Tricked

Together we girls cut across suburban lawns, blew out jack-o’-lanterns, and loaded our pillowcases with candy. We then recognized our group of boys across a cul-de-sac. Mike was with them. He and I often passed notes in our sixth-grade classroom. He sometimes signed his “Love, Mike.”
Turning away briefly, I felt something slam into the back of my skull. The pain was monstrous. I wondered if it was a rock. I touched my head and felt gooey wetness and broken eggshell in my hair.
“You got her!” one of our boys yelled. “Direct hit!”
I started crying. The pack of boys then ran off and away into the Halloween night.