Halloween Hunt [Ross Lynch]•[Laura Marano]

1. Black Cat

Halloween, it used to be for candy or to be scared out of our minds. Now that I'm a sophomore, it's just another reason to throw a party.

The parties always have the same turnouts, with the same people and same music, the people who throw the party don't even try to decorate the house to where you can tell you are at a Halloween party.

"You done pouting?" The car we were in has stopped down the street from the clearly busy house. My oldest brother Riker insists that we go out here because we're not children anymore. I'd rather go out trick-or-treating instead of being pushed around by sweaty, intoxicated teenagers.

"I'm not pouting." I turn away from him to look out the window, but a dark figure made me do a double take. I squinted to try and see better but Riker clapped me on the shoulder making me jump.

"I know you wanted to hang out with Laura, but she has her own plans, stop being so attached, you can live one night without her right?" I slumped in the seat at the mention of my girlfriend. Now I'm pouting. Laura was a quirky petite girl. Her awkwardness is what drew me in. It took her awhile to talk to me without stuttering, now she's more out of her shell and she let down all her walls. Just as we got in the car to go to this stupid party she sent me a picture of her in a Katy Perri costume.

"Let's just get this thing over with."

•••

Ew, don't touch me. Gross. Oh gosh.

An hour later into the party, people were already trashed. I cringed away from people who got too close and shoved people slightly whose skin touched mine.

My head hurt because of the smells so I was on adventure towards the stairs for the bathroom.

Reaching the bathroom there was a girl fixing her makeup.

" I need in here." The girl shrugged her shoulders and left stumbling out.

I felt bad rummaging through the drawers, but they had to have some aspirin.

Opening the last drawer I finally found a bottle of advil I opened it to pour two pills onto my hand, well that came and so did a key. I turned it over to see a very big arrow on it.

"‹-"

It was pointing towards the door. I turned my head to see a note under the towel rack.

Curiosity killed the cat

black cat that is

Don't be afraid of little graves, just behave.

I read it like twenty times over trying to formulate what the heck this could mean. I folded it up and placed it in the back of my pants pocket. Bounding down the stairs in search of Riker, I found him in the kitchen playing a sad version of bobbing for apples by dunking his head in the kitchen sink. I look into the murky water to see only one apple in there and two cigarette butts floating at the top.

What the heck is he bobbing for?

I lifted his head up from the water. His eyes were dilated, a common sign of intoxication.

"Aw dude! I almost had it!" He was about to dunk his head back in but I stopped him.

"We need to leave!" I yelled over the new song that was playing. Riker shook his head and started falling backwards. I grabbed him and righted him before he fell back against the counter.

"Nioo, you party pooper! You go home! This is my home!" He said as he threw his arms up and mentioned around the room towards everyone.

"You drove us here!" Riker nods his head and starts swaying from side to side.

"You're just gonna have to walk!" Riker pushes past me towards the living room filled with people. I was going to go after him but I was distracted by a cat passing by the window.

A black cat that is.