Sometimes, we might feel like someone has treated us unfairly. When that happens, we need to decide if we should just ignore it and move on or if we want to take revenge.
One morning, a mom woke up to find her car covered in eggs. At first, she thought it was just a silly Halloween prank. But then her neighbor explained that he did it because he was upset about her ruining his Halloween decorations.
Rather than getting angry and allowing it to burn inside of her, she decided she would teach him a lesson. Read on to find out more about what she did.
I was bone-tired, the kind of tired where you can barely remember if you’ve brushed your teeth or fed the dog.
My days had become a blur since the twins were born.
Lily and Lucas were my sweet little babies, and I loved them to bits, but taking care of two newborns mostly on my own was super tough. I hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in ages. Halloween was coming up fast, and everyone in the neighborhood was buzzing with excitement, but I just couldn’t get into it.
I barely had the energy to put up decorations, let alone join in on all the fun activities happening around us.
And then there was Brad.
He took Halloween so seriously that you’d think it was a matter of life and death for him. Every year, he transformed his house into a spooky carnival, complete with tombstones, skeleton displays, giant jack-o’-lanterns, and everything else you could imagine.
And the smug look on his face every time someone complimented him? Please.
His spectacle enamored the entire block. But me? I was too busy trying to keep my eyes open to care about Brad’s ridiculous haunted house.
It was a typical October morning when everything started to unravel.
I stepped outside with Lily on my hip and Lucas in my arm. I squinted at what I saw. Someone had thrown eggs at my car! There were pieces of shell stuck in the gooey mess that was dripping down the windshield, looking like a weird breakfast disaster.
“Are you kidding me?” I muttered, staring at the mess.
I had parked in front of Brad’s house the night before. It’s not like I had much choice. The twins’ stroller was impossible to push all the way from down the street, so I’d parked close to our door.
At first, I thought it had to be a prank. But when I noticed the egg splatters reached all the way to Brad’s front porch, my suspicion turned into certainty.
This had Brad written all over it.
Brad, with his grandiose Halloween display, had no claim to the curb but it didn’t matter to him. The man was as territorial as a wolf during the Halloween season.
I marched over to his house, barely able to contain the rage bubbling up inside me. I banged on his door, harder than I probably needed to, but I didn’t care. I was done playing nice.
“What?” Brad opened it, looking more smug than usual. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I swear, the arrogance just radiated off him.
His house was totally ready for Halloween! There were fake spider webs draping from the gutters, a plastic skeleton was waving at me from the porch, and a witch was lounging in one of the Adirondack chairs. It was such an extravagant display!
I wasted no time. “Did you see who egged my car?”
Brad didn’t even blink.
“I did it,” he said, as if he was telling me the time of day. “Your car’s blocking the view of my decorations.”
I stared at him, stunned. “You egged my car because it was parked in front of your house? You didn’t even ask me to move it, you just ruined it?”
He shrugged, completely unfazed. “How can people appreciate my display if they can’t see it from the road?”
I blinked. For a second, I thought I might have misheard him. “Are you for real?”
He had the audacity to shrug.
“I’m the Halloween King! People come from all over to see this display, Genevieve. I’m just asking for a little cooperation. You’re always parked there. It’s inconsiderate and it’s ruining the vibe.”
Inconsiderate? I was balancing two babies, barely keeping it together, and this man, this egomaniac, was talking to me about inconveniences?
“Well, I’m sorry my life gets in the way of your spooky graveyard,” I snapped. “I’ve got twins, Brad. Newborn twins.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, leaning against the doorframe like we were discussing the weather. “Maybe you should park somewhere else.”
“I park there because it’s easier for me to reach my car when I’m carrying two babies and hauling a stroller!”
Brad shrugged. “That’s not my problem, Genevieve. Listen, you can park there again after Halloween is over, okay?”
I stood there, speechless, my anger boiling over. But exhaustion is funny like that — it snuffs out rage before it can burn too brightly.
“Fine,” I snapped.
Instead of yelling, I quickly turned around and went back inside, feeling a mix of anger and shock.
But something changed in my mind when I was cleaning the egg off my car later.
Brad wasn’t just a silly neighbor who got too excited about Halloween. He was a bully, and I was done with it. If he wanted to play unfairly, that was fine. I was ready to outsmart him.
An awesome idea popped into my head while I was rocking Lily to sleep that night. Brad’s biggest flaw was his pride. He wanted his haunted house to be the center of attention. I didn’t feel like arguing, but getting back at him? That sounded good.
After waiting a day, I casually walked over to his yard while he was busy putting up even more decorations on his porch.
“Hey, Brad,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “I’ve been thinking, it really was inconsiderate of me to block your display. You always put so much effort into it… have you thought about giving it an upgrade?”
He paused, suspicious. “Upgrade?”
“Yeah, like some high-tech stuff. You know, fog machines, ghost projectors. You’ve already got such a great setup, but if you really want to impress people, those would take it to the next level.”
His eyes sparkled, and I realized I had him hooked.
Brad was easy to read. If there was an opportunity to show off in the neighborhood, he would jump at it.
I listed some brands I had looked into. They were all awful machines with one-star ratings, famous for breaking down and having weird problems. But he didn’t need to find that out.
“You think so?” he asked, already mentally designing his Halloween masterpiece.
“Oh, absolutely. You’d be the talk of the neighborhood.”
And with that, I walked away, satisfied. Now, all I had to do was wait.
Halloween night arrived and Brad’s house looked like something out of a horror movie. He’d gone all out, as expected.
There was a crowd of kids and parents gathered on the sidewalk marveling at the fog rolling out across his lawn. Brad stood in the middle of it all, basking in their admiration.
I watched from my porch with Lily and Lucas bundled in my lap, feeling a bit like a villain in some low-budget drama. I had to admit his setup looked impressive — until it didn’t.
The fog machine sputtered right on cue and instead of producing that eerie, atmospheric mist, it started spraying water like a garden hose. The crowd gasped, kids giggled, and Brad panicked.
He raced over to the machine and fiddled with the buttons, trying to make it stop.
It wasn’t finished yet. The ghost projector, which was his favorite decoration, kept flickering on and off, showing a silly, wobbly ghost that looked more like a crazy blob than anything spooky. The parents laughed, and the kids were laughing even harder.
Then came the big moment. One of his inflatable decorations, a huge Frankenstein, slowly fell over, its deflated head rolling across the yard in a funny way.
Some teenage boys thought it was the funniest thing ever. With Halloween mischief in the air, they grabbed a carton of eggs and started throwing them at Brad’s house with big smiles on their faces.
Brad was freaking out, running around trying to save what little pride he had left, but it was too late. His scary haunted house had turned into a funny haunted house, and there was no way to fix it.
The next morning, while I was feeding Lucas, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see Brad looking… pretty sad. Just like his Frankenstein. He didn’t seem like his usual confident self, and for a moment, I almost felt sorry for him.
“I, uh, wanted to apologize,” he mumbled, not quite meeting my eyes. “For egging your car. I overreacted.”
I crossed my arms, taking my time before responding. “Yeah, you did.”
“I just… I didn’t realize how hard it must be, you know, with the twins and all.” He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.”
I let the silence hang for a moment longer, watching him squirm. “Thanks for apologizing, Brad. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
He nodded quickly, eager to escape the awkwardness. “No, it won’t.”
As he turned to leave, I couldn’t help but add, “Funny how things have a way of balancing out, huh?”
He glanced back, and for once, Brad had nothing to say.
