Page 37 of The King of Halloween
“Catch this!”
Adam barely had a chance to realize he was being shouted at before a brown blob zipped through the air. The light gleamed on the glossy skin as the ball struck him in the chest. He oofed and stumbled back. Still smiling, he did his best to pretend that he meant to catch it when he looked down. His shirt was stained with a brown sludge. A half-smashed caramel apple lay at his feet.
“Very funny,” he said, staring out into the crowd. “Who’s wasting good food?”
“You are,” another voice shouted. This apple whipped so hard, Adam only heard the whoosh. Luckily, it missed him. Instead, it hit the sheet behind, sticking to the white screen.
“What the hell?” Adam cried out. “This isn’t funny.” Another two apples came. One barely made it past the first row, but the second slammed into his shoulder. Wincing, he touched his bruise. As he pulled his hand away, brown, tacky goo stuck to his palm. In the dark light, it almost looked like blood.
“Stop it!” he ordered, anger boiling over. His voice shook as if he were on the verge of tears. The little shits in the crowd laughed. He tried to hunt for their faces, but they were hidden behind masks made by his sister. “I am your King!”
“King of the fairies,” a kid shouted, and the others snickered.
Adam didn’t even feel the apple hit. He could smell the smoke, see the red flame shaking in the dark, feel the heat biting through his flesh. They’d come not with pitchforks and torches, but apples and slurs.
It wasn’t just the shit-head teens laughing. Parents who’d thanked him for special ordering a costume, cheered his float at the parades, and shook his hand in the street, chuckled, too. A few leaned over to whisper, their questions getting louder.
He did ruin the festival. Why is a person like him even allowed to be the Halloween King? Won’t someone please think of the children?
His feet shifted, pleading to run—to take the both of them as far from this hell as he could. But he’d tried that before. It didn’t work there, and it wouldn’t work now. Instead, his knees locked in. He raised his head, taking stock of every voice whispering against him. One of the slower kids lobbed an apple high. This time, Adam caught it.
With a force and speed no one would expect from his tiny frame, he launched that apple right back. It smashed into the ground, exploding into chunks. People yelped like they’d been sprayed with napalm, dodging out of the way of a bit of fruit.
“That’s enough!”
Finally.Adam turned to the mayor getting out of his chair. He had a pretty good idea whose kids decided to throw fruit at him. But as he turned to tell his savior to drag them out, the man rammed an arm in front of Adam and spoke to the crowd. “People, please. Take your seats. We’ve had quite enough flying apples for one year.” Then Mayor Gunderson stared over his shoulder and glared right at Adam. “Haven’t we?”
Adam’s jaw dropped.He’s blaming me? What the fuck did I do? I stood there, I smiled, I took time out of my life to be the goofy mascot for this fucking town. But it’s my fault they’re throwing apples at me? It’s my fault they’re being little shits?
It’s my fault they hate me.
Shaking, Adam slid to the side as the mayor signaled he should do just that. If his heart wasn’t pounding so fast, he feared he might drop dead from anger poisoning, Adam would have stayed on principle. Clenching his jaw, he refused to give them the satisfaction of watching him run. Instead, he slowly walked down the two sides of people whispering about him. About his intentions, about his love life, about his heart.
“Well, please enjoy the movie,” the mayor shouted, getting vigorous applause.
He thought he was one of them at last. But the monster forgot—even the blind man was terrified of the creature hiding in the shadows.
Once behind the projector, Adam intended to bolt. He clawed his nails up his arms, his thoughts blanketed by the opening score as the kids settled in. One thing he wouldn’t do, one thing he refused to do, was cry. No matter how hard it got, he never let them see his tears.
“Adam?”
No. He screwed up his eyes and clasped a hand over his mouth to hide the sobs.
Raj came to stop so close it made Adam both uncomfortable and exhilarated. “Are you okay?” he whispered.
He’s comforting me? After everything that’s happened?I don’t…
Then he caught it. Raj’s worried eyes drifted to Logan, and the man gave a slight nod.
How did he not see it? “It was you,” Adam thundered in a whisper.
“What?” Raj moved closer. They both looked behind each other, but their cheeks were nearly pressed together.
“You planned this, didn’t you?”
“Are you insane? I would never—”
“You sold the damn apples they threw at me!”
