New October

Chapter One ~ Gummy Bears


1990


The crisp September air filled his lungs and the crunching of the leaves was the only noise he heard. The woods looked golden this afternoon and Michael adored it. The vibrant leaves that fell reminded him of his mother's hair. Falling, in a wimsical, swirly fashion, and he smiled at the thought of it. He couldn't wait to see her tonight. He wouldn't see her until late at night though and this dampened his mood. She was the only good thing in his life and she never ever judged him for who he was.

"Be yourself, Mikey. Be you and never pretend to be anything but. I love you for who 'you' are. Never let anyone step on you." She would say.

He always played those words she spoke in his mind. Ronnie, however, was a different story. Ronnie was everything that evil defined. He was the reason for Michael's dailey escape to the woods. These were his woods and when he had found the right spot, he made it his home. A small area with trees the enclosed it in a circle. It was truely the only place where Michael felt safe.He had even brought a small box filled with a few of his belongings. Some books, a few pictures of his mom and Baby Laurie, and a small bag of animal crackers. Sometimes, he would even manage to sneak a blanket and a flashlight passed Ronnie without any questioning, so he could stay later and read his books and wonder.

This particular afternoon was different. Michael sensed it. It was unusually...crunchy. At first Michael thought it was a family of squirrels or chipmonks, yet he saw not one. He rested against a tree and pulled out a book and began to read and page after page he would look up at the crunching and page after page, there was nothing there.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

Michael stood up fast and spun in confusion. The crunching was getting closer. This time, it was accompanied by small, wispy, breaths that sounded scared and helpless.

"Leave me alone!" shouted the voice, "Please go away!"

Michael turned and saw a girl just about his age running from a rather tall teenaged boy with short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Not knowing what to to, Michael quickley jumped behind the biggest tree nearest to him, thinking of whether or not he should help or just mind his own business. He peeked his head out to find them both running faster and approaching the area quicker. The short girl had tears in her eyes and were pink with fear.

"Please go away!" she sobbed. She did not see the ditch she was headed for. Michael saw her trip over the thick root of the tree he was behind and tumble into his home. She groaned in fear and pain and Michael took notice of the big gash across her cheek that began to gush with blood. Michael watched the boy hop down into the ditch. He recognized the jocked up teen from school. He was on the football team or something, Michael remembered vaguely. He also knew for certain that he was the biggest bully he'd ever seen. Michael's thought was quickly forgotten when he heard the boy's laugh as the helpless girl tried to stand.

"Stay down!" he shouted above a whisper as he shoved the girl back down to the dirt.

"Please!" she begged.

"Shut the fuck up and lay down."

"What?"

"Lay the fuck DOWN!"

"No." she sobbed.

"Bitch, lay the fuck down!" he whispered deeply as he grabbed her by the back of her neck and shoved her down to the ground and lay on top of her. He managed to tear her purple skirt down to her knees through her kicking. "Now don't make a damn sound." he whipsered, covering her mouth with one hand and unzipping her jeans with the other. The girl lay sobbing quietly. She knew what was coming for her stepfather always did to her what was about to happen. She just stared at everything around her but the boy on top of her, waiting for what was to come to her.

"Be yourself, Mikey."

Out of nowhere, the girl heard crunching from the leaves coming from another area
not to far. From behind the teenager, she saw another boy and froze. In his hand he had a long, thick, and what appeared to be heavy branch and then she saw him raise it with all of his might and swing it fast across the punk's waist, knocking him completely off of her. As the punk groaned in pain, clutching his gut in the leaves, Michael quickley went to her and helped her up gently and told her to go behind the tree he was hiding behind. He then went back to the groaning teen and glared at him in an intimidating disgust. Intimidating, for he knew what the teen could do to him and disgust, for what the punk tried to do to the girl.

The teen finally came to his senses and looked up at Michael, standing eerily still with a deadly look in his eye. He too had recognized Michael from school.

