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October is a great month. While the onset of the warmer weather in the southern hemisphere, here in the north it is fall in its fullest. A shift in the seasons that brings not only a blazing fire across the hills as the leaves turn to their vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows, but also an unexplainable sensation that hangs heavy in the chilled air of the nights. An unexplainable sense of uneasy anticipation as the hours cycle down to the moment that may be our last, if fear has its way with us. A day we await in order to celebrate the night; Halloween.

A change in the air; is that an actual change or just a condition of the mind? A perceived crescendo of excitement that drives our senses away from our rationality, or is it really powers come over us? I'd like to think that it is just power. That it is not only the night of the last night of the month that dictates, but all throughout. That as the cold of winter threatens the remnants of the fleeting fall, and as the last plants of the growing season die under the light of the Hunter's moon, it doesn't just help to add to the saturation of a greater presence. And what a presence it is.

A month of preparation for the best night of the year regarding the tests of our hearts; when one seeks to challenge the night for whatever rewards if offers. Whether it's a young one's quest for candy, an individual right of mischief, or one's desire to test their courage, it is a force that drives. A chance to abandon what is concrete and sane for favor of the mythological and illogical. To be the object of fear, or to fear others, it is all dependent upon our choices.

For me, after the unfulfilling years occupying the little kid rat race about town to fill my bag with goodies, I found new reward. A test of courage is what I could call it, but it was more of a cure than anything else. For one such as myself, a young teenager plagued with perpetual nightmares, grueling thoughts and terror that made me wish that sleep would never come, I had found a solution at last. "Fight fire with fire", battle terror with terror, I would chase fantasy with reality and imagination. And my battleground: The cemetery that bordered the woods.

I can feel the chills with just the recollection of it. Recall the thoughts that not only tethered me there, but also that begged me to flee. But I would not flee, because it was only once a year. October 31st. Halloween. While others were getting fat on candy or scaring themselves stupid with horror movies I

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