A Halloween Story

I wrote this as a Halloween version of A Christmas Carol, as a poem like The Night[mare] Before Christmas. It features the Hispanic culture, which I'm not a part of, but I took Spanish so I know about Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. I also watch PushingUpRoses' Let's Play of Grim Fandango. [And just as an aside, I forgot to update my MLP list to include "Apples to the Core" and Weird Al as Cheese Sandwich.]

This is a tale of All Hallow's Eve.
Its mission: to get one man to believe
In Halloween spirits Future, Present, and Past
And change his holiday outlook at long last.
Of the premise sounds familiar, you would be right
But this story takes place on the day of Fright Night.
Being a miser was not Mario Rodriguez's crime.
He was a middle school art teacher who seemed just fine
Until, that is, October brought with it the Halloween season.
He then became moody without giving a reason.
While in their other classes the students did play,
In his art class all that was done away.
No decorations would he allow to be made.
All candy, costumes, and pumpkins he forbade.
Throughout the month his students refrained
From setting him off until only one day remained.
The thirtieth came and the students were free
After school to let loose with their Halloween glee.
Rodriguez cleaned up the room and packed up his case.
Then in walked Miss Rogers with her smiling face.
Lit teacher Lucinda loved this time of year.
Although Mario secretly liked her, he didn't share in her cheer.
"I'm hosting a costume party at my house tomorrow night.
It would be great if you came," she tried to invite.
But Mario just grimaced and had to decline.
"Halloween's not my thing. Maybe another time."
"What do you have against Halloween?" she asked.
"It's fun giving treats to children in masks."
I'd rather not talk about it," Mario said.
He then excused himself, leaving her shaking her head.
The night before Halloween is one full of pranks.
For eggings and such Mario didn't give thanks.
As kids played ding-dong-ditch, these bells he ignored
'Til the hour grew late and on his couch he snored.
At the stroke of midnight he awoke with a start.
He thought he'd heard the voice of someone close to his heart.
His living room was empty, his vision was clear,
Then suddenly the ghost of his mother appeared.
"Madre de Dios!" he exclaimed, falling to the floor.
"Madre de tu!" she corrected from her place by the door.
She strode toward her quaking son and said,
"You don't visit my grave even on Day of the Dead.
I've come with a warning, so listen up, dear."
Mario, frozen on the spot, looked back in fear.
"Three more ghosts are due to arrive.
You must learn from them if you want to survive."
"What did I ever do to deserve that?" he asked, his voice cracking.
"They want to instill in you the Halloween spirit you're lacking.
While I admit that was partly my doing..."
But it was years too late for her to be ruing
Her strict policy against celebrating Halloween.
It had taken a toll on her son but that wasn't all there was to be seen.
She then began to fade away, leaving him one last quip.
"The next ghost comes in an hour, so you'd better get a grip."
To and fro he paced away the next hour,
Contemplating his situation most dour.
Then at last the clock struck one
And the night of hallowed haunts had begun.
Halloween Past was the next one to meet.
He appeared as a man draped in a white sheet.
"You're the ghost I'm supposed to fear?"
"Budget cuts. But by this time next year
You may be beyond all hope of repair.
Let's go back in time to the root of your despair."
"I'd rather not," Mario said, but it wasn't up to him.
"You must, for the alternative is indeed grim."
With a snap of his fingers and a twist of his head
The ghost transported them to the past of Mario's dread.
Mario had been raised by his single mother
Who worked two jobs at some place or another.
Pinching their pennies and focusing on need,
She'd written off Halloween as a matter of creed.
"You've already got Christmas coming, be thankful for that!"
One year he asked Santa for a costume instead of a baseball bat.
Then he roamed door-to-door with the neighborhood kids
And they filled their buckets with candy up to the lids.
When the boy became too old to believe in elves,
He knew that candy and costumes didn't pay for themselves.
He got a part-time job to help his mother with the bills.
"So we were poor. Is that supposed to give me the chills?
It was time to grow up anyway," adult Mario sighed.
"But now you have a good job and can put that aside.
There is one more memory that we still need to see:
What made you the way you are, and don't you dare blame me."
Before Mario could blurt out a reply,
They skipped ahead through the years that went by
Until they reached the event that had scarred him the most.
"I don't want to relive this, you lame excuse for a ghost!"
Mario was in college in the scene that took place.
He and his best friend Diego had just lost face
In front of their entire fraternity.
Showing an utter lack of maturity,
Diego decided to play a Halloween prank
On the rival brotherhood. Mario's heart sank.
"I couldn't stop what happened that night."
Unable to watch, he closed his eyes tight.
Diego loved Halloween, but he took it too far.
His trick backfired while his friend watched from his car.
Rushed to the hospital after the brutal attack,
Diego died, and Mario refused to look back.
With the loss of his friend, he locked up his heart
And forgot about Halloween, focusing on art.
The anniversary was tough on him year after year.
"You can't shun Halloween because your friend's no longer here."
"Watch me," Mario said, turning away.
"Take me back home now." And so the ghost obeyed.
The scene vanished, and Mario was once again alone
Until two A.M. when the clock again toned.
It was the hour for the spirit of Halloween Present
To arrive and make the current vibe more pleasant.
A man in a skeleton suit wearing a hat and wig
Appeared out of nowhere and yelled, "Let's start this shin-dig!"
He danced around the room, laughing with unbridled glee,
Startling Mario, who attempted to flee.
"It's all right," he assured him, not letting him leave.
"I'm tasked with getting you to believe
That Halloween can be a fun and enjoyable time.
Letting you continue in your way would be a crime.
