Hale McKenna had always been an inventor, even on Halloween. No store-bought costume for him; only handcrafted getups like skellibots and alien zero-gravity cups. But this Halloween, Hale had outdone himself with an eerie, uncannily realistic ghost outfit, complete with a glowing head.
Everyone in town was wowed by Hale’s artistry. His costume seemed to shimmer around him, giving him an otherworldly aura. Even the local Halloween costume competition’s usually stern-faced judge, Miss Tilly, had an appreciative twinkle in her eye.
All night, he floated through the neighborhood, causing more jump scares than all the vampires and werewolves combined. The trick-or-treaters gaped, awestruck by his reverberating, ghostly call.
But as the midnight hour approached, something strange happened. Hale felt lighter, as though he was truly floating, and his voice, usually robust, sounded distant and hollow.
Halloween dawned to find Hale’s costume, glowing head and all, lying in his parents’ backyard, completely empty.
The entire town gasped in surprise, while Miss Tilly, expression unchanged, simply shook her head and murmured, “I always knew that boy was too good. This is what happens when you make a ghost costume too well: You become a ghost yourself.”