Nightmares of Halloween

BOOK ONE:"The Halloween house"

It was a dark Halloween night on St Nickel . with cheap holiday decorations engulfing every block and corner. I, Steven was trick-or-treating with my best friend and brother, Nick. Nick was dressed up as a ghost, pretty basic with a dead white bed sheet cut short with eye-holes worn over his dark brown hair. I, however, decided to be a little bit unique in my costume. I was a zombie-clown with ragged and worn polka-dots with drops of ketchup to give a ominous impression. I also wore zombie mask with a few other things drawn on it to make it look a little more like a clown. Anyway, we haven't been getting much candy in the neighborhood and, with the permission of my mother; I was allowed to go to other places for trick-or-treating.

"Remember! Don't go past the park! Oh, and look both ways before crossing the street!" my mother called out to me as I was about to cross to the next neighborhood.

"Don't worry mom! I won't forget!" I shouted back to my mom to stop her nagging although I knew it was only out of fear that something might happen to me.

As we reached the next neighborhood, my brother Nick asked, "So, hey Steve, which house do you want to go to now?"

"Hmmm… I don't know… I'd like to go on a bit further and see the other houses. I wanna see what cheap decorations these people made." I sneered in a sarcastic demeanor, chuckling.

But as we went on, we did see some very pathetic decorations, an example being an awkward-looking skeleton with a bent body, cut out and made out of old paper. We also saw some very well made decorations, from large spiders that are completely made of Legos, to flashing lights that outlined the houses that shined according to music that was played along. We saw so much we forgot all about trick-or-treating! When Nick and I realized it, we saw standing out from the others before our eyes, the most creative house we saw. Everything about it was interesting. It had glistening lights, realistic spiders, pale skeletons, bats hanging on it, and much more! It was so good; I can't even explain it in words! It's something you have to experience for yourself. I just knew we had to pay a visit.

"Nick! Look at that house!" I commented. "It looks so cool!"

Nick's eyes were already on the house, his eyes sparkling with excitement and amazement.

"Whoa! Now they certainly spent time and effort into that one!" Nick observed.

We started toward the house with determination. I was sure these people were nice. We pushed the door bell and an elderly lady, probably about 62 years old, answered. She looked very cheerful and gave a warm impression on both me and Nick. She wore a sweater with a jack-o-lantern on it.

"Trick-or-treat!" we chanted.

"Why, hello young fellas." She greeted us with a warm smile. "Here, have some candies."

I was more than amazed. She literally filled my bag to the top!

"Wow, thank you miss. That's a lot of candy!" I exclaimed.

"Would you like to have some hot cocoa? I also have some grandchildren that would like to play with you."

Nick and I thought for a moment and whispered into each others ears.

"Hey, what do you think?" I whispered. "She's a stranger."

"… Yeah, but she seems pretty nice." Nick added. "Plus she filled our bags up. We don't need to go anywhere else; this can be our special "thanks"

"Well, okay, sure, but only for a little bit. We should be getting home in a few minutes."

"Thank you, please make yourself at home." She said cheerfully.

We got into the house and there were three kids about my age who seemed very playful, and we played together while the lady got the hot cocoa. Nick and I had a very fun time with the kids, drawing a poster of each other and hanging it on the wall, the house had everything a child can ever wish for and I was so glad I wish I could never leave.  When we had to leave, they waved us a goodbye and said: Bye! See you next time!

The next day my brother and I decided to pay the lady a visit. However, when we got there, the house had vanished! It literally disappeared without a trace! Nick asked  the neighbors about where the house had gone, and what we got for an answer was a weird look and a slam of the door. Finally, one answered. We learned that there was never a house there. Confused, we went to the site of the mysterious phantom house and we saw the posters that Nick, the kids and I had drawn. We also saw something else, something that gave us joy. A single piece of paper with some neat writing on it:

See you next Halloween

I bet you could guess exactly who wrote the message...............