Martha was on her way home from school. She passed the old alley behind the library and saw a backpack in the trash.

Curiosity, innate in a 12-year-old girl, was aroused in her. She walked quickly to the backpack and took it home. She looked everywhere to make sure no one saw her and with a quickened pace she arrived home earlier than usual.

There was no one at home. She was an only child and her parents were working late. She went straight to her room and sat down on the carpet to see what the mysterious backpack contained.

A package of espresso that said trick or treat 1822 on the bag, a coffee mug, a black candle and a skeleton mask. Next to the mask was a note on a piece of paper that looked yellowed, which meant it was old.

Martha didn't recognize the letters, but as she tried to read what it said, they magically changed to her language and she was able to read it aloud:

If you want a perfect costume for Halloween night, accept this trick or treat. Light the candle, brew a strong, bitter coffee and put on the mask.

Just as she finished reading the note, her parents' car parked outside the house. So the girl put everything well hidden under the bed and went to meet her parents for dinner. As she went downstairs, she remembered the words of the obnoxious Anabel, her classmate, who had teased her about the previous Halloween costume, a white sheet with holes in the eyes that her mother had made for her on the spur of the moment to go to Anabel's usual costume party.

She felt annoyed at remembering that awkward episode, but she knew that this year she would be the girl with the best costume.

She greeted her parents warmly and they sat down at the table. Martha looked eager and her mother brought her the costume she had prepared for her. It was a witch costume with a pointy black hat and a scary broom.

Martha smiled a fake smile and got up to go get ready. The boring costume her mother gave her ended up on the floor behind the door. This year she would be the best dressed.

The smell of coffee permeated the air and Marta lit the black candle. She put on the mask and when the frothy coffee was ready, she poured it into the cup. She felt an uncontrollable desire to taste it, it was the first time she would drink caffeine.

When she drank the first sip of that delicious drink, she felt powerful and strong. A cold wind began to blow and the girl finished her entire cup of coffee.

Outside it looked like a storm was approaching. Martha picked up the mask and as she held it up to her face, the wind filtered through the curtain in her room and blew out the candle. Marta let out a bloodcurdling scream and the mask adhered to her face and transformed into death.

A skeleton, she walked out the door of her room and into the kitchen. Her parents were speechless, for the skeleton was so real that it provoked terror.

With the coffee bag in one hand and the candle in the other, she appeared at Anabel's costume party. Everyone stood transfixed and only moved their eyes to keep an eye on the skeleton as it crossed the room.

He stood face to face with Anabel and said in a voice from beyond the grave trick or treat ?

Anabel trembling recognized her and praised her disguise, as if to calm the tension, but Matar wanted an answer, so he asked again trick or treat ?

The house began to shake and all the guests ran out. All went completely silent and Anabel finally said the word treat with great effort.

The skeleton dropped the bag of coffee in Anabel's hands, as if it were a candy, while he said to her:

I am Marta, for wearing this mask with ambition to be the best, I was condemned to 200 years being death and looking for the people who must cross to the other side. You, for being a bad person, humiliating and mistreating others 24 hours a day, I condemn you to be my assistant and serve my bitter coffee during my sentence, that's your deal.

A whirlpool appeared in the center of the room and both disappeared in a second.

Legend has it that if you are near the hour of your death, you will be able to see Marta. She's the gleaming skeleton holding the black candle, and behind her, the obnoxious Anabel with the coffee bag and cup. They are an inseparable duo.