Trick or Treat

1

The group of children trudged through the fallen leaves covering the sidewalk. They were laughing and having a wonderful time. It was Halloween and darkness was just falling and the shadows were thickening. There were eleven children, all between the ages of ten and twelve and their parents, after much begging and pleading, had decided to allow the preteens to go Trick-or-Treating by themselves for the first time.2

They were all responsible, well behaved children, dressed as witches, ghosts, fairies, monsters, vampires and such; each carrying a large bag for treats and a flashlight. They were having such fun and their bags were already half filled with treats. All promised to be in by ten at the latest.3

There were six boys and five girls and all lived within a block of each other in the small country town. There were no streetlights, but porch lights and pumpkins flickered eerily at each house along the way. 4

With so many together, the children had agreed to split into two groups. Five of them would go to one house while the other six would go on to the next house to keep from overwhelming the residents. 5

Jake and Sandy were twins and were in the first group. They were dressed as pirates and had never been allowed to Trick-Or-Treat without their parents before. They were having a great time, but were also a little frightened by the dark and some of the strange sounds they heard as the houses started becoming further apart. With no porch lights, their flashlights didn’t penetrate the darkness. 6

Jake and Sandy were with three other children, Mike, who was dressed as a ghost, Janet, dressed like a witch and Frank who was large for his age and dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster. Sandy was getting a little scared and nearly took off running when an owl suddenly hooted from a nearby tree. Jake took her hand and said, “Come on, we have to keep up with the rest of the kids. You don’t want to be out here by yourself, do you?”7

“No,” whimpered Sandy as she hurriedly caught up with the other three. “Don’t you think we should start back now?” she asked. “We’re a long way from home and we may be late getting back.”8

“Don’t be such a scairdy cat,” taunted Frank. We still have more than an hour and I intend to get as much loot as I can. You can turn back if you want to, but I’m not!”9

The other two started laughing to prove they were brave to and agreed they would go on. It was getting very dark and they saw no porch lights ahead and the other group had not come out of the last house yet, but none of them were willing to admit they had gone far enough and it was time to turn around. Even with five flashlights, they could only see a few yards in front of them and realized they were coming to an unfamiliar part of the small town. The wind was beginning to pick up and the dry leaves were swirling around them like mini funnels. Frank was leading the way when suddenly, his flashlight went out. He shook it, hoping it would come back on, but no luck. He stepped back and let Mike and Janet lead the way with their flashlights, but still saw no lights up ahead.10

“Maybe no one along here is prepared for Trick-or-Treat,” said Sandy. Why don’t we cross to the other side of the street and start back that way? We haven’t stopped at any houses on that side of the street.”11

With his flashlight out, Frank was a bit more agreeable and decided that was a good idea. He still wanted to fill his whole sack before returning home and they weren’t getting any candy walking along a deserted street. 12

The five children crossed the street and were surprised to see there was no sidewalk on the other side. They shined their lights around and didn’t see houses in either direction. The owl hooted again and they all picked up the pace. 13

“I haven’t seen the rest of the group for awhile. I wonder which direction they went in,” said Jake. I think we need to find them and stay together.”14

“Well,” they certainly didn’t pass us, so we should meet up with them going this way,” insisted Frank. “Do any of you know the name of the street we’re on?”15

Shining their lights around, they all started looking for a street sign. “There’s one,” yelled Sandy as she ran up to the corner sign. “Mayhem Drive? What kind of name is that? She asked.16

“Never heard of it,” stated Frank. “We better keep moving.” After covering another block, they still couldn’t see any light close and hadn’t run into the other half of their group. 17

Jake shined his light on the next sign, and it read ‘Death Avenue.’ “What’d they do? Rename all the streets in honor of Halloween,” he laughed. “I’ve never heard of any of these streets. Why aren’t we getting any closer to houses? We didn’t walk that far from the last house.” And he shined his light back across the street. He still saw no houses or lights. 18

“I’m scared,” cried Sandy.19

“Don’t be a baby,” answered Jake, feeling a bit nervous himself. He couldn’t let the older kids see he was getting frightened too as he walked up to the next street sign and read, ‘Nightmare Alley.’ “Where are we?” he cried. “There are no streets by these names in this town. Where are we?” and he began to cry.20

“Someone is just trying to play a joke on us,” insisted Frank. 21

“How?” asked Janet. “By changing all the street signs and making all the houses disappear?”22

“I think we really need to hurry and get out of here,” insisted Mike and he took off running down the street and the others were right behind him. Now, they were getting frightened. The leaves were coming down hard and fast and there seemed to be a hoot owl in every tree. The only light they could see was a full moon, almost covered from sight by black clouds. They all jumped and ran even faster as something white and pale drifted by them.23

