Michaelishious - Vol. 2022

Dec. 16th: Alexa (pt. 1)

Author's note:
Michael is not famous in this one.

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"Alexa! Play 'Bury a friend'!"

Seconds later, the rhythm of Billie Eilish's cryptic song set the perfect atmosphere for what I was doing. I was decorating for Halloween. It used to be my girlfriend through the past five years, Hayley, doing that and I was just helping with the many creative projects she had going on. But after we split in May, it was only me. I still invited my buddies over to party like we used to even though Hayley's friends wouldn't be here. It had become a tradition, and I wanted to keep that.

I was just done setting the table with the punch bowl in the middle of a sea of small pumpkin and ghost plastic figures. I had filled it with the usual skulls that were supposed to float inside it. Together with red punch and perfect lighting, it looked rather grotesque, but I'd gotten used to it. It was still too early to fill it up, but being only one person, I needed to use every single minute efficiently to get done in time.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Trick or treeeat!"

I looked at my wristwatch and frowned at the two kids, a boy and a girl, standing with small Halloween buckets in their hands. They were dressed as Minnie Mouse and Goofy, and the girl held a stuffed animal looking like Pluto on her arm.

"You started early," I said, but it was actually a question that irked me. It was only 4:17 pm and still light outside. There were no adults nearby, either, and I got a bit concerned. "Are you guys alone?"

"Yeah, dad couldn't come, so he said we could go as long as we were back before dark," the boy explained and showed off his missing front teeth when he smiled. "What's your name, sir?"

"Me? I'm Michael. What about you?" I replied, genuinely curious. Daylight or not, I found it strange that someone would let their kids out alone. Fair enough, it was a peaceful neighborhood, but still. You never know what kind of people you meet.

"I'm Todd and this is my sister Trudy."

"Those are very cute names. How old are you?" I asked, trying to get as many answers as possible without making it too obvious.

"I'm seven and Trudy is almost five."

I smiled at them and held out the bowl of candy I'd luckily prepared in time, and I watched with amusement how they struggled to pick out what they wanted the most. And I chuckled at their eagerness when I told them to take two each.

"Thank you so much, Michael! Bye!" they said in unison and waved their tiny hands before they turned to walk to the next house. Still, I couldn't shake off the concern about letting two such small children go trick and treat on their own. If I wasn't so busy, I would follow them and make sure they got home safely, but I was already slightly behind schedule.

After watching them disappearing out of sight, I closed the door, and noticed the music had stopped. So I called for Alexa again.

"Play 'Ghostbusters'."

"That is such a stupid song," she replied, and my eyes bulged when 'There will be blood' started playing instead.

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed. Then I walked over to the oval smart speaker and stared at it.

"What kind of song is this, anyway?" I mumbled. The song was new to me, and quite frankly, I didn't like it much. It gave me the chills. Then I checked the screen and frowned. Bloodred Hourglass? I'd never even heard of them. In addition, I wasn't a metal fan.