The Doctor's Assistant

Mawi

Knock,knock,knock. Someone was at the door. Not my door, the knocking was too faint, but at the front door. I groggily turned over on my bed and sat up, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to wake up faster.

"Oh god, not another volunteer," I whispered to myself as I half-walked, half-shuffled out of my room and down the hall. The loud clock ticked viciously as it spat out the time as 10:34. The knocking increased to a crescendo with each passing second. Whoever was at the door was either angry or very much wanted to get in.

I unlocked the rotting wooden door and saw Madds smiling sheepishly back at me, knuckles red from knocking. I was relieved, but also confused. I thought he had the keys to this place.

"Hello, Elliot! My apologies for all the noise, I managed to lock myself out of the house this morning," the doctor stepped inside before continuing. "Just as I turned around to collect my keys from the shelf, the door closed itself and I was stuck outside. Rather than bang on the door then, I did my shopping then came back to bang on the door now."

Madds had two large plastic bags at his sides, each bulging and filled to the brim. I could make out the faint outlines of... mini pumpkins? The bag on his left was completely filled with mini pumpkins, give or take a few spaces that contained lightbulbs and a robotic black cat statue. The bag on his right was busting with decorations, candy bags, costume material, and some unidentifiable objects. I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly. What even was this man?

"Oh, I see that you've taken interest in the bags. These are for Halloween. And yes I know that today is only October 1st, but I just couldn't wait. It's my favorite holiday!" Madds was grinning like a kid on Christmas that just got exactly what they wanted from Santa.

I stood there dumbfounded as he unpacked his bags on a card table that was set close to the entrance. Pumpkins, black cat, pumpkins, lightbulbs, more pumpkins. They toppled over the edge of the table, cascading onto the linoleum floor. It took a while before I realized that the pumpkins were actually miniature Jack-o-lantern lights, each connected by wires and cables. He had bought a total of 49 strings of them, later telling me that he cleared out the store's entire supply. I could only imagine the looks he received from the cashier at the checkout counter.

"Do you really need all of this, Madds? It seems a bit excessive. Plus, you bought candy corn for what reason?" I asked, still watching as the festive flood now streamed from the other bag. This was a candy flow mixed with fake fur coated blue spiders, tubes of 'vampire blood', fangs, claws, mixed costume parts, bat streamers, a disconnected plastic skeleton, ghosts made of cheesecloth, the list goes on and on. Soon enough I was wading through the seasonal shabang, trying not to step on anything.

Madds picked up a bag of candy corn and cradled it defensively. "I enjoy the taste, it's sweet and brings me closer to the holiday."

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "Whatever you say, doctor."

Madds chuckled before bending down to pick up some of the overflow. I bent down to help him. After a few minutes of moving the items off the floor, everything was back to the way it was. Well, almost. The steel table was now decked in spooky spirit, an eerie beacon of orange and black. We made the decision to leave any excess stuff there for a few weeks, until the next volunteer showed up. Speaking of volunteers...

"Well, Madds, I think I'm gonna go back to my room and just stay there for a week. The mental scarring from yesterday is going to take a while to heal, and your eccentric Halloween spirit is starting to scare me," I said, turning to leave. I was about to start walking away when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"I thought you might of wanted to help decorate, or maybe even continue yesterday's conversation about my ex-wife," Madds confessed. "It's fine, though. I understand that you need your space."