The Halloween Door

Alex pulled the werewolf mask down over his face and looked in the hall mirror.

One ear was higher than the other. He adjusted it. Now the other ear was higher.

Alex sighed and fixed it again.

“Ready?” called Mum.

“Nearly.”

Behind him, Sam appeared in the mirror wearing a skeleton costume made from black clothes, white fabric strips and what looked suspiciously like toilet paper.

“Do I look terrifying?”

Alex turned. “You've got toilet paper on your knee.”

Sam looked down. “Oh.”

A strip of white fabric had come loose and was trailing behind him. He tucked it back in. “There. Terrifying again.”

Mum laughed.

Sam grabbed his bag. “Come on!”

Alex followed him outside. Cold air rushed in. The street was glowing.

Orange lights hung from trees. Paper ghosts floated from upstairs windows. Someone had put a giant spider on the roof, its eight legs stretching across the tiles as if it owned the whole house.

Sam looked up. “That is brilliant.”

“It’s too big.”

“That is why it’s brilliant.”

The mums followed behind them, chatting together as the boys moved towards the first house.

Three pumpkins sat on the steps.

Sam knocked. The door opened. “Trick or treat!”

A woman dropped a sweet into each bag. “Thank you!”

At the next house, purple lights curled around the porch. A plastic skeleton sat in a chair beside the door.

Sam pointed at it. “It looks like it's waiting for us.”

“Maybe it is.”

“That’s rude.”

Alex smiled.

At the next house, a man dressed as a vampire handed them tiny packets of sweets. At another, a woman dressed as a witch gave them gummy worms.

Sam held one up. “They're alive.”

“They aren't.”

“It moved.”

“It was in your hand.”

“Exactly.”

Alex laughed.

Soon his bag was getting heavier. Wrappers rattled whenever he walked.

There were pirates, witches, superheroes and one very small dinosaur who had apparently forgotten how to walk and was being carried by his dad.

At another house, a skeleton decoration swung from a tree.

Sam pointed. “That one's rubbish.”

“It has glowing eyes.”

“Exactly. Rubbish.”

Then a man wearing a giant rubber chicken costume opened the next door.

Nobody seemed surprised.

Sam stared at him. “I want that costume.”

“You'd have to be a chicken.”

“I can learn.”

Alex laughed.

At the next house, a pumpkin was so large that Sam stopped to stare. Its mouth was filled with enormous plastic teeth.

“That one's better.”

Alex leaned closer.

One of the teeth dropped onto the doorstep.

Sam jumped backwards.

Alex laughed. “Scared?”

“No.”

“You jumped.”

“I was making room for it.”

They carried on.

The evening had settled into a rhythm.

Knock. Door. “Trick or treat!” Sweets. “Thank you!”

Sometimes there were decorations. Sometimes there were costumes. Sometimes there were both.

Alex began to relax into it.

He knew what happened next. He knew what to say. He knew what people expected.

At one house, a woman wearing a huge black hat looked at Alex's mask. “Very scary.”

Alex stood a little taller. “Thanks.”

She looked at Sam. “And you?”

Sam straightened. “Terrifying.”

The woman smiled. “I can see that.”

Alex glanced back. Mum was still there, talking with Sam's mum. He turned towards the next house.

Then Sam stopped.

Alex nearly walked into him. “What?”

Sam pointed. At the end of the row stood a house covered in decorations.

Not just pumpkins and fake cobwebs.

Black cloth hung from the upstairs windows. A pale light flickered behind one of the curtains. Beside the front door, something long and thin moved slowly.

Alex stared.

The thing moved again.

Then stopped.

“What is that?” Sam whispered.

“I don't know.”

Sam's face lit up. “Brilliant.”

Alex wasn't so sure.

Everywhere else, doors were opening and closing. Children were laughing. Sweets were rattling in bags.

This house seemed to be waiting.

A soft scraping sound came from the porch.

Alex looked towards it.

Nothing.

The pale light behind the curtain shifted.

His stomach tightened.

His Bodyguard spoke first. "Something's wrong. Don't go near it."

“We could go to that one.” He pointed at the next house.

Sam looked at him. “But this is the good one.”

“You don't know that.”

“Exactly.”

Sam started towards the path.

Alex stayed where he was.

His Bodyguard spoke again. "We could wait. Watch someone else go first."

Alex looked at the house. He watched the long shape beside the door move again.

He looked towards the next house. A family was already opening their door.

He could go there. He could say the words. He could get some sweets. Everything would go back to normal.

His Captain answered. “Thank, but Sam is fine with this house. We can go but be careful.”

Alex swallowed.

He looked towards the porch. The long shape moved again. This time he noticed a thin line running from it towards the porch.

A string?

Maybe.

He looked at the upstairs window. The pale light flickered again.

Mum was nearby. Sam was waiting.

Alex still couldn't see what was behind the door. He didn't know what the movement meant. He didn't know what would happen if they knocked.

The Bodyguard spoke again. "We can leave."

Alex looked at the next house. Then back at the strange one.

The Captain was quiet for a moment. "You could find out."

His stomach tightened again.

Alex took a breath. Then he walked up the path.

