Among The Wildflowers

𝕊𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟: Trick or Trespassing

When the two girls finally catch up to Stan, they're out of breath.

"Stan," Nic gasps, clutching her stomach,"stop pouting. Kate just misunderstood what you were doing."

Stan continues to walk ahead, not slowing his pace.

"Stan," Nic says, grabbing his arm,"stop."

Stan turns on the two girls,"What?"

"I'm sorry," Kate says,"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Stan looks at Kate, his face guarded,"Ya pushed me away. I really just wanted to help you get warm. I swear."

"I know," Kate says, a small smile on her face,"that was sweet of you. Do you forgive me?"

Stan shuffles his feet,"Yeah, I guess. Sorry for touchin' ya and makin' ya uncomfortable."

"I forgive you," Kate says gently.

Nic looks between her friends and rolls her eyes dramatically,"Okay you two love freaks. Can we go trick or treating now?"

"Yeah, sure," Stan replies, not even mentioning the 'love freak' thing.

Over the next hour, the three children go from house to house collecting candy. When their bags are almost overflowing, Stan comes up with a plan.

"Hey, what if we did somethin' fun?"

Kate raises a brow in suspicion,"What do ya mean?"

"Oh ya know, we could always sneak into the old Mosley place."

"What the hell is that?" Nic asks, shoving a KitKat into her mouth.

"It's a haunted house just up the street," Stan says with a mischievous grin,"rumor has it that the man who lives there is a vampire and he never leaves his house unless he wants to drink someone's blood."

"Oh so he's one of my people?" Nic laughs.

"No, Nic," Stan says, rolling his eyes,"he's seriously weird. The house is too. Wanna go check it out?"

"Hell yeah!"

Kate starts violently shaking her head,"Nope. No way am I going with y'all to that old house."

Stan takes a step towards Kate and gives her a goofy grin,"Aw c'mon, Katie. It'll be fun. I'll protect ya, I swear."

"No! I ain't going. That house is too spooky."

Nic looks at Stan with a serious face,"Well, I'm going. Where is it?"

"Right this way," Stan says, leading the way along the lamp lit sidewalk.

Nic starts after him, turning back once to give Kate a pleading look.

Kate just shakes her head and continues to chew on her nails. Nic just shrugs and continues walking.

After the two are almost out of sight, Kate lets out a groan and reluctantly follows after them.

"Lord, forgive me," she whispers.

The three children come upon an old Victorian style home with a tall, iron fence around it. Three stories high with a beautiful wrap around porch. The front yard is overgrown and vines are beginning to climb the outer walls of the home. It's definitely spooky.

"Holy shit," Nic says, staring at the house in wonder,"you're right, Stan. This place has to be haunted."

Stan laughs quietly,"Told ya."

He starts walking towards the fence, looking for something. When he finds the gap in the fence, he turns back to the girls and smirks before squeezing through the gap and stepping into the overgrown yard.