October 31st, 2002 (Are We Havin' Fun Yet?)

It's fall. No, the colors aren't here in the desert, but the feel is. Genuinely. It's cool at night. I bike, and the wind carries me the faintest traces of burning, of cinnamon. I'm wearing flannel right now. I fell asleep in a puddle of candy corn last night.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite Halloweens. As a freshman in high school, October was a transition. I was getting close with friends from theatre and speech, but my middle school clique still caroused in the hallway during Honors Block breaks. For the holiday, a group of us--all factioned off into cultures of the musical, marching band, track, and underage drinking--came together to visit one of the best haunted houses in Chicago.

After our various practices/rehearsals, we piled into the grey Lumina, and my dad drove us downtown to an abandoned prison turned spooky. We all read our biology textbooks feverishly and wiggled in our seats singing Nickelback. (It was a different time.) We screamed our lungs out in the house and fell asleep on the ride home.


Middle school friends: Peppermint, Fran, SMG, Me. I know that at least Peppermint was part of October 31st, 2002.