The night of the festival arrived. Polly was sitting on a bench by herself after the park. She wore a mummy bounty hunter costume. A black hat, white wrap around the clothes already worn on her body, and a black trenchcoat complete the look. The wrap around her face meant she didn’t need to wear her mask. She had two of her guns with her as well. They went well with her costume, but they would also be there in case something happened and she needed to use them. That was something she preferred not to do. She always preferred hand-to-hand combat. That made it easier not to take a life.

She sat on the bench as she waited for Dolly to arrive. She told her friend they would meet there and Polly would lead her to the festival.

“Polly!” Dolly’s voice was finally heard.

Polly looked in the direction it came from and got up. “Dolly! I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up.” She joked.

“Ha ha,” Dolly laughed dryly. “I didn’t take that long.”

“I know,” Polly laughed. “I’m only messing with you.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Dolly chuckled. She looked her friend over. “Whoa… that’s quite a costume you got on.”

“Isn’t it cool?” Polly smiled as she showed it off. “I made it myself.”

“So did I,” Dolly replied as she showed off her own costume. Unlike Polly, she did wear her mask. All that seemed to be along with it was a black robe. “It may not look like much, but it does the job. Especially with this.”

The artist took out a jack-o-lantern-themed scythe. Polly’s gave it a look of awe.

“Did you make that yourself too?” Polly asked. When Dolly nodded, the blonde gave a grin. “I’ve never seen a scythe like that before.”

“Really cool, right?” Dolly asked with a chuckle. “Thought it would go good with the mask and reaper thing.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you found a way to still wear yours,” Polly chuckled as well. “But then again, only a few people in town know you, so you’re fine going there with it.”

“Before we go… want a drawing of your costume?” Dolly asked.

“Are you kidding?” Polly grinned again. “I would love one.”

The two of them sat on the bench, and Dolly got to work on the drawing. It didn’t take her long and Polly soon had it in her hand.

“Just as good as the last one you gave me,” Polly said with a smile at the pictures. Her eyes soon went back to Dolly. “I shouldn’t be surprised you brought your sketchpad either, should I?l

“I rarely go anywhere without something to draw on,” Dolly told her friend. “It’s what I love to do. Then again, I rarely go anywhere at all.” She chuckled.

“Let’s see if we can change that,” Polly said, before getting up and holding her hand out to Dolly. “Shall we go to the festival?”

Dolly took her hand. “We shall.”

——

The annual Rothly Halloween festival was one those in town looked forward to every year during the month of October. It was a place of games, costumes, treats, fun, and scares. The turnout was the usual. As Polly looked around when she arrived with Dolly it seemed like the whole town was there. She smiled warmly at the sight of everyone having fun and enjoying the holiday.

“Whoa!” A guy stopped in front of her and Dolly with his friend next to him. “Your costumes are sick!”

“I dig the scythe, man,” The other guy pointed at Dolly’s scythe.

“Woman,” Dolly corrected.

“Huh?” The guy had seemed to be out of it. If Polly had to guess, he was probably high. “Oh. My bad, dudette. Your scythe is still wicked.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“It sure is,” Dolly said with a chuckle. She began to walk off and Polly left the artist pulling her along with her.

“Dolly?” Polly was confused as she was being pulled. “What’s wrong?”

“There was something wrong with that guy,” Dolly said.

“Yeah, it was pretty obvious he was high,” Polly replied. “But he liked your scythe. We could’ve continued the conversation and-“

“Made friends with them?” Dolly asked. “I’m uh, not sure about that one, Polly. What if they-“

“Saw us without our masks?” Polly finished. “Well, if we talked and made friends with them, that wouldn’t matter, right? They would like us no matter what we looked like.”

Dolly was about to respond when a voice came from near them.

“I was wondering when you two would get here,” Filbert said as he walked up to them. The costume he wore was that of a werewolf.

“Werewolf,” Dolly commented as she looked at him. “Good choice.”

“Thanks!” Filbert grinned. “I thought it would be kinda fitting in a weird way, you know? What are you supposed to be? Some kind of pumpkin reaper?”

“That’s right,” Dolly chuckled as she held onto her scythe with both hands. “I slice off the heads of people who get on my nerves.”

Filbert laughed at Dolly’s response. “If only it were that easy.”

Polly smiled as the two continued to talk. Her eyes moved around the festival before they landed on a familiar couple who were dressed up as vampires. “Hey! There’s Ernest and Gianna!”

Filbert blinked at his cousin. “Who?”

“You know that story I told you about that elderly lady I saved in an alley?” Polly asked. “That’s her.”

“Oh wow,” Filbert replied as he looked at the elderly couple. “Well, they sure do look like a nice couple. She makes some mean bread too. I wouldn’t mind meeting her.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Polly asked. “Let’s go meet some vampires.” She giggled before walking over to the couple with Dolly and Filbert following after her.

