It’s a strange thing to wake up with no memory of the night before. 

It’s an even stranger thing when the only time that’s ever happened, it was from drinking too much in your youth and blacking out, and this… well, it definitely didn’t feel like that. For one thing, there was absolutely no hangover. For another, I wasn’t typically one to drink much, not since my early 20s anyway, and even not remembering last night, I doubted that I would have done that.

I woke up in your bed, which was perfectly normal. You’d been planning your Halloween party for weeks, and from the beginning, we’d planned on my staying the night. You were breathing softly, a small spot of drool on your pillow. There was a top hat covering up the alarm clock; I tried to remember what your costume had been.

I remembered my costume. I remembered everything leading up to the party; the planning, the cooking, the decorating the day before. I remembered preparing and donning my own costume- a little spiderweb witch number involving a corset, a mini skirt, knee-high boots, a witch’s hat, lots of fake spiderweb, and a lot of purple lipstick and eyeshadow. I knew it would drive you wild.

I could remember leaving my place and walking over to yours… my costume got a few good reactions, but nothing untoward. I could remember reaching your house and knocking on the door…

I could remember grinning at you as you opened the door in… well, something involving a waistcoat and a top hat. I could remember giving you a teasing “Trick or Treat!” 

This was where things started to get fuzzy. I closed my eyes to try to focus. 

I remembered you reaching into your pocket and pulling out something on a chain. Maybe it was a pocket watch?

Even after getting up out of the bed, walking over to the ensuite bathroom, and splashing some cool water on my face, nothing changed. 

You had pulled out the pocket watch, or whatever it was, grinning right back at me. 

No matter what I did, no matter how far into my mind I reached, I couldn’t remember anything from last night after you’d responded to my playful mantra.

That, I remembered very clearly.

You laughed. It wasn’t an innocent laugh.

“Trick.”

And then there was nothing.