Halloween. It is the only night a year when the portal is left open and the Lost Children are free from the curse. It is the only night they aren't cursed with a Killing Spell. Granted, they are still lost. They can be seen, but their faces remain distorted, like the skip of a photo reel. Their voices are garbled, too meshed for the living to hear. Still, it is 2013 and Ashley's first time at a Lost Halloween. The six children slowly step out of their gray comfort zone and through a portal of a toddler's closet. Mr. Boogie terrorizes the children young enough to be in bed by now.
The six children easily leave the house and advance onto the neighborhood. They ask for candy through moaning, thrusting open stained pillowcases from massacres long ago. Ashley calls out trick-or-treat and is upset when someone chides them for not calling it. She has a lot to learn about being a Lost Child. They quietly retreat to the shadows after scoring a bit of candy from several houses.
They lay the pillowcases down flat as they empty the candy between them. Ashley is about to open her candy bar when a teenage boy and his friend saunter to the group and snatches it out of her hand. The other five glare at him, turning their heads simultaneously. Stephanie pulls out a rope, while Cameron strikes a match and Blake pulls out a knife. The teenagers scream at the sight, but Danielle and Ethan , the other children, quickly hold them down.
Though no longer governed by Bughuul for the night, the Lost Children have been torturing souls in the gray zone for nearly a year. Some mortals deserve to be punished before they die. These boys are no exception. The friend is eagerly thrown into an underground pool, with Ethan, the "Pool Party Boy" holding his head down. The other boy deserves something more personal. Stephanie "Just Hanging Around" offers a lynching, while Blake, the "Sleepy Time Boy" would rather simply slit his throat.
Danielle, the "Lawn Work Girl" would be delighted to let a neighbor's lawnmower do the trick. Cameron, the "BBQ Boy" is more than willing to lock him in a car and set it on fire. Ashley pulls out an axe the others hadn't seen her grab, ordering Ethan to let up on the friend and asking the others to hold down the main teen.
"Think you can keep a secret?" She garbles toward him.
He screams more and she thrusts a partially melted candy bar into his mouth to shut him up. Ashley smiles bitterly, her face quickly becoming clear to the boy but dissolving just as fast. She raises the axe, noticing the other out of the corner of her eye, as she brings it down. The friend cannot help but scream.
"You killed my friend! You creepy kids! You, you freaks!"
Ashley's joking smile drops immediately. The first teen sits up, massaging his arm where the axe had come down. Ashley shows off the retractable blade. Then, in a flash, she is beside the nearly drowned boy. He sneers at her out of fear, spite and anger.
"Cruel joke, Kid. You're all nothing but a bunch of lousy freaks."
"Don't call me that!" Though booming where her friends can hear, it emits like a soft squeak for the teen beside her.
"Why don't you cry home to your Mommy?" The boy taunts. "You're nothing but a loser. An empty-headed freak."
She loses control, screeching at him. Everyone can hear her and she fishes out a different axe. This one has blood stains on it from her last torturing. She raises it with malice.
"Don't call me that! I! Am not! A freak!"
At each punctuation, she lowers the blade. She lops off his limbs one-by-one. He is struggling to cry as blood merges out. It gurgles in his throat and she scoffs, kicking him bacl into the pool to drown. At once, the real weapon is gone and Ashley is back at the main teen's side. With a nod from her, he is released, only for her to grab the collar of his shirt and bring him in very close.
"See you in your nightmares."
She lets go and the teenager tears down the street. The Lost Children walk back to their pillowcases, slightly dismayed that more candy is missing. They shrugs and grab a miniature candy bar and a sucker each. They finish the bars in record time and pop the suckers into their mouths. They can feel the gray surrounding them and they know the portal is closing. The children find the original house with the portal hidden in the closet. One-by-one, their Halloween is done. Mr. Boogie's work is done for the night. Their Halloween fun ends and the six Lost Children are back under Bughul's control, wandering around searching for deserving souls to torture.