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Leaves rustled in a restless wind and danced across the sidewalk as twilight began to descend on Chestnut Street.

The night was young, was really only getting started, but most of the houses were still, their windows darkened. The Greens' house was cheerfully decorated for Halloween, with corn stalks arranged on either side of the door, a black cat in the window, and three twinkling jack-o-lanterns arranged on the porch.

As Mary and Eric made their way up the walkway, a trio of trick-or-treaters was chirping a chorus of thanks on the porch. Gail was nodding and smiling at the children as they called out their goodbyes and turned towards the street.

Mary smiled at the trio as their paths crossed, and stopped to admire their costumes. "Hey, you guys look great!" she exclaimed, surveying each trick-or-treater. "Let's see, we've got a witch," she nodded at Sally Taylor.

"Do you think I'm a good witch or a bad witch?" cut in Sally before she could continue.

"You're an adorable witch," she said, laughing at the looks of revulsion on the faces of the devil and skeleton.

"We're not adorable," said Woody in a scandalized voice, shaking his head so that his red horned hat tilted to the side.

"No, you're really scary," nodded Mary, putting a hand to her heart in an expression of mock terror. "Seriously. And your skeleton friend is really freaking me out!"

Sam Hawkins laughed and grabbed Woody's plastic pitchfork, apparently in an attempt at a menacing gesture. Woody grabbed it back, playfully growling at his friend. Sally rolled her eyes and Mary laughed again, quickly asking them if they'd gotten a good haul.

As the children showed her the candy apples Gail had given them, Eric stepped up to the porch, shifting the duffel bag in his arms.

"Happy Halloween, honey!" Gail grinned, making a witchy gesture and tipping her pointy hat at him. Noticing Eric's weary sigh, she quickly turned a serious look on him. "Planning on staying over?" she asked, eyeing the duffel bag.

"We...needed to get away for a night or two," he said carefully. "That's okay, right?"

"You're always welcome," she said. "You know that." He nodded, looking down at the porch. "Eric, are you alright?" she asked.

He nodded, glancing back over at Mary. She was leaning down to look at something Sally was holding up. He looked back at his mother. "I told her we could get away, from everything that's...well, that we could have a break, so can we just...not talk about anything weird tonight?"

Gail nodded with a small smile this time. "I think that's a great plan. This is supposed to be a party after all!"

"I hope so," Eric said. "Mary's disappointed to miss the Main Street carnival. She wanted to decorate for it this year."

Gail glanced in the direction of her daughter-in-law, who was now exchanging goodbyes with the trick-or-treaters. "We'll make it a good night," she said, nodding to show Eric she meant business. He returned the nod as Mary came up on the porch. She was still smiling, watching the retreating trio of children, and Eric was surprised at the suspicious gleam that seemed to have come over her eyes. He squinted.

"Mary, are you - "

"They sure are cute, those kids," she said with a shaky chuckle. Eric continued to stare at her, and noticing the solicitous expression on his face, she blinked quickly and cleared her throat. "It's just nice, to see them out, having fun. Nice to see our kids can still have that. Like the good old days, you know?"

"I know what you mean, sweetheart," said Gail quickly. "It's not the same, but some traditions stick around. I told Margaret to send them over here on their way down to the carnival."

"They were betting they wouldn't get anything as good as those candy apples you gave them down at the carnival," Mary said with a quick smile, brushing a hand across her eyes as inconspicuously as she could.

Gail chuckled. "Well, I made a whole batch." At the significant look Eric was sending her way, she turned back to Mary. "Should we go inside and finish setting up? I've already got the boys on food and drinks."

Mary nodded, sending Eric a suspicious look before hoisting the duffel bag off of the porch and following her mother-in-law into the house.

Eric sighed, turning once to look out at the street before going inside himself. The light was waning and long shadows stretched across the pavement. He felt a small shiver run up his spine, but shook his head, chuckling. It was just the effect of the cool breeze gusting through the trees. The street wasn't lit with street lamps, as usual, power being conserved wherever possible, and the decorations up and down the street were modest, but the chill in the air and a feeling he couldn't quite describe reminded him of Halloween, a holiday he'd always enjoyed. He resolved once more that tonight would be just that, a holiday to be enjoyed with his loved ones. He wouldn't allow any other worries to interfere. A sudden scuttling sound startled him, but as he whipped his head in its direction, he saw that it was just an old, dented tin can, rolling along the pavement. Shaking his head, he quickly went inside.

The aforementioned boys turned out to be Jake and Kenchy, who were found in the living room, setting up glasses on the card table along the wall. At least, Jake was arranging the glasses over top the fake leaves and cobwebs his mother had already placed strategically on the table top. Kenchy had a glass in hand, and he was casually sipping something as he leaned an arm against the edge of the couch.

"Hey, happy Halloween you guys," said Jake, nodding a greeting to his brother and sister-in-law.

"Jake. Kenchy," Eric nodded. Kenchy nodded too, holding up his glass.

"To Halloween!" said the doctor. "A night of frights. Who knows what will happen when the lights go out?"

"Hopefully they won't," said Jake, without glancing over his shoulder. "Wind's been going strong all day."

"It's a night where anything can happen," continued Kenchy. "So look out, boys and ghouls." He seemed to be trying to put on a spooky voice. Jake rolled his eyes.

"You're here early, Kenchy," said Eric, attempting to be casual and lead the subject away from ghouls.

"Off work early," he shrugged. "And so are you," he said, smiling at Mary, who looked as though she were trying to keep from making a face as he leaned towards her. Quickly pasting on a smile, she said quietly, "Somehow it feels like I haven't left."

"Celebrating early!" said Kenchy, putting an arm around her shoulder. "We don't do that enough. Celebrate. It's always doom and gloom and invading town this and martial law that."

Jake smirked as he put down a plate of sandwiches Gail had made to look like ghosts. Kenchy put his other arm around Jake, letting go of Mary's shoulder to reach for a glass. "Here, Jake. A drink on me!"

Jake eyed the empty glass Kenchy had provided him. "Oh, there's nothing in it!" Kenchy exclaimed with a drawn out chuckle. "Someone get him a drink."

"How about some cider for everyone?" asked Gail as she swept into the room. "Eric, Mary? Cider?"

"Sounds good," said Eric with a quick glance back over at Kenchy, who gave a nod himself.

"Jake, do you mind, sweetheart?" asked Gail, sending her eldest son a smile.

Jake nodded with a grudging smile of his own, grabbing four of the glasses and going into the kitchen.

Surveying the room as if she had accomplished a successful operation, Gail turned to Mary. "I've got another box of decorations I dug up in the upstairs closet that I was meaning to use on the front door. Would you mind helping me with them?"

With one more slightly suspicious glance over her shoulder at Eric, who had sent his mother a grateful nod, Mary gave a nod herself. "Sure." She took a breath, smiled, and followed her mother-in-law into the hallway.

Kenchy took the opportunity to plunk himself down in one of the armchairs, cradling his glass in his hands. Eric rested the duffel bag on the floor and leaned an arm across the couch. "So, Kenchy...Halloween much different back home?" he asked, wanting to fill the silence that had occurred as he noticed the mournful way Kenchy was looking at him.

"Halloween," said Kenchy, glancing down at his glass with an expression of nostalgia. "In England...it's not flashy like it is here. Weird thing is, most of what you do you got from us. Damned souls forced to wander the earth with only a carved turnip lantern, terrifying creatures lurking in the shadows, spirits of dead acquaintances coming back from the beyond..." He shuddered, and as he looked up at Eric, he quickly tried to affect an expression of nonchalance. "It's all rubbish of course." He let out a loud chuckle.

