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TWENTY THREE!
trick or treat
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Halloween was an important holiday in the Harrington household. The family of three went all out every year in order to celebrate the spooky holiday.

It was a family tradition for the three to travel to the local farm to retrieve the biggest pumpkins they could find in the field before carrying said beast home, in order to carve fun designs into the orange outside. The pumpkins would be on display on the front porch, along with other tacky decorations.

They would put up like plastic skeletons wearing top hats, cobwebs with fake spiders and even orange Christmas lights that Thomas hung up every year to add a spooky vibe to their exterior.

Wendy used to make Halloween inspired baked goods to bring to her friends houses.

But the most important thing about Halloween to the Harrington family was the costumes.

Stanley Harrington proclaimed himself as the ultimate costume designer of Hawkins.

He has such a creative mind that he is able to design and craft any idea that comes to his mind with ease and creating Halloween costumes were his specialty. He already had a well developed hand in sketching, painting, crafts and pottery but he had picked up the basics of sewing and fashion sketching after his mother had died.

Elizabeth Harrington often designed the many costumes for the two children but after she died, there was no one to fill that design role, so Stanley had taken up the position. He had taken out many books on fashion design, got private lessons on sewing from his grandmother and he enrolled in his high school's home economics, in order to learn.

His skills paid off and he was probably the best clothing and costume designer in Hawkins, despite being a male.

For the Halloween of 1986, Stanley had decided to hand make his own Star Wars costume. The boy was a huge fan of the science fiction franchise, thanks to his dad and thought it would be perfect to dress up as one of the characters for Halloween night.

He decided on going as Luke Skywalker in his iconic X wing orange pilot suit from the Empire Strikes Back. It was definitely a complex look but the boy was determined to make the costume.

Stanley took out every single Star Wars related book from the library to study and probably rented the film a thousand times, just to be able to precisely sketch out the outfit in full detail. He then spent his hard earned money gathering the right fabrics, buttons, zippers and any other accessories needed before sewing his costume together by hand over the course of a month.

Stanley definitely shedded a lot of blood, sweat and tears, just trying to bring his brilliant idea to life and it all worked out in his favour.

In the end, the boy had a perfect Star Wars costume that he was ready to unveil on the night for trick or treating.

"Stanley, are you in your costume yet?!" Thomas Harrington called from the bottom of the stairs, patiently waiting for the boy.

"Yeah! I'll be down in a minute!" Stanley assured in a loud tone to ensure his father would hear him.

Thomas shook his head before turning back to Nina Henderson, who currently stood in their front foyer, in a costume of her own.

"Are you excited to get some candy?" Thomas questioned the younger girl.

He was trying to make small talk without seeming like an awkward dad. He so desperately needed someone else with him to help him carry the conversation.

"Yes!" Nina exclaimed, a little too excitedly, "I've never been trick or treating before, so this is my first time and I'm super excited."

That was true. Nina Henderson had actually never been trick or treating before in her life.

The lab never allowed her and the other children to actually be able to experience common childhood activities and trick or treating was just one of them.

When the teen girl had brought up her lack of participation in the spooky holiday, everyone was in shock. They had no idea how a sixteen year old could go through life without experiencing the spooky holiday. The Party understood her and decided to declare that they would make the Halloween of 1986, the best one yet just for Nina to have a good experience.

The concept of dressing up in bizarre costumes and receiving candy from total strangers, baffled the girl but she still decided to give the holiday traditions a try.

"You've never gone trick or treating?" Thomas questioned in complete disbelief. He had never met or even heard of a kid who has never gone trick or treating before.

"No, sir." Nina shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Stanley will make sure you get the full experience." Thomas assured.

"I hope so too." Nina nodded happily.

Just as Nina had finished speaking, Stanley had come jumping down the stairs. The teen boy was decked in his costume.

His costume consisted of an orange jumpsuit he had sewed together by hand, a series of grey harnesses that had previously been old seatbelts, an old brown belt and a pair of black leather gloves that he had found laying in their storage room in the attic. He finished the look off with his beloved all black doc martens, a custom made gun holster and the little electronics box that he had strapped to a white vest.

Stanley had decided to skip making the helmet part as it would of obstructed his vision when walking through the streets in the pitch black.

"That's a great costume, Stan!" Nina complimented in an excited tone.

"Thanks, Nina. You look great too." Stanley smiled at the sight of her costume.

Nina was matching the Star Wars theme but she was dressed as Han Solo instead.

Of course, she had never seen the films, so Stanley had forced her to sit through all three on a Friday night. She thoroughly enjoyed them and also developed a huge infatuation with Harrison Ford's character, Han Solo.

