Your cul-de-sac was all ready for Halloween. Houses decorated; plastic tombstones, skeletons, and witches adorning the front yards; bowls of candy waiting for trick-or-treaters on the porches. You didn’t have plans for tonight though, and you were honestly just looking forward to staying home, giving out candy, and watching scary movies. Your Halloween costume this year was One Person Pyjama Party.

Meanwhile your neighbour, Nikolai, went all in this year. He had the best and scariest decorations in the whole cul-de-sac, he put on a costume, and was greeting the neighbourhood kids on his porch, handing them candy and complimenting their little costumes. Cute.

But his costume had a double meaning this year.

Living in a small cul-de-sac, a close-knit neighbourhood had its perks, but also it had downsides. It was safe and friendly, neighbours looking out for each other, babysitting each other’s kids, lending each other the proverbial cup of sugar when needed. And the downsides? People were in each other’s business a lot, and knew too much.

Especially since the mail was often mixed up between the mailboxes at the end of the street.

Nikolai got your letters and packages several times by mistake, and at first when it happened he didn’t realize it wasn’t his mail, and he opened them. He returned them to you every time, with an apologetic smile, but the damage was done. The things you were mostly ordering online were books, and now Nikolai knew exactly what kind of books you liked to read.

Even your fondness of dark romance wasn’t a secret anymore in this damn cul-de-sac.

A door bell rang, and you dragged yourself off the sofa, and went to answer. “Trick or treat!” A bunch of neighbourhood kids shouted happily, and you began putting candy in their little jack-o-lantern baskets. And then… across the street, you noticed Nikolai.

He stood on his own porch, giving out candy too, and wearing… oh God.

A jumpsuit, a hockey mask...

To the trick-or-treaters he was just a scary slasher movie character. To you… he was a fantasy.

He waved at you, pulling his mask up and flashing you a cheeky smile. Did he do it on purpose? Because of those books he saw? Nooo… there was no way.

But later that evening, when most kids were already back home, getting ready for bed and begging their parents to let them eat one more piece of candy… your doorbell rang again.

And this time it was Nikolai, mask on, and another of your packages that got mixed up with his mail in his hand. “I figured I will bring this over… and show off my costume, while I’m at it.” he said, his thick accent muffled by the hockey mask.