Written by Melissa Ruth Rotert
Deeper into the rubber tub Javin dug. The boy was now buried head to waist in a bin labeled ‘Misc,’ searching for anything he could use to put together a last minute Halloween costume.
When they moved from the city to Nakki Falls two weeks ago, Javin’s mother assured him most kids his age had grown out of trick-or-treating long ago, but he was learning more and more that his mother had no direct link to the preteen population of this town. Everything she insisted would stay the same had changed.
Javin was determined to put together an epic costume to show his classmates he still knew how to have fun like a kid, despite suppressing the instinct in order to survive in the city. Javin hadn’t dressed up in three years, and nothing from the bin labeled ‘Halloween’ still fit.
Ready to give up, Javin tried to extricate himself from the tub of junk, now certain junk and ‘Misc’ were synonyms, but the bin wasn’t ready to let him go. His arm had worked its way through a cargo net, and the whole mess upended itself all over the attic floor in his struggle to be free.
The final crescendo of clatter peaked as a box of seashells dumped out all around him, covering the net that landed over his head, tangled in a plastic string of vine-like leaves.
“It’s perfect,” Javin shouted, taking in the disaster. “Mom! I’m gonna need your help…and a glue gun.”
For the next hour, Javin wove vines through netting, glued shells to leaves, plastered the whole thing in mud, and painted himself green. The final touch was a pair of flippers from his father’s scuba gear.
“And what exactly are you supposed to be again?” his sister asked. One brow lifted. Her lips tightly pursed.
“He’s a swamp creature…thing,” Mom answered, simultaneously wincing from another hot glue burn. “Pretty perfect for a town named after a demonic water spirit.”
“What?!” Javin and his sister responded in sync.
“Isn’t that why you picked this particular costume?” Mom asked.
Javin shook his head. “I had no idea. Just put together the first thing I thought of from the junk I found.”
“What a weird coincidence,” Mom remarked. “Anyway, I hope you’re ready for a wild night. I have it on good authority this town takes Halloween to a whole ‘nother level.”
“Great,” replied a sarcastic Javin, “that means it’ll be a complete bust.”
But Mom was finally right about something. It was barely 6:00 PM when the first group of kids showed up, and the bell didn’t stop ringing from that point on.
Javin waited until a group of kids in his grade arrived and bravely invited himself along.
“Perfect costume,” was the only response.
The group zigzagged through each neighborhood, and every time he reached a doorway, someone else remarked on how lifelike his costume was. As they raced from house to house, Javin caught a glimpse of his reflection in a window. His eyes glowed back at him—an effect he didn’t remember planning. Finally, they reached the cul-de-sac at the end of Marsh Circle.
“This is where the full-sized bars are found,” a classmate whispered. “We take our time through here, full manners, big smiles, give them a show.”
Javin realized the whole night—elaborate costumes, sacks for candy—led here. He watched as a couple teens were turned away for not putting in enough effort.
“Gotta pay the price of admission,” his classmate scoffed.
Javin laughed, but secretly his stomach surged. What if he was turned away?
“Think I’ll pass?” Javin asked. He was glad the makeup hid his concern.
“Totally, man. Have you seen yourself?”
Right, he thought, my costume is perfect.
With each house they visited, his confidence grew. At the final stop of the night, a giant house loomed in darkness, surrounded by marshy lands that led to the water that ran alongside the town’s border.
“Whoa,” Javin remarked. “Who lives here?”
“Some mega-rich guy whose family founded the town when they emigrated from Finland. Legend has it they brought the Näkki with them.”
“The water spirit?”
But his friend moved forward without answering.
They each entered the house one at a time with careful inspection by the host, but when Javin’s turn arrived, the man stopped him and spoke.
“Minä maalle, näkki veteen.”
Only Javin understood, “Me to the land, näkki back into the water,”
Unable to resist the command, Javin turned and walked off into the marshes.
.
Melissa Ruth Rotert is a kidlit writer whose short fiction helps to explore genres and themes that novel-length writing doesn’t always allow. She is Co-EIC of Epistemic Literary and Nimblewitlit Magazines. Her work includes her debut MG series which starts with Sue B and the Ridders and short fiction published with OxMag, Wild Ink Publishing, and others. Born in the Midwest and raised in Western New York, Melissa is an avid Buffalo Bills fan who enjoys exploring every day with her sons and pug.