Once Upon a Halloween (2 page)

    She returned to the screen door, unlocked it and pushed it open. Quickly, she looked around. Except for the kids on the porch, she saw nobody.

    Dropping miniature Milky Way bars into the bags, she asked, "Been having a good time?"

    
"Yeah!"
the three little ones blurted, pretty much in unison.

    The teenaged girl smiled at her.
"They're
having a great time."

    "Glad to hear it. Hey, you haven't seen anything funny tonight, have you?"

    "Funny like how?"

    "I don't really know. This kid showed up in a panic a few minutes ago, said somebody's
after
him."

    The girl scowled and shook her head. "That's sorta weird."

    "Yeah."

    One of her sweater-clad shoulders hopped up and down.
"We
haven't run into anything like that."

    "Well, that's good. Maybe the kid's just paranoid or something. Be careful, though."

    "Oh, we will. Thanks for the warning."

    "Have fun."

    They turned away. Laura watched them descend the stairs. Walking toward the driveway, they left behind the glow of the porch light

    Barely able to see them anymore, Laura stepped outside She looked around quickly, then cased the screen door shut. Standing at the front of the porch, she stared into the darkness. Though she could no longer see the kids at all, she listened to their footfalls and voices and the rustling of their bags. She also listened for others... for anyone who might be following them. Or sneaking toward the house.

    From off in the distance came sounds of car engines, thudding doors, kids yelling and laughing. The only nearby sounds, however, came from the four recent visitors and the strong wind.

    
Bam!

    Laura jumped, then whirled around and saw Shannon striding toward her, long legs bare in front of her blowing robe. "Sorry," Shannon said. "The wind got the door."

    "No problem."

    The wind looked as if it also wanted to get Shannon's robe, but she held on with both hands. "Everything all right out here?" she asked.

    "Guess so. I just wanted to make sure nobody went after the kids."

    "There'll be a lot
more
kids tonight," Shannon said.

    "Yeah."

    "For the next hour or so, anyway."

    Laura nodded. She and Shannon had been living together in the house for three years. Though it was the last house on the end of a dead-end road, surrounded by wooded hills and so secluded that no other dwellings could be seen at night, it was within an easy walk of a crowded housing development called Beaumont Estates.

    On Halloween, children from the development swarmed the whole region, probably not missing a house - but especially not missing this one - one of the best places to visit on a night made for scary fun. Old and creeky and isolated, it looked spooky even to people who didn't know about the cemetery beyond the nearby Woods... and even to people who didn't know the house's grim history But most of the local people knew about both.

    Each year since Laura and Shannon had moved in, they'd been visited on Halloween by forty to fifty trick or treaters, mostly small children who arrived between about five o'clock in the afternoon and eight in the evening. After around eight, they rarely had more than a handful of visitors.

    "I wish there was some way to stop them from coming up here," Laura said.

    "We don't even know what's wrong... except we've got a strange kid running around loose in our house."

    "What if someone is after him?"

    "Guess it depends on who," Shannon said. "But if anybody dangerous is hanging around, maybe we'd better get back inside."

    Nodding, Laura followed her toward the front door. On each side of the doorway sat the jack-o'-lanterns they'd carved the night before. The faces of both pumpkins were dark.

    Laura figured the wind must've blown out the candles.

    Just as Shannon pulled the screen door open, Laura heard voices and laughter. She looked back. She couldn't see anyone in the darkness. From the sounds, though, she knew that another group of kids must be coming up the driveway.

    "I'll take care of them," she said. "Maybe you'd better go ahead and get dressed."

    "The kid oughta like that."

    "Maybe you can find him."

    "I oughta brain you."

    "Sorry."

    "I know, I know."

    Laura hurried into the foyer after Shannon, grabbed the candy basket off the table, then took it outside so she could watch the approach of the trick or treaters.

    

    

    Shannon climbed the stairs quickly. Not bothering to search for the boy, she walked straight down the hallway and entered her bedroom. She left the door wide open.

    "Can you hear me, kid?" she asked in a loud voice. She knew she sounded tough and annoyed. Might not be the best approach if the boy was truly terrified, but Laura had already tried the gentle, coaxing approach.

    "It'll take me a couple of minutes to get dressed," Shannon announced. "You can use that time to decide whether we're going to be friends or not. If you want to be friends, don't make me come looking for you."

    She turned around slowly, scanning her bedroom. No sign of the boy. Nor did he seem to be peering in from the hallway. More than likely, he had concealed himself in one of the other rooms or in a closet somewhere.

    She walked toward her bedroom closet. Its door was open, its light on. The kid obviously wasn't hiding inside, so she took off her robe. Standing naked in the doorway, she slipped her robe onto a hanger. Then she turned around.

    Still no sign of the kid.

    
He's missing a good show,
Shannon thought.

    Or maybe not missing it.
Are
you looking, kid?

    Striding toward the dresser, she watched herself in the mirror.

    
How's this for a Halloween treat, fella?

    "You'd better not be spying on me," she said, unable to keep a teasing lilt out of her voice.

    No answer came.

    
As if he's going to admit it.

    She turned around slowly, looking for him but also giving him a good long chance to view her body... if he happened to be watching. When she faced the mirror again, her skin was flushed.

    He probably
isn't
watching, she thought.

    
"Everything okay up there?"
Laura's voice came from a distance; she was probably calling up the stairway from the foyer.

    Shannon crossed her room and stepped into the hall. She glanced to the right and left. She saw no one.

    
Can he see me now?

