“Hey! You can’t have those in here!” Melissa screamed.

“Jacob, can I get those scissors back?” I asked, keeping a neutral face as Jacob gave me a sheepish grin and set the scissors down on the counter next to the staff office door.

“I was just gonna use them to make my costume, honest!” Jacob said, rubbing his hands together anxiously. “Halloween is my favorite holiday! I used to go trick-or-treating with my siblings. I’d get so much candy, it would last half the year!”

I heard my coworker scoff, and turned to her curiously. She glanced at the both of us, then shook her head before looking back at her computer.

“I used to dress up as a vampire! And a werewolf!” Jacob continued. I smiled at him as he stood there fidgeting.

“Oh yeah?” I said.

“I was the scariest kid on the block! But my favorite was the zombie costume.”

I quickly glanced at my watch. Two more hours on shift. Two more hours of this mentally ill old man telling me his life stories. This was the job, and right now, I just wanted to get home to my family, to take my own son trick-or-treating.

I was startled to look up and see Jacob walking away. Melissa rolled her eyes, and walked to her own room toward the back of the lock-down facility.

“You know he’s in here for murdering his whole family, right?” my coworker pointed out. “Did some unspeakable things to their bodies. Can’t believe he can even talk about them so casually.”

“Maybe he doesn’t realize what he did?” I pointed out.

“He has to know,” she insisted. “He signed the confession that he gave the police.”

“He’s a nice enough guy,” I shrugged. “He really couldn’t help himself if he was un-medicated.”

“Yeah, well, as soon as he stops cheeking his pills, I’ll feel a whole lot better.”

I shrugged, and returned to charting on residents.

Two hours seemed to fly by in no time when I wasn’t being interrupted by the residents who had all seemingly gone to sleep.

“Can you do the sharps count before you go?” My coworker asked.

I nodded and went to grab the sharps container. Six knives. Sixteen razors. Three sets of scissors.

Oops. There should have been four. I glanced back at the counter where I’d last seen them, but they were missing. With a sigh, I walked back to Jacob’s room.

“Hey, buddy!” I said, knocking on his door as I entered. “I need those scissors from-”

“Don’t come in yet!” Jacob screamed.

“Jacob, I don’t have time for this, I…”

As I opened the door, I found myself staring in horror at the sight before me. The floor was covered in blood, upon which lay a mutilated body.

Jacob stood there with what I assumed was a grin under the macabre mask that was previously Melissa’s face.

“Trick-or-treat!” Jacob exclaimed.