But let's not waste another minute. The day is ours to see!"
With that the spirit took Mario out into the city
To observe the merriment of others on that day.
They took to the streets to find children at play,
Already in costume as their parents put up decorations
And eager to begin that evening's traditions.
"Among these children are some of your students.
How sad you wouldn't let them make Halloween ornaments."
"They can do it on their own time, can't they?"
"Perhaps, but art is about expressing what you want to say.
You set a bad example by denying them that pleasure.
Now let's check in on the parents of the friend that you treasure."
Without another word they moved on unseen
To the home of Diego's parents. But instead of a scene
Of drabness and gloom, it was quite a different story.
The place was decked out like a mad scientist's laboratory.
"What is all this?" Mario asked, rubbing his eyes.
"I know that to you this must seem a surprise,
But Diego loved Halloween, and his parents did too.
To honor his memory, they put on this big to-do:
A creepy theme for trick-or-treaters' delight.
Whereas you sulk in your house every Halloween night.
You've never even visited the cemetery for Day of the Dead.
In order to move forward, you must overcome this dread."
The spirit knew one last stop that would do the trick:
Lucinda's Halloween party, and he brought them there quick.
Their co-workers had gathered at her house for some fun
All except Mario, the all-but-absent observing one.
In her presence Mario was glad to be basking.
"If you keep turning her down, she might just stop asking."
Amiable Lucinda got along with most everyone there
But no one else missed Mario - it was as if they didn't care.
"Just because I have issues with this time of year
I don't have a chance?" Mario asked in disbelief and fear.
"That remains to be seen, but the risk is undoubtedly real.
You must make an effort to change, otherwise I feel
That your end will not be so happy. Change is the cure.
And now I leave you with the phantom of Halloween Future."
The skeleton man waved his hands and the party scene faded.
Mario stumbled down a foggy street, alone and jaded.
In the distance he could see a glow drawing more and more near.
A person with a lantern, maybe? he thought with good cheer.
He waved at the stranger, hoping he would be seen.
The fog cleared away, and Mario tried not to scream.
Before him stood a man with a glowing jack-o-lantern head:
Halloween Future with a grim scenario to show him instead
Of the one he would have if he believed in Halloween.
Without a word he beckoned Mario to follow. Mario was keen
To do as he was instructed, as he did not want to cross
This specter, for in this realm Halloween Future was the boss.
Mario wanted to ask where they were or when,
But future phantoms never speak, so once again
He followed along to discover what lay ahead.
On his potentially miserable future a light would be shed.
They walked to a house on an unfamiliar street.
For Mario it would prove to be more trick than treat.
Here lived Lucinda, some ten or so years older,
Married to another man, since Mario hadn't been bolder.
There they were with their child, and had another one on the way,
Getting ready for Halloween, their favorite holiday.
"If she's happy, I'm happy," he wistfully whispered.
He looked away, thinking hard but not saying another word.
She couldn't be happy with him if he continued like this.
While he was glad that she would have familial bliss
With someone, he was still sad that it wouldn't be him.
To have that with her he would give life and limb.
Would he find happiness without her? He was soon to find out,
For Halloween Future took him to a place that would clear any doubt.
Many years later in one of the local cemeteries,
The same one where his mother and Diego were buried,
Mario found his name on an unadorned grave marker.
He was sure that there was no way it could've been starker.
This was proof to him that he would die alone.
In despair he knelt before the barren slab of stone.
"Is there no hope left for me at all?"
He knew he could do better and this future forestall.
If that was all it would take, he would change his ways
And enjoy the season again for the rest of his days.
He turned to Halloween Future for some sort of sign
That it would be possible for everything to turn out just fine.
But the jack-o-lantern face was fixed in an inscrutable gaze
And then he removed his pumpkin head. Mario staggered through the maze
Of tombstones but his trembling legs were too slow.
Halloween Future threw his head leering with its fiery glow.
Mario awoke back on his living room floor
Still reeling from the events that night had had in store.
"I'm back," he gasped, "but was it all a dream?"
Then he realized it was morning on the day of Halloween.
After what he had been through he'd had a change of heart.
Though it was last-minute, he decided to take part
In the Halloween traditions he used to love as a boy.
"It's not too late! I haven't missed it!" he shouted with joy.
He hurried out to the store to buy decorations and candy.
As for a costume he chose to dress like a dandy.
Without wasting another minute he put up his new lights
And filled up a bowl with sugary delights.
He set out the bowl on his front stoop for the children
Then left for Lucinda's. He couldn't think of a time when
He had been happier to be alive and well.
Whether he and Lucinda ended up together only time would tell.
For now, he arrived at her door not a moment behind.
She greeted him with, "I'm glad you changed your mind."
That Halloween was the best of his life thus far.
As for the worst, he wouldn't find the cure at a bar.
Two days later on Day of the Dead he went
To the cemetery to make up for all the time he'd spent
Holed up in sorrow instead of paying his respects.
There he left offerings of homage objects:
Flowers for his mother and for Diego a jack-o-lantern
Symbolic of the lessons that he had recently learned.
There was one last thing he needed to do once classes resumed.
When his students took their seats, he said, "I assume
You all have your projects finished for today's class.
I hope you did well because they're needed to pass
This semester. However, life is too short to spend
Being all work and no play. To all of you I wish to send
A happy belated Halloween. Today is yours to do as you want."
With that bit of inspiration they turned the class into a haunt.
Ghosts, skeletons, and pumpkins abounded in various art forms
As well as witches and wizards in different uniforms.
The spirits had done it all in one night, as the original says.
Thanks to them, happily ends the tale of Mario Rodriguez.