"What the fuck? Myers?" the boy coughed.

"Leave." Michael responded with a dead tone.

"Or what?" the teen tested.

Silence. Pure silence with not even a chirping bird or falling acorn to break it.

"Myers, your mom still showin' her titties down in town?" he chuckled. Michael still just stared. Something in his stare made the teen shiver. His voice then became filled with stutters. "Myers, if you tell anyone 'bout this I swear I'll get you."

Michael watched the boy stumble to his feet and he gave him one last look. Then he watched him limp to the trail and walk back to the main road. Michael stood ther euntil he could no longer hear the leaves crunching. Michael's attention was now aimed towards the girl. He slowly walked behind the tree to find her sobbing and shivering n the ground. She loked up at him with fear.

"Please. Please don't hurt me." she asked, not taking her eyes off of the long branch which he still grasped, "Please?"

With that, Michael quickley threw down the branch, not wanting to frighten her anymore than she already was. He slowly kneeled down with caution. He examined her face as she tried not to look into his eyes. She had short, light brown hair and the biggest green eyes he had ever seen. Her skin was that of the color of the golden leaves with a touch of rose in her cheeks. She wasn't skinny, but she wasn't fattish either. After a few moments of stillness, Michael looked around and reached for his small blanket and he gently put his hand, offering it to her. Her eyes darted around for a moment, thinking of what to do and hesitantly, she accepted.

"Thank..thank you." she whispered.


"You're welcome." he said in a pepped up tone, trying to assure her that he was of no harm to her. They stared at and around each other in a comfortable silence. She examining his face. His long blonde hair at his shoulders and his chocolate brown hair taking her in. His short stature confused her at first for he looked a lot taller when she was laying on the ground. The shivered as she adjusted the blanket and looked around in wonder to the area that they were in. "My name is Michael. Michael Myers." he said, breaking the silence.



"I'm Gwendolyn Tynan." she said looking up into his eyes. She suddenly felt a lot safer. Michael pushed himself up with his legs and looked around. He bent down after he picked something up and sat down beside her again, handing her her skirt.

"I'm sorry about your skirt." he said.

"It's okay" she said, slowly accepting the cloth, "It's not the first time."

"Maybe your mom can sew it back together."

"Thank you, and I wish. My mom is gone. She died a long time ago." she said looking down sadly.

"I'm sorry." he responded in sadly.

"I live with my stepdad and my big sister."

"I have a stepdad." he said unenthusiastically, "A big sister AND a little sister too."

"My stepdad isn't a nice person. He'll hurt me if he finds out about this."

"He won't find out." he said. Michael totally understood the whole 'stepdad' ordeal. Ronnie was an abuser. He was abusive about the most oddest things too.


"Do you have a mother?"

"Yeah."

"That's wonderful. Is she nice?"

"The nicest."

Silence fell upon them again. It was thick, but again comfortable. Her eyes darted slowly around and took in her surroundings. She took notice of his box of belongings and one item in particular took her. She attempted to break the silence by mentioning his Superman comic book he had that lay on top of everything else.

"You like Superman?"

"Yes. He's my favorite superhero." he said as he twirled his fingers as he noticed the comic she was staring at. He then grabbed it and handed it to her. She observed it with a smile.

"This just came out, didn't it?"

"Yeah, about a week ago, but my mother picked it up for me for me as an early birthday present."

"Oh, when is your birthday?"

"October twenty-eighth. Next month."

"Oh. That's close to Halloween." she said as he gave a slight smile. Gwendolyn looked around in wonder of where she was. She wasn't afraid to ask questions, "So, do you 'live' out here sometimes?"

"No. This is just," he struggled for the right words to describe it, " this is just my place. I come here to get away from stuff."

"I have a place like that in my house. Nobody knows where it is. I can just go there and lose myself for hours."

"I tried to find a place in my house, but I couldn't."