"Yeah, rubbish," agreed Eric, with a weak chuckle of his own. He looked over at the window, attempting to be inconspicuous as he did so. He could see the shadows of the bushes right outside the house, already swaying in the winds. "I'm, uh...just going to put this bag upstairs, out of the way," he said quickly. Kenchy nodded, raising his empty glass in an apparent show of encouragement.

Eric hastily retreated upstairs, stopping only once he'd reached the safety of his former bedroom. He shut the door and sat down on the bed, letting out a deep sigh, and kicking the bag over with his foot. When they stayed at his mother's house, he and Mary usually slept downstairs on the pullout couch, but seeing as the living room was the site of the party, it would surely be best to stash their belongings somewhere out of the way. His room, where he had slept throughout his childhood, had seemed the logical choice on his way up the stairs, but as he sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at himself in the dresser mirror, a sudden feeling of dread came over him. This was the room where she had slept. After he had left. And before. This had been where she'd spent those last nights of her life before she'd died. Where she'd probably lain awake hating him. It had seemed like a peaceful room when he'd first rushed in moments earlier, but now it gave him a queasy feeling and he grabbed the bag once more and made a quick exit.

He dumped the bag in Jake's room instead, beside the dresser, and paused again to look in Jake's mirror. He could see the grimy outline of the Lone Ranger sticker he had once stuck to his older brother's mirror, in the right hand corner. Much as Jake had tried, he'd never been able to completely scrape it off. Eric couldn't remember now if he'd intended to annoy Jake or if the sticker had been meant as a peace offering. He chuckled to himself. There was certainly nothing to be worried about, in this house where he'd grown up, surrounded by all the people who cared about him. Touching his finger to the outline marking the vanished sticker, he slipped out of the room and back down the hall.

Even before he reached the stairs he could hear the newer voices traveling into the house. He smiled as he came down the stairs and saw Stanley and Mimi exchanging greetings with Mary and his mother. They were all laughing, and Eric smiled at Stanley and Mimi's breathless grins. He caught Mary's eye, and she returned his smile.

His mother was making a fuss over Stanley's cobwebbed jacket sleeve, seemingly a victim of a close brush with the front door. Mimi pulled a strand of wispy cotton from him, wrinkling her nose.

"Did you guys run of out space and decorate the guest?" asked Eric, stepping towards them with a chortle.

"Well, you know, Mimi kept telling me I couldn't dress up for the occasion," said Stanley with a swagger, pulling a piece of the web off himself and dangling it teasingly towards his wife.

"I told him it isn't a costume party," she said, playfully swatting away the offending cobwebs.

"Didn't want me to look like a fool, I guess," he shrugged.

"Not that it's ever stopped you before," Mimi smiled slyly.

Stanley made a face of mock dejectedness. Linking his arm through Mimi's, he stepped further into the foyer. "Well, I for one appreciate how you made it look like Halloween, Mrs. G. It could almost be Halloween like usual, couldn't it? Except we're missing The Monster Mash."

"You're missing the Mash?" asked Mimi, glancing back at the Greens as they followed their friends towards the living room.

"Who doesn't? It was a graveyard smash!" Stanley nodded, taking a seat on the couch. "Mrs. G used to play it every Halloween."

"On endless loop," smirked Jake, coming into the room, precariously clutching mugs of cider. Mary quickly relieved him of two of them, passing one to Eric, as Jake quickly plunked the other two onto the coffee table.

"The trick-or-treaters loved it," Gail smiled, reaching for one of the mugs. "Not sure about Jake and Eric. But it was tradition."

"It was tradition for us to leave for trick-or-treating when it started," grinned Jake. "Anyone else want cider?"

"Well, even without the Mash, I'm glad this place feels like Halloween," said Stanley, putting an arm across Mimi's shoulders as she took a seat beside him. "It even smells like it."

Mary inhaled from her mug of cider as she eased herself into the armchair. "Thanks to Gail," she said. "She made her famous candy apples."

Gail smiled appreciatively from her seat in the rocking chair as the occupants of the room proclaimed their appreciation of that Halloween delicacy. "Not sure I'd quite call them famous," she said, with dramatic modesty that several people in the room giggled at.

"This was the popular house on the block, wasn't it?" asked Mimi with amusement.

"You don't understand the beauty of these candy apples," said Stanley. "Chocolate sometimes, dipped in nuts, with a caramel swirl..."

"Oh, don't get me thinking about those things," groaned Mimi. "Chocolate...caramel..."

"I always liked Bubble Pops," said Stanley, grinning at her and sighing dreamily. "Bubble pops, and those Tootsie Pops, and Sugar Babies."

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Mimi. Stanley made a funny face, and continued, "And Three Musketeers bars."

"Aw, those were the best," added Mary with her own sigh.

"Mallowcups were the best," said Jake, struggling with more mugs of cider. "Right Eric?"

Eric nodded, helping his brother pass out the remaining cider.

"Those marshmallow things?" asked Stanley skeptically.

"Yeah," said Jake, just a hint of indignation in his voice.

Mimi made a face herself. "Too much marshmallow," she declared. "You know what I really miss? Reese's Pieces."

Mary and Jake nodded their agreement at the choice. Eric shook his head. "Too peanut buttery."

Jake and Mary turned scandalized looks on him. "I liked M&M's better," he said apologetically.

"Well, you don't have to worry about missing them," said Kenchy, suddenly sitting up in the recliner he'd previously been slumped over in. "They're right here."

Eric stared at him with a puzzled expression for a moment, as did the rest of the room. Kenchy gestured to the couch and then the opposite chair. "M...and M," he giggled. Mimi and Mary raised their eyebrows. Stanley looked slightly amused.

"And Emily's coming too, isn't she?" continued Kenchy, as though he were telling the most marvelous joke. "So you'll have M and M...and Em!" He chuckled again, and though some in the room snickered, Jake was looking at the opposite wall with a grimace on his face.

Gail quickly changed the subject. "I always liked candy corn."

"Me too!" Mary jumped in. "My dad used to put a jar of it out on the bar in October. Or caramels. Caramels." She closed her eyes briefly. "Nothing beats caramels except caramel and chocolate. Oh, or caramel corn."

"I submit Laffy Taffy," grinned Eric, pulling his chair closer to hers.

"Sour gummi worms. And gummi bears," added Stanley.

"Candy cigarettes," nodded Jake.

"Gobstoppers," said Gail.

"Milky Way Bars. And Twix Bars. And Rolos," came from Mimi.

"All of those things on top of a bowl of rocky road ice cream with hot fudge sauce and a cherry," said Mary. Everyone in the room glanced at her. Noticing their looks, she shrugged, leaning back in her chair with a longing sigh. "How did we get on this topic anyway? It's like torture."

"Torture," nodded Stanley knowingly. "But, I hope the Richmond contribution to this shindig'll help lift everyone's spirits. We brought popcorn. Not caramel, but it should be good. Radiation free."

"Nice," said Jake, sending a nod of appreciation in Stanley's direction.

"I can't remember the last time we had popcorn," agreed Eric.

"I could really go for some," added Mary.

"Well, Stanley has to pop it still," said Mimi.

"You're not going to help?" he asked in dismay.

"I am going to help. Eat it," she shrugged. "And pretend it's a Milky Way Bar."

"You get good at that after a while, don't you?" mused Jake. "Pretending you can taste something else you used to love?"

There was a slightly awkward silence. Mary broke it. "I don't know, but I'm going to be optimistic and hope that popcorn'll make me forget about caramels. And peanut butter cups. And Sweet Tarts."

"Sweet tarts," chuckled Kenchy. "I've known a few of those. I think you know what I mean."

