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Haunted by Loneliness - Harvey’s Halloween Journey of Friendship and Reflection · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

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  I don't enjoy All Hallows Eve Halloween, in fact it always
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  makes me a little bit sad. I cannot help remembering the
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  story of that young boy who disappeared.
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  Surely you have heard of him. It was a few years ago now, just
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  down this very St. Harvey was his name.
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  It was only his second ever Halloween, the previous year he
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  had gone trick or treating with his best friend Elwood, along
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  with Elwood's family, the pair of them each only four years old
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  at the time. When is A2 headed 3 legged
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  troll. Elwood's mother had sewn the
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  outfit for them. Individually, Elwood and Harvey
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  were both quite shy little boys, but together they possessed a
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  quiet confidence. Elwood was the natural leader of
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  the pair, Harvey always content to follow.
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  For that first Halloween, the boys went with a group from
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  Elwood's kindergarten, a happy, noisy bunch of eight boys and
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  girls, along with the three parents who had drawn the short
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  straws. Harvey, in particular was
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  excited mostly by the reactions that their costume received.
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  He positively beamed every time one of the neighbors, upon
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  opening their front doors, would comment on how good was his and
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  Elwood's character. He just loved being noticed,
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  even if only as part of a pair. Strangely for a little boy, he
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  was not at all interested in the lollies and chocolates.
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  He let Elwood have them all for him.
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  Both the trick and the treat seemed to be in just being
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  appreciated, acknowledged, noticed.
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  When it was finally over, Harvey slept the night at Elwood's
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  place. The boys taught themselves to
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  sleep planning the next year's characters, the costumes, the
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  mannerisms they would act out to bring the characters to life.
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  The lead up to their next Halloween started excitedly.
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  With several weeks of anticipation and planning, the
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  boys finally decided on their costumes.
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  They would be going as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the
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  inseparable twins from Alice's dreamworld.
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  Unusually, the costume choice was Harvey's, not Elle Woods.
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  The first sign of trouble came a week before the day of
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  Halloween. Elwood was feeling somewhat
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  poorly and went to bed early with a bit of a temperature.
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  He awoke the following morning in a rash of itching spots.
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  The poor thing had picked up chicken pox.
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  At first Harvey was just concerned for his friend.
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  The disease was not very pleasant, but Harvey spent all
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  day, every day with Elwood in his room.
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  He could not be persuaded to leave.
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  Even the threat of contagion made no impression on his stoic
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  soul. But as the weak dragged on, it
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  became obvious that Elwood would not be able to go trick or
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  treating. Harvey was mortified.
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  He began to have his first ever selfish concerns, so desperately
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  did he want to go. It was the highlight of his
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  young life, but there was no way that he could go without Elwood.
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  He was just too shy to go on his own.
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  None of the other kids played with him, not even Elwood's
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  friends. They did not even talk to him.
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  He just hung around in the background anytime that Elwood
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  was with other children at the edge out of notice.
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  He complained to his friend that it wasn't fair, but Elwood,
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  still itchy and grumpy from the chicken pox and not a little
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  annoyed that he too was going to miss out, got angry and lost his
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  temper at Harvey for the first time that either could remember.
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  Why don't you grow up and go on your own?
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  He shouted at Harvey. Stop being such a baby.
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  Harvey said nothing. He just sat there, taking
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  Elwood's frustrated tirade. When Elwood finally stopped and
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  rolled over in bed, turning his back on his friend, Harvey
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  walked away in silence. Come the afternoon of Halloween,
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  Harvey somehow found the courage to join the kinder group he had
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  on his costume, a rather forlorn looking Tweedledee, and he
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  walked along at the back of the group, totally unnoticed.
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  To start with, Harvey didn't mind that the other children
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  ignored him. He remembered the warm feelings
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  he had felt the previous year and walked up to the doors with
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  quiet anticipation. But with the first house that
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  the little troupe attended, his confidence and joy shattered as
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  he took his turn at the end of the line of giggling ghouls and
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  laughing friends. Door after door closed in his
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  face. Not one comment on his costume,
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  not a single piece of candy. It was like living out a
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  nightmare, a monstrous treadmill from which he could not escape.
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  House after house, the same thing.
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  Harvey stoically held his tears at Bay, though his chest
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  constricted against his pounding heart.
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  Suddenly he realized that the next house was Ellwood's.
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  He pushed through the boisterous gaggle of ghouls and witches and
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  stood defiantly at the front when Ellwood's father opened the
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  door. Surely now he would be
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  acknowledged. Finally, someone would see him.
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  But no, his best friend's own father looked past Harvey to the
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  children behind him. The dam cracked.
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  Overwhelmed, Harvey ducked his way around Mister Dowd's legs
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  and he stumbled blindly towards Elwood's room.
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  As he got to the half open door through which was his only
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  friend in the entire world, he stopped short hearing Elwood's
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  mom arguing with Elwood. Enough is enough, Elwood.
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  She shouted in exasperation. You are five years old, nearly
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  six. You will be a schoolboy next
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  year. Elwood said nothing.
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  You need to stop all this nonsense with Harvey.
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  It has to end. You have real friends to play
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  with now. You are too old to have
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  imaginary friends anymore. I want an end to this now.
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  And after a painfully drawn out pause in a small voice, Elwood
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  replied. Yes mum, I won't talk about him
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  anymore. I know that Harvey isn't really
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  real. Harvey, in a wash of pure
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  anguish, turned and ran through the house.
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  No longer restraining his shattered emotions, he burst
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  through the retreating group of children.
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  He dashed through the front gate, tears streaming from his
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  eyes, and disappeared down the street.
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  And that was when Harvey disappeared.
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  He has not been seen or heard of since.