You can fight a person, you can't fight a ghost

It was EJs fault. There was no doubt in Seb's mind that this entire situation was EJ Caswell and his big mouths fault.

The fact that Halloween was on a Saturday had given Seb hope that maybe, just maybe, Halloween would go off without big issue in school. They had been going to school with practically the same group of people since they were 5 years old and they knew what was bound to happen.

Every year on Halloween something happened, last year it had been the seniors spreading pumpkin guts across the entirety of the school (people were still unsure of how they had managed to get such a high volume of the stuff because it was everywhere, the floors, the walls, in the lockers, on the ceiling. It would've been impressive if it wasn't so messy)

Seb final year of middle school had been the year that someone had decided it would be funny to write messages written in blood across the walls, of course the blood was actually ketchup and the culprit had used the wrong "your" in their spelling of "you're all doomed" but the ketchup still stank that place out until summer rolled around, and once again, no one knew who did it.

Which is why Seb had their fingers crossed that the lack of school time on Halloween this year would spare them from having their locker vandalised with ketchup or pumpkin guts.

They almost managed it. Friday the 30th went off without a hitch, no ketchup, no pumpkin guts, no vengeful spirits, Seb had made it all the way to after school rehearsal and their locker was still in pristine condition.

Maybe that's why the actual event was so disappointing. Because after a full day without anyone carving a pentagram into the ceiling, in the break Jenn gave them in between blocking
Stick To The Status Quo and Get'cha Head In The Game while she carted in the basketballs, EJ Caswell said those fateful words.

"So who's gonna be sacrificed to the Hillways this year?"

Of course it was inevitable that someone would bring up the Hillways, it got brought up every year without fail.

It was stupid, as far as Seb thought, the Hillways was one of the biggest superstitions in Salt Lake despite having no merit, someone supposedly got sacrificed to the Hillways every Halloween, and despite the population of Salt Lake staying fairly level every Halloween for the past few decades, the superstition surrounding the house lived on.

So the Hillways being brought up wasn't a big surprise, there was however, a factor Seb hadn't considered. Gina Porter.

"What's the Hillways?"

Seb felt Carlos shift slightly beside him at the mention of the house as everyone glanced around the room uneasily.

Finally Kourtney spoke up, "it's nothing, just a dumb superstition"

Seb felt themselves relax slightly, grateful that Kourtney had the sense to know that the Hillways was a ridiculous thing to be afraid of.

"Ok, don't listen to her, the Hillways is a very real thing". There it was again, EJ Caswell and his big mouth

"Ok, but what is the Hillways?" Gina asked again, clearly intrigued by the air of mystery surrounding it.

EJ grinned as Kourtney rolled her eyes at the prospect of hearing the played out story again.

"The Hillways is an old house that stands on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, years ago it was the grand home of a wealthy family called the Hillways. They were well liked by their neighbours, not that they had to many, the house was secluded in a deep wood" EJ began

"Oh so this is a full on ghost story?" Gina interrupted

"Yeah, it's awesome" Ricky said, glancing towards Nini who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her ex, that seemed like a story.