I looked out the window at my neighbours Halloween decorations, they were mostly skeletons but there was something... off about them. They seemed too real not like the obviously plastic ones you get in stores. I tried to shrug it off and forget about it but I couldn't, I needed to get out there and have a look for myself when they left for work.

An hour later I was in their front yard looking at the skeletons up close, they were definitely real, I've seen too many bones in my lifetime to not be able to distinguish between the two. The only questions now were how and why did they have them, I needed to investigate further I was a police officer after all, it was my duty to look into these things.

I went back into my house to call a good friend of mine who also happened to be a detective at the local station.

"Hey Kel, you don't usually call on your day off, what's up?"

"Charlie, I need you to do something for me off the books."

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

"There's something weird going on at my neighbours place I need you to run their names."

"I can do that just send their names over, wanna tell me what you're thinking?"

"Not yet, I'm hoping I'm wrong and completely over thinking this."

"Alright then I'll let you know what I find."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem, speak to you later Kel."

Before I could answer the line went silent and I was left with my own thoughts of what could be happening next door. It only took a couple of hours to get the answer I had been dreading in the form of a text message. 'No record of either of them until about 2 years ago when they moved into that house.'

Shit.

Before I could reply a piece of fabric was put over my nose and mouth and I blacked out, when I woke up I was in an unfamiliar room, there was a sickly-sweet smell of rotting flesh in the air, I tried to speak but there was something covering my mouth. I tried to lift my hands to feel it but they were tied behind my back, where the hell was I and more importantly how do I get out? 

There was a crack of light somewhere to my left but to get there i needed to get my hands free, feeling around on what little ground I could I felt for any kind of sharp object and to my surprise I found something that felt like a blade of some kind. I started sawing at the rope tying my hands together, eventually I felt the rope loosen and I managed to pull my hands apart. Feeling around my ankles I found more rope but this time I was able to untie it properly and pull myself up to my feet, standing upright didn't last long whatever id been drugged with was still in my system and made me fall to my knees. I landed on something soft and the smell got worse, it only took a few seconds to realise what I had landed on was not a cushion like I'd initially thought, but the remains of a person minus their skeleton. I had to get out of there, trying to supress a gag I rose to my feet once again and stumbled over to the crack of light. Feeling around I eventually found a doorknob and twisted, it was unlocked, I opened the door and ran.

It didn't take long to get to the closest bar which just so happened to be one street over from my own house, convincing someone to let me use their phone took a little longer but eventually they let me, I dialled Charlie's number and waited for an answer.

"Hello?"

"Charlie thank god you answered, I need you to send backup to my house immediately my feeling was right"

"Kel what happened?"

"They broke in and grabbed me, I woke up in their cellar and managed to get out but I need backup its worse than I thought."

"Alright we'll be there in 5"

I hung up the phone and walked back to mine, by the time I got there, backup was waiting. I filled them in on what had happened, they'd come prepared with an emergency warrant so that we could arrest them. An hour later the neighbours were in custody and were being booked for at least 6 murders, all the skeletons in their front yard were real just like I'd thought and their cellar was full of the remains having been essentially peeled off the bones.

It's been months and I still can't get the smell of decay out of my nose, it's all I can smell. I had to move out of the house I'd thought I would live in for the rest of my life just to get away from the paranoia and journalists, especially since I was the only surviving victim.

I'm never going to look at Halloween the same way but at least I survived it.

Or did I?