Yep. Still recoverin’ in the Hospital. X-Ray came back and the eye socket, while fractured, healed up pretty well over the last week ‘er so. Still got some time ‘fore the swellin’ goes down and I’m seein’ right a’gin. On the mend; ain’t much, but it’s enough. Need ta’ remember ta’ thank Chava from Dixon’s Garage for fixin’ up the generator. I’ll sort through ma’ bag an’ find somethin’ nice for ‘er.

Somethin’ ‘bout this time a’year gets ta’ me. Like a veil between the worlds opens up; lets the spirits see you and you see the spirits. Lets them be reminded of their life ‘fore they left an’ reminds us we might got somethin’ ta’ look forward to; ‘least some of us. Used ta’ read a lot. Rememberin’ this quote at this particular moment: “If human beings had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.” Masks; everyone’s got one an’ we usually see it ere’day. Tough ta’ pinpoint a person ‘til you got them on the volcano’s edge. Then, then you’ll meet the real person. And all that goddamned mysticism will’ve washed away.

Ran with another farmhand for a few years while in Colorado: Old Russ. Fella’ was a superstitious one; least more superstitious than me. Made sure to always offer up somethin’ to the old gods to ensure the livestock survived the winter. Wasn’t a young virgin ‘er nothin,’ usually a decent harvest of whatever crop we were maintainin’ the season prior. Never talked to him much ‘bout it, jus’ figured it was his way of readyin’ for the long winter ahead.

The long winter ahead. What’s that got’n store for us? If’n it’s anything like Fortuna, I’ll have ta’ politely pass. That town broke me; left me hollow. Jilaiya ran that village with an iron fist. No one, ain’t no one, questioned a’one of her commands. Not even when she left me stocked up for a week, bare and bleedin’ after takin’ what she thought was hers.

Tried to make me her slave; bend me an’ break me ta’ her will. Dunno’ what kept me goin.’ Maybe the thought of gettin’ back to the Eights; to home again. Why’d I ever leave?

They hollowed me out in Fortuna. But I hollowed them out right back when they pitted me ag’inst one of their own; to see who was ready ta’ live and who was ready ta’ die. ‘The Killin’ Circle,’ they called it; kept their strongest strong while trimmin’ their weakest. The third down the Fortuna ladder, Rufus, always came packin.’ Had weapons and grenades all over ‘im when there was no need for ‘em; least for their night’s entertainment. An’ that’s when I had ma’ moment ta’ take back from them all they’d taken from me; ‘least most of it.

I was bein’ forced ta’ fight Malachi, one of tha’ up-an’comin’ foot soldiers. Guy was built solid as a tank; wiped the floor with me for a good long while. But when the goin’ gits’ tough, the tough grabs a grenade pin from Rufus’s belt when he don’t realize it. That was the longest countdown a’my life as I was thrown across the other side a’the Circle by Malachi.

And then BOOM! I had to peel bits an’ pieces a’Rufus and Malachi offa’ me as ‘ah got back to the shed, grabbed ma’ bag and snuck away before the smoke cleared…

And then I was out. Free, but all alone again. Broken and hollow. So yeah, ain’t much of a Halloween kind’a guy. Cause Halloween, for most a’us, is every day. The demons an’ tricksters are out. And we’re all one of ‘em, in one way or another.