Jessica put the last touches on her Halloween costume. She was going to be a witch this year. Her favorite part of the outfit was her big black hat. It made her blond hair stand out. Her hair was her best asset and she liked to show it off. Brad, her boyfriend of three years loved her long blond hair. Jessica was having a party at her house. She was going to pass out candy to all the children before her guests arrived. The decorations were spooky. Brad had put up orange lights all through the house. Pumpkins were lined up on the banister. It had taken two full evenings to carve all the pumpkins. There were 13 pumpkins with candles in them. Jessica’s black cat Samantha was dressed for the party. She had an orange costume on to make her look like a pumpkin. Every time Samantha came into the room Jessica started to laugh. All the little kids were going to love Samantha’s outfit. It was perfect. She had found it at the neighborhood thrift store. It was the best deal ever.
Just before dark Jessica and Brad went out to light the pumpkins. It was starting to drizzle. The weatherman had said the temperature was dropping down low. Jessica worried about all the little children. It was going to be a wet and cold Halloween night. She went in the house and put the large bowl of candy by the front door. Then she went back to the kitchen to see if her appetizers were ready.
Just then the doorbell rang. Jessica sent Brad to the door while she took the food out of the oven. She yelled for Brad to check the ice maker but he didn’t answer. Then she thought he must be busy with the children at the door. She called him again and still no answer. She checked the ice maker and there was plenty of ice for drinks.
Jessica didn’t want to miss all the fun. She wanted to see all the little ones in their cool costumes. She went to the door but, Brad wasn’t there. That was odd. She looked at the candy dish and it was full. Where were the children? Where was Brad? Jessica was not one bit happy with him right about now. Their friends would be arriving in less than two hours. She had told everybody to come at 8:00. That’s when Trick or Treating was officially over. She stepped out on the porch but there were no children and no Brad.
She walked over by the step and glanced down. There appeared to be some kind of red liquid all over the step. Then Jessica thought the neighborhood kids were playing a joke on her. She’d just clean it up tomorrow. Kids would be kids and this was Halloween. The trick was on her. She just smiled and went back in the house.
Then she thought maybe Brad had gone in the kitchen. Jessica went into the kitchen. She was going to give Brad a piece of her mind. Brad wasn’t in the kitchen. She thought he must be playing a trick on her. It wasn’t funny. She could feel her cheeks starting to get hot. Her temper was starting to flare.
She walked back to the front door expecting to see children walking up the driveway. It was dark and rainy. There were no children in sight. The alarm bells started going off in her head. Something was dreadfully wrong. It was Halloween night. There was no Brad and no children. Something was going on but Jessica didn’t know what.
Suddenly she heard the back door fly open. She ran through the house thinking it was Brad. Nobody was there. The door was swinging back and forth. Did someone just come in. Then she thought maybe it was the wind.
As she was standing in the middle of the kitchen the lights went out. Jessica was starting to get really scared. She ran to the back door and locked it. Of course, the front door was open so if somebody wanted to come in they could walk right through the front door.
The next thing she knew there was all kinds of commotion outside. It sounded like someone fighting. She heard what she thought was her garbage can. Could someone be throwing her garbage can around the yard? That was a silly thought, unless of course, it was the children playing another trick.
She started to run down the porch steps and slipped on the gooey red liquid. She landed face first on the sidewalk. Her cheek hurt and she was afraid she might have broken her arm. She slowly got up leaning on her good arm. That gooey liquid had a sickening smell. It was all over her halloween costume.
She limped toward the backyard to see what was going on. When she got to the back yard she couldn’t believe what she saw. Brad was face down with blood all over his shirt. There was someone or something standing over him with a hatchet. Jessica screamed and whoever it was ran off. She ran over to Brad. She thought he was dead. She slowly got down using her good arm to see if there was anything she could do. Brad moaned and then Jessica knew he was alive.
She had to get help. Her cell phone was in her purse. If she could get to the neighbor they could call an ambulance. Brad needed help right away. She was afraid he would die. Jessica made it to the neighbor’s front door and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Givens answered the door on the third ring. One look at Jessica and Mrs. Givens knew she was in trouble. She was covered in blood. Mrs. Givens ran to the phone and called for help. Jessica was crying and screaming. Mrs. Givens couldn’t figure out what was going on. When Jessica calmed down enough to tell her the police arrived. Brad was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Mrs. Givens said she would drive Jessica to the emergency room to have her arm looked at.
On the way to the hospital Jessica told Mrs. Givens about her plans for her party. She told her about all the decorations for the children. Mrs. Givens told Jessica that Halloween had been cancelled. There was an escaped prisoner loose and the police had told everyone to keep their children home for the night. Jessica looked at Mrs. Givens. Everything was starting to make since now. The prisoner must have attacked Brad. If Jessica hadn’t gone to the back yard Brad would have been killed. She started to shake and couldn’t stop. The doctor that took care of her at the hospital said she was in shock. They admitted her for observation. Her arm wasn’t broken but the bone was bruised. It would take some time for it to heal. She had a nice black eye from her fall but she would be okay.
When Mrs. Givens pulled into her drive she saw all the people next door. She thought it must be all the guests that were invited to Jessica and Brad’s halloween party. She went over and explained to all of them what happened. Everyone felt so bad. The guys got together and cleaned up all the blood on the step. The girls went into the kitchen and put all the food away. At least when Jessica and Brad came home everything would be back to normal for them.
Brad ended up with a concussion and had to have stiches. He got to come home the next day with Jessica.
When they walked through the front door there stood Samantha their black cat. She still had her pumpkin outfit on but it did look a little worse for wear. It was going to take a long time for the three of them to get over this halloween.