Halloween

Summary: Its Halloween night and Casey's home alone, giving out candy to trick or treaters. But someone else is in the house. ONESHOT! A shot at suspense.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek.

oooCASEYooo

Casey was sitting home alone on Halloween night. George and Nora had taken the kids out Trick-or-Treating and Derek had gone off to the movies with a date. They were going to watch a scary movie that was in theatres. He was probably thinking the girl would get scared and he would be there for her. Typical guy move. Casey rolled her eyes at the thought and looked down at the big bowl of candy that was sitting on the coffee table. She picked up an M&M's packet and ripped open the corner.

Only a few Trick-or-Treaters had come by that night. Casey checked the front porch light several times. It was still working, so why weren't little kids coming up to the door? Casey had dressed up and everything. She was wearing a beautiful renaissance dress that she had picked out. She loved it when she bought it, but now she wasn't liking it so much. It itched terribly. It had a horrible lace fabric that itched and poked her skin.

Deciding that she didn't want to bother, she checked outside one more time. There weren't any kids coming up the walk. There were kids walking by on the sidewalk, sure, but nobody was coming to their house. Casey flicked off the front porch light and went to her room to change.

After getting into her most comfortable pair of pink plaid pajama's Casey flopped down on the couch and picked up the candy bowl and the remote. For once, she would get the TV all to herself and wouldn't have to fight over it with Derek. She turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. Nothing was on except scary movies. Surprise, surprise. What did she expect? It was Halloween.

Sighing, Casey left it on Dawn of the Dead. She had never seen it before, but she had seen Shawn of the Dead. That was a funny movie so if she got too scared, she could think of the funnier version.

oooCASEYooo

It wasn't working. Casey got so scared. When it got to the part where they find the dog, Casey couldn't take it anymore. She turned off the TV. She instantly regretted it though. The house was completely silent. She was almost afraid to breathe and make to much noise. If anything fell at that moment, she would hear it. Even the tiniest microscopic piece of dust would be like dropping a bomb.

Then, she heard the one thing she dreaded. A footstep. Her breath caught. It came from directly above her. It was such a small noise, Casey wasn't even sure she heard it at first. She was just going to pretend it was nothing, but decided that wasn't a good idea. She should just go to Emily's. Wait, Emily had said she was helping out at the Haunted House that the town set up every year. She could go for a walk. Outside, with all the people.

She was just about to get up and do that when all the lights went out.

Casey bit her lip to keep from crying. She was terrified to move. She might make too much noise and then someone would come after her. But she had to leave the house.

She had read so many books where this kind of thing happened. The heroin of the story always went outside to check the power box. That's when they would run into the killer. So Casey should just stay put. Inside the house, because whoever was doing this to her would suspect her to run from the house as quickly as possible.

Unless they knew she would think that. Anyone could tell Casey was smart. They would be able to tell that she would suspect that. And Casey had heard a footstep. That meant they were in the house. The thought scared her and she jumped up and turned around. She couldn't see a thing except for the thin sliver of light that came through the window. Casey stared at that light, dreading both what she would and wouldn't see.

She started making her way to the fireplace. Nora had recently put away all the fireplace tools so Marti wouldn't get hurt. She was so paranoid about that. Casey would make sure that changed quickly.

She reached her hand up to the mantel, never taking her eyes off the small sliver of light. Feeling around on top of the mantel, she finally found what she was looking for. Derek's trophy. She held it up like a club, ready to hit whoever came near her.

Then a light came on. Casey felt a little relieved at first until she noticed that the light was coming from a flashlight. And the flashlight was pointed at Casey, so she couldn't see who was holding the glorious ball of yellow. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust.

Then the light started coming closer.

Casey took a few steps back. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words came out, only little sobs. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks and she fell back, hitting the hard floor.

Then, the most unexpected thing happened.

All the house lights came on.

Casey turned to see who her attacker was. Sure, he hadn't attacked her yet, but he would have. Casey felt both relieved and furious when she saw who it was.

Derek Venturi.

He was doubled over in laughter, holding onto the flashlight.

"I can't believe you fell for that," he gasped, in between breaths. Casey stood up, wiping tears from her eyes and the wetness on her face.

"And I can't believe you did that," she told him, trying to keep her voice steady but failed miserably. "That's low Derek, even for you."

Then Casey ran upstairs to her room. She flopped down on her bed and cried. She still felt shaky after what had just happened. She was also relieved and furious. If asked, she wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly why she was crying. It was all these emotions mixed together. It was too much. All Casey really wanted to do was sleep.

"Casey?" a gentle voice asked. She looked over to her bedroom door and saw Derek standing there.

"Go away," Casey snapped, once again failing to make her voice sound steady and strong.

"I'm sorry," Derek apologized.

Casey did a double take. "What?"

"I said, 'I'm sorry,'" he repeated, walking into her room further. He sat down on the edge of her bed. Casey had the incredible urge to kick him off but resisted. He was apologizing after all. "I didn't think it would scare you that much," he continued.

Casey rolled her eyes. "How could you not thing it would scare me that much? That is a horrible prank to play on someone."

"And I feel really bad," Derek finished. Casey stared at him in disbelief. Was he serious?

"Why?"

"Because, I just thought I'd scare you and it would be a good laugh. It's Halloween and you were home all alone. How could I pass up that chance? I just didn't think you would be so affected by it."

"Well I was," Casey told him. She was feeling a bit softer towards him now. This was a side of Derek she only saw him express towards Marti.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

Casey sighed. "I forgive you," she said, leaning back against her pillows.

He smiled. "Thanks." He kissed her on the forehead and she tensed up for a minute. Then he backed away and smiled again. Finally, he left, leaving Casey alone.

oooCASEYooo

Casey sat in her room for half a while, trying to get to sleep but was still scared. Finally, she decided to go watch a movie. But she didn't want to watch a movie alone.

"Derek?" Casey asked, knocking gently on Derek's open door.

"Yeah," he said, looking up from his computer.

"I can't sleep," she explained, "Could you watch a movie with me downstairs? I'm still kind of freaked."

Derek looked surprised. "Sure," he said, clicking a few times on his computer and then standing up. "We can watch When A Stranger Calls."

Casey gave him a look and he laughed. "I'm kidding."

A/n So this was just something that popped into my head and I had to write it down. I wasn't sure whether to make it a Dasey or not. So, I decided on ending it in a way that leaves a lot to the imagination. Remember, REVIEW!