The lights flickered; Alison's eyes darted between the overhead and the front door, her hands gripping the counter in front of her. She hated Halloween. Everything spooked her, endlessly, incessantly, right down to the fake cobwebs and plastic skeletons hanging from trees. She gnawed at her nails and leaned back against the counter. Cosima and Sarah were supposed to be back with Oscar, Gemma and Kira by nine o'clock.
She glanced over. 8:55.
Grabbing a fist full of candy, she unwrapped the first thing she could and popped it into her mouth. "Stupid suburban Alison," she muttered between tight, closed mouth chews. "Can't even take her own children trick or treating." She sighed.
8:57.
8:58.
8:59.
The lights went out.
Alison let out a shriek and toppled over in her chair, knocking the tin bowl of candy to the floor with a loud kerplunk. She composed herself as best she could and stood, brushing her hands against the counter. She knew there had been a flashlight there before, but the best thing she could find was an old grill lighter. She flicked her thumb against the switch and a dull flame shot up, hardly worth much light at all.
A horrible scratching noise came from the window. Alison dropped the lighter and pressed herself flat against the wall. She craned her neck and tried to spy a glimpse of a person outside the window, but it was a cloudy night and there wasn't even a hint of the moon. Tapping followed, and then a long, shuddering howl.
"W-who's there?" shouted Alison. "I warn you, I'm armed!" She thought of her gun upstairs, locked in a safe. She hadn't touched it in months. She hadn't needed to. Were they back? Was someone after them again? Was it the ghost of Ainsley? She wasn't sure what would be worse. The noises grew louder and louder, coming from every window. She edged her way towards the steps to the basement.
Behind her, the front door creaked open.
Alison, blind and groping her way through the dark, jumped the last two steps and stumbled into the basement, slamming a door shut behind her.
"Get out of my house! I'm expecting company!" she shouted. "And they'll call the police! Or I'll call the police. I'll call the police, right now! With my cell phone!" She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. Seconds later, she heard it ring.
Upstairs.
On the counter.
"I shouldn't have had three glasses of wine," she whispered, horror stricken. The back of her legs hit the arm of the couch and she fell over. Just as she did, the side door opened, and a shadow moved across the room. This is how I'm going to die, thought Alison miserably. Ainsley has come for me. I'm going to die. She's going to kill me. I shouldn't have worn a scarf this evening.
Light flooded the basement; Alison's eyes popped open and she sprung up, shocked and horrified at the ghastly head that was hovering above her. Her scream shook the walls. The monster let out an earthquake-like roar to match. Alison rolled off the couch and scrambled back, only to realize seconds later that the monster was pulling off its face to reveal her own face, watching her, amused and cracking with laughter. Cosima bit her lip and grinned.
"You should have seen your face!" barked Cosima.
Flustered, Alison tossed a pillow at Cosima, who caught it and tossed it aside.
"I'm looking at my face right now," she yelled. "And it's too much to handle. And you two," she pointed at Gemma and Oscar, who, with Kira, were slouched against the wall shaking with laughter. "Were you a part of this plan?"
"I thought up tapping on the window," said Oscar proudly, high-fiving Cosima on his way over to Alison. He extended a hand. "Sorry, Mom."
"You are corrupting my children." said Alison pointedly, eying Cosima.
"You say corrupting. I say educating." replied Cosima.
"You alright there, Alison? Need a fresh pair of clothes?" said Sarah, wrapping her arms around Kira from behind.
Alison huffed.
Cosima laughed again and came forward, slinging one arm around Alison and placing a hand on Oscar's shoulder.
"Ah, come on, Alison. It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare."
Alison smiled. "You're right. Even you. Why don't you go take a good look in the mirror?"
"Why walk upstairs when I have two mirrors down here?"
"Alright, alright you two. Let's take this upstairs, yeah? See what candy we can knick from this lot?" Sarah pointed at the kids and then sneakily grabbed Kira's candy bag out from under her, running up the stairs two at a time. "I call all the milk duds!"
Kira shrugged, grinned, and turned to the others in the room. "The joke is on her. I already took all the milk duds out."