Growing up, when the last week of October rolled around, all my friends would be getting their costumes ready for Halloween. Everyone from school would dress up and talk about going trick or treating that night. Except for me.

Now as a 20 year-old I still hear similar stories, year after year – the only difference being it’s college costume parties instead of dressing up for trick or treating.

I always wondered what those parties would be like, what one would do there. As I scrolled through social media it always seemed like I was missing out. Though I am a quirky and awkward person and probably wouldn’t have attended even if I was invited, it still seemed like something I wanted to experience.

I finally got my chance. It was no college costume party but, it was a costume party filled with many different content creators who indirectly work together month after month but do not get to meet as often, or ever. It was the MY Voice Mystery Mayhem event. A town hall meeting to network with volunteers who make MY Voice magazine come to life.

When first hearing about Mystery Mayhem, my insides soared with excitement and my mind jumped to all the costumes that I could possibly pull off. The idea of being someone new for an entire day, dressed up to just have fun, was something I was really looking forward to.

As I ran with my thoughts aloud to my sister, I pondered about what character I longed to be. As journalism runs through my blood, there was no better character to be than the most iconic journalist of all times, Lois Lane. Like the perfectionist Ms. Lane and I are, I planned my costume to a ’T’, with notes on my phone, I had it all picked out way ahead of time.

But, like any story I write, there are always final finishing touches that need to be executed at the last minute. Counting the days, the Friday before, I ran around to a Staples, printing my press pass from the Daily Planet and grabbed a pair of dress pants from the mall, hoping for a perfect fit.

When the day finally came, I realized, public transit is not ideal when you have to be on time for absolutely anything, but nevertheless, I enjoyed the long commute in anticipation of reaching my destination and feeling part of larger cause.

As I opened the door, I saw everyone setting up, with tape in one hand and Harry Potter wands in the other. I looked around to see a human version of Thing 2, the very beautiful Queen of Hearts from Alice and Wonderland, and for a moment, I second guessed my costume. Would anyone recognize who I am?

I put my press pass around my neck and the Lois Lane confidence surged through me and took me through the night. After greeting one another with compliments and guesses of some costumes that weren’t so familiar to some of us, we began to play games.

Playing games is a tradition my family carried out at family gatherings. Mystery Mayhem wasn’t

anything new other than the fact everyone was so much kinder and polite. Game night with my family is much more competitive and everyone lives for calling one another out.

As I lost then, I was losing now by breaking the rules already. Entering the room, we already started a game that prevented us from saying a list of words and of course one being ‘game’ itself.

Board games piled on board games, we moved through them, some playing Scrabble while others played Jenga. We finally moved on to the big mystery, starting with a little skit on the stage. That led us to form ourselves into groups and took on the challenge of solving the Blue’s Clues from table to table.

Sadly, I didn’t win, but I’m no sore loser, I swear.

Though, if I’m being honest we were really close to winning!

Now that I think of it, we were all winners, with pizza, chicken and a side of fries for dinner, we laughed with each other all through the night, washing down our food with some refreshing pop.

Ending our night on a high note, dessert was served: Our own self served sundaes!

With many choruses of laughter and warm farewells, I made my commute home. Not a short commute, but with a huge smile and happy memories with the new friends I made, I didn’t mind it one bit.

For months, working alongside these amazing beings, Mystery Mayhem wasn’t just a day revealing the many creative costumes we wore, but it revealed the amazing humans we were behind our roles as writer, editors, graphic designers, mentors, and creators.