One step.

Then another.

Sam waited at the door. Alex reached the porch. For a second, his hand hovered beside the bell.

He almost lowered it.

Then he rang.

Nothing happened.

Sam waited.

Alex waited.

The porch seemed even quieter than before.

Then the door flew open.

“BOO!”

Three children burst forward.

Alex jumped so hard his werewolf mask nearly flew off.

One child wore a white sheet with black holes for eyes. Another had green face paint and enormous plastic teeth. The third sprang from behind the door holding a rubber spider.

Alex stumbled backwards. His heart hammered.

The spider swung towards him.

Then stopped.

So did the children.

The boy with the green face stared at Alex. “Oh.” All the excitement vanished from his voice. “Sorry.”

The boy holding the spider lowered it. “We didn't mean to scare you that much.”

Sam was beside Alex. “You okay?”

Alex nodded.

Then shook his head. “I think so.”

He took a breath.

Then another.

The boy with the spider looked embarrassed. “It was supposed to be funny.”

Alex stared at the spider. “It was scary.”

“I know.” The boy glanced at the others. “We thought everyone would jump.”

Sam pointed at himself. “I jumped.”

“You did not.”

“My soul jumped.”

Alex laughed. It came out before he meant it to.

The boy with the green face smiled. “Do you want some sweets?”

Alex looked at the bowl beside the door. “Yeah.”

He took one.

Then another.

He stood there for a moment, breathing more slowly.

The rubber spider hung beside the door on a thin string. Alex followed the string with his eyes. It ran across the porch and disappeared behind a decoration.

He looked back at the spider.

So that was the movement.

The long shape beside the door hadn't been moving by itself. The string had been pulling it across the porch. The scraping sound made sense too.

The boy with the spider noticed Alex looking. “We pull it when someone knocks.”

Alex nodded. “Okay.”

The boy looked relieved.

Upstairs, the pale light shifted again.

A child's face appeared behind the curtain.

The child waved.

Alex waved back.

The house still looked strange. But it no longer looked quite as impossible to understand.

The children had been waiting behind the door. They had wanted to frighten whoever knocked. And they had frightened him.

Both things could be true.

Alex took another breath. Then he stepped away from the door.

Sam walked beside him. For once, he wasn't talking.

After a few steps, Alex noticed a long strip of white fabric dragging behind Sam. “You've got something hanging off.”

Sam looked down. “Again?”

“Again.” Alex caught the strip before Sam could step on it. “Hold still.”

He tucked it underneath the black sleeve and pressed it flat. “There.”

Sam looked at him. “Thanks.”

Alex shrugged. “Your skeleton's having a difficult evening.”

Sam smiled. “It needs professional help.”

Alex laughed.

They reached the pavement.

The mums were waiting for them.

Mum looked at Alex. “You all right?”

“Yeah.”

She nodded.

Sam's mum looked at Sam's costume. “Your skeleton seems to be losing pieces.”

“It has had a traumatic experience.”

Sam's mum laughed.

The boys moved on.

For a while, neither of them said much. The street was still full of lights and costumes and voices. A pirate ran past them. Someone shouted from across the road. A doorbell rang.

Sweets rattled in Alex's bag.

His heart was still beating a little faster than before, but it was slowing.

He looked back at the Halloween house. The rubber spider hung beside the door. It moved gently in the breeze. This time Alex could see the string.

He turned away.

They passed another house where a woman handed them chocolate bars. At the next, a man dressed as a wizard accidentally dropped three sweets into Sam's bag.

Sam looked inside. “There are three.”

The wizard looked at him. “There are two of you.”

Sam nodded seriously. “Exactly.”

The man laughed and added another sweet.

They moved on.

A few houses later, Sam pointed. “That one.”

A smaller house stood halfway down the street.

A skeleton hung from the upstairs window. One pumpkin sat beside the door and orange lights ran around the porch.

Sam took a step. Then stopped.

Alex noticed.

The skeleton swung slowly from side to side.

“That's not going to jump out, is it?” Sam asked.

Alex looked at him. “How would I know?”

Sam grinned. “Fair.”

Alex looked at the house. The porch light glowed above the door. A curtain moved upstairs.

Neither boy moved.

Alex thought about the other house.

His Bodyguard stirred. "What if it's another one? We should move on."

Alex watched the skeleton swing. We could go somewhere else.

Alex looked at the porch. He remembered the first house. He knew what had caused the strange movement.

The Bodyguard added. "You could still get frightened again."

Alex swallowed. I know.

The Captain responded. "It might be scary. It might not. But so could any house. You need to choose to stop or choose to carry on."

Alex looked at Sam.

Sam didn't tell him what to do. He just waited.

Alex looked at the porch again. His stomach still felt slightly tight.

He wanted to keep trick-or-treating.

He stepped onto the path.

Sam followed.

They climbed the steps.

Alex stopped at the door. The porch light glowed above him. His hand hovered beside the bell.

For a moment, it felt almost like before.

Same kind of pause. Same question.

His Bodyguard was still telling him not to.

Alex took one breath. Then another.

He lifted his hand.

Then he knocked.

Jump to the next story: The Christmas Present