A Trick of Memory… (Farah Autumn Special) (Patreon)

 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 Farah.

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

The kids look ecstatic. Nate does not.

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

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

“Go find the Detective. They should be in position in the woods by now.” And Nate 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. Farah glances wistfully for a final time at the bright happiness of the Halloween-decorated town before plunging herself into the dense trees.

The Detective isn’t far, Farah can smell them long before she sees them. It’s a comforting smell. It tempts her 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.

Farah’s heart tugs in her chest.

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

‘Don’t look back…’

Another scream.

Farah flinches out the memory as a hand rests on her arm.

“Farah?” 

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

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

Farah 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 her mind.

She rests her 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.”