Ghost Stories: College Edition

Halloween. That glorious time of year, when you get candy and wear costumes without having to deal with strange looks. Friends come together to celebrate and scare the pants off each other if they can get away with it.

Of course, some people don't know the secret, secret, dark side of this celebration. For you see, this celebration falls as autumn is in full swing. The season of changing leaves and cooling temperatures. The world around us slows as it prepares for the long sleep of winter. Most welcome the respite of the heat even if it forbodes the long cold ahead. Besides, fall brings with it some of the last harvests of the year, such as the omnipresent pumpkin. But to some, harvest means sacrifice.

These few but insidious members of society have infiltrated academic institutions around the country. There, they select from the students the most promising and innocent. These students will be prepared for months or even years. Tantalized by the promise of scholarships and research, these students enroll in what they think are academic enrichment programs. But after a time, things change. Assignments mount higher, grading scales become harsher, paperwork requiring three signatures is handed out on the same day it is due. Slowly, the students descend into a pit of procrastination, clutter, and despair. Just before the first full moon in October rises, the final sacrifice comes. The tears of the students are collected and offered for continued publications while their soulless pictures are added to brochures, luring in the next batch of sacrifices.

Any who have discovered and opposed this system spend the rest of their lives waiting tables.