Hallow-Freens (Halloween Friends)

The date is Friday, October 31st. Jarred is sitting in his third grade classroom with his friends quietly working on his Halloween class work assignment. As he smiles having a good time with his friends he look to the left and sees a boy in his class name Gus sitting at a table all by his lonesome. It is as if Jarred is the only person who can see him. Gus is also working on the Halloween assignment for class with a slight smile on his face as if something is missing. Jarred is not friends with Gus but he is very familiar with him. Jarred knows that Gus is fairly new to their school and does not many friends, but he has never approached Gus because he is unsure of what Gus would make of the encounter.

For a brief moment Gus looks over and catches Jarred watching him. The moment is kind of awkward for Jarred who quickly looks away when Gus makes eye contact. At 11:00 a.m. the bell rings for lunchtime. When Jarred and his friends get to the cafeteria they all sit at their favorite table and go to work on their lunches. As everyone around Jarred interacts with one another, Jarred looks over at the lunch table in front of him and finds Gus sitting all by himself. Gus does not look particularly bothered at sitting by himself, but Jarred is starting to grow concerned. Once again Gus makes eye contact with Jarred, but this time Jarred does not look away. This time when they lock eyes Jarred smiles and nods at Gus and Gus smiles and nods back.

Though this interaction was very light, Gus really appreciates it because Jarred is the first person who is not an adult that has went out of their way to interact with him since he first moved to town. As Jarred finishes eating he feels a since of warmth in his heart at Gus’ reaction to their interaction. He could really sense that Gus appreciated the gesture. As 2:30p.m. Rolls around all the children get ready for the pick up and the buses as the school day ends. As Jarred gets on he looks to the back and sees Gus sitting by himself. Jarred wants to go over and introduce himself but he is afraid that the exchange might be akward so he just stays in his seat closer to the front.

Around 8:00 p.m. Jarred is in his bedroom dressing up in his Black Panther costume and getting ready to go trick or treating with his friends who are waiting for him downstairs at his front door. He takes his Jack-o-lantern bucket and flies downstairs and out the door ready for his candy quest. As Jarred and his friends begin their walk down the street he looks at one of the houses on the block and finds none other than young Gus sitting on a vacant front porch. He realizes that this is where Gus lives. He also realizes that Gus is not trick or treating like the other children. Jarred briefly detached himself from his group of friends and goes over to Gus’ porch. Gus quickly looks up and sees Jarred coming towards him and this puts a smile on his face.

When Jarred gets to the porch Gus’ mother comes out the front door and puts a hand on Gus’ shoulder, looking at Jarred with a smile. It was in this moment that Jarred realized that Gus could use some friends and thought it would be a good idea to invite Gus trick or treating with his group. Jarred could see Gus did not have a costume and quickly ran back in his house. When Jarred went up to his bedroom he went through his closet and found his Ironman costume that he wore last year. Being that he and Gus were pretty much the same height he knew it would fit Gus perfectly. Jarred then ran back outside to Gus’ house with his friends still waiting. He walked up the front porch and without saying a word he handed Gus the Ironman costume. Gus was overjoyed because he knew this was an invitation to join Jarred and his friends. Gus looked at his mother who nodded in agreement and Jarred looked back at his friends who also nodded in agreement of Gus joining them.

Gus quickly ran inside candy put the Ironman costume on and grabbed a few plastic bags out of his kitchen cabinet. Gus then came back outside and joined Jarred and the rest of his friends and they all journeyed off into the night trick or treating. When the night concluded and Jarred walked with Gus back to his house, the pair smiled at each other and shook hands. They were happy about the new bond of friendship that they built on this Halloween night.