All Comments on 'No Halloween This Year'

What an ending!

5

Dark. I can't say I "enjoyed" it, but I do feel it was well written and emotionally impactful, even if sad fare such as this is not my cup of tea. (I work with traumatized children professionally, so I avoid any media that has bad things happening to kids as a choice for entertainment). Dark as it was, the writer can't really warn readers, as that would spoil the story. So, I gave it 4* even though I don't like these type of stories.

No greater pain than the loss of a child. An unbearable devastation. Crushing guilt for failing to protect the most fundamental reason for being. A difficult story to contemplate. The end-all, be-all tragic premise. Dark and powerful. Thank you.

There's nothing worse than the loss of a child. Well done. Thank you! 5*.

Wow that was so heavy losing a child to adultery

WOW what a ride! A sad climatic end well written 5 stars

Beautifully told, horrifyingly sad and, truthfully, a deeply disturbing tale of lives destroyed in a moment.

Good story. Ruined my day

God, that's a sad story. Well written, though.

Very moving story, thank you.

Thanks for sharing. Sometimes it’s really nice to escape life’s challenges and disappear into another reality for a little while

Well done. Rings true sadly.

Bummer. D

The story truly transcends BTB. Thank you for creative and deep story.

Horrible scenario — every parent’s nightmare. Very well written. The emotion and the guilt pour off the page. 5*

I enjoyed this powerful sad story and too bad she didn't go to jail for some sort of child neglect. I suppose u could've expanded on this story but not necessary

Very well-told reflection on a series of moments, some happy with little smiles but all set against a backdrop of black canvas.

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I hadn't perceived you as such an emotionally perceptive writer before. Time for me to re-evaluate.

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However, it is incongruous to end a dark story and then slide directly into the obligatory "I write these stories for my own enjoyment".... My initial response to that was more along the lines of "In that case, what kind of monster are you!" I know you put the standard break in there to illustrate Finis but I was still being impacted by the tale when I read that. Like I said, incongruous.

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Kinda like when somebody at the store says, " Have a happy Memorial Day!" Right, because the people we are memorializing...can't.

Much darker than your usual fare. Very well done! Please keep writing!

wow quite the emotional story! Very well written. New category BYS, Burn YourSelf.

This does shake any parent to the core. Their worst fear is their child dying young.

Nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

Well done story; sort of thing that haunts you all day. Ultimate BTB.

WOW!! Great story, even if it didn't have a happy ending. Everybody loses. 5 stars, the Bear approves. Just don't write too many more sad endings. Please.

The BEAR

Wow talk about sad

Even when you're pretty sure you know what's coming, you can't stop reading in hopes that you're wrong. So well written.

probably all she could do after letting her daughter die

Ouch.

FAFO

Fuck around

Find Out

Sad.

You captured the spiral of depression in few words. Great job.

Wow! Just.. WOW! Well written, and very impactful.

Dark, sad, very well done.

In my opinion she paid the highest price for cheating. No need to extend this story more.

i always thought that when you die you see THE LIGHT

this bitch proved me wrong

even in death she blamed the husband for the death of the daughter

he installed the pool he didn t want counselling he made me send her outside in her winter coat

imagine what the child went thru in her last minutes of life struggling to save herself

imagine the pain the husband has at losing his daughter in those circumstances

instead we get the bitch`s pov .... no hurt no pain just her wonderful good memories

as always my rating is for content not writing ability

1* = 10000 ....... = boatload of ..........

Well done, tugs on the heart strings

What can I say? Yes, I enjoyed the story, in spite of the subject material. It was well written, even though only a mere portion of a time frame of a story. It was easy for most people to relate to, many of us having lived through similar versions. Perhaps without the cheating aspect. So this was all about "safety around the home" plus the cheating element to provide a reason for this disaster to occur. Many thanks for the story. Cheers.

Another story proving how stupid cheating is.

