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SKIN DEEP

She opened the door to find a witch standing there.

"Trick or treat," the little girl with the black pointy hat on Cathy's front stoop cried out.

"Oh, aren't you cute!" Cathy lied. This was either a really great costume or a really ugly kid. Being a former beauty queen, Cathy always pitied the aesthetically challenged, but this child's appearance was unsettling. Her skin was almost grey, as if drained of all blood. Underneath her unibrow were the deadest eyes she had ever seen. The young girl's cheeks were sallow and her mouth was curled up in a bit of a snarl.

"Here you go," Cathy said with a forced smile. She dropped extra candy in her basket just to get rid of her. "What is wrong with me," she thought. "I should feel bad for this kid. She obviously does not have a happy life, so why do I just want to punch that ugly little screwed up face." Cathy chuckled to herself at the thought.

The little girl just stood there staring at her. "Okay, little one. Have a Happy Halloween," Cathy told her patronizingly. She still just stood there. "Run along, now." What was this girl some kind of an idiot, Cathy thought to herself.

The little witch finally spoke. "You are not a nice lady."

"What do you mean? Didn't I give you two Snickers and three bags of M&Ms? I think that is pretty generous." Was she really arguing with a ten-year-old over Halloween candy?

"So why dontcha just punch my ugly little screwed up face, Miss Beauty Queen?" she shrieked. Cathy was taken aback by her accuracy.

"Well why don't you get those eyebrows waxed and get that scowl off your face, you little brat?" Cathy replied defensively, "And by the way, it wouldn't kill you to say thanks."

"Don't worry, beauty queen. You'll get what's coming to you," the homely girl told her and turned on the heel of her clunky shoes and left.

"Ungrateful little witch," Cathy shouted after her.

Glad to be rid of her visitor, Cathy went back to her online shopping. She decided she had about enough of those trick or treaters this year and resolved to have a bath and turn in early.

Upon entering her spacious bathroom, she cried out in horror. She was surrounded on all sides by hideous witches who all had the same dead eyes and sunken cheeks as that nasty trick or treater. Even worse, each had a horrible, bulging boil oozing out of the end of her nose. As some green ooze escaped from the boil she felt it trickle down her own face. Suddenly, she realized in horror that the images she saw were of herself in the wraparound bathroom mirrors.

Her head was spinning as the little witch's curse echoed in her oversized and hairy ears: "You'll get what's coming to you."

Learn more about this author, Rachel Doherty.
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