The morning after, Charlie's mother came downstairs to clean the party's aftermath.
Empty soda bottles, most of the flimsy plastic orange and black decorations, and other items went into a large trash bag. She used a sponge to wipe down surfaces. After some time diligently cleaning, the kitchen looked spic-and-span.
At the very last, she picked up the forgotten Jack-o'-lantern in her hands and walked out the back door.
Jared felt the woman's hands on the rind of his pumpkin shell.
"Please, help me," the transformed teenager pleaded. Where was she taking him?
Charlie's family tried to be environmentally conscious, despite all the plastic bottles and decorations that had been evident at the party. At least adding the pumpkin to the compost heap would be a green thing to do.
She didn't place him gently on the heap. Oh no! She walked over to the edge of the heap and dropped the hollow gourd onto the mount of discard grass clippings and vegetable peelings. A summer's worth of organic debris had certainly caused the compost heap to percolate.
Jared felt a crack when his gourd form slammed into the decaying heap of plant matter. His face sagged from the fault line that had developed along the weaknesses from Kevin's carvings of mouth, nose and eyes in the rind of the pumpkin.
"Please, don't leave me here to rot!"
But Charlie's mother turned and waltzed back toward the house, not in the least concerned about a now superfluous Halloween Jack-o'-lantern.
Jared tried to think that he might at least make some sort of contribution back to the environment, but it wasn't much consolation.
He still hoped Kev would come back for him.