The Night Before Halloween

Graveyard Party

I knew my parents wouldn't let me go to a graveyard at night. They are extremely overprotective. But I couldn't let Oliver or Beth down. Especially Oliver. So I had to sneak out. I thought about this the whole way home on the subway. Now we've reached my stop and I still don't know what to do. I consider telling Oliver I can't go when he says 

"Bye Allana! See you tonight!" I fake a smile. OK so maybe I do have to go. 

I walk into our apartment on the fourth floor of our building. Our apartment is pretty nice. There is small hallway at the door that has branches to the bathroom and living room. The living room connects to the kitchen at the end of the hall. My room and my parents' room is behind the kitchen. My mom is cooking in the kitchen.

"Hi Allana! Good day at school?" she asks me. I nod. I decide to ask her about the Graveyard Party.

"Hey mom?" 

"Yes?"

"Have you ever wanted something like really bad?" I question. My mom gives me the what do you want look . "FOR THE LONGEST TIME OLIVER HAS WANTED ME AND BETH TO GO TO A GRAVEYARD ON HALLOWEEN EVE AND I SAID YES BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT HIS FEELINGS!" I blurt. 

"Allana Cooney! What makes you think that it's OK to go to a graveyard without an adult?! No. The answer is no." I open my mouth to protest but nothing comes out. I nod and trudge into my room and start my homework. 

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BEEP! BEEP! I awake with a start. I'm surrounded by homework and my phone is blinking. It's Oliver. I pick it up. "Hey Oliver what's up?" I say calmly.

"What's up?! Allana where are you I've been waiting at your subway stop for twenty minutes!" Oh my goodness I totally forgot about the graveyard party.

"Oh um" I look around. "I'm just...looking for my shoes. I'll be right down." Oliver says bye and hangs up. Now I just have to sneak out. 

I look into the kitchen. My mom has moved into the living room and is watching Food Network. I can't get through there so I go down the rickety old fire escape. Once I've made it down I race to the subway station. I don't tell Oliver about the sneaking out. 

We stop at Beth's house. Her parents' aren't home so she doesn't have to sneak out. The graveyard is right down the street.

                                                                      ***********

"Oh my god Allana I can't believe you got me into this!" Beth whispers in my ear. I just ignore her. She didn't have to lie to her parents. 

"Wow. Now this is a graveyard!" Oliver declares. The three of us look over the graveyard. It must be at least a hundred years old. Oliver breaks into a sprint. 

"OK Oliver, now what do we do?" Beth questions sounding annoyed. Oliver gives her a look.

"We check out the stones. Duh!" Oliver runs through the graveyard like a child through a playground. "Whoa. Check out all these old names. 'Elizabeth Smith'. 'Rose McLee'. 'James Connor'. 'Allana Cooney'. 'Tom..'"

"Wait Oliver did you say Allana Cooney?" I ask. 

"Come on Oliver. Now that's a bad joke!" Beth says.

"Guys I'm not joking it does say Allana Cooney."

"Let me see." I say. I stride up to the stone. There's no way Oliver's serious. "See Oliver it doesn't say..." and suddenly I see. I can't. This can't. This can't be happening. 

"See guys I told you!" says Oliver triumphantly. He starts doing a victory dance. Beth glares at him and he stops. Oliver groans and  sarcastically says "I mean I'm so sorry for the random gravestone that showed up here with your name on it."

"It's not your fault." I say turning around. "Really. I mean Allana Cooney could be anyone." I try to be convincing but I can tell that I do a poor job by the look on Oliver's face. 

After a few minutes of awkward silence I finally say "Why don't we go get some pizza?" Oliver and Beth nod but I can still feel the tension. And the unease. Despite what I said, I just couldn't stop thinking about this other "Allana Cooney". Dad had never really said anything about his family. I decide to just think about it later and enjoy my pizza.