Halloween Memories Part 2

I had too many memories for just one entry, so I decided to make it a two-parter. I covered my childhood Halloween memories, so now I suppose I must chronicle the Halloweens of my adolescence and early adulthood. If you don't give a fuck, I suggest you turn back now.

Halloween 2001, Age 12: That year, I decided to go as a dance hall girl, like my sisters did when they were around this age. I had an old salmon-colored bridesmaid dress that I used for dress up. My mom trimmed it in black lace and tucked the skirts back to form a bustle. We bought fishnets, and I wore my little ankle boots. I got to wear really dark red lipstick, and a fake rose in my hair. I was very impressed with how pretty I looked.
A girl in my class, also named Sara, was throwing a Halloween party, but I opted not to go, in favor of trick or treating one last time. I wore my costume to school again, which garnered me lots of attention, as it usually did. When I went out with my sister that night I carried two bags, hoping I'd get lots of candy. I didn't. I don't even think I filled one bag. I also had to wear my jacket because it was so cold. Instead of looking like a glamorous can-can dancer, I ended up looking like an Ellis Island immigrant. I got very stale gum from an old lady.

Halloween 2002, Age 13: I decided to eschew trick or treating with a firm hand, and go to Sara H's party. I would be going as a gypsy. It was a pretty neat costume, with a patchwork skirt, and scarves and boots. An off the shoulder chemise accentuated my premature busty figure. I actually looked like a gypsy. But I didn't wear the costume to school. Instead, I dressed up like a punk rocker (not realizing that months later, I would actually adopt the style full-time). I looked pretty epic as a little punk. Sophie Clarke (of Survivor fame) was in my English class and she stared at me rather creepily as I sat there with my spiked hair, chains and torn clothes. When school was out, I walked home and got ready for the party.
The party wasn't as fun as I'd hoped. The boys teased me every time I got up to go to the bathroom. I tried singing karaoke with the girls, but after awhile they didn't want me singing with them (for reasons unknown to me). Victoria asked me if I stuffed my bra. Never have, never needed to, not even then. The highlight of the evening was when I won the costume contest for my gypsy costume. I was very pleased with this, and quite surprised that I had actually won something and that they liked my costume. When I got home, I watched the end of The Faculty and mooned over Elijah Wood while eating candy.

Halloween 2003, Age 14: Obsessed with The Lord of the Rings, I decided to go as a wood elf. We made a tunic, and I wore a pair of tight green pants and some neat leather boots. Katie tinted my hair green, and tried doing forest camouflage on my face. Mom bought me a plastic sword.
A week before Halloween, I went to a party at my mom's work, where I would end up meeting my best friend, Amanda. She was a vampire, I was an elf. I told her I like her jacket and we became fast friends.
At school, I dressed as a goth vampire. I took my sister's feather witch hat, and pinned down the crown so it would look like an Edwardian hat. I had a bad day at school. I got teased at the pep rally, and some bully named Eli snatched my hat. I got him back though. He hid, but I found him, grabbed my hat and kneed that fucker right in the balls. I didn't even get in trouble, and his female friends didn't blame me for it, even when he whined.
Katie and I went trick or treating that night. As usual, the two of us had quite good time. When I got home, and washed off my costume, some popular kids pelted my house with onions. Or maybe that happened in 2002. Regardless, I never found out who did it, but I will always have my suspicions.

Halloween 2004, Age 15: Our last Halloween in Willsboro. This year I was going as a pretty flower fairy. I wore a wispy green skirt, and a green belly shirt. Mom made me beautiful gold net wings. We got a lot of pretty shimmery green makeup. I wore this costume to the party at mom's work, where my wings kept falling off. I also froze my ass off. But Amanda got some really pretty pictures of me from that night.
Because I froze my ass off, I couldn't possibly wear that costume on Halloween night. When I went to school on Halloween, I dressed as a Medieval lady, in a red houppelande. With my short hair and glasses, everyone assumed I was Harry Potter. Sophie Clarke antagonized me all day with "Are you Harry Potter? Are you Harry Potter?". If she's grown out of her obnoxiousness, I do not know. When I got home, my mom, sister and I turned fairy costume into a punk fairy costume. Mom sewed my gold wings into a leather jacket. I wore a black mini, a black shirt, holey tights and boots. Katie did my makeup. She put on some bunny ears (she was a were-rabbit) and off we went. It was a great night. The best Halloween ever. We got lots of candy, and some creeper thought I was supposed to be an angel. My ex-boyfriend's little brother shouted at us from his back, but it didn't seem to matter. We ate apples by the river.

Halloween 2005, Age 16: We moved to Bellows Falls, VT earlier that year. I'd made some friends in a local Anime club, and we put together a trick or treating expedition. I dressed as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. My mom made the dress, and we used white tights that we drew stitches on to make my rag doll arms and legs. My godmother bought me a red wig, and we used eyeliner to make stitches on my face. My friends and I all met up at the library, and then we went trick or treating. We were an interesting group. There were ninjas, fairies, changelings and pirates. Arielle wore a goblin mask and a pretty dress. Whenever anyone asked what she was supposed to be she said "I'm your ex-girlfriend".
Sometime during the night we all got split up. This distressed me quite bit, and as a result, I was in a rather surly mood for the rest of the evening. By the end of the night, most of the party reunited, and after some of them went home, Hannah, Caitlin, Nina and I crossed the bridge into Walpole, NH to trick or treat there and visit Caitlin's grandma. When I got home, my mom had a pizza waiting for me, and thus ended my first Halloween in good ol' Fellows Balls.

