Franklin was going through all the various themes that Elsa was proposing for the Halloween party. It seemed pretty early, a whole three months before hand, but Elsa took the Halloween party seriously. The whole town did.

As mayor it was Franklin's job to pick which theme they went with. It set the whole tone for the dance, he was told. That meant that this was very important.

He hated this part of the year. So much pressure was put on him all over a dance.

He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't notice what was missing until he thought about it.

Or her.

Kelly.

She was going to have to be at the dance. Well, she didn't have to be, but everyone in town went, which meant she would be there. And he would be there. And they could dance.

But that thought, of him twirling her around a dance floor, was what brought the realization to him.

"Your sister is taking a long time."

Sammy had been in front of his desk. He told him that he could use Franklin's desk, that they could share it. But the boy had just dropped everything on the floor in front of his desk and laid down in front of it. He had been colouring, but Franklin hadn't been paying too much attention to him, mainly because Sammy was being quiet for once.

He probably should have been paying attention to him though. Quiet kids were rarely kids that were being good.

But the second he vocalized his realization, Sammy's little head popped up. Like a little gopher.

He seemed almost surprised by what Franklin had said. But not in a normal startled way.

Franklin meant it as they were going to have to go looking for her, but he'd expect Sammy to stay behind to finish... whatever it was he was doing. But Sammy just walked around Franklin's desk and then carefully and calmly climbed up onto Franklin's lap.

Franklin froze right away. He wasn't sure what was happening, Sammy had never done anything like this before. The children of the town always respected him and were polite, but he wasn't stupid. They were all scared of him. The big scary zombie with the anger management issues.

He gave off an intimidating aura, Elsa would say whenever he complained. He made the kids nervous with his intensity, even when he wasn't trying to.

Sammy stared up at him with an almost thoughtful gaze. Then he put both of his little hands onto Franklin's cheeks and then he started to press into him, clearly trying to pry at something.

"What are you doing?"

"Kelly says you wear a mask to hide your zombie face, but I can't find it," the little boy told him. "Is it like a Scooby-doo mask?"

His hands then went for his neck and Franklin instinctively shied away.

"No. It's not that kind of mask. It's magic. Your sister can see through it, it's her special gift. Can't you see through it?"

Sammy shook his head.

"Huh... I guess it doesn't run in the family."

Sammy shrugged. "I guess but maybe that's cause she's not my real sister."

At that both of them froze. The boy's eyes widened, and that told him all he needed to know. That right there, that little confession, it had been a slip up. He hadn't meant or Franklin to know about that. That was clearly one of the secrets the two were keeping.

Franklin wanted to press him for more but instead Sammy asked: "Can you take the mask off?"

"No," he said right away. "No. No. It's scary. My real face is scary. I don't want to scare you."

Sammy seemed to think about that for a moment before asked: "What if I promise not to get scared?"

"I unno if you can keep that promise."

"But... but... you said Kelly sees it right? And she's not scared of your face."

"Yeah so?"

"Well Kelly's scared of everything! If she's not scared of your face it's probably not that bad."

Well that was news to him. Kelly was scared of everything huh?

She had always seemed so brave to him.

"Okay, but if it's to scary you let me know. I'll hide it, okay?"

Sammy nodded and Franklin snapped his fingers. Right away the mask came off and he almost winced. Sammy's eyes widened as he took him in and he waited for the crying.

But it never came.

Instead he got: "Whoa! You have a hole in your cheek! That's so cooooolll!"

Wow. Really?

A hole in his cheek was cool? That was also news for him.

Sammy's hands went back to his face. "Aw you're so cold!"

"I don't feel the cold anymore," Franklin replied stiffly.

Sammy stared at him, his hands eventually fell away from his face.

"Can you stick your tongue out of the hole? Even if your mouth is close?"

Franklin nodded and then showed him. That earned him another: "Cool!" and he smiled.

"You could eat ice cream and never even open your mouth.

At that Franklin laughed. "I never thought to try it. Maybe I'll try it out tonight, you know after dinner... I wonder if that's where Kelly is. Picking up our dinner."

Sammy blinked his eyes and then suddenly blurted out: "Do you eat people?"

That question startled him. Firstly, by how quickly it came out of the boy and secondly by how at ease the question came from the boy.

"I... uh... what do you mean?"

"The other kids in school say you eat people. Cause you're a zombie. They said you... uhm... Mira said you ate someone... the bad people."

Franklin paused. Well, that little bit of gossip hadn't taken long to get to the new people in town. He wondered if Kelly knew too, or if it was only the kids spreading it.

"I... I ate a bad guy once. I was very, very angry, and I did... uhm... well let's just say he deserved it," Franklin said. "I uhm... I usually eat rotten food. Or I'll drink blood, if I need an energy boost."

"If you bite someone, would they turn into a zombie?"

"I uh... I don't know I've never tried."

"If I got turned into a zombie it would be the first thing I tried," Sammy said solemnly and Franklin couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Well... you're right... maybe I should try on you!" he cried and then he started to tickle the young boy like he saw Kelly do.

Right away Sammy began to squeal in excitement, and wriggle on his lap. He had been having nothing but positive experiences with Sammy since this had begun, but this had to be the best one. He almost felt like he was becoming a more than just sometimes-when-there-was-no-one-else-care-giver.

He was becoming a good friend.

"What am I watching?"

Franklin looked up and all the joy of the moment faded away. It normally did when Selena showed up. Elsa kept telling him that was a bad thing but their outrageously good sex outweighed everything else.

He must have missed the door opening.

"I... uh..." he started but then he noticed the grimace on her face so he snapped his fingers to put the mask back on. "Selena, I know we said we'd go out tonight, but I thought dinner was going to be later..."

"Later? You're supposed to pick me up in twenty minutes."

"What? Really?" Franklin asked checking his watch. Oh it was that late.

Seriously where was Kelly? She shouldn't have taken thing long even if she did go to Veera's to pick up their dinner. Unless she saw the Harpy... but he would have heard the bell.

"Never mind, that's not what's important, Aswella's gone."

Franklin felt that cold dread wash over him again and he stood up, putting Sammy on the floor.

"What? When? How... how did this happen?"

"I don't know Franklin! She threw a tantrum, locked herself in her room and when I went to check on her and she was gone."

"Oh god, this isn't good. That Harpy is gonna..."

And then he paused, turning to Sammy who was backing away with wide eyes. "Kelly's been gone a long time," he said, this time as an accusation. "What do you know?"

Sammy shook his head, his lips clamped shut as if physical trying to keep the words from spilling out. "Sammy! If you don't tell me something bad is going to happen to Kelly."

"No!" he cried. "That's not true. She promised me. Everything's going to be okay and she'll come back for ice cream later."

But that wasn't true. The Harpy wasn't a creature of her word, and Kelly didn't know that.

"Sammy, that thing is going to hurt her, now... now... I can't help your sister if I don't know where she is, you have to tell me what she told you."

Sammy winced. "She's really going to get hurt?"

"Yes! Now Sammy please!"

The boy dithered for a bit before finally crying: "Kelly took Aswella to see her mom cause no kid shouldn't have a mom!"

Yes, he knew that already but he needed to know where she was going.

"Where? Where did she take her?"

"Uhm... through the woods? Behind the daycare."

"The ravine," Franklin breathed out. "Selena, stay with him."

Then before she could say anything to him he rushed right out of that office. HE needed to get there before Kelly made the biggest mistake of her life.

And ruined everything for the rest of them.