You want your husband to pay attention to you and he refuses to do so? Don't seek it elsewhere: just ask for a separation or a divorce. Pretty much a guarantee he'll take his head out of his ass and start to refocus on his family. Unless he really doesn't care anymore... which, in that case, good riddance.

Sad, very affoidable tragedy. Very good read. Thanks for the share, author.

Very well written.

Okay, you guys, I never want to hear again how I write “too dark.”

Wonderful, horrible, terribly sad story. Well done.

In typical amoral slut wife fashion, she blamed her husband, the pool and anything else on their daughters death but the real reason....

Damn, buddy.

It's JimBob week! My favorite week of the month (or 2 months as the case may be)

Boy was that sad. 5* though.

Wow. You really drew me in to the story and showing the pain they are going through. Their marriage had big problems before and pride will cause awful consequences. Instead of rallying together and being there for each other he keeps pushing her away and now he has nothing. Five stars. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

A moving sad tale.

Sad but cleverly written

Very well written . . . and now I want to jump off a bridge.

Great story. Food for thought...

It's bin a while since you last posted a romance story. Any of those in the pipeline? And stories involving cajun food. Yummy :)

Wow! She ruined them all for life.

"I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment"

Those words might apply to your other stories, but not this one. Please edit them out, they're just too sick for this story line.

Horrifically sad, but well done...

Damn

Heart breaking. Hated and loved it

*****5 ✨

Powerfully written. 5 Stars.

Stark but beautifully done. 5 stars.

Blast you! Take my ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You are one of the best, most original authors on this site. Well done.

5-stars - not nearly enough.

What were the wife's thoughts as her little girl's small body was brought up from four to six feet of water? As the reader, the vision of a helpless five-year-old child, "struggling", won't go away soon.

So sad. This story really affected me. Great writing. *****

Sad but well written. 5 stars

This is one of those stories hard to forget.

LOVE slap-hapy-papy#9

Wow. That made the rest of my day cheery by comparison. Well done.

I find myself wondering why her husband knew what she was doing while their daughter drowned, or did he? I'm guessing if I'm the landscaper I would have high-tailed it out of there never to be spoken of again. She could have been doing tne laundry for all her husband knew. Was he not sleeping with her out of disgust of letting her child drown while on "her watch" or did it somehow come out that she was upstairs cheating in him?

In real Life. This would have to hurt!

DD

Well written sad tale. When things breakdown there is plenty of blame to go around.

Wow... a slight deviation from your usual stories.... wow

That's intense. It was clear half way through that the daughter had died, but to drown while her mother was upstairs with another man is horrifying. Great story, but very hard to endure.

Sad stuff!

That was really dark but completely believable - 5.0*

Oh

How sad

On so many levels.

Unfortunately a great small sad story.

No one punishes us more than we do ourselves when tragedy strikes. Of course she blames her husband for putting in the pool but then again she sent the kid out to play while she cheated on the family...................yeah that's right when you cheat you cheat on the family not just the husband.

Tragic story and so well written ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well…..that depressed the hell out of me. Damn well written, but so tragic.

Damn. Like the others said well written but dark.

That was brutal. Very moving and well done though. One of the best I’ve read in quite a while. 5*

You dont pulled any punches with this one, that was dark and bleak. A family totally destroyed by the negligence of a mother that prefer a good fuck... and yeah her husband do carry some of the blame by his inattention and his refusal to adress their problems like adults. So i dont consider this one as a BTB tale, rather one where the consequences are brutal.

The real victim its the daugther, a victim of the hubris of her parents. And now the mother cant handle the guilt, and the husband will be truly alone in his misery.

Thanks for the story.

Maybe I should follow you. I'm late to the show. 5 big ones!

This was an epic tragedy. It would not have mattered whether the husband knew of her adulterous behavior on the day of his daughter’s drowning. The question of why was a five year old outside alone in weather requiring a heavy coat would have been incomprehensible to the husband. His own guilt at not getting the pool cover on is likely a reason for him leaving as his wife’s neglect of parental responsibility. 5 stars

Tragic story.