Halloween 2006, Age 17: Like last year, my friends and I were going to go trick or treating. I was disappointed however, when Hannah decided to go trick or treating with some people who I rather disliked at the time. But as always, I had Arielle, and other friends.
I was going to go as the Evil Fairy Queen. Mom bought me a black and white velvet gown that was supposed to be a zombie bride costume, but would work as a fairy gown too. She also bought me black glittery wings, and an evil fairy crown and wand.
At school that day, I borrowed Caitlin's insanely high platform Mary-Janes and wore the shredded veil that came with the zombie bride dress. I got laughed at by some bullies, but I thought I looked pretty awesome. I told everyone I was supposed to be Anne Boleyn's ghost, but none of them got it.
Also like last year, I was to meet my friends at the library. Hannah, Caitlin and Nina were there with my then enemies. I felt left out and hurt, but soon Arielle arrived and soothed that hurt. We met up with the rest of the group and headed out. That night was a riot. We tried trick or treating at the funeral home, and got yelled at by the director. The lights were on, and naively, I assumed they were doing something for the holiday. They were not. They were holding a funeral. Mortified, we left hurriedly. Who has a fucking funeral on Halloween?
As we walked around town, we collected more people we knew. We all got pretty rowdy, and when a cop drove by Arielle called him a pig. He pulled over, and we all ran like little bitches while Arielle dove into the bushes. He fined her 500 dollars!
It was a crazy night, and we all got lots of candy. It was the coolest Halloween ever.

Halloween 2007, Age 18: This was a Halloween that should have been awesome, but turned out kind of lame. I went as a Japanese Ghost. Mom made me a white burial kimono, and some tabi socks. I wore a black wig, and we painted my face like a corpse. Then we dumped fake blood all down my front. This was one of the coolest costumes I ever had. I couldn't wear it to school though, so at school I just dressed up as a cat.
Arielle and I went trick or treating, and we brought our friend Tony. All night long, Tony kept introducing himself to everyone person who handed out candy. Eventually Arielle and I got a little annoyed at this. Then Tony and Arielle had a fight. Arielle and I ended up going home much earlier than we wanted, because we were so cold and frustrated. But we had a good amount of candy, and mom ordered pizza because we hungry.

Halloween 2008, Age 19: My friend Kim and I went trick or treating even though we were both much too old. I had gained weight in the past year, and had a lot of trouble planning a costume because of this. Mom bought me a witch costume, made of black velvet and green satin, with fishnet sleeves. The hat that came with it was too small, so she bought me a new one, of green satin with feathers and a spider decorated veil.
This year turned out great. Kim and I had a good time together, and even though we didn't get much candy, it didn't seem to matter. No one seemed to mind that we were adults going trick or treating. If only all Halloweens could be this nice.

Halloween 2009, Age 20: This Halloween, things were looking grim. I was having trouble getting a costume, and all my plans kept falling through. Everyone was bailing on me. But shortly before Halloween I got a job working at a movie theater in Plattsburgh, NY with my Dad. I moved up to Alburg, VT to be with him. Since I had to work on Halloween, and I didn't know anyone in the area, I couldn't go out. But I was determined to celebrate anyway. I couldn't afford to buy a costume, nor did I have time to make one, so I just whipped something up from what I had on hand. I wore my magenta and black tutu, my Nightmare Before Christmas shirt, my striped leggings, silver knee high combat boots and cat ears. Dad bought me some glitter eyeshadow, and I did my makeup as goth and glamorous as I could. Glitter got all over the bathroom.
We drove to work. It was raining, and there weren't a lot of trick or treaters out.
At work, my teenage coworkers oohed and aahed over my outfit. I told them I was just a catgirl, but what I was really supposed to be was a "Zydrate Addicted Scalpel Slut Catgirl".
I watched two movies for free that night. First, I watched Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D, and then I watched Paranormal Activity. I smuggled some candy in to eat, a big bag of Wonka Candy and a Mr. Goodbar of epic proportions. The movie was boring at first. The teenage girls behind me kept squealing like little idiots every time something would happen. It didn't get scary until the end, but the camera work made me nauseous.
When the movie was over, I ate my dinner and read a book while waiting for Dad to finish security so we could clean. Then I changed out of my impractical clothes, and into a witch shirt and khakis, so I could work. I spent the rest of Halloween cleaning movie theaters and bathrooms. When I went to bed that night, I was so spooked by Paranormal Activity, that I slept with the lights on.

Halloween 2010, Age 21: My last year trick or treating. It should have been great but it was a drag. I made a neat pirate costume with a bunch of skirts, a chemise, a shawl made into a vest (the chemise was see-through), boots and a black velvet pirate hat trimmed in gold and a little feather. I went out with Arielle, Allison and Arielle's boyfriend (at the time), Leighton.
A dreary night. I was cold, and I kept getting nosebleeds. People stopped giving out candy at seven PM and we spent most of the night in a bad mood, looking for houses still giving out candy. Arielle and I sniped at each other, and Leighton kept whining about needing coffee. We decided to go home, and I vowed I would never go trick or treating again. I was just too old, and an activity that once held so much joy and wonder for me had lost its charm. I got home, got into pajamas, and ate my candy while watching The Walking Dead with mom.

This Halloween, I'm 22. I'm going as an Evil Fairy again, and my friend Kenny and I are throwing a party. Halloween still has not lost its magic and wonder for me, but I'm ready to celebrate it like an adult, now.