It was evident everyone knew what he meant, as Mimi snickered and looked down at her mug, Jake smirked, and Gail affected a scandalized expression. Preparing himself to change the subject, Eric was surprised when Mary stood suddenly. "I'm going to go...make some coffee. Or something," she said quickly. "Sound good, Kenchy? Coffee?"

Kenchy barely had a chance to nod, hiccuping quietly, before she'd swept out of the room.

"Coffee...you know what that makes me think of. Coffee Crisp!" enthused Stanley. "Those were the best. Coffee and a chocolate bar all in one. It's like a two for one deal."

"No, it doesn't beat real coffee," came Jake's answer. "Or Kit Kats."

As the conversation began to pick up again around her, Mimi tried to banish further thoughts of chocolate from her mind. Leaning back on the couch, her shoulder pressed against Stanley's, a warm mug of cider in her hands, Mimi let the feeling of the room wash over her, content to be watching her friends interact without actually really hearing what they were saying. After a few minutes, however, she began to be distracted by Eric's frequent glances towards the kitchen, out the window into the dark evening, and back towards the kitchen. She knew he'd been on edge the past little while, but this seemed a whole new level, she thought to herself, as she took in the circles under his eyes and the nervous way he clutched his mug. She stared at him herself until she caught his eye. He looked as though he were going to say something to her, across the conversation Jake and Stanley were now having about potato chips versus cheese puffs. Wanting, suddenly, to show him as much as tell him his worry was for nothing, she pulled herself to her feet.

"I'm just going to see if Mary needs any help with the coffee," she said to the questioning looks Stanley and Gail gave her. Eric glanced away.

Mimi was glad, when she arrived in the kitchen, that she hadn't let Eric go himself. The kitchen was empty.

"Mary?" she called with a bit of a laugh. The room seemed silent and empty especially in contrast to the one she'd just vacated. "Mary?" she whispered again, feeling suddenly silly. Why was she calling for someone who obviously wasn't in the room? Her eye caught a flash of something at the window. For a moment, she felt a bit of a jolt, but she took a breath and walked right up to the window. Peering out, she saw that there was nothing outside, besides the usual things one could expect to find in the Greens' backyard. All the furniture from the back porch had been put away after summer, aside from the sturdy wooden bench and one of the chairs. She could see the outline of each piece, and of the trees, in the moonlight. She glanced upwards, trying to see the moon itself, but she couldn't catch it from that angle. She wasn't sure if it was the fact she could see the ghostly light cast everywhere and couldn't see its source, but something was making her feel, she realized, just slightly nervous. She grimaced. All this talk of ghosts. She jumped as she heard the floorboards creaking behind her.

She spun around to stare wide eyed at Mary, who was looking at her quizzically. "There you are!" said Mimi, trying quickly to appear unphased. "Where were you?"

Mary warily exhaled. "I went to the bathroom. Didn't realize it was a crime now."

Mimi raised her eyebrows, and Mary's features shifted to an apologetic grimace. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I guess things are maybe...starting to get to me." She leaned against the kitchen counter behind her, gripping the edge in her hands.

"Things? You mean...?" Mimi came to stand beside her.

"Yeah," Mary nodded. "All this weird ghost stuff I keep hearing about." She rubbed one of her temples as she closed her eyes.

"So your decision to just ignore it and live with it..."

"Well, it was going okay. But it's like, now it's getting worse. He worries about going outside in the dark, worries about me getting up to go to the bathroom, worries about leaving anything around the house. Now it's like he sleeps with one eye open. And I feel bad I can't help him, and I don't get any sleep, and..." she trailed off, and glanced at Mimi. "Do you ever get this totally irrational mood where you just can't seem to keep yourself from getting really irritated?"

"Uh, yeah," said Mimi. "That's why Stanley knows to steer clear of me on Monday mornings. Or, you know, mornings. Even when you love someone, it happens. I think sometimes especially when you love someone."

"You're probably right," nodded Mary. "But it's just, well...I know why he's going through a tough time. I thought I could just be patient, be there for him. But it's like I've suddenly got the patience of a little kid. Maybe a teenager's patience. Not my usual patience anyway. I get annoyed way easier than I ever did before."

"That happens too," said Mimi. "Lots of things to make it hard to be our usual patient selves."

"Husbands who see ghosts?" asked Mary with a small smile.

"That," agreed Mimi. "Or, you know, that time of the month." She paused as Mary widened her eyes, rolling her eyes herself. "I hate it when people blame that too. I meant, full moon," she amended, nodding towards the window. "Makes us all a little crazy, right?"

"Full moon, huh?" asked Mary. For a moment she looked as though she was pondering something seriously, but she finally broke out into a reluctant smile. "Yeah, I guess we all go a little crazy sometimes."

Mimi nodded, smiling herself now and putting an arm around her friend. "Hey, if we're not burning down fields, we're talking to chickens."

"If we're not seeing ghosts, we're playing drunken darts," Mary chuckled. "After what we've all seen and done, I guess it's probably normal."

"You know, normal is relative," continued Mimi. "How many times have we had that talk?"

Mary chuckled again. "The normal-in-our-world talk? I'm thinking we could write a book about it now."

Mimi laughed herself. "And how many times have you told me what I'm feeling is normal?"

"It's what we do, for each other, isn't it?" asked Mary.

Mimi nodded. "So this is normal. I'm sure. For him, for you. For all of us." She gave Mary's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"Normal as we're going to get. For that full moon time of the month, huh?" asked Mary, nudging Mimi.

"Yeah," Mimi laughed. "So where's this coffee we supposedly came in here to get?"

"All gone," Mary motioned to a tin on the counter that Mimi went over to inspect. "I made a pot of tea instead." She pointed to a pot sitting on the counter. "Figured it would work for our guest." She picked up the empty coffee tin when Mimi put it back on the counter, and held it up, inhaling its contents.

"Oh no, trust me, that never helps," said Mimi, reaching for the tea pot. "We've got to get Stanley to get on that pop corn. What do you say we bring this in and rejoin the party?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Mary with a smile, gathering extra mugs and a sugar bowl quickly.

Their shadows followed them out of the room and neither looked back to see the other shadow sweep across the window pane.

Back in the living room, Mimi and Mary found themselves in the midst of a lively description.

"And the gargoyles flew in and started to battle, and the army tried to use their subatomic gun, but the gargoyles roared and the force of the sound totally pushed their helicopter off course!" Stanley enthused.

"Do I want to know what you're talking about?" asked Mimi as she took a seat on the couch beside him.

"Stanley's favourite movie from childhood," smirked Jake, poking at the log in the fireplace.

"I thought it was Star Wars," said Mimi.

"Favourite scary movie," clarified Stanley. "And now that I've given an excellent recap for those who cared to hear it, Jake?"

"I liked slasher movies," said Jake. "Any, really."

"I dated a guy once who loved slasher movies," sniffed Mimi. "He always wanted me to watch them with him. I suspected so that I'd hide my head on his shoulder during the scary parts."

"I got the guys I dated in high school to watch scary movies with me. See if they could outlast me," said Mary with a laugh. Eric, who had taken her armchair while she was gone, raised his eyebrows. She laughed again as she sat down on his lap, holding onto his shoulder for balance. "Not slasher flicks though. Those always had really stupid girls trying to run in high heels. No wonder they always got killed."

"So what did you watch then?" asked Jake, a slightly amused look on his face. "What scared you?"

"My favourite was The Birds," Mary answered. "It terrified me. When I was a kid I'd watch it when I was supposed to be in bed. Dad would come up and find me sitting totally still on the couch. I couldn't move 'til it was over."

