On Halloween, everyone wore a mask. It was the perfect night to disappear, even if just for an hour. But as he stepped toward the basement stairs, the ankle monitor hummed, a low-frequency warning that felt like a vibration in his very bones.
"Trick or treat, Leo!" one of them shouted, followed by a mocking kick against his door. Under House Arrest Reboot [Ch. 2 Halloween]
Leo leaned his forehead against the cold wood. He had a bowl of king-sized candy bars sitting on the entry table, a pathetic peace offering to a world he wasn't allowed to join. On Halloween, everyone wore a mask
The Warden was watching. Or was it waiting for him to make a move? "Trick or treat, Leo
Outside, the street was alive. He could hear the crunch of leaves under the boots of teenagers and the distant, muffled giggles of children. A group of friends—people he used to run with before the "incident"—were laughing just beyond his porch. He could see their shadows through the frosted glass of the front door: a skeleton, a high-tech cyborg, and someone in a vintage hazmat suit.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed. A message from an unknown sender: Check the basement window. The Warden has a blind spot at 8:45 PM. He looked at the clock: 8:42 PM.