Trick and Treats
Ghosts aren’t the only things lurking in abandoned houses
Travis shone his flashlight around the front room of the old house, illuminating the thick layers of dust and chunks of broken ceiling plaster covering the floor. “Do you think there are any ghosts here?”
“Probably,” Spencer said nonchalantly. “Haven’t you heard about the Jones family that used to live here? They were all gruesomely murdered in their beds on Halloween night fifty years ago!” He moved his flashlight under his chin as he spoke. Combined with his bloody zombie makeup, it made his face look hideous.
“Knock it off!” Travis hit him with his candy bucket. “That never happened!”
Spencer snickered and headed toward a nearby doorway. “Come on, scaredy-cat. Of course there aren’t any — ” He suddenly broke off as he reached the hallway outside the room. He was staring to one side, mouth open and eyes widening in shock. “Wha — ?”
“Spencer! I told you to cut it out! I know you’re only fak — ” Travis also stopped abruptly as soon as he had followed Spencer through the doorway.
At the other end of the long hallway, a solitary jack-o’-lantern was floating, its grinning face emitting an eerie, flickering light.
The pumpkin and the two boys stared at each other for a long moment. Then the jack-o’-lantern made a high-pitched giggling sound and swooped forward.
“Ghost!” Spencer shrieked, bolting toward the exit.
“Hey! Wait!” Travis stumbled after him.
The two of them tore out of the house and up the street, leaving the door hanging open behind them.
“Hahahahaha! Didja see? Didja see their faces? Bwahahaha!” Daisy was rolling around inside the jack-o’-lantern, howling with laughter. Her wings and hair were full of pumpkin goop.
“Never mind that! Look at this haul!” Peony dove headfirst into the bag of trick or treat candy that Spencer had dropped in his panic. There was a sound of wrappers being torn open. “Halloeen if da beft!”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Lily scolded her. “Honestly…you two….” She shook her head at her sisters, although the corners of her mouth were twitching. “They really are strange, though,” she added after a moment.
“Who?” Peony popped her head back out. Her face was covered in chocolate.
“The humans. Why do so many of them believe in ghosts when hardly any believe in fairies? Why are ghosts any more believable than we are?”
“I dunno.” Peony shrugged. “Humans are just weird that way. They make really good candy, though.” She gave a grin and a chocolatey thumbs up. “Hurry and come get some before I eat it all without you!”