    Keeping away from the stairwell railing, Shannon called down, "No problem. How about down there?"

    "More trick or treaters on the way. I'll take care of 'em."

    "Real good. I'll bring the kid down when I find him."

    "Just be careful."

    "You, too."

    "I sure wish we knew who was
after
him."

    "You and me both," Shannon said.

    By the sound of a shutting door that came up the stairwell, she figured Laura must've gone outside. She was tempted to roam the hallway just as she was... announcing "Trick or treat!" as she stepped though the doorways.

    I
could,
she thought. No law says I've gotta wear clothes in my own house. If there happens to be some
intruder
spying on me, it's not my fault.

    
But what if Laura comes upstairs and catches me?

    She could just imagine the poor girl's shock.
Shannon! What 're you doing?

    Shaking her head, she returned to her bedroom. In the dresser mirror, she saw that she was not only flushed but had a rather glazed look in her eyes.

    What
am
I doing? she wondered.

    She shook her head at her reflection.

    He's not even all that cute, she thought. Why in hell do I want him to see me naked?

    "I don't," she muttered.

    She slid open a drawer, searched through an assortment of panties and took out a skimpy black garment. She put it on. Except for the touch of the slender elastic band around her hips and the silken push against her groin and buttocks, she felt as if she still wore nothing.

    From another drawer, she removed a bra made of the same lightweight, black material. After she put it on, her breasts looked nearly the same as before... their curves hardly altered at all, but their color transformed as if they'd been dipped in murky grey water.

    Looking mighty fine, she thought.

    She turned away from the dresser. On her bed was her costume for tonight's Halloween party. As she walked toward it, she heard a quiet groan.

    Hinges.

    She jerked her head toward the bedroom door. Wide open before, it was now slowly gliding shut. Pushed by the kid behind it.

    He stood near the corner of the bedroom, his back to the wall, his left arm extended sideways and slowly easing the door shut. He never took his eyes off Shannon. He had a dazed, blank look on his face and his mouth hung open slightly. He was breathing through his mouth, taking quick breaths. His eyes flicked from Shannon's face to her chest too her groin, then up again to her face.

    "There you are," Shannon said.

    His head jerked up and down.

    "Don't run off, okay?"

    His head jerked from side to side.

    "Good. What's your name?"

    "Hunter." He glanced at her breasts, then darted his eyes to her face.

    "What's your
first
name?"

    "Hunter."

    "Your name's Hunter Hunter?"

    "Hunter Gordon."

    "Huh?"

    He spoke slowly and loudly. "Hunter. Gordon."

    "Oh." Strange name, she thought, and saw him risk a glance in the direction of her breasts.

    I'd better finish getting dressed, she thought.

    On the other hand, she rather enjoyed the way Hunter couldn't take his eyes off her.

    
The kid's enthralled.

    Looking her in the face, he said, "You're Shannon?"

    "That's right."

    "What're you going to do to me?"

    She shrugged. "I don't know. Why'd you run up here and hide?"

    "You opened the front door. I thought
they'd
be out there."

    "They who?"

    "The ones from the graveyard."

    "People
from the graveyard
are after you?"

    He nodded. His mouth twisted crooked. For a moment, he looked as if he might start crying again.

    "Well, they haven't shown up yet." She thought of Laura alone on the front porch, waiting for trick or treats. "We'd better go down and let Laura know what's going on."

    Hunter's gaze slid down her body.

    "Guess I'll get into my costume first," Shannon said. "Stay put."

    She went to the bed, picked up a white dress shirt and put it on. After fastening its buttons, she stepped into a pair of brown tweed trousers. She pulled them up, tucked in the shirt, and cinched her belt tightly to keep the baggy pants from falling down.

    "What kind of costume is that supposed to be?" Hunter asked.

    "Can't you tell?"

    He shrugged.

    Shannon put on a necktie and knotted it loosely around her neck. Then she put on a big brown suit coat that matched her trousers. "And this," she said. She jammed a battered old brown fedora onto her head and tilted its rim down over her brow.

    Hunter scowled. "You're suppose to be a
man?"

    "Not just a
man,
a private dick."

    "Huh?" He blushed.

    Shannon laughed. "A sleuth, a private eye, a snoop, a gumshoe, a shamus. You know, Phillip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Duke Scanlon, Mike Hammer..."

    "If you say so."

    She shook her head. "You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you?" Sitting on the edge of her bed, she put on a pair of socks.

    As she struggled into her brown wingtip shoes, Hunter said, " 'When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it.' "

    A laugh burst out of Shannon. "Hey, okay! Kid, I got a feeling you 'n me are gonna get along."

    "The name's Hunter," he reminded her.

    "Okay, Hunter. Let's go down and see how Laura's doing."

    

    

    Shannon led the way downstairs, crossed the foyer and opened the front door. Laura, alone on the porch, turned around and smiled "Found him," Shannon said. "Great. Where was he?"

    "Hiding behind my bedroom door. Where nobody ever in a million years would've thought to look for him. Any action out here?"

    "Kids just keep on coming."

    None seemed to be approaching at the moment. "Why don't you come inside?" Shannon said.

    Laura stepped in, shut the door, and leaned back against it. "Our friend here is Hunter Gordon," Shannon explained.

    "Hi," Laura said.

    "Hi. I'm sorry I ran away from you."

    "That's okay. So what's going on?"

    His mouth twisted. "I was scared."

    "He says someone from the
graveyard
's after him."

    Laura made a face. "
What?
"

    "Who?" Shannon asked the boy.

    He shrugged. "I don't know."