutes. Let me tell the group while you go out and meet them in the front entrance.” Alverost patted Zero300’s back.
“Okay.” The Oriental youth nodded.
***
Minutes later, a van appeared from around the corner and slowly pulled up to the side. As the vehicle shut off, five people emerged from the van. There were two girls and three boys, each in their twenties.
“Res, Jade, Owl! So good to have you here.” Zero300 grinned as he welcomed his friends.
“Don’t forget about us.” The other girl pouted as she dragged her brother over.
“Haha, Gem and Dem right? How are you?” Zero300 chuckled as he hugged the twenty-year-old twins.
“We’re doing fine.” Dem squirmed out of Zero300’s hug. “I overheard we’re going to see some haunted houses?”
“Dem overheard your conversation with Owl and was so excited about the haunted house contest.” Gem explained as Zero300 stepped back from the hug.
“Ah yes, we’re just about to head over. Come along with us. It’ll be fun.” Zero300 replied as he jerked his thumb towards his group.
“Would they mind if we joined?” Owl asked as he pushed up his rimmed glasses.
Zero300 chuckled and patted the youth on his shoulder. “No, of course not. I’ve already informed them that you will be coming. They won’t mind you joining.”
“Great, then let’s go.” Jade chirped as the happy-go-lucky girl skipped over to the group and introduced herself.
“As expected of a through and through extrovert. She blends in with the crowd quick.” Res shook his head as he followed after.
While his old friends acquainted themselves with his new friends, Zero300 waited in the back to see if anyone else wanted to join him and his group to see the haunted house contest. After a few more people agreed to join, the group boarded the community bus and set out for their destination.