"Like Jake and Eric the time they watched The Shining with that babysitter," said Gail, stirring a spoon in her tea. Jake and Eric flashed plaintive looks at her as everyone else chuckled.

"We weren't that scared," said Jake. "I wasn't."

Eric felt all eyes on him suddenly, and shrugged, putting an arm around Mary's shoulder. "I just remember you being mad, Mom."

"Well, we go out for a nice dinner and come home and find our sons afraid to go to sleep," she said. "Didn't think I should encourage it."

"Part of the fun is staying up late, watching it when you know you're not supposed to!" protested Stanley.

Mary nodded. "Knowing it's your own fault you'll have nightmares."

"I used to wait til my parents were asleep and sneak down to watch those sci fi movie marathons they had on Friday night tv, all night long," said Stanley.

"Those were the best!" said Mary.

Mimi wrinkled her nose. "You know, I never saw the appeal," she said, giggling at Stanley's aghast expression. "Soap operas were my guilty pleasure. Not...mutant animals and zombies and weird aliens and stuff."

"You were missing out," said Stanley teasingly. "Jake, remember that robot movie you used to love?"

"Emily loved the robot movie," said Jake.

"I think it was you," said Stanley.

"No, Emily made us watch it three times," said Jake.

"It was Emily. She even made me watch it," shrugged Eric. "Jake really liked the...the one about the zombies that played baseball."

"You liked the one about zombies playing hockey," Jake countered.

"I remember one both the boys liked," Gail began, a fond smile on her face. "There was one about this Grandfather's ghost who watched over his grandchildren. It was a really sweet family film, and Jake and Eric both wanted to get it out of the library again and again."

"That is so cute!" gushed Mimi, and Stanley and Mary wore equally teasing smiles. Eric rolled his eyes and Jake leaned forward from his seat on the carpet to punch Stanley's knee.

"You know, I always enjoyed a psychological drama that really got into the ghost's mind. Really delved into the conflicts inherent with being trapped between worlds," said Kenchy, thoughtfully sipping his tea.

Everyone was silent for a moment, but Mimi gave a nod finally. "The sympathetic ghost story, huh?"

Eric sensed suddenly that most people in the room were avoiding his gaze. Mimi was the only one to meet his eye, and she smiled casually. "I'd still take a soap opera any day."

The room was silent again for a moment, interrupted suddenly by a loud knocking. Eric jumped slightly, in spite of himself, and Mary shifted, putting her hand on his. No one else seemed to have noticed because in the same moment, Kenchy sloshed tea down his shirt.

"Somebody's here," he said loudly. "Fancy that!" Glancing around at everyone, he moved to stand up, only stopping for a second as Gail offered him a cloth napkin to wipe up his shirt. "I'll answer the door. Least I can do," he was saying.

Gail followed, and Eric could soon hear his mother's voice loudly welcoming Emily and Heather amidst Kenchy's joking that it was nice of them to drop by. Eric glanced over at his brother. Jake was looking determinedly into the fire as the new guests came into the room.

"Happy Halloween!" they shouted as the others returned the greeting.

"Big turn out at Main Street?" asked Stanley.

"Even bigger than last year," said Heather, who was sporting a pair of what appeared to be mouse ears.

"People aren't as scared of Mitch Cafferty showing up this year," said Emily, who was dressed in a cheerleader costume.

"Or just determined to live their lives anyway," said Heather.

"Were the kids having fun?" asked Mary quietly.

Heather nodded. "Yeah," she answered softly. "They were."

Eric was glad Mary smiled and nodded at this, and found his gaze wandering from her to Jake again, who was crouching by the fire as everyone else talked. Kenchy was offering to take the new arrivals' coats and complimenting Emily on her costume. Emily giggled self consciously.

"Class of '92," she said.

"Still seems to fit you perfectly," said Kenchy.

"Yeah well," said Emily, looking around. "No one else wore a costume?"

"Fashion police wouldn't let me," Stanley said, nodding his head against Mimi's.

"I'm still wearing one," said Heather, pointing to her ears.

"I'm glad. We can stand out together," said Emily.

Eric noticed Jake snort, but as he was still practically leaning into the fireplace, no one else did. "Hey, Jake," he said quietly, through the noise of the guests now trying to squish onto the couch.

"Yeah?" asked Jake, glancing up at his brother.

"We running low on firewood?" asked Eric.

Sensing his tone, Jake nodded and stood. Eric kissed the side of Mary's forehead. "I'm going to help him," he whispered to her. She nodded, swinging her legs to the ground and standing so that he could get up.

Eric followed his brother out onto the back porch. They stood silently by the woodpile for a few moments, just listening to the howling fall winds. Eric shivered, but his brother was standing completely still.

"Mom sure invited a crowd, huh?" asked Eric, reaching for a piece of wood.

"She the one who invited them?" Jake asked.

Eric shrugged. "Mary and I invited Heather, and I think Kenchy invited Emily, and then Mom invited them both." He hadn't been exactly sure if Jake was referring to that particular them, but his brother smirked and nodded.

"A bit weird, huh?" asked Eric.

Jake shrugged. "If she's happy, it's fine I guess."

Eric had heard, from several sources including Jake himself, about the breakup that had occurred at his and Mary's wedding weeks earlier, but he still wasn't clear on all the details himself. Jake hadn't seemed clear on them when he'd explained dazedly to Eric, after he'd come back from the honeymoon at the cabin, that it had started with Emily missing the bouquet toss while trying to tell him she'd seen something weird in the window, and ended with them realizing they didn't have a wedding of their own in the future. Jake hadn't talked about it much more, other than to say that he was feeling both sad and free, and Eric had resolved to be there for his brother when he did want to talk. Jake seemed to be thinking though, tonight, and Eric wasn't sure he was ready to spill what was on his mind.

"Well, I just hope you'll do what makes you happy too, Jake," said Eric cautiously. "We all want that, you know."

"Yeah," nodded Jake. After a moment, he added "Weird how hard it is to figure out sometimes huh?"

"Yeah?" asked Eric.

"Knowing what you want," said Jake. "You might think you do, and then suddenly you don't know anymore and everything's a mess...and then sometimes it's simple again. In a complicated way."

"Yeah, know what you mean," said Eric, who had followed as quickly as he could, filling the blanks in his mind as best he could, a skill he'd gotten used to after months of brotherly talks.

The brothers each gathered an armful of wood in silence. As they were about to turn to go inside, Eric smiled to himself. "You know, Jake, it doesn't have to be complicated."

Jake turned, his eyebrows raised.

"It might just work out. If you take a chance."

Jake looked doubtful, but gave his brother a nod.

Eric hid a smile as they went back inside and Jake went over to greet the newcomers after depositing his firewood. Kenchy had already provided them with drinks, it seemed. Emily was sipping hers determinedly, sitting on the couch beside Stanley and Mimi. Heather had taken a seat in the folding chair Eric had once occupied, and was breathing in the hot cider from her mug.

"Having a good Halloween, Heather?" asked Eric, sitting down in the arm chair beside her as Mary once again stood up to give him room.

She nodded, sipping her cider. "I was just thanking your mom for letting me invite T. He's excited."

"Well, as I said, the more the merrier!" said Gail. "And you're always welcome, sweetheart. Anyone you invite is welcome too."

Jake did not look so thrilled. Eric determinedly avoided his brother's gaze and once again hid a smile. "So he's coming in from New Bern?"

Heather nodded. "It means a lot to me. We have so many memories of Halloween, growing up. We went trick-or-treating together, when my parents couldn't take me anymore. One year, he helped me with my Eowyn costume."

"What's Eowyn?" asked Mimi from the couch, where she had been distracted a few moments earlier, bantering with Stanley about chocolate versus sour candy.

