"The tree was big enough to shade the whole front yard. Its long branches swayed in the soft wind like giant arms dancing in the sky. Mandy shivered and took Trisha by the arm. "It's kind of spooky here, isn't it?" An owl hooted somewhere nearby. Ma...
Rosco growled, but the ghostly figure didn't stop. It kept moving toward them. Back off, whatever you are!Don't come any closer! Rosco thought, standing his ground, staring down the ghost. He wasn't going to let anything hurt Mandy.
"Come on, Rosco! Let's go!"
Rosco barked at the ghost.
"It's probably on a sensor, just like the giant spider!" cried Mandy, pulling on his leash. "It's okay!"
But Rosco hadn't witnessed the giant jumping spider, so he had no idea what Mandy was talking about. I'm not going to let it hurt you, Mandy! Don't worry! I'm here to do my job! He kept barking.
Still, the ghost kept moving—slowly, straight toward them. This thing won't give in, thought Rosco. What's the deal? He leaned back on his hind legs and waited, growling, ready to lunge.
Just then, the spooky music grew softer and an evil voice came over the loudspeakers. "Mwoohahahaha!" it laughed. Rosco heard screams from the other kids in the haunted hallways, but he thought he heard the kids laughing, too.
Mandy pulled on his leash again. "Come on, Rosco! It's time to go! It's not real!"
Rosco looked up at Mandy. It's not real?
She looked back at him. For the first time tonight, Mandy didn't seem scared, even though this was, by far, the scariest situation they'd found themselves in yet.
He looked Mandy in the eye—all right, then. He would leave this up to her. He lurched forward and Mandy fell into place beside him, running.
They rounded the next corner and hurried down another hallway, not stopping to look at the spooky scenes it held.
Soon, they reached the exit door, where Mandy and Rosco found Trisha and Naomi.
"Finally—I've been trying to catch up to you guys forever! You left us!" Mandy said.
They all ran outside together.
"Sorry!" said Trisha, breathing fast. "We were so scared, we ran!"
"So did we!" Mandy glanced at Rosco, who panted. What a strange house that was!
Rosco gazed up at Mandy. He hadn't expected that of her. He was proud. She hadn't fallen apart—she'd known what she had to do, and she'd done it. He was proud to have run alongside her.
Outside, the girls found James and the other boys.
"Wasn't that awesome?" asked Ian, still smiling ear-to-ear.
"I've seen worse," said Naomi, still catching her breath. She grinned at Mandy and Trisha, apparently, not about to let the boys know how scared she'd been.
"Are you okay, Mandy?" asked James.
Mandy nodded. Her heart rate was finally slowing down again.
"See, it wasn't so bad, now, was it?" James grinned.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Mandy remembered the ghost. "But, I guess it could've been worse." She smiled. The older kids never seemed to see things the way she and her friends did.
"That's the spirit." James patted her on the back with his werewolf glove.
"But I couldn't have made it through without Rosco."
"Well, that's good." James turned to the dog. "Good boy, Rosco." He patted his head.
Rosco sat down to rest. No problem, James.
"That was much scarier than I thought it would be," said Leo. "But I'm glad!"
Ian nodded. "I know. I jumped when I heard the evil laugh."
"Me too!" James laughed. "All right, you guys, we'd better head home now so we can eat some of this loot." He lifted his pillowcase to show them how heavy it was.
"I'm ready for candy, too! Let's go!" said Leo. The others agreed.
Rosco started back alongside Mandy. Whatever these unusual holiday customs were about, he'd had fun tonight. Trick-or-treating really was a treat!
***
Mandy fell in next to Trisha, still holding the leash. What a night it had been. First the spider and then the ghost! It hadn't been easy to face her fears like this, but it felt good to have done it and lived to tell the tale.
Maybe the scary stuff that everyone else seemed to love about Halloween wasn't so bad, after all. She smiled and pushed her clunky glasses back up onto her nose. One thing she knew for sure—she was glad Rosco had been at her side.
James put on his mask one more time and howled at the moon. "Ah-oooooo!"
Naomi called, "Happy Halloween!" The other kids howled along with James.
Rosco just panted and smiled.
Happy Halloween from Rosco the Rascal!
THE END
All photos and artwork courtesy of Pixabay
If you enjoyed this story, check out my full book that takes place at the pumpkin patch in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Just copy and paste the links into your browser. You can read the first two chapters here on Wattpad for free: https://www.wattpad.com/story/81257233-rosco-the-rascal-visits-the-pumpkin-patch and you can purchase the book here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NS2F5BQ
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