Contents
October 31
Overview
Via recalls that Grans died the night before Halloween, making the season hard for her and Mom. Mom obsessively crafts a Boba Fett costume for August, but August goes to school in a Bleeding Scream costume, becomes ill, and comes home to vomit and rest. Via and Mom’s planned bonding is cut short as Mom resumes caregiving for August. The family quietly avoids asking why August didn’t wear the painstaking costume, hinting at deeper issues at school.
Summary
Via frames Halloween through grief: Grans died the night before Halloween years ago, leaving this time painful for her and for Mom. Despite that, Mom throws herself into making August happy, spending two weeks converting a Jango Fett costume into Boba Fett.
On Halloween morning, Via wakes sad and overwhelmed, argues with Dad to hurry, then breaks down and asks to stay home. Dad takes August to school while Mom and Via cry together and plan to watch their favorite old movie to reconnect.
The school nurse calls: August has a stomachache and needs to be picked up. He returns home, immediately vomits, and hides in bed. Mom checks his temperature, brings tea, and fully shifts back into “August’s mom,” ending the planned mother‑daughter time.
Via and Mom notice that August wore a Bleeding Scream costume instead of the painstaking Boba Fett, but they choose not to ask why. Mom doesn’t show annoyance at the unused costume, and the silence underscores that something at school is troubling August.
Who Appears
- Via (Olivia Pullman)Narrator; mourns Grans, stays home weeping, nearly bonds with Mom before August’s illness ends their plans.
- MomImmerses herself in making August’s Boba Fett costume; comforts Via; then tends sick August without complaint.
- August (Auggie) PullmanGoes to school in a Bleeding Scream costume, becomes ill, vomits at home, withdraws under covers.
- DadUrges Via to get ready and takes August to school on Halloween morning.
- GransDeceased grandmother; her death before Halloween casts a lingering sadness over the family.