Heather laughed. "I got that reaction a lot that year. But it was one of my favourite costumes ever."

"Mine was zombie football player," said Stanley. "I was that two years in a row."

"I thought your favourite was your Fred Flintstone costume," smirked Jake.

"I liked him as Charlie Brown," supplied Mary to a giggle from Mimi.

"Frankenstein," added Emily.

"Stanley liked to do the scary costume thing," Eric said, nodding to Mimi, who had been surveying her husband with a half amused, half wary look. "I'm not surprised, again," she said.

"He wasn't always scary," said Gail. "There was one year he went as Popeye, and Bonnie was just a baby, and she was dressed up as Sweet Pea."

"She was pretty cute," nodded Stanley, and after seeing his soft smile, Mimi chuckled quietly. The rest of the room was silent for a moment, thinking about their recent loss.

Mimi reached for Stanley's hand and looked around at the others. "Okay, so you all seem to have the dirt on each other's sordid costumes of Halloween past. Who has an embarrassing getup they're not going to reveal on their own?"

"Oh, yes," said Kenchy with a snicker, and Heather looked around too.

The longer term residents of Jericho all glanced quickly at each other. Stanley, Eric, Jake and Emily especially seemed engaged in a quick, silent exchange of warning looks. Gail and Mary seemed as amused as everyone else.

"Eric was Abraham Lincoln!" said Jake quickly. Eric grinned sheepishly at his brother.

Heather smiled. "I like a good historical costume. I went as Amelia Earhart one time." Jake had been snickering, but he grew silent for a moment.

"And Jake went as Al Capone once," said Emily, adding "Moustache and all!"

Jake groaned as everyone chuckled. He looked over at Stanley. "Well, Stanley went as the headless horseman once and kept bumping into things. He nearly knocked over the jack-o-lantern at the Halloween party we went to."

"I was afraid he was going to set the bar on fire," said Mary, flashing Stanley a smile which he returned.

"I still remember your Mary Ann costume," he countered.

"Mary Ann?" asked Kenchy.

"From Gilligan's Island," acknowledged Mary.

"I bet that was memorable," said Kenchy. Eric and Mary flashed him funny looks. "Well, I seem to remember Jake going as a wolf man," said Mary, clearing her throat.

Jake smirked. "Yeah, did that one a few times. A classic."

Gail smiled now. "You know, some tried and true costumes never go out of style. I remember how many years you wanted to be a cowboy."

"Not that many," Jake said dully.

"At least two or three in a row, around the time you were four or five," she said.

"Hey, I loved being a cowgirl," supplied Heather. "When I was eight."

Mary nodded. "Me too! Six...and nineteen," she finished with a chuckle.

"Me too! Cowboy, I mean," added Stanley quickly. "Three and seven."

"Five," supplied Eric.

"Four," said Emily.

"Twenty-four," said Gail.

Mimi, who had been looking back and forth from person to person, her eyes widened, let her eyes rest on Kenchy, who smiled. "Seven," he said.

Eric raised his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't do Halloween as much as here."

"But I dressed up as a cowboy for a play once," said Kenchy, smiling dreamily. "Who doesn't want the chance to be a cowboy once in a lifetime? I was an Indian every other day. Besides, you all seem to know what I'm talking about."

The other occupants of the room nodded with their own fond smiles, and Mimi made a small sound of dismay. "Weren't any of you ever a...a...princess or something? Or a fairy?"

Stanley shook his head. "Sorry, can't say I was."

Mimi rolled her eyes, looking over at the women.

"I was a ballerina when I was five," supplied Emily.

Gail smiled softly. "I was an Indian Princess once. At a party."

Heather shrugged. "I was a light bulb once." There was a collective raising of eyebrows. "My brother helped me put it together and it was so cool! I explained how the filament worked, to anyone who asked."

Eric couldn't help but notice the small smile on Jake's face. Mary seemed to be noticing Mimi giving her a suspicious look. "What? I did the scary costume thing a lot. Especially when I took over the bar and instituted Halloween night. Enchantress. Vampire. That stuff."

"Come on, you probably have something like a fairy princess skeleton in your closet of Halloweens past," said Mimi with narrowed eyes.

Mary feigned ignorance, but Eric suddenly chuckled, and hid his face against her hair. She turned to send him a warning look, as Mimi caught their silent exchange. "Hey, you do!" she finally said. "You actually were a fairy princess! In that picture you have in your apartment! The one you said your mom took!"

Mary looked like she was trying to give her friend a dirty look but she was also trying to keep from laughing. "Yeah, well, I was five, okay?"

"Hey, you were adorable," said Eric, kissing her ear. She rolled her eyes but leaned back against him.

"So what was your girliest costume then, Mimi?" asked Mary. Stanley turned to look expectantly at her too. Mimi squirmed in her seat.

"I was actually a fairy princess once too," she admitted. Everyone chuckled, and Kenchy positively howled.

"Not my best," shrugged Mimi, rolling her eyes as Stanley fluttered his eyelashes at her. She raised her eyebrows at him. "I liked my Judy Jetson costume better. And once I was Minnie Mouse."

"Aw, Minnie Mimi!" said Heather, with a chuckle quickly echoed by Stanley, then Mary, Eric and Gail.

"I bet you were adorable," Stanley said, squeezing her closer with the arm he had wrapped around her.

"I was pretty popular that year," she said nonchalantly. "Maybe not as much as the year I was Catwoman. Senior year at Vassar." She smirked.

"Probably not," said Kenchy, raising his glass.

"I was Wonder Woman once," supplied Mary quickly. "Probably one of my favourite costumes." Before Kenchy could add a remark, as he seemed threatening to do, leaning forward in his seat, she added, "That, and the time I was a pirate queen."

"I was a pirate one time," said Gail. "Johnston and I went to a party together, as pirates." She sighed, a soft smile on her face. Eric and Jake exchanged an embarrassed look, but Mary was smiling back at Gail.

"I can so picture you two," she said.

"We made quite the team," nodded Gail. "I had gold earrings and a patch, he had a parrot."

"His and hers costumes," nodded Stanley with a smile. He looked at Mimi who shrugged. "I told you it's not a costume party," she whispered.

"I can think of another costume team I loved being part of," said Gail. "Halloween before you were born, Jake. We went as a pumpkin."

"Adorable," said Stanley, reaching over to give Jake's shoulder an affectionate shake. His friend responded by giving him an affectionate swat.

"I bet you were adorable," said Heather quickly, pausing suddenly after the words had left her mouth. "I mean, great idea, Mrs. Green." Before anyone else could say something, she continued. "One year, Ted, Mike and I went as the Three Musketeers. That was a fun costume team."

"See, that's what I missed out on as an only child," said Mimi. "I never had anyone to dress up with. I had to go as a devil one year and an angel the next." She glanced from Stanley to Jake. "Did you guys dress up together?"

"Hasn't Stanley told you yet about the year of Star Wars?" asked Emily. "I would've thought it was one of the proudest moments of his life."

"I was Luke Skywalker," he said, flashing a look of mock annoyance at Emily. "And it was pretty great."

"He wore pyjamas but he had one of those light sabers you could get. A yellow one. So it was all good," said Jake.

"And you were?" Mimi asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Han Solo," he said, looking around as if daring anyone to make a sound.

"I could see it," said Kenchy, turning to look at Emily. "Princess Leia?"

Emily shook her head. "I had the chicken pox that year. These guys shared their loot with me though."

"Well, Mom made me," said Jake. "Or I would've eaten it all."

"And I thought you were such a good friend," teased Emily, affecting an unnaturally high giggle.

Rolling her eyes, Mimi turned to Eric. "So which dweller of a galaxy far, far away were you?"

