HALLOWEEN
Muffled laughter
outside
mingles with the
pop boom
of firecrackers,
glowing and smoking
against a black felt sky.
Hot vapour
from the curling iron
twists up her nostrils,
as she moulds
her blonde hair tight and stiff-
Like an adult Shirley Temple.
She pulls her costume on-
adjusts the checkered pattern of
the fishnets,
and tries
not to blush
in her mini skirt
and low cut top.
Nervously she
sucks her peppermint to
Its razor edge,
teeters down stairs
on her brand new heels-
her face painted
for her first
Halloween party.
Jessica Millikan is a high school English and Art teacher. She has been writing since age three, and has been writing (much more successfully) with Wolf Mountain Writing Collective for almost two years. 
