Today was a very special day for 4 year old Sameer; it was the day before Halloween. Though he hadn’t got to the stage were he disliked school, it bugged him that he had to go to pre-school today. As he trotted outside to his dads car, he thought about candy, his costume, and most importantly, carving his first ever pumpkin. Little did he know that today would be the nightmare before Halloween, literally? But for the rest of the day Sameer played with his friends Garrett, Cameron, and Armean. And when they made they’re usual visit to the library across the street, Sameer asked the librarian if they had any books on Halloween. But when he looked at the skeleton on the cover of the book it made him tremble. But not even a psychic on the planet could predict what was going to happen next.










After a long day in pre-school, Sameer was on his way back home. As he walked in his house he heard a pot steaming and footsteps from above. It was cold today, so he had to wear his big puffy Pittsburgh hockey jacket. Once his dad helped take off his jacket, his mom greeted him.









“Hi honey,” she said, looking up for a moment but staying on task making lunch.

“Can I now… carve my pumpkin,” Sameer pleaded.

“Not quite yet, why don't you go try on your new costume first.”



“Ok,” he murmured as he skipped up the stairs. His two sisters were playing Barbie dolls. He walked across the hall and opened the closet. He dug thought it until he found, until finally he found his super cool, shiny, sleek fireman costume. He put it on and admired himself in the mirror.








“Lunch is ready,” his mom called. And Sameer ran downstairs anxious to show his family his costume. But to his surprise the were newspapers on the ground, which he later found out were for the pumpkin carving.






After eating soup, bread with sugar and drinking a glass of apple juice he was now ready to carve his pumpkin. His pumpkin was small, but big enough to carve a face. So he raised the carver in the air and started to carve, rapidly, though doing a terrible job, it was a blast! He had never had this much power before. Everything was going well in Hillsboro, Oregon. All of a sudden a scream went though the whole continent. Sameer had just stabbed himself with a pumpkin carver. Right between his index finger and thumb in his left hand! It was practically all the way though his hand. He was crying like crazy. He couldn't even see it because of all the blood. It was coming out like a popped gusher. His mom came rushing over, but there was nothing she could do. Blood was now pouring out like a pitcher of cranberry juice. After about twelve and a half minuets it had calmed down, and Sameer could see a huge dent in his hand. His parents were running around frantically trying to get the right medical stuff. He was scared he was going to die. He wondered if it would stay like this forever, or if it was just going to disappear overnight.











The next day he thought to himself, this Halloween couldn't get any worse, and he was right, it couldn't. He also thought that this would definitely be the biggest injury on Halloween ever, but he was wrong. Two years later he would dislocate his arm putting on his pirate costume. Looking back though, it was a great experience that helped him toughen up.