"Oh, they didn't include me in that one," said Eric, pausing as Mimi and Heather said "Aww." Rolling his own eyes as Mary chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder, he added, "It was okay. I was a scuba diver that year. It was a great costume."

"All the neighbours thought so," said Gail, smiling at her younger son. "How many pictures did you pose for that night?"

"There were pictures?" asked Heather, to chuckles from the rest of the room. Everyone turned to Gail.

"Oh, I don't know if any survived," she said casually, but winking at Mary, who had raised her eyebrows. Eric groaned, guessing what his mother would be unearthing and showing his wife over tea after the guests went home. Catching his eye then, his mother smiled.

"And I remember a time the three of you boys dressed up together and were quite the team." Gail grinned, glancing at each of them, and finally at Emily. Stanley, Eric and Jake exchanged glances of their own.

"The year of the ninja, right?" asked Emily with a sly smile.

The three men nodded.

"The three ninjas, huh?" asked Mary.

"They were so cute," said Gail, to a round of annoyingly knowing grins from Mimi, Mary and Heather.

"Mrs. G made the costumes," said Stanley. "They were great!"

"And a bit of a challenge," shrugged Gail, who seemed rather pleased at the memory.

"I'm guessing it was hard to find all black bed sheets," said Heather. The former ninjas exchanged glances again.

"We didn't exactly have all black ninja costumes," admitted Eric.

Amused by the questioning looks Mimi and Mary were now throwing their husbands, Emily spoke up. "It's because they weren't exactly regular ninjas. They were actually Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

"Yeah," admitted Jake ruefully, to howls of laughter from the women and Kenchy, who was laughing the loudest.

"And were you one of the turtles too?" asked Mimi, looking over at Emily, who had been chuckling herself.

"No, I was April. The knock-out non sidekick," said Emily with a nod.

"April," said Kenchy. "What a bombshell. I had such a crush on her." The chuckle died on his lips as he realized the room had grown rather quiet. Each of the Greens, especially, had suddenly begun to find the carpet, wall, or couch pattern fascinating.

Heather was the only one to meet Kenchy's eyes, and she sent him a sympathetic grimace. "So, what was your scariest costume ever?" she asked the room at large.

Stanley recovered the quickest. "Night of the living dead scarecrow."

Mary cleared her throat. "Banshee."

"Bag lady," shrugged Emily.

"Gumby," said Eric.

"Gumby?" came from Heather, accompanied by an incredulous raising of her eyebrows. Mary turned to raise her own eyebrows, amusement on her face.

"In college," he shrugged. "I worked really hard on it, all the weekend before Halloween. But still, it was kind of creepy. At least, that's what...someone said."

Heather gave a nod and looked back to the couch.

"Queen of Hearts," said Mimi.

"How's the Queen of Hearts scary?" asked Stanley.

"The power trip," said Mimi, suddenly raising her fist in a gesture and shouting "Off with your head!"

Kenchy, who had been sipping his tea beside her, jumped and dumped the entire contents of his mug onto the lap of the person sitting on his other side. Emily jumped up from her seat, gasping as the liquid covered her Jericho Marauders cheerleading uniform.

Several things seemed to happen in quick succession. Emily stood, letting out a small shriek. Kenchy's expression turned to one of horror in slow motion. Several people quickly arranged their faces into appropriately sympathetic grimaces, resisting the urge to laugh. Jake seemed unable to resist and chuckled audibly before looking down. Emily's eyes narrowed and she shot out "Oh, of course you would think this is funny!" at the same time as Kenchy began with an "I'm so sorry about that!"

Emily seemed to have Jake still locked in a stare as Stanley and Mimi leaned towards the other end of the couch. Eric, Mary and Heather glanced at each other, but none could seem to resist looking back at the scene unfolding in front of them like a car accident on the side of the highway. Before anyone else could do anything, Gail quickly assessed the situation.

"Sweetheart, why don't I get you something else to put on? You can go rinse that off in the bathroom." She grabbed Emily's arm in hers as she crossed the living room. Emily protested at first, but consented to be led into the hallway and up the stairs.

After she saw that Emily was finding her way to the bathroom, Gail went into her own bedroom and shut the door. She let herself chuckle quietly for a moment, before letting out a sigh. She was a little worried that inviting Emily hadn't been a good idea. It was very awkward, so soon after the latest breakup between her son and his high school sweetheart, and between that and all the other things going on in their family and circle of friends, it could very well lead to some tense moments. But tea on an old uniform was nothing, at least, nothing like the things that kept Gail up at night worrying, so she had to pause a moment to smile, as she had learned to do this past year. If Johnston had been there, she would sometimes think, he would be laughing at the small stuff too.

As she crossed the bedroom, still thinking about the times she and Johnston had laughed together over the things their sons had gotten into over the years, she stopped at the armchair and sat down. She could see, out the window, the full moon glimmering in the sky up above. She could still hear the kids downstairs, she realized, faintly, but it seemed like they were laughing about something again themselves. It had been a good idea to have a party tonight. She'd wanted to do something to celebrate the day, and to have all of them around. It was fun, something they always needed in their busy lives of survival, and it was also a good way for her to get her mind off other things. But, she realized as she reached for one of the photo albums on the small bookshelf nearby, sometimes you had to take a moment for the other things too.

She easily found the shot of Eric in his scuba diver costume, smiling through a gap where a newly missing tooth had been, balancing in flippers and a wetsuit far too big for him, and she chuckled to herself, wondering how much he would protest if she brought it out to show to Mary after the guests left later. She herself had seen the picture in Mary's living room, the one of a five year old laughing and reaching up at the falling leaves, with a tin foil tiara and wand and coat hanger fairy wings, a costume Mary had absently explained she had made with her mother. Gail supposed it was a fair trade-off. She laughed as she turned the page and came across the shot of Stanley and Jake, facing off against each other, dueling with light sabers. Stanley's had been his pride and joy that year, a Christmas present he had been asking for for months before the previous December, and Jake's had been homemade, from a wrapping paper roll and cellophane. She remembered that a few moments after she'd taken the picture, there had been an argument over who would actually win the duel, considering one was using an official light saber not made of cardboard and one was Han Solo. She chuckled again, running her hand over the page, smoothing the wrinkled plastic protecting the photo that had captured the moment before the storm.

She turned the page and took in a breath as she found the picture she supposed she had really been looking for. She and Johnston stood facing the camera, his arm around her waist, both beaming in their pirate costumes. She closed her eyes and let herself drift back, but not to the night she and Johnston had left their sons with a babysitter and gone to a party as pirates. It had been a different party, years earlier, before children or babysitters or even the town of Jericho had been on her mind. She had been dressed as an Indian princess - it had been before politically correct language had become a part of societal consciousness too. Across the room, standing by the punch bowl, she'd seen a man wearing a cowboy hat, his hands in his pockets as he spoke to someone beside him, his face serious except for a small smirk that sent an inexplicable shiver up her spine. Everyone around him dissolved into laughter at something he'd said, and his smirk grew to a chuckle. Then he had looked up, and by chance had glanced in her direction, and he'd grown serious again.