Heart breaking tragic story.

Yikes that was soooooooo sad, emotional and powerful. Well written story.

Thanks for writing, looking forward to future stories just hope not as sad.

5⭐️

It's realistic, but I really hate how cliche' it always seems. One spouse isn't loving enough, or isn't 'somtething enough'. And they even (gasp) refused counseling. Well, counseling rarely works for those that aren't interested in it to begin with. I have some experience in psychology, not a masters degree, but an undergrad grasp on the subject. A lot of these husbands and wives make one or even two whole pleas before risking their entire marriage for extra curricular fun. It's rare we hear stories about a spouse that REALLY TRIES. Like set an ultimatum down. A lot of these frigid husbands and wives are actually under the illusion that everything is fine. Sometimes it takes more than one or two gentle pleas. It takes a literal ultimatum to snap them out of it. How can the 'lazy spouse' fight for a marriage if they didn't understand it was hanging on a few threads? A lot of this boils down to piss poor communication. Of course it's easy to villanize the frigid spouse that dismissed a handful of weak attempts to re-ignite a marriage. It's harder to take stock of everyone's thoughts and feelings at the time. And base-line therapy doesn't work for everyone. Where you sit and talk to some third party that's impartial. Sometimes it's hormone therapy. Sometimes it's cognitive behavoir therapy. Sometimes it's a splash of cold water, "Wake the fuck up, or I'm divorcing you. I can't live like this...even if I love you." You'd be shocked how many marriages survived because someone cared enough to be brutally honest. Shakes the illusions right off.

While the story was tragic and well-written, it suffered from the cliched ignored wife. But the biggest issue is with the 5-year-old child being sent outside by herself to play. This from a parent that was terrified of the toddler falling down the stairs. I think that if you had written the little girl being put into playroom, where there was a presumption of safety, and she was drawn outside, perhaps by the sounds of a pet flailing in the pool, and in her attempts to extract the animal, fell into the pool herself, that might have even heightened the tragedy.

Far too much truth. And it never stops.

Very sad cautionary tale.

Jeeezus…give a guy a warning before you toss a grenade like that. This elevated your writing from “always entertaining “ to “Fucking Brilliant!.” This reads (and punches) like a Hemingway short story.

This was one of your better stories, even though short, it kept my attention right to the end. I gave you five stars.

A very well written sad, but cautionary tale. 5 stars

Not entertaining at all.

1 Star

Reminds me of camping .... intense!

What a sad story.. husband created this nightmare and she lost her child then she ended all. Depressing story no rating.

Kudos, for saving Michael the cost and stress of a divorce. I love happy endings.

I mean that kinda tragedy could happen to anyone but Micheal was right by asking her if it was worth it.

Finish it not when it comes children.

I love your work, but that one was hard to read. Somehow I don’t think he’ll care very much when he finds her body. Great story.

This woman had a better reason for offing herself than any other character I've come across on Lit. Well told! 5 stars.

Would have given it a 5 but it mad me sad so I gave a 4

Sorry !

Brings back memories. When I was four or five I fell into neighbor’s pool. Of course no one was watching me. The moment they heard the splash some one rushed in a pulled me out. Sixty five years later, I can still visualize the pool and taste the water.

About 20 years ago friend threw a pool party. A bunch of young kids and both parents for all the children were there. Of course someone lost track of one child. by the time they realized it, he was drown him.

G*d d*mn it, why did I finish this story?

SO you get a five. It's not dark or any mundane word thrown at it. Sad maybe, maybe not. But it certainly is in the wrong Category. Hence its below 4 average.

My ex wife was almost as bad. Our youngest was 18 months old. She left him in his room and took a nap at 10AM. The cheating came later. He was able to open the door and walked to the end of the driveway. Thank God the neighbor saw him and got him back to the house. I never forgave her. Selfish bitch.

Not into sad stories.

I really really like the majority of what you write. But not this time. You had to know that a child's death was going to be a real downer. The subject matter draged it down to 2-stars.