“What was that?” screamed Janet. Now she was really shaking, almost too much to keep running, but was afraid to slow down.24

“Why haven’t we found the others yet?” asked Frank. “We weren’t that far apart? I don’t see even any trees. The street even seems to have disappeared. I have no idea where we are.”25

The five stopped running, not knowing where or what they might be running too and huddled together. With the remaining four flashlights, they shined one in each direction. “I don’t see anything,” Frank said. “How can this be? No houses, no signs, streets, sidewalks, trees. Nothing!”26

“This is crazy,” insisted Frank. “We hadn’t walked more than twelve blocks from home when we started back. We should be home by now and there is nothing here. It’s as if we just walked through a portal into another world. There’s nothing here.”27

“Did any of you bring your cell phone?” asked Janet. 28

“Thank God,” said Sandy. “I was so scared, I forgot I had mine.” She pulled the phone out of her pocket and turned it on. “No signal,” she said. “I always get a signal anywhere in town.”29

“Let me see it,” Frank said, grabbing the phone. “It has to work. This is just too weird.” The phone was dead. Now, Frank was getting frightened. Suddenly, Janet’s flashlight went out. Now they were down to three and no lights anywhere in sight; not even a Jack-O-Lantern. Panic was starting to set in now. Jake used his light to look at his watch. He was shocked to see it had stopped at nine o’clock. That was about the time everything seemed to have disappeared. 30

Both the girls started crying and the boys started yelling for their missing friends. They couldn’t be too far apart. It must have been close to an hour since everything had gone black and disappeared. It had to be ten o’clock by now and their parents must be out looking for them. Right now, they all wished they were safely at home as they tried to figure out what had gone wrong. They each held hands as they tried to figure out how to cross back over the street to get back to where they had come from, but there was no street. They seemed to be walking on dry grass, no trees or anything else in sight.31

“This can’t be real. Everything can’t have just disappeared. We can’t all be having the same hallucinations, so what is going on?” Janet cried. “I want to go home.”32

“Look, up ahead,” Mike yelled. “I see two lights.”33

“Lights or two very large eyes,” remarked Janet, looking at the two bright lights side by side. Then they all hesitated. Which was it? Finally the two lights seemed to separate and they all started forward, yelling. “Who’s there? Where are you? Jack, Jessie, Pete, Susan and Jordan, is that you?”34

Suddenly, they heard excited voices as the two groups finally came together. They were so happy to see each other, but felt even worse when they found out the other group was experiencing the same odd problems. They were also lost and were sure a place like this didn’t even exist in their small town. 35

They all started crying and talking at once. “I’m getting rid of this sheet,” said Mike, who was dressed as a ghost. He pulled the sheet over his head, and started screaming. “Where’s my body?” Under the sheet was nothing but air. He quickly pulled the sheet back over his head and adjusted it so he could see out the two holes cut for eyes. Now they were really frightened. He shined his light on Frank, the Frankenstein monster. “Take off your mask,”36

Frank tried to pull off his mask, but it wouldn’t budge. He ran his hands over the huge scars on his face and they felt real. He pulled at the bolts sticking from both sides of his neck and they would not budge. They were real! One by one, the children realized they were no longer in costume. Whatever they had dressed as, was real. The two pirates actually had a hook for a hand and a peg leg and Janet’s face was long and wrinkled and green. Her nose felt long and crooked and her teeth were rotten and broken. They were all terrified as they went over the changes in their bodies. The eleven of them had actually become Halloween monsters. 37

“Maybe we better just stay right where we are until someone finds us,” offered Susan. “If we wait until daylight, we’ll be able to see where we are.” The others agreed and they all sat down and huddled together as they waited for daylight or rescue. The wind had died down and the leaves were now drifting down slowly, but seemed to disappear before reaching the ground. The owl was no longer hooting and the clouds were nearly blocking out the moon as they sat and held hands and cried. 38

The next morning, the entire town was out searching for eleven missing Trick-or-Treaters. Everyone was out walking the streets and knocking on every door. The last people to remember seeing them were on Happy Drive and they said the children had all stopped in, received their candy and been on their way. It had been right at nine o’clock, but none of them had stopped by the next house, just a few feet away. No sign of the eleven young people was ever found and the search continues to this day. The small town of Halloween outlawed the practice of Trick-or-Treating and to this day the raps are heard on the doors of all the houses on Halloween night, the giggle of happy children can be heard outside, but when the door is opened, there is never anyone there.39