Blinking back tears that suddenly threatened to spill, Gail smiled to herself. You're right, she whispered under her breath. It's a good night, I've got people I love gathered down there, the kids are okay, and I should enjoy it. She stood up and stowed the photo album, patting it once more before turning to the dresser. Something for Emily to wear. She'd donated a lot of extra clothes to the shelter and later to the clothing swap at the beginning of the season. She pulled a wool sweater out of the drawer she kept her tops in, and searched for a t-shirt to layer with it, considering the chilly night and the scratchy wool. She couldn't find any in her drawers, and she found herself looking at the top drawer on Johnston's side of the dresser. The boys had gone through their father's clothes a month after he died, at her insistence, taking what they could use and donating some, but she knew they had left a few pieces there, and she hadn't had the heart to go through them herself. Hesitantly, she reached for the top drawer, reasoning there might be an undershirt she could offer their guest, and that would only be hospitable. Inside the drawer, she found only socks. She reached for one pair, holding it in her hands for a second. She could imagine him putting them in the drawer himself, as if it were yesterday. In the past, Johnston had often joked that he thought black socks disappeared in their washing machine, as they never seemed to make it all the way through the laundry cycle. Gail had suspected it had more to do with the boys 'borrowing' socks right out of the dryer. Johnston had taken sock sorting upon himself as one of the things he did around the house, each week making sure there was a pile of socks in his own drawer.

Putting the roll of socks back into the drawer with a chuckle, she paused as her hand brushed against a strangely shaped sock. She pulled it out of the drawer, and held it up, realizing the odd shape was because there was something hard and round inside it. She tipped the contents of the sock into her hand, and held up the locket that fell out. As she raised it into the dim light cast by the one lamp in the room, her eyes widened.

Downstairs, the costume discussion had continued after the drink upset.

"So you were an army man..." Mimi was saying to Eric.

"With my dad's old Army jacket," he nodded.

"And you were a hippie," Mimi nodded at Mary, who chuckled.

"When I was twelve and loved going through my dad's collection of music memorabilia."

"Now that's a his and hers costume set!" said Stanley.

"Like Fred Flintstone and Judy Jetson, I guess," said Eric, nodding towards his friends on the couch, to which they all chuckled.

"That's a time warp for you," said Kenchy, who was finally smiling again instead of staring somberly into his tea cup.

"Aw, the time warp!" said Mary. "Remember Rocky Horror?"

"Who doesn't?" asked Eric, to which Jake snickered.

"One time I tried to convince Ted to dress as a cat while I dressed as a vet," said Heather. "But he insisted on being a monster truck. So I went as a lobster."

"A lobster?" laughed Stanley.

"I had to explain what I was a lot again that night," she said ruefully, to which everyone chuckled again. "Really, I -"

Suddenly a strange, loud creaking sound could be heard. Eric shuddered and wondered briefly if it was one of those things he would notice more than everyone else, but the others seemed to have looked up too.

"Probably just the wind picking up," said Stanley after a moment.

"Yeah, some wind," said Eric as the creaking noise continued. Everyone else looked back at each other, and the conversation began again, Heather going into her history of dressing as misunderstood animals, but Eric found himself still staring in the direction of the sound, frozen to his chair. The creaking noise continued through Heather's description of the time she'd dressed as a skunk. After everyone had dissolved into laughter again, Mary tried to say something, but as she realized Eric's attention was still on the doorway leading towards the kitchen, she closed her mouth. Glancing from him, over to Mimi who shrugged, and back at him, Mary gritted her teeth.

"Okay, that's it!" she exclaimed.

"What's it?" asked Eric, feeling suddenly that any words he said would be slightly dangerous. Her eyes were already flashing.

"I know what you're thinking!" said Mary. "And it's not that ridiculous ghost!"

"I - I didn't - " Eric began, looking quickly around at the others. Mary had gotten to her feet and he stood now too, unsure whether to reach for her or give her some space. He held his hands at his sides.

"It's just a windy night! It's probably just one of the chairs on the porch." Her look of exasperation was suddenly replaced with a determined smile. Eric was nervous as she spoke again. "Here's what I'm going to do. I am going to go out there and check it out and prove once and for all that there is nothing else out there." She emphasized each of the last four words, and gave a resolute nod.

"But, Mary - " he began to protest.

She grasped one of his hands in hers, letting out a strange sort of laugh that unnerved him further. "Eric. It will be fine. Fine! I'll find that there's nothing out there and then we'll have a nice time talking with our friends and family and not talk about weird stuff for the rest of the evening."

"But -" Eric was torn between his fears of the grin of malice on the ghostly face he knew so well and the exasperation flashing in Mary's eyes as she folded her arms in determination.

Her expression softened but he could still see something in her eyes that prevented him from protesting. "I'll be right back, honey," she said, in a voice that was at once brightly cheerful and warning. She kissed him quickly and marched determinedly out of the room.

Eric stared after her for a moment, in too much shock to say anything. Everyone else was quiet, even Kenchy for once sporting a serious look on his face. Eric stood for a few moments, and finally sank back into the armchair, sighing and turning to meet the gazes of his friends. Even Jake didn't look amused in this moment, just shrugged awkwardly. Mimi also shrugged. "Time of the...full moon?" she suggested quietly.

Eric leaned an elbow on one arm of the couch and propped his chin up in his fist. He sighed again.

As she reached the back door and stepped outside, Mary let out a sigh. She had lost her patience again a few moments ago, feeling that irrational irritation heating up inside her again, but now, the cool night air was soothing as she breathed it in. She took another breath and let it out slowly, stepping further onto the porch.

She looked across the porch and immediately, she saw the rocking chair lying on the floor, its wooden runners against the wall of the house. She laughed to herself, though her laugh was mostly swallowed by the wind. Of course it had been one of the chairs. She stepped over to it and pulled it to an upright position again. It was slightly odd that such a heavy chair had been knocked over by the wind, but, it certainly was a strong wind.

Mary had always loved fall, with its gusty winds and crisp nights. Hugging her arms around herself, she took a step off the porch, into the yard, feeling the wind whipping through her hair and clothes. She smiled to herself, and turned her face up to the sky. It was a beautiful, wild night, and the cold air smelled like wood smoke and apples. She closed her eyes, and feeling the cold, hearing the roar of the wind, and breathing in the familiar scent, she could almost imagine other nights like this one, in years past, moments that usually lived only in her memories but now seemed all around her. On nights like this, those moments and memories seemed connected to the present, and the future, because she would imagine there would be nights like this again. And she would feel connected to all of it.

Breathing in deeply and sighing, she opened her eyes and chuckled. Again, she was letting herself get emotional over the strangest things. Maybe Mimi was right about the full moon. She glanced up. The moon was partly obscured now with dark clouds, and as she squinted at the sky, it seemed more clouds were moving in. Suddenly, she felt a drop of water hit her forehead. Then another on her nose. She noticed then that she was shivering, and more drops of water fell as the rain began. Hugging her arms even tighter across her chest, she glanced up once again at the moon. Something about the eerie light made her think she would be shivering even if the wind and rain weren't so cold against her skin. Despite the warm room, the laughing friends and hot cider she knew she could return to in a moment, she was beginning to recognize a strange feeling of unease in herself.

Mary had always felt she had good instinct. It had helped her deal with all sorts of people and situations all those years she'd run the bar. It had helped her in her smuggling and resistance activities in the days of the occupation, and it had helped her survive so far, in her life before and after the bombs. Her instinct was good, and it usually served her well, but on this night, it was a little too slow. Because in the moment Mary's instinct alerted her to the fact that someone was behind her, it was too late.

Back in the living room, the conversation had resumed and somehow drifted, thanks to Stanley's story about his parents dressing as ketchup and mustard, to food again. Heather, who hadn't been there for the earlier discussion of Reece's pieces and M&M's, submitted Sour Patch Kids as a favourite.

"Please," groaned Mimi. "No more food! Not unless we're going to have some."

"Well, I think I can arrange that," Stanley said.

"You're going to pop the popcorn?" she asked.

"Your wish is my command, my lady," he said, lifting her hand to kiss it. "I'll be right back."

She chuckled, and smiled after him as he left the room.