Claudia Henderson, her adoptive mother, immediately agreed to make a Han Solo inspired costume for the girl and that's exactly what she was sporting for trick or treating. She currently stood at the bottom of the stairs in a loose white button up, a navy vest, a pair of tailored navy pants and black ridding boots, as well as a home made gun holster.

It was definitely a simplistic costume but still represented the beloved character well.

"Thank you." Nina blushed happily.

"I love you two are matching costumes. We have Han Solo and Luke Skywalker." Thomas exclaimed in awe. "That reminds me! Let me get my camera!" The older male suggested out loud.

"Dad, nooo!" Stanley practically begged but it was too late.

His father had already run into the kitchen to collect his Polaroid camera, in order to take a dozen pictures of the dressed up teens. The boy sighed in annoyance when his father had come running back in with his beloved camera in tow.

"Alright, stand together." Thomas ordered, shooing the two teens to stand beside each other.

Stanley reluctantly scooted over, so that he was standing closer to Nina. Thomas finished adjusting the settings on his camera and held to up in front of his face to be able to capture the perfect picture.

"Say cheese!" The two teens both awkwardly smiled before being assaulted by the bright light that emulated from the Polaroid camera.

They grimaced at the sudden light invasion but forced themselves to hold their uncomfortable smiles, just for the camera and Thomas' happiness.

"Dad, can you please stop?" Stanley whined, getting annoyed by the constant pictures. "Dustin and the others are waiting for us."

"Ok, ok, I'll stop." Thomas chuckled at his son's upset face, lowering his camera.

"Thank god." Stanley huffed in relief.

"Alright, I'll let you two go now. You have a whole night ahead of you, enjoy yourselves." Thomas exclaimed, opening the front door for the two teens, who happily stepped outside.

"We will, Mr Harrington!" Nina assured.

"Alright, have fun and bring me back a full sized Kit-Kat, Stan or else you're dead." Thomas joked, causing his son to laugh in agreement.

Stanley gave one last smile to his father before he had grabbed Nina's hand to drag her off of the porch and into the night to begin their long journey of candy collecting.

Thomas shook his head with a chuckle as he headed back inside of the house.

He couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness when he realized his late daughter was not tagging along with the teens. But he tried his best to not let his sudden sadness ruin one of the best nights of the year.

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Halloween night had been a total success so far for the Party members. It had barely passed seven pm and the group had succeeded in filling more than half of their pillowcases with precious candy.

"If I get another three musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself." Lucas groaned in annoyance, glancing at his growing collection of candy as the group walked down a path, leading back to the main road.

"What's wrong with three musketeers?" Dustin pondered in confusion.

"I think it tastes pretty good." Nina proposed, earning a grin from the curly haired boy.

"What's wrong with three musketeers?" Lucas asked in a sarcastic tone.

"No one likes three musketeers." Mike confirmed.

"Yeah, there's better chocolate out there." Stanley nodded, agreeing with the Wheeler boy.

"Yeah, it's just nougat." Will shrugged.

"Woah, just nougat?! Just noughts? It's top three for me." Dustin defended.

"Top three?" Lucas questioned in disbelief.

"Top three!" Dustin confirmed.

"Oh, god, give me a break." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, I can eat a whole bowl of nougat, straight up." Dustin exaggerated.

The group of preteens were so caught up in their debate about the controversy surrounding the three musketeers, that they had failed to notice Max Mayfield.

The red headed girl was previously invited to join the Party's trick or treating adventure by Dustin and Lucas and did indeed have her doubts about the matter.

She ultimately decided to tag along with the group but not without scaring them first. The girl hid behind a pair of bushes on a street corner, waiting for the group to pass by.

Luckily, her completely black outfit had helped to hide her figure and her face was also covered with a rubber Michael Myers mask.

When the moment was right, she jumped out of the bushes, welding a plastic knife and practically sending the members into a series of terrifying screams that made her die of laughter.

"Holy shit! You should of seen the looks on your faces!" Max howled in hysterical laughter.

"And you? Who screams like that. You sound like a little girl." She pointed right at Lucas, who quickly blushed and turned away in embarrassment.

"Hey! You guys coming or not?" Max questioned in confusion by the others lack of walking.

"Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the right people live, right?" The girl smiled happily, turning her back to focus on walking up the road.

Dustin and Lucas cheered happily in sync before running after the girl. Nina and Stanley followed after them as Will and an annoyed Mike, staggered behind the rest.