Things seemed to be going well with Dolly coming along so far and she was happy for that. Ernest and Gianna being here should make things easier for her too.

“Gianna, Ernest!” Polly called out.

Dolly grabbed Filbert’s shoulder. “Hey, I need to use the bathroom.” She said. “Any idea where I can find one?”

“Oh yeah,” Filbert nodded. “Right back around where you guys came there’s a couple other there. I’ll tell Polly where you went.”

“Thanks. I was just about to ask you to,” Dolly replied. “I’ll be back.” She walked off back towards where she came with Polly.

——

Filbert was right. Dolly had found a bathroom near the entrance of the festival. Once the artist had done what she needed to do, she made her way out and started walking back towards the others.

“Are you sure she’ll come this way?” A familiar voice asked.

Dolly stopped in her tracks. She looked around. She knew that voice.

“She has to! As far as I can tell, this is the only entrance,” Another voice replied.

That voice was one the artist knew for sure. It was the voice of the guy that had complimented her scythe.

Dolly began walking a little more before she quickly hid behind a tree. After a couple moments, the two guys had come out of some bushes nearby.

“I’m starting to think it’s not worth waiting for her, Lance,” The one of the guys said.

“Would you relax, Ron,” Lance replied. “It’s gonna be the coolest thing ever. Imagine it, us, being the ones to teach the Freak of Rothly a thing or two about ruining our town.”

Dolly practically felt a fire lighting up inside of her. She knew exactly who these two were talking about.

Polly.

Ron laughed. “You know what? You’re right. This is totally gonna be worth it.” He smirked as he took out a knife. “And what’s even better is that we’re going to get money out of it.”

“Exactly,” Lance laughed cruelly. “No one’s going to care what happens to that disgusting piece of shit. We’ll be the heroes. The legends.”

“Legends, huh?” Dolly growled as she took out her sketchpad. “A legend is gonna be started tonight alright.”

Lance and Ron continued to wait around for a bit. When there was still no sign of Polly, Ron got an idea.

“Maybe I should go get us some snacks and drinks?” Ron asked. “If we’re gonna have to wait around for the freak all night, it’s probably a good ide-“

Ron would be cut off, and Lance’s eyes would go wide as a look of horror had made its way onto his face. His friend’s head, only a few seconds before perfectly fine on his shoulders, had been ripped from it’s body.

“Ron!” Lance exclaimed. He shook as he looked up at what had gotten his friend’s head. All he saw was a taller figure covered in darkness. In that darkness, hungry, monstrous yellow eyes looked down at him.

The man started backing away. “W-What the hell are-“ His eyes widened again, only this time blood coughed from his mouth at the same time. He looked down.

A scythe. Not just any. The pumpkin scythe he had seen earlier had been stabbed into him, and, in one swift motion, had been taken out.

Lance fell down. The thing in the darkness started moving closer to him, but the hand of the figure closer to him stopped it.

That same figure would have Lance at their feet not long after. He looked up and saw that Dolly. He tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was blood.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as the artist had no care for what he had to say. The eyes that looked down on Lance were gold and vengeful. They wanted him to suffer. Seeing the man at her feet going through that exact thing brought a warm feeling to Dolly. One that she knew was going to come when she found out about the intentions of these men and hatched her plan to make them pay for it. She had had plans for the night, but this turned out even better than expected. She saw trash everywhere at the festival. That was without question.

But the trash she laid her eyes upon at the moment was trash she gladly taking out.

Tears escaped Lance’s eyes. This caused Dolly to chuckle as she raised her scythe in the air. The light of the moon caught it for a moment before she swung it down.

——-

“I’m very glad you enjoyed my bread, Filbert,” Gianna chuckled. Polly was delighted to see that the old woman and Filbert were getting along nicely.

“So where did Dolly go off to, Polly?” Ernest asked her. “I was hoping that maybe she could draw more of that great art of hers.”

“She had to use the bathroom,” Polly told him. “She’ll be back.”

“Oh, you two saw how good she can draw too?” Filbert asked. “It’s crazy, right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen art that good before.”

“Especially for someone so young,” Gianna said. “From what I’ve known, it takes years to get to that level.”

“She told me she’s been doing it ever since she could up a pencil,” Polly smiled as she replied to them. “I’d say that explains why she’s so good.”

Gianna smiled and laughed a bit. “Fair enough. I definitely don’t want to question Dolly’s journey as I’m sure it must have been a hard one.”

Polly nodded in agreement. It was no secret that Dolly has had a hard journey, not just in art, but throughout her life. So had she. It was those hardships that brought them together now. They may not have known each other long, but the more they were together, the stronger the bond they were forming seemed to get, and Polly was grateful for that. She was grateful to have someone who understood her at the level that Dolly did. And she was sure that Dolly felt the same.

Those thoughts would soon be interrupted by a horrifying scream.