In the comfortable silence that followed, Eric could hear the winds, which seemed to have grown louder outside. He glanced at the window. Since it was dark outside, he couldn't see the clouds, but he could hear another faint noise. He stood and walked over to the window, putting his hand against the pane. It was rain, he realized. He peered out the big window, knowing he wouldn't see Mary, because this window faced the front yard. He couldn't see anything.

"Storm starting," he remarked casually.

Heather and Jake both glanced towards the window too.

"Well, the wind's been good for us lately," said Heather with a smile. "Means we've had power. But all these storms...I've had to deal with a few problems with the power lines."

"Hopefully this one won't be too bad," said Jake, giving her a small smile. She nodded.

"Well, I think it's serendipitous that on my first American Halloween, it is a dark and stormy night," said Kenchy.

"Wasn't your first Halloween here..." Jake began, quickly stopping himself before reminding everyone out loud that last Halloween, Kenchy had been stuck at the hospital of horrors in Rogue River.

Kenchy seemed determined not to go into it either, sipping at his drink and saying "My first real Halloween. A real dark and stormy night."

"Just like one of those movies you all love," said Mimi, wrinkling her nose. Heather raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, earlier Eric and I learned we married sci fi marathon enthusiasts," shrugged Mimi.

"I loved the Sci Fi channel," smiled Heather. "Or anything sci fi." Mimi sighed in dismay. Jake chuckled.

Eric was still standing at the window, looking in the wrong direction. "It's been a long time," he said quietly. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but they'd gotten through two stories from Heather's childhood and one of Stanley's rantings about the false rumours of razor blades in candy apples that his mother had believed in religiously. How long did it take to find a mysterious creaking noise?

"She's probably just in the bathroom again," suggested Mimi.

A flash of light lit the window. A clap of thunder sounded.

Eric turned and raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Suddenly, the lights went out. Eric jumped slightly, and Mimi gasped in surprise, but laughed to herself a moment later.

A shout in the dark told them that Kenchy had spilled his drink again. Standing up, he bumped into Mimi, who let out her own shout of protest. Eric reached the cabinet against the wall and tried to find some of the ever present candles, but it seemed they hadn't replaced them since the last time they'd burnt down. This summer, they had gotten more reliant on wind power.

"Okay, everyone, can we just calm down for a moment?" came Heather's voice.

"Who says we're not calm?" came Mimi's indignant voice, followed by an "Ouch!" It seemed as though she'd bumped into the coffee table.

"I'm going to go check on the breaker," said Heather. "It might be something I can fix."

"Good luck making it there in this mine field," grumbled Mimi, who Eric could now see had sat back down on the couch.

He could see Jake too, as his eyes adjusted to the dark, standing up. "I'll show you where it is," Jake said, stepping over to where Heather was.

"Okay, thanks you guys," Eric said, giving them a nod that they returned. He turned back to the other remaining occupants of the room, suddenly feeling calmer as he tried to get a handle on the situation.

"I'm going to go to the back porch," he said. He could see Mimi about to protest, but he continued, "I'm just going to see what's taking her so long, okay?"

"Can you see how Stanley's doing with the popcorn?" she asked.

He nodded. "Sure."

"Any way we can get some lights on in here?" she asked. "Can I go get some candles?"

He nodded again. "We should have some extras in the upstairs closet. Mom keeps tons of stuff up there."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Think you can find your way there?" he asked.

She stepped over Kenchy's outstretched legs and came around the coffee table. "I think I'll manage," she said.

He turned to Kenchy. "I think I'm going to get a refill," said Kenchy, holding up his empty glass.


Eric shrugged. "Okay, I guess -" but Kenchy had already stood and was making his way to the dining room.

Eric turned himself and made his way to the hallway. As he walked through the kitchen, he noticed the pot on the stove had been abandoned. Stanley had probably gone to find out what was going on when the power went out, he thought to himself. As another clap of thunder sounded outside, he crossed the kitchen and opened the back door.

Outside, the night was alive with screaming winds and whipping tree branches. The rain was beating down, and as Eric peered across the porch, he saw no signs of life. The rocking chair was moving in the wind, but in the same position as usual. He stepped off the porch, into the yard, shielding his eyes from the rain as he searched back and forth. There wasn't a trace of her anywhere, and though Mimi's suggestion she'd come back inside and disappeared in the bathroom was perfectly logical, he felt an overwhelming feeling of dread.

"Mary!" he tried to shout into the night. He could barely hear his own voice above the storm, and as he shouted her name a second time, a roll of thunder completely drowned him out. He took a few steps across the lawn, shouting, but he was sure wherever she was, she couldn't hear him. He turned back to the house. As lightning lit the sky, he noticed the back door. Someone had drawn the outline of a jack-o-lantern on the door in chalk. A chalky grin of malice. He was certain it hadn't been his mother or Mary.

He dashed back into the house. Through the empty kitchen he raced, shouting her name, and checking the bathroom just in case. It was of course, empty. He called her name again. She didn't answer his shouts.

He came back into the living room, panting, and stood trying to catch his breath. She had been gone way too long, and the chalk on the door seemed to be a sign. Just like everything else. The laundry, the broken glass, the roses, the nursery rhyme. Why did no one else ever see these things? They would have to see this, now. He would show them, and they would have to believe, and have to help him find...he lost his train of thought as he looked around the dark, empty living room. Where were they?

Suddenly feeling unable to move quickly, he called out cautiously "Stanley? Mimi?" Why weren't they back yet? He moved to the bottom of the stairs. "Mimi?" he called up the stairs. "Mom? Emily?"

He walked through the dining room and kitchen. Kenchy was gone, and Stanley had never reappeared.

"Jake?" he shouted, hearing the panic in his voice beginning to rise. "Heather?"

There were no answers. Every room he checked on the main floor was empty. He raced upstairs and found an empty hallway. "Where are you guys?" he called. "This isn't a game!"

He heard a crashing noise coming from downstairs. He ran back down, towards the sound, shouting. "Jake! Stanley! Mary, are you back?"

None of them were there to greet him when he came into the living room. He only saw the source of the sound. One of the windows was broken, and on the floor, amidst the broken glass, was a pumpkin. He recognized it as the biggest pumpkin that had graced the front porch when he'd arrived that evening. Sticking out of its eye was a rolled up piece of paper. Feeling a sickly dread in the pit of his stomach, he reached for the paper and unrolled it as calmly as he could.

There was one sentence written on the paper. Let the games begin.

Eric shuddered, and as another flash of light was followed by a clap of thunder, he could almost hear a high ghostly laugh ringing through the house.







Concerning some of our characters' favourite things:

"The Monster Mash" is a novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Picket, released in October 1962. It's been a Halloween classic ever since.

Star Wars is an epic space opera franchise from the mind of George Lucas. The first film debuted in 1977, released by 20th Century Fox, and five others have since been released, along with numerous books set in the same universe, and various merchandise, including toy light sabers.

The Birds is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, released in 1963 and based on the 1952 novella The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. It depicts a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area which is, suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days.

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. The film stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer Jack Torrance, Shelley Duvall as his wife Wendy, and Danny Lloyd as their son, Danny.

Gilligan's Island is an American TV sitcom originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967. The show followed the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and ultimately escape from a previously uninhabited island where they were shipwrecked.

"The Time Warp" is a song and dance featured in the rock musical The Rocky Horror Show and in the cult film adaption The Rocky Horror Picture Show, performed during the chorus of the song of the same name.

These characters mentioned 54 costumes, some of which are copyrighted characters but all of which have been worn as Halloween costumes by someone, somewhere. They were not sued for doing so, so I hope I will not be sued for writing about them.

 

 

 



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