I am scared. It is grabbing me. Breathing down my neck. It is going to kill me. I am going to die.

***

It is Halloween. I am dressed as a vampire. I have cheap glow-in-the-dark plastic fangs and a cape made out of a bedsheet. I am wearing my dad's striped dress shirt and some skinny jeans. I walk up to the house. The shingles are falling off the roof and the windows are boarded up. Hey, maybe the kids will get scared and go home.

"Candy! Candy! Ring around the rosy, we all die!" Sadie, the six-year-old, says. She is wearing a bumblebee costume complete with a jack-o-lantern bag. Mikey, the four-year-old, is dressed like a mummy.

"Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man, do you know the muffin man, he died and his funeral's tomorrow!" Mikey sings.

"Okay, so, no more preschool for you. Got that," I say. "Well, here we are."

We walk inside. The kids take a Kitkat out of the cheap plastic Halloween bowl on the pedestal near the door. We go inside the house and it's filled with blow up vampires and werewolves from the dollar store. This is stupid. I look around. I see some jelly beans on the other side of the room. When I try and take some, an arm comes out of the bowl and grabs my hand. Oh well. I look for the kids. Sadie is playing tag with a girl dressed like a ladybug and Mikey is eating a chocolate bar. I look at my phone. 8:32. Time to get the kids home. After getting the kids and grabbing a handful of candy on my way out, we walk home.

I ring the doorbell. "Good evening my love," a witch with a long dress says.

"Hey Mrs. Lawrence, is Mom here? The kids are getting tired."

"Oh, yes. Come in come in. Have some candy. Larissa! The children are here!" I see my mom. She is dressed as Frankenstein's bride. Her, Mrs. Lawrence, and Mr. Reynolds's from across the street are playing cards.

"Hey, did you have a good time?" Mom says.

"Yeah, I think the kids had fun."

"Candy! Candy! Yay," The kids chanted in unison.

"Okay, uh, Mom? Is it okay if I go to a party now?"

"Uh, sure honey. Just make sure to bring your phone."

"Okay. Bye!"

I walk down the street. Well, that was easy. I look at the address on the invite."1313 Ghoul Lane." Well, that doesn't sound made up at all. When I finally reach the address, I see a house. The door is cracked open and there are cobwebs on the porch. I walk up to the door and peek inside. The house looked decorated from the 1800's, which made sense, dealing that the host of this party's parents were historians. I walk inside. "Hello? Anyone here?" I see a note on the wall. "Come downstairs. Password with the invite." I look at the invitation. "Halloween Party, 1313 Ghoul Lane, 9:00 to midnight. Password: Haunted. Tell no one."

I go down the stairs to the basement. I face toward a long hallway to a door. I faintly hear music playing up ahead. A note on the door reads: "Knock three times and say the password." I knock. "Um... Haunted. The invite told me to say haunted... Uh, hello?" The door opens just a crack.

"Did anyone follow you?" A leprechaun with a deep voice asks. I look back.

"Uh, not that I know of, uh why?"

"Come in." The leprechaun opens the door. Other than the leprechaun and myself, two people are in the room. I see Wonder Woman to my left and Dracula to my right. Dang it, he stole my costume. Oh well.

"Uh, where is everyone?" I look at my watch. 9:15 "I thought it started at nine." There are no decorations. The wall is gray concrete with shag gray carpeting. A bar is to my right against the wall where Dracula is standing. Over near Wonder Woman are three blue chairs.

"Oh, everyone's here. Why?" The leprechaun asks.

"Oh, um no reason." I sit down in one of the chairs. Wonder Woman hands me some red punch in a Solo cup and sits down. It's quiet. I look at my phone. No reception. Great. "Um.. where's the bathroom? I ask.

"Oh, it's right there." Dracula points to a door on the far side of the room. I put down my drink and go in. I close the lid and sit on the toilet. Phone please work. I put in my password. 32-73 One bar. Well, at least it's something. I open my messages app and click on Laurie.

"Come to 1313 Ghoul Lane ASAP. Come downstairs. Password: Haunted. Help. If he asks who you, say you are friends with Wonder Woman. :)" I flush the toilet then turn on the water and wash my hands. The music is now on so I start dancing with Dracula. A few minutes later I hear a knock on the basement door.

"Um... Haunted!" It's Laurie's voice. Phew! The music stops and Dracula opens the door.

"Who are you?"

