An Incident on Halloween
 
Matt was working late again.
Buried in papers at his Brooklyn office desk, his eyes fell on the calendar. The date glared back at him: October 31, 2028.
 
“Oh… it’s Halloween today…”
 
Every year, no matter what, he had promised to meet his friends on Halloween.
But here he was—shirt wrinkled, trapped at work, with no costume prepared at all.
 
Then he noticed the giant roll of toilet paper in the restroom.
Cautiously, almost playfully, Matt wrapped it around himself.
In the mirror stood a clumsy, messy mummy.
 
“Well… if I say it’s a mummy costume, maybe no one will question it?”
 
On the subway ride downtown to the party, people stared.
The paper flapped and tore in the draft, half-unraveling from his shoulder.
Embarrassing, yes—but a promise was a promise.
 
When he arrived, his friends burst into laughter.
 
“Man, you really do live too busy a life!”
“Is that toilet paper? What kind of life are you living?!”
“Still… at least you showed up.”
 
Matt chuckled and nodded. He grabbed a drink and slipped quietly into the corner.
Soon, he decided he’d had enough. He headed to the restroom to strip off the paper and just be himself again.
 
That’s when he met Sophie.
 
She, too, was wrapped in toilet paper—a fellow mummy, adjusting her costume in front of the mirror.
As Matt stepped in, their eyes met. Both of them smirked at the same time.
 
“Toilet paper… tears pretty easily, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah… more than I expected.”
 
A brief silence, then warmth. Shared awkwardness turned into instant familiarity.
 
“Halloween’s ruined, but somehow I feel better now.”
“For me, this feels like the most Halloween moment of all.”
 
That night, the party ended, but the two exchanged numbers.
Their first photo together showed two mummies, smiling brightly, standing on a floor littered with torn paper.
 
Later that night, Matt received a message from Sophie:
[Sophie]: “Next Halloween, let’s use real bandages. Together.”
[Matt]: “Deal. I’ll bring tape this time—so it won’t fall apart.”
 
Curated by W.C.A. (World Cultural Affairs) – Department of Imaginary Culture & Arts
 
Halloween, A Love Accident Wrapped in Toilet Paper
 
Matt and Sophie, living each day in survival mode, stumbled into each other on Halloween night as two failed costumers.
That night, nothing about them was perfect—neither the fashion nor the plan. The only thing they shared was being wrapped in toilet paper.
 
This design captures their absurd first meeting: the mummies’ muffled screams, the fluttering heart-shaped scrap of tissue.
On the left, Matt—flustered by his shabby wrapping. On the right, Sophie—same predicament, but radiant with laughter.
Between them, a single torn strip connects the two, curving not into ruin but into love.
 
Through this piece, W.C.A. asks:
“Isn’t it true that the moments born of clumsy failure often linger longer than the ones perfectly prepared?”
 
We live our lives weighed down by plans. But sometimes, it’s the unprepared missteps that spark the beginnings of love.