Halloween Night, He Mistook My Death for a Prank Chapter 10

Six months later, the school held its Spring Arts Gala.

The auditorium had a new stage.

A stage safety compliance plaque was added at the entrance. Every prop had to pass three inspections. No one could skip the rules with a “just a joke” anymore.

My name was engraved at the top of the lead planner list.

My mother came to accept the award on my behalf.

In six months, she’d lost a lot of weight, but she hadn’t cried.

The host asked her to speak.

She only said:

“I hope from now on, when someone says it hurts, everyone stops and looks.”

“Don’t ignore a single cry for help.”

The room was silent for a long time.

Then applause.

This time, no one treated someone’s struggle as a performance.

Sienna took medical leave.

She cooperated with the investigation, accepted responsibility, and in therapy, faced that night’s video over and over.

Nolan stayed at the school after graduation to work on stage safety projects.

Some said it was penance.

Others said he just couldn’t leave the place where I died.

None of it mattered anymore.

When the Spring Arts Gala ended, he walked backstage alone.

The guillotine had long been dismantled.

In its place was a bouquet of white lisianthus.

He set the jack-o’-lantern enamel pin beside the flowers and spoke quietly.

“Avery, the event’s over. I didn’t let anyone get hurt.”

He waited a moment, then said, out of habit,

“Let’s go home.”

The auditorium gave no answer.

I stood beside my mother.

She was looking down at a photo of me from college.

In the picture, I wore a pumpkin headband, my eyes crinkled in a smile.

My mother touched the screen and whispered, “Sweetheart, let’s go home.”

When those words landed, I finally couldn’t feel the weight on my neck anymore.

The crying in the auditorium grew fainter and fainter.

I walked to my mother’s side and took her arm the way I used to when I was little.

Behind me, the lights went out one by one.

Nolan was still standing in the dark, waiting for someone who would never show.

And I walked out of the school gates with my mother.

The night wind blew through the trees along the street.

Dawn was coming.