The group, now including Max Mayfield, had made their way up and down the many streets in the middle classes neighbourhoods before arriving at their destination, Loch Nora.

That was the name of the most notable neighbourhood in Hawkins. Anyone with any sort of wealth or class to their name, resided in this neighbourhood. It was like the Manhattan of Hawkins, except it was filled with mansions and multi story houses with pools, instead of condos worth thousands to rent.

Stanley Harrington knew the neighbourhood well as his paternal cousin, Steve, lived among these borders, so the younger boy knew exactly which houses were the best to get candy.

Which is exactly what the seven preteens were currently doing.

"Another full size. Like seriously, rich people are such suckers." Dustin exclaimed happily, staring down at his candy stock in awe.

"Wait, you're not rich, right?" The boy glanced over at the red head, hoping he didn't just offend her.

"No, I live up Old Cherry Road." Max confirmed as they walked down a house path to the road.

"Oh." Dustin's eyes widened.

"No, it's fine. I mean, the street's good for skating." Max assured.

"Yeah, totally tubular." Dustin exclaimed, purposely using some dumb California slang term he had picked up from a trashy television show.

"Did I say that right? Or is it like, tubular?" He questioned in a goofy voice.

"It's like totally tubular." Lucas corrected, accentuating his words with a surfer accent. 

"Totally tubular!" Dustin exaggerated.

"What a gnarly wave, dude." Lucas added, also in an exaggerated tone.

"Totally brodacious, bro!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Stop, my ears are hurting." Max laughed in fake annoyance at the two boys' antics.

"Do people really talk like that in Cali-forn-ya?!" Nina questioned excitedly, accidentally butchering the state's name.

"It's California." Stanley corrected in a gentle tone and the girl nodded happily in appreciation.

"No, we don't really talk like that. We just talk exactly like people in Hawkins do." Max explained to the fascinated girl.

"Oh, that's cool." Nina nodded happily.

The group made their way up the main road, towards a house that sat at the very top of the hill. It was a bit of a walk but it was definitely worth it as according to Stanley, this house handed out the best candy in all of Hawkins. It made sense why the group would travel that far.

The group was so preoccupied with trekking up the hill that they didn't even notice Will had been separated from the group. Something out of the ordinary had caught the Byers boy's eyes and his mind was quickly transported back to the Upside Down.

Despite, the boy physically escaping that place, his mind was still trapped there and occasionally, his vivid and traumatizing memories come back to haunt him.

Which is exactly why, the boy had ran far from the main road and was currently hiding behind a wall.

"Hey, where Will?" Mike questioned, speaking up for the first time in a long time.

He was the one standing in the back with Will originally but he quickly noticed once the group had made it to the front step that the boy was no longer with him. This worried him as Will often did this in times of distress.

"Wasn't he with you?" Dustin pointed out.

"Yeah but I think something happened to him." Mike answered, alluding to his visions.

"Oh, no....." Nina's eyes widened in disbelief before running off the front porch to search for the lost boy.

Mike was right behind, as well as the other four members of the Party. "Will? Where are you?!"

"Will!" The members called worryingly, desperately searching up and down the street for the boy.

"Guys!" Mike called, gaining everyone's attention. "I think I found him!"

The Wheeler boy had wandered down a small flight of stairs that was situated in the alleyway of some random house and luckily stumbled upon the lost boy. Will was curled up against a brick column, hugging his knees up to his chest as he harshly sobbed into his costume.

Mike and the others immediately rushed to younger boy, worried beyond belief about his state.

"Holy shit!" Dustin sighed in relief but still equally as panicked as the others.

"Is he okay?" Lucas questioned worryingly.

"I don't know." Mike shrugged, his attention focusing on helping the hyperventilated boy up from the cold ground. "I'm gonna get you home, okay? I'm gonna get you home. Hold on." He soothed the crying boy in a gentle tone to calm his nerves.

"Alright, take it easy." Dustin advised as Mike was basically manhandling the panicked Byers boy.

"I got him! I got him!" Mike exclaimed in annoyance, swatting the curly boy's hand away.

"Mike?" Dustin pondered in confusion.

"Keep trick or treating. I'm bored anyways." Mike answered before walking away from the scene, while trying to soothe Will at the same time.

The others just stood there in shock at the situation.

"What's wrong with him?" Max questioned, being the first one to break the silence.

"He just gets anxious near large crowds." Stanley lied straight through his teeth as he wasn't going to outright discuss what really happened to some girl he only just met on Halloween.

"He's gonna be fine, don't worry about it. Mike will handle it." The older Harrington boy assured the four worried preteens, who all sadly nodded.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)