"Um... I was invited by a friend. It's not a big deal, is it?"

"Uh, no, uh, it's... it's fine. Um, come in." The music starts playing again. I walk over to Laurie and hand over a glass of punch. I sip mine.

"Hey, thanks. This place was a snooze fest."

"Hey, how about you say we ditch this place and hit up a real haunted house?"

"What? No! Laurie, you just came. We can't leave now!" I look at the other party goers. Dracula is doing the limbo while the other two are holding the pole. "Actually, leaving now wouldn't hurt." I put my drink down and run out the door.

We run two blocks until we are stopped by our laughter. We start walking until we reach our destination. The grass is all dead and it looks like it just came out of a horror film. We walk up to the porch. "You scared," Laurie says, frightened.

"What... No... You, you wimp," I stutter. Yes you idiot, yes I'm scared! We walk towards the door. I step on the deck. Creak! I jump back. "Ah!"

"Oh, I'm the wimp?"

"Let's go." We walk in and wipe our feet on the rug. Dust flies up around our ankles.

"Boo!" Laurie jumps on my shoulders.

"Stop! You scared me!" I check my phone for the time. No signal. "Hey, do you have the time?"

"No. Sorry. Phone's dead." I start to look around.

"Hey, let's go upstairs. Unless you're afraid. Race ya'." We sprint up the stairs. "I win." We walk down the hallway. There are five doors, two on each side and one straight ahead.

"You go that way I'll go this way," Laurie says. I walk into the first room on the left. The room has striped black walls and dark brown, hardwood floors. There is a bed to my right with black sheets and black dusty canopy. The windows are draped with black cloth and there is a cold breeze coming in through the shattered window.

"Having fun?" I jump back.

"Jeez, Laur' stop that! You scared me! Again."

"Oh no, I scared the wimp! Hey, look, it's getting late. I think we should head home."

"Oh, yeah okay. Let's bounce." We head down the stairs. "Oh, hey, I think I left my phone upstairs. You go ahead."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll meet you outside." I walk back upstairs and enter the bedroom. "Oh, there it is." Something grabs me. "Laurie! Stop it!" I look at the hands on my shoulders, white as snow. "Laurie? That is you, right? Right?" I am scared. It is grabbing me. Breathing down my neck. It is going to kill me. I am going to die.

I snap around. It is a monster. A zombie, or maybe a vampire. I'm too scared to tell. "L...L...Laurie?" I yell. "Laurie? Laurie! Help!" I scream, I yell. I can't move. I grab my phone on the bed. No signal. I am trapped. The zombie is blocking the door. I am trapped. I look around the room. The window. The window! I jump over the bed. The monster chased after me. I use my elbow to break the remaining pieces of glass. Hurry! Hurry.! I stuff my phone in my jean pocket. I grab onto the windowsill and slide my feet through. I look down. I am going to fall. I am going to die! I look for a way out. Two windows over is a low roof. How do I get over there??? I swing my left foot over to the other window than my left hand. You do realize that if any one of your limbs gives out right now you will fall to your death. Right? I suddenly get a burst of energy. I throw the right side of my body around and grab the window.

I pull myself through. Whew! I am in a boys room. I pause to look around. I see a little rocking chair and a stuffed dog. Pictures on the nightstand lead me to believe this room belonged to a five or six-year-old. Hey, snap out of it! I dart out of the room and close the door to the monster room. I sprint down the stairs and out the door. "Laurie run. No questions. Run."

We run for about a block before stopping to catch our breath.

"Hey... hey... you... you... you okay? Did... did you get... get your phone? What... what happened... what happened in there?

"I'm... I'm fine. Monster... window... run... I'm, I'm fine. Let's, let's just go home." Laurie puts her around my neck. We walk home.

***

"Hey, mom."

"Oh, hey honey. Oh, Laurie, hi! I didn't see you there! How are you?" Mom asks.

"Oh, um, hey Mrs. Mathews, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm good. Would you like some candy?"

"No, thanks. I'm good."

"Hey, uh, Mom? We're going to go up to my room now. Bye."

"Okay, just don't wake the kids!"

"We won't!" Laurie and I say in unison. We enter my room. I through my phone on the bed and lay down. Laurie sits on my sofa and throws a pillow at me. I threw one back.

The next morning when I wake up Laurie is gone with a note on my stomach that reads: "Ha, ha, got you Drac. Love ya', L."