"Well, this is just perfect. It's outside so you have all the fresh air. It's hidden so nobody could see you. It's very quiet so it gives you space to think.", she stated as she sat up and wrapped herself in his blanket, "I find it very cozy."

"Thanks, but if you think that this is cozy then you should have been here last week. I made cave out of logs and leaves."

"Awesome." she smiled and then looked up at the trees and the golden leaves. She embraced the beautiful silence as she rubbed her knees with her palms as Michael looked at her.

"It does get a bit chilly though."

"I've noticed." she said as she let out a laugh that made Michael smile even more.

"I've seen you around school."

"Yeah. I think I've seen you too."

"Do you like school?"

"Yes. The other kids are a pain, but I love to learn so I just deal with it."

"I don't really like it."

"Sure you do."

"Mmmm...I really don't"

"You just don't like the atmosphere. I can tell that you love to learn."

"How do you mean 'atmosphere'?" he asked with a confused look.

"The kids. Your surroundings and stuff. You aren't fond of them." she stated.

"I guess you can say that."

"Let me guess. Your favorite subject is...math?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I'm good like that."

"I suppose you love english?" he said and she responded with a smiling nod.

"How'd you guess?"

"Because 'I'm' good like 'that'."he pointed to himself as he laughed out. "Hey, do you want some gummy worms?"

"Gummy worms?"

"Yup."

"Eek. No thanks. I'll pass."she said as she made a creeped out face that made Michael laugh again.

"Oh come on. Have you ever tried them?"

"No. Any type of food that has the word 'worm' in it sorta makes me lose my appitite."

"You should definatly try them. Hey, there fun too. Watch." Michael took a gummy worm and put it in his mouth and began to make silly faces while it hung onto his lips,"And the best part is, ya can slurp them." and he did so, making his face look like a fish. He then handed her the bag, offering her some.

"My mom always said to try something at least once to see if I'll like it." and with that, she took one and placed it on her lips like Michael had showed her. She made freaky faces and finally slurped the worm down and to her surprise, they weren't half bad. "They taste like raspberries."

"You like them?" he asked hopefully and she gave him a warm, comforting smile.

"Yes. Yes I do."



And she and Michael stayed that way for hours. Talking and cracking jokes on various teacher at school and telling stories. They shyed away from talking about the incident that brought the two together. They had eaten all of the gummy worms and Gwendolyn had found a new favorite candy. They noticed that the sun was beginning to set and they both decided that they should get to heading home.

"Can I walk you home?" Michael asked.

"Oh, umm, you know, I think I can make it on my own. The sun is still bright enough and I don't live far. Thank you though."

"Are you sure? I don't want that jerk to come back for you."

"Oh I'm sure he's long gone. You frightened him pretty good."

"Well, alright." he said, not liking the fact that she chose to get home on her own.

"Oops, your blanket. Hey can you turn your head for a moment?"

"Why?"

"So I could get back into my skirt and give you your blanket back."

"Your skirt is ripped up. It'll fall down and I won't be there to laugh." he chuckled.

"Oh...that's so nice of you say, Michael." she said as she tilted her head, trying not to giggle.
"You can keep the blanket. If anyone asks...then think of something quick becasue I can't think of where to say you got it from."

She let out a laugh as she tied the blanked around her waist.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you so much, Michael. For everything."

"No problem."

"So, I'll, uhh, see you at school tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. Do you wanna come over here after school and do homework?" he asked with hope in his tone.

"I'd love too!"

"Cool. So I'll see you."

"Yeah. See you." and she turned to leave as Michael watched her walk. Before she stepped on to the trail, she turned back and walked briskly back over to him and to his absolute surprise, she hugged him tight and whispered into his ear. "Thank you for saving me." He looked into her eyes in wonder and in that moment, he saw the most beautiful girl in the world and smiled.

"I love to help." he choked out. She giggled and turned back on to the trail.


It was one month until Halloween.