My feet dragged against the cement of the narrow sidewalk that lead down the lane that ran beside a hedge of trees towards Mrs. Zellman's house; if you could even call it that.  Her house was more like a museum.  I had seen intricately painted vases, abstract structures carves from wood or marble. 
Marv tugged anxiously on his leash and I staggered forward.  My brain was all fuzzy, but that was normal, just the small high that accompanied my medication.  I had one of my hands against the back of my neck, letting the chill of it keep me somewhat sober. 
“Hang on, Marv.”  I sighed as I picked up my pace a little.  The street was damp and every once and a while a car would turn around the bend and shoot off into the distance.  I tried to focus on the sound of Marv's claws clicking against the sidewalk as the porch lights of Mrs. Zellman’s house shone through the slivers of space between the trees. 
I clicked my tongue and tugged the leash as we reached the corner and I turned right towards the house.  The glass awning magnified the moons rays and lit up the front stoop where the sign still hung tapped to the door.
“Be a good boy.  Okay?”  I asked Marv absentmindedly as I began to cross the street.  I took three steps before my arm was jerked back and I turned to look at Marv.  He stood ridged on the sidewalk, ears perked up and eyes wise as he stared off towards Mrs. Zellman’s house. 
“What?”  I asked stepping over and kneeling down to give him a much deserved scratch under his ears.  “Intimidated by the big house?”  I asked and stood up.  Marv wouldn’t look at me, and he even craned his neck so he could look behind me.  I felt anxiety build up in my chest as a chill ran up my spine.  My heart pounded in my chest as I turned my head, following Marv's gaze towards the driveway. 
My entire body seemed to go ridged with shock as my eyes met the black shape looming in the shadows beside the door stoop.  My breathing accelerated as I stared at it.  I didn’t know what it was, or why it sent such a cold wash of dread through me, but I found I was unable to move.  And that… was when Marv sneezed and walked right past me, seeming to be cured of any fear I had assumed to be plaguing him.
“Come on, Marv!”  I sighed exasperated, placing a hand on my chest and feeling my heart beating rapidly in my chest.  “You gave me a freaking heart attack.”  I grumbled as I walked across the street towards the door step.  The shadow turned out to be a bush in the shade of the pillars that held up the glass awning, and nothing alive or remotely dangerous. 
I brought my fist up and knocked three times on the door, letting the knock echo around my brain just like every other noise around me.  The leaves rustled in the wind and the distant screams of gleeful trick-or-treaters could be heard from a couple streets over.
The door clicked and began to yawn open.  Kelly peered out and grinned when she saw me.  “Oh, Letti.  Great.  Thanks for coming.”  She said and grinned at Marv, opening the door and letting us in.  I sat Marv down and pulled out two rolls of white socks from out of my jacket pocket and lifted one of Marv's paws at a time, slipping the socks on over his paws. 
“I didn’t want him to leave tracks.  Mrs. Zellman wouldn’t be to happy about finding paw prints on her big white sofa.”  I explained to Kelly who nodded.
“Right… that’s actually really smart.” She said and I stood up, looking over at her.
“Well, I’d hope so.”  I said with a lopsided smile.  I couldn’t tell her that I was secretly high, so I disguised my obvious shaking, I rubbed my arms, adding a dramatic shiver for effect. 
There was a clatter of pans and Marv’s ears perked up as he looked over in the direction on the kitchen.  Kelly gasped and I narrowed my eyes as we exchanged a glance and I gripped Marv’s leash as we walked silently towards the kitchen.  My feet made hardly any sound – perhaps a pad or two there – but it definitely wasn’t as bad as Kelly’s.  Her sneakers squeaked a little as we set foot on the tile in the kitchen.   
I flowed Marv’s lead as he detected a trail of foil candy wrappers and I lifted my chin, seeing someone on the other side of the kitchen island, bent down into the lower cabinets.  I saw a head of black hair, and its owner was dressed in a grey bathrobe with soft looking night pants. 
“Jacob?”  Kelly called softly, for that is who it was.  Jacob was kneeling in front of shelves stacked with candies, such as peanut butter cups, chocolate kisses, lollies,  apple juice, gummy worms, chocolate covered almonds, little Debbie cookies, and jars of jelly beans. 
“What are you doing?”  Kelly asked.  What do you think he’s doing?  Jacob turned to us with wide eyes, a mouth stuffed full of various candies with a peanut butter cup pressed between his lips like a quark.  “Hey! Spit that out!”  Kelly snapped and I stared as Jacob’s eyes darted between me, Kelly, and Marv.  The peanut butter cup fell from his lips and landed on the floor with the remnants of other candies and wrappers.
In the blink of an eye, Jacob had jumped to his feet and bolted.  Marv darted for the fallen candy put I pulled him away, following Kelly as Jacob ran down the hall and into his room.  The door began to shut, but Kelly intercepted and pushed the door open and I reached forward to grab the handle before if swung back and dented the wall.  A sigh of relief left my lips and I relaxed a little.
“Don’t put me to bed!  I can’t go to sleep.”  Jacob gasped as quickly as he could. 
“Why not?”  Kelly asked incredulously.
“I have bad nightmares.”  Jacob informed us, his eyes drifted over to a small table covered with pepper and coloring pencils.  “Sometimes, at night, that comes out of my fish tank.”  Jacob pointed to a drawing of a curving pink tentacle with large suction cups outlined in black.  Kelly picked up the drawing to look at and her eye clouded over.
“it feels like it’s coming to get me, but mom says it’s just a nightmare.”  Jacob added, setting a fistful of chocolate kisses on his nightstand beside a cup of water, just before he sat on the bed, looking anxious, and despondent.
I sat down beside Jacob and he looked up at me then at Marv who sat at my feet, tail wagging wildly as he stared at Jacob; no doubt wanting to kick his face.  Marv was a well known licker.
“I actually know a lot about nightmares