A Halloween story
Flash fiction: 500 words

They came each year, wearing their bright little costumes: on a dare, half-believing, half-afraid.

In small groups, or alone - but they always came.

Mostly I'd hide till they left again – laughing, contemptuous now of the dark.

Sometimes, I showed myself and then they ran, their laughter turned to screaming.

That power felt so good, even while it hurt.

Even when I caught them and heard their final moans over the smell of blood and torn flesh, when the hunger rose like wild laughter, it hurt.

To be feared like this, after all these centuries, still hurt so much.