Halloween is not what it used to be for me, and it has very little to do with age.
V–Long Halloween story
[hide]I used to live in Florida. I don't really miss living there, but there was one thing I liked about where I lived, my neighborhood. It was freaking huge! About 50-60 houses, and tons of kids and teenagers. We had hours of trick or treaters, starting from five-to-ten at night.
When I reached a certain age, I decided to stop going trick-or-treating. I wasn't really embarrassed, but I've always generally been pretty lazy. So I decided to instead to give shit loads of candy to our best and nicest trick-or-treaters (believe me, we had some fuckers who really pissed us off), and later order pizza and watch horror movies for the rest of the night.
Well Halloween night, I had a new costume. I wore a ghoul-like costume with a hood and cloaked mask that hid my face. However, I wore these electronic glasses that would glow to bright, round red eyes.
My house had a bedroom on the second floor with a large window peering out of the front of the house. I could see a large portion of my street and several houses, but most importantly, any trick-or-treaters coming to our door (making me the scout of anyone who came to our door).
So on Halloween day, I'd dress up in my ghoulish costume and just stare at the trick-or-treaters. At first, everyone thought I was a decoration, but eventually I'd move my head or wave, and they'd freak out. The kids, surprisingly, thought it was cool, but I'd spook several parents out.
But the teenagers…..OH MY GOD....THE TEENAGERS! I played them like a violin. I'd be watching a group of teens walking across the street. And just my luck, the smallest girl amongst them somewhat noticed me. I slightly glanced at her. She moved closer to my house, trying to see what I was and if I were really moving.
Once she got close enough, I moved in a sudden burst to get a better look of her, and she immediately screamed at the top of her lungs, ran past her friends, and away from my house. Her entire group of friends looked towards me, and noticed me moving. Afterward, there were plenty of camera flashes.
That day forth, I was a Halloween celebrity. For three years, I repeated the tradition. The best thing: I was laughing the entire time.[/hide]
Unfortunately, I've moved away since then. And the neighborhood I live in has been underconstruction for the past three years. There are very few kids. We maybe have 4 groups of trick-or-treaters.
I still dress up. Not in my old costume though. I can't do that for a while since my niece is PETRIFIED of anything with red eyes.
Oh well. Maybe when I buy a house for myself someday, that'll be one of the many things I consider.