Exercise 9- Sam

October 31^st

Halloween. A time to laugh with friends over silly costumes and eat various candies until our teeth rot away. From the youngest of ages that my memory allows, I remember always loving this holiday. The scary movies that made my blood run cold as I could feel the eyes that weren’t actually there on my back. Running into my parent’s room at midnight because the “Friday the 13^th” marathon that was playing on AMC had chilled me to the bone. I still see Freddy Krueger’s face in my nightmares. I loved walking around my small town on Halloween as I filled my bag to the brim with sour candy, chocolate, and popcorn balls. Feeling the night air shift as the sun went down, I would blow out to see my foggy breath. Trick-or-treating was always so much fun. I loved seeing the reactions from babies as I wore my scariest, monster mask. The elderly people would laugh and tell me how cute my witch costume was. I wore that costume for four years straight. I still remember the lady who told me I was too old to be trick-or-treating and how my dreams were crushed. The next year I refused to put on a costume.

            Once high school came around, I was invited to my very first Halloween party. My friend in band was having everyone over to her house for games and a costume contest. Finally! I can dress up and enjoy Halloween again! My friends and I were excited to get together outside of the dreary concrete walls of our school. Now the hardest task was weighing down on my shoulders. What should I wear? I went back and forth through potential outfits, but I knew it had to be something spectacular so that I would win the costume contest. My family and I went to the Halloween store in my desperate search. It didn’t take me long before I found the perfect one. “Napoleon Dynamite” was, and still is to this day, one of my favorite movies. I can’t explain why, but I love the ridiculousness of the whole film. Napoleon’s wig and glasses were included in the package, I just had to provide the shirt that said Vote for Pedro. I had to make my own with sharpies and one of my dad’s old shirts, so the quality was a little off.

            When it came time for the party, my mom dropped me off in front of the house. Mackenzie was dressed as an angel, Julia was the Wicked Witch, and Sarah was Nicki Minaj. Now, I loved my friends, but my costume was obviously the winner here. We took pictures and I recreated some of the classic Napoleon lines. “Tina you fat lard, come eat your dinner.” “My favorite animal is a liger.” The people at the party were eating it up! I have this competition in the bag. Finally, it came time to announce the winner of the contest. My palms started to sweat and my knees began to shake. I was ready to claim my prize. And the winner is…Nick as Neo from The Matrix! I was furious! How could Nick have won? All he did was wear a cape and sunglasses. He didn’t even commit! I couldn’t look at Nick for the rest of the night without blind hatred filling my eyes. Sure, it was a bit melodramatic, but I felt jaded. He even came to the party late and ended up winning MY title. My friends said it was a rip off and reassured me that my costume was superior. Eventually I had to bite my tongue and enjoy the night. We roasted marshmallows by the fire and made the gooiest s’mores known to man. We bobbed for apples and my wig got soaked. When my mom picked me up, she asked me how it went and if I had won. With arms crossed, I looked out the window and scowled, “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

Nicki Minaj and Napoleon Dynamite: Paparazzi Shot

Word Count: 674