A Trick of Memory… (Felix Autumn Special)

 Writing Prompts

- Handfuls of candy

- A scream

- A big lie that seems small

--

A scream shatters the quiet of The Square…before the gaggle of kids shout, “Trick or treat!” Their toothy grins spread wide on their faces as they stare up with hope at Felix.

He grins in return. “Treat, obviously.” He then grabs two handfuls of sweets to chuck into each waiting pumpkin-shaped bucket.

The kids look ecstatic. Nat does not.

“Those treats are for our cover mission, Felix,” Nat reprimands, though there’s not strength behind it, and Felix gets the feeling she would have done the exact same thing. “Give them here and I’ll take them.”

“Then what am I going to do?” Felix asks, rocking back on his heels with a pout.

“Go find the Detective. They should be in position in the woods by now.” And Nat wanders off, smiling at the groups of costumed-children and their weary parents who trail behind.

-

Darkness infects the woods, the air musty and thick with damp—a symptom of the autumn night air. Felix glances wistfully for a final time at the bright happiness of the Halloween-decorated town before plunging himself into the dense trees.

The Detective isn’t far, Felix can smell them long before he sees them. It’s a comforting smell. It tempts him through the trees with a smile, the youngest vampire barely noticing the woods anymore.

That is until another echo of screams pierces through the shadowed thickness.

Felix’s heart tugs in his chest.

A bright light flashes in front of him. A flash of a memory. A memory he has tried to bury with as many smiles and laughs as he can force out of himself.

‘Don’t look back…’

Another scream.

Felix flinches out the memory as a hand rests on his arm.

“Felix?” 

He’s never been so glad to hear his own name before. Especially from the one who spoke it.

The Detective stares into his amber eyes with worry on every crinkled feature. “Are you all right?”

Felix smiles. “Yes. I’m more than all right.”

The lie helps to force the memory away, but the Detective’s comforting touch has it fleeing back to the depths of his mind.

He rests his fingers on the Detective’s, the smile widening into a grin that now doesn’t need to be forced at all. “I am now you’re here.”