It was getting late. Trick or treaters were going to come in about an hour or two. And you're on your porch, carving a last-minute jack o'lantern.

You've never made one on your own before. Why were you outside with a spoon again?

In hindsight, you really should've done it inside. Bring the cursed gourd to the kitchen. Get a proper knife instead of the spoon you're ruining by trying to stab the pumpkin with it. But you just panicked, having forgotten to get a jack o'lantern, and started to work outside. You forgot the knife in your kitchen, and your arms were just about jello at that point. You didn't want to bother.

You look at the fields, probably the same one this pumpkin was picked up from.

You didn't even have to do much left. It was already empty. You just had to make the eyes and nose and mouth... but you were so tired.

In the end you were just slicing into the skin the outline of the lantern of your dreams. You're about to throw in the towel and give up, grab a marker to draw on the face.

But you heard a rustle nearby. And a not-so-subtle shadow fall over you.

"Gah!!" you throw the spoon out of your hand, looking up at the scarecrow that had decided to stand in front of you, staring at you intently with one red eye.

... This was. The scarecrow from the field. Right?

One red eye, the side of his head damaged by a fall or some other, and looking distinctly like a skeleton.

You should be screaming. Running, even. Throw the damn pumpkin at him and hide. But you were frozen in disbelief, staring up at him.

He raised a hand full of straw (or... made of straw?), pointing.

".... do..."

.

Was.

Was he talking?

"do you need... help...?"

"Huh?"

You looked at where he was pointing at. It was the pumpkin.

"i.... can cut.... for you." He says simply.

This was. Beyond an odd situation. It was bizarre, But you found yourself handing the pumpkin to him anyway, not knowing what else to do in this situation. You've heard scary stories about this particular scarecrow but you always chalked it up to scary rumors meant to keep children away from this particular field. Or thieves. You aren't sure.

But here he was, cutting the face out of the pumpkin for you.

"what's it... for...?" he asks. You can't say you're an expert at reading the expressions of a.. skeleton scarecraw, but it looked like he was smiling at you, as he sliced through your marks with his finger (it looked like a white claw was hidden under the straw.)

"Um... it's a jack o'lantern. I'm going to put it on the front door as a decoration. Kids are going to come over and ask for candy..."

Were you explaining to this scarecrow the concept of trick-or-treating? You guess you were.

He hands back the pumpkin, now a "jack o'" minus the "lantern". You should be afraid considering he has claws sharp enough to make quick work of the pumpkin but... his mannerisms were as innocent as a child's.

"can.... can i stay....?"

"Uhh...." You look up at the scarecrow, back to your house, and back at him. You aren't sure what his company's gonna bring, but you aren't sure how you'd reject his request either.... and honestly he doesn't seem as scary as the rumors say he is.

"Ok, as long as you don't scare anyone off my property, ok?"

He smiles.