Boo! haunting of halloween's past

When I was little I liked to wear a Casper the ghost mask. I wore it even when it wasn't Halloween. Now that I think about it, that's kind of creepy. I liked Casper because he was "friendly." He made me feel safe and less frightened. If I was ever too scared to sleep my dad would tell me not to be afraid because he was the scariest thing in our house. My dad wasn't scary at all, so I usually laughed or challenged him by saying "yes, but what about outside?" I hated trick-or-treating. When families flocked to the door to fawn over whatever cutesy handcrafted-by-mom costume I was wearing I would turn incredibly shy and stand stunned under the glare of their porch light. I just wanted to take the candy and run! As I got older people stopped asking what I was before doling out the goods (which I was sure were spiked with razor blades or some deadly drug). Suddenly I wasn't the cute little kid with drawn on freckles. The spots on my face were real, and I realized I was that much closer to death. I found this horrifying and a little gross too. In the third grade I was the class Duchess for the Harvest Carnival. I campaigned for at least a day, asking for votes for myself as well as the boy I had a crush on. We won the honor and the boy I had a crush on promptly broke his leg, which meant I had to walk down half the length of the gymnasium alone in an altered maroon Victorian turtleneck dress my mom made for the event. The poor boy was propped up on crutches at the end of the coronation line with a full cast on one leg. I was mortified and he was too. As for scary movies, I used to just hold up a pillow or cover my eyes with my hands but I always ended up peaking. Thanks to a pre-adolescent viewing of "the Shining" I checked behind the shower curtain when I walked into a bathroom until I was in college. Okay... sometimes I still check, but only when I'm at a party where copious amounts of alcohol is being consumed. You never know what might be hiding behind the curtain or frosted glass door, waiting to jump out and scare the sh*t out of you. I shudder at the thought.