Pumpkin Boats

Conner used to reside in a small town near a lake. Each year on the night before Halloween, Conner and his friends, Cory, and Rayn would each place a pumpkin in the lake. On Halloween, they would travel to the other side of the lake to see if their pumpkins had arrived. On a cold October Night, Conner had gathered his friends at the lake. They each carefully set their pumpkins in the dark water. The boys knew that they should head home, there had recently been a kidnapping after all. Conner and Rayan started to walk back, but something had caught Cory's eye. He informed the others that he thought he saw something behind a tree that was only a handful of yards away. That tree lies in front of a thick forest, letting anything that used to lurk behind it, hastily escape view. Early in the afternoon, Conner and his friends were at the lake eager to start the long trek to the other side of the lake. There had been a brief downpour the previous night hence, the ordinarily bare dirt path had shifted into a damp mud. As the boys were walking, Ryan pointed out what looked to be light footprints traveling down the trail. However, Conner and Cory didn't think much of it. As they continued down the path, they spotted the lake, the boys ran towards it in anticipation. When they stepped foot on the small patch of grass that borders lake, Conner noticed something. His pumpkin, an average sized pumpkin with a stem that curled and ended in a point, rested on the grass. Rayan's pumpkin was on the shore about a yard away. Cory's pumpkin, however, was nowhere to be found. When Conner was at his house, he started to carve at the pumpkin. However, something was wrong. The pumpkin had a small slip near the top. When Conner finished carving to the top of the pumpkin, he noticed a small bag inside. The bag contained a note that read "Have a Jolly Halloween!". Conner was visibly perplexed by the note. "Why did someone put this in my pumpkin?" Conner thought aloud. Conner decided aloud that it might have been in there before he even bought the pumpkin, the slit was hardly visible so he could have overlooked it. That night, Conner and his friends were ecstatic to go trick-or-treating. They walked around the neighborhood for about an hour before coming to a halt at a certain house. Cory stopped the others and pointed out what he thought was the pumpkin that he released into the water on the previous night. Conner and Ryan both informed him that the pumpkin just looked similar, and was not in fact his. One hour later, Conner and his friends were at his house comparing how much candy they had each received. Conner was going through his candy when he felt a small piece of paper. The paper read "I hope you had a jolly Halloween!". Conner gasped in shock, he quickly informed his friends about the note he had found the earlier in the day and asked them if they had a similar note among their candy. Ryan and Cory carefully searched through their candy to no avail. Now Conner was scared, he started to question everything in the past couple of days. Ryan informed him that it must be a coincidence, and maybe they were all just overthinking it. Conner liked that idea. He put is candy away, a said goodbye to his friends. The next day, Conner had no school, but his parents had to work, so he was alone. After a while, he got hungry, so he reached into the jar that housed his candy. He felt a strange object, so he pulled it out. In his hand was a square candy, with a red wrapper sealing it shut. One side of the wrapper was slightly transparent. Conner unwrapped the candy, only to find a box. The box had a small camera lens on the side, and the top read "Soon, you won't be Jolly!". Conner stumbled backward and ran outside in a panic. Conner's backyard is right next to a dense forest, so he tried to flee. But, I rushed to him and grasped him. The boy's struggling stopped after some time, and I was easily able to drag him into the forest. He won't be jolly for a long time.