Parker had been talking about Halloween for almost a month, but when the day finally came he wasn't nearly as excited as he was before.
Michael had taken Parker trick or treating the year before that, and the year before that they all went to some ridiculous party at one of Beth's friends houses where Michael and Parker met up with Luke and literally sat in the corner for the entire thing. He thought that Parker enjoyed trick or treating last year, so Michael obviously assumed that he would enjoy it this year too.
But on the night before Halloween when Michael finally mentioned something about Parker not having a costume yet, Parker didn't seem to mind.
"It's okay." He'd said, "I don't need a costume anymore."
"Why not?" Michael asked.
"I don't want to go anymore." Parker had just shrugged and then turned away from Michael, who had been standing in the kitchen and waiting for some leftover food to reheat so they could eat it for dinner at the time.
Now it was Halloween, and Parker still didn't have a costume, because Parker had claimed continuously throughout the day that he did not want to go trick or treating. Michael really didn't believe Parker, because he didn't think that it was even possible for a four year old boy to not want free candy.
Michael was a bit torn, because he knew that it would be easiest to just forget about Halloween all together and not take Parker out at all. But he also knew that Parker was going to end up really pissed off at Michael for not taking him out to go trick or treating and get free candy. Parker loved candy, why didn't he want to go trick or treating?
"Pac-Man," Michael called as he walked into the living room, where he'd last seen Parker laying on the couch.
"What?"
"Didn't you say you were going to go trick or treating with Katie this year?" Michael asked, taking a seat next to Parker on the cough. He'd brought a pillow up and was covering his face with it, so Michael could hardly even see him.
"I don't want to." Parker said, his words muffled by the pillow. Michael let out another groan and pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking for any new messages from Melissa. They'd just seen each other a little while ago, when they were picking up their kids from school, but not once was it mentioned that their little plans for Halloween might be called off.
Michael didn't have any new texts, which didn't surprise him either, because Melissa had been pretty moody lately and they hadn't been having those cute little texting conversations like normal.
"I thought you and Katie were friends again?" Michael questioned, trying to move the pillow off of Parker's face. Parker was too fast, though, and he put his hands over the pillow so Michael wasn't allowed to move it.
"We are." Parker said softly. "I don't want to go tonight."
"Why not?" Michael asked.
"I don't want to." Parker shrugged. He slowly sat up, dropping the pillow onto the floor.
"But why?" Michael groaned. He was just frustrated now, because Parker wasn't even giving him a reason for not wanting to go out tonight.
"Because!" Parker whined. "Stop yelling at me."
"I'm not even yelling at you." Michael sighed, standing up from the couch.
"Yes you are." Parker argued and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. He got up from the couch and followed Michael into the kitchen. Parker changed the subject, "Daddy, where's Mommy?"
"Mommy? She's at her house..." Michael answered slowly, not understanding why Parker was asking him this. Parker was usually pretty good about understanding why Beth wasn't around, Michael and Beth had explained the whole thing to Parker multiple times and they thought that he understood.
