Rain pounded the window relentlessly as I threw yet another wet-wipe into the trashcan. 2 hours wasted doing my Halloween makeup all for nothing.

My little sister Mimi sat on my bed watching me with a permanent pout set on her face.

“Stop taking it off!” She whined. “We can still go trick-or-treating, we will just take an umbrella”

“No Mimi. I’m not getting sick just for some candy. We will try again next year.”

“I want to go THIS year… plus if the makeup runs we will look even scarier! Which means more candy.”

“I said No Mimi”

“Muuuum” she ran from the room and I rolled my eyes. I love my little sister but the 11 year age gap made seeing eye-to-eye difficult sometimes.

“Paris, come downstairs please” I heard mum yell from her study.

I groaned, of course she was going to take Mimi’s side.

I trotted downstairs, half my face still painted as a sugar skull, the other half red and bare from scrubbing.

Mum was sitting at her desk, paper work for her dissertation scattered around her like a crazed puzzle.

“Mimi, go to your room and let me talk to Paris for a second” she said gently.

Mimi rolled her eyes mumbling something under her breath as she left the room. Mum waited for her little stomps to reach the top of the stairs before she spoke.

“I know it’s raining but it would still be nice if you took her. Pretty soon she’s going to reach an age where she doesn’t want to do it anymore.”

“Yeh but-“

“I don’t want to argue with you Paris. You can still say no, I’m not going to force you… but it would only be an hour or so and a little rain never killed anybody. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Ok fine. MIMI get your shoes on!” I yelled up to her.

She let out a small victorious squeal as she ran back up the stairs, she must of snuck back down to listen.

“Don’t roll your eyes, she takes after you, you know.” Mum said with a smirk. “There’s umbrellas under the stairs, have fun”

***

We had only walked 2 streets and my socks were already soaked, make a squelching sound with every step. Mimi was rambling about what all of her friends had dressed up and how hers was the best.

“AND there’s not as many people trick or treating with the rain so there is more candy to get!” She babbled excitedly. I looked around the street, she was right, there wasn’t many people out. Just ahead of us was a mother and child huddled under an umbrella. The child, only about 5 or 6 years old was dressed as an astronaut and was fussing about his helmet being too tight.

“I can’t fix it and hold the umbrella at the same time, just wait till we get to the bus stop ahead and then I can fix it” I heard the mother say.

“NOOO FIX IT NOW!” The child fussed.

“Quick, run with me so you don’t get wet.” I instructed Mimi.

With quick steps we raced upto the pair.

“Hold this” I said to Mimi, handing her the umbrella.

“I can hold the umbrella while you fix it” I offered the woman. She gave a thankful, exhausted smile.

“Thankyou”

She started working on the child’s helmet, “your make-up looks fantastic by the way” she said to me, “are you a make-up artist?”

“Aspiring to be. But I work in childcare so i don’t have the time to get certified.”

“Well don’t give up on it because your very talented. And what are you dressed up as?” She asked Mimi.

Mimi gave her an offended look as if it should have been obvious.

“Im a princess”

“A princess? I would of thought you were a knight, your wearing armor and a sword” the woman giggled.

“Not all princesses wear dresses. They can fight too” Mimi said stubbornly.

“Oh- of course. That’s my mistake” she said, clearly amused.

“Ok all done” she said to the child. “Thank you for your help, happy Halloween”

She took her umbrella and began back down the street.

“This house looks good” Mimi said pointing to the stairs we were stopped in front of.

“Ok let’s go.”

Mimi knocked on the door, and was soon explaining her costume once again.

I looked out to the road, sighing at the still pelting rain when my gaze was drawn down the street to another costumed person standing at the intersection. I had to admit it was a good costume. The person wore a full face mask that was a sick-grey colour with horrifying button eyes and an indented nose. Where the mouth should of been looked like stretched skin and they wore a long black trench coat. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

The woman at the door handed Mimi her candy and wished us a good night. I gave her a warm smile before turning back to admire the costume once again but the freaky figure was gone.

***

We moved up a couple of houses, our pillowcases now heavy with candy. I looked down the road, trying gauge how many more houses we had to do before we could go home. I jumped when I noticed the same freaky costumed figure from before, standing just across the road from us. Because of the mask it was impossible to tell where it was looking but the position of its head almost seemed like it was looking right at us. An unsettled feeling sank into my gut.

“Let’s move to another street” I told Mimi.

We walked down to the corner and took a right, I glanced the street behind us, half teasing myself at my paranoia but the figure had disappeared again.

I took Mimi’s hand as we walked down the street.

“Paris your walking too fast” Mimi moaned.

“Sorry Mimi I-“ I shook my head at myself. It was Halloween, it’s all costumes and laughs, I shouldn’t be letting it freak me out. “Sorry, let’s stop at this house” I said pointing to a large 2 story home ahead of us.

We walked up the creaking steps to the brown wood door that had an old-fashioned bronze knocker attached. We knocked twice but the door remained shut.

“Come on, let’s try another house.”

My phone bleeped In my pocket and I fished it out as Mimi turned to leave. Her high pitch scream ring through my ears and I spun around to see the figure standing at the top of the stairs, only a few steps away from us.

“Co-cool costume” I said grabbing Mimi’s hand and drawing her tightly to my side.

The figure cocked its head to the side, and took a slow daunting step towards us.

The door behind us opened, and I nearly sighed in relief that we weren’t alone, but the figure didn’t seem discouraged. He took another step towards us and I near pushed Mimi into the house with me, slamming the door closed behind us. I turned to greet our host and apologise, but the entrance room we stood in was empty.

Mimi was shaking, frightened and asking me what was going on.

Remembering the phone in my other hand, I quickly flipped it open to call the police, or mum but somehow the battery was flat.

“SHIT” I exclaimed.

“May-maybe there’s a phone in here we can use” Mimi sniffled.

I nodded, thankful for her brain working better than mine.

“HELLO” I called out loudly. “I’m sorry to intrude but we are in a bit of trouble, just wondering if we could use a phone?” The house remained silent.

“Maybe no one is home” I said to Mimi, but my tone was not as confident as I wanted it.

Taking her hand again I lead her into the ajoining room. A fireplace still burned, lighting up the room in an orange light revealing a a plush brown coach accompanied by a side table stacked with books and a red rotisserie dial phone.

Mimi ran to it, picking up the corded phone. Her face dropped to a frown.

“I don’t think this works”

I took the phone of her and sure enough a flat pitch rang out from the other end. Disconnected.

“Shit” I exclaimed slamming the phone back down.

A creak in the floorboards sounded from the room next to us and we froze.

“Someones home” Mimi whispered.

The creaks got closer, announcing footsteps coming towards us. I shoved Mimi behind my back just as the owner of the house turned the corner.

His sick-grey skin and button eyes sent a chill through my bones.

“Wha-what did you want!” I demanded.

The pulled skin didn’t move but somehow a voice still sounded across the room.

“It’s Halloween… even monsters deserve treats”