AN: Now I know that you're all probably really mad at me for not updating my other story but you should know that I haven't given up on it. I'm just experiencing a bad case of writers block. Happy Halloween everyone.

Disclaimer: I own the plot at least. Nothing else though.

It was Halloween night in Amity Park, and everywhere you could see children running around dressed in costumes of witches, wizards, vampires, fairies, elves, and even the classic bed sheet ghost. Amazingly one kid was dressed as a walking shower with the curtain, water spout, and all. Everyone looked happy, even the neighboring residents of Emerlton. Yet one couldn't help but notice how everyone seemed to steer clear of the Old Willis Place. It was one of those big old mansion sized houses that sat on an empty street. Rumor was that old Ms. Willis was a mean old maid with no family, and because of that she lived alone. No one really liked her… she was known for being a Grinch all year long. So no one was really sad when the news came that she tripped down her stairs and died. Apparently her body hadn't been found until the housing agency came knocking on her door asking for her to pay her bills. After that, the house was cleaned up a bit and put for sale. No one would buy it. People usually didn't even walk down that street unless they were visiting the local cemetery. But those who did, claimed they often heard an old, out of tune piano playing a haunting melody into the street. People didn't spend more time than they had to when they were walking on that street. But tonight, one could see a small group of kids heading right for Old Willis Place.

Now Chris was nervous no…. he was terrified. He was beyond terrified as he walked up to the old mansion, wiping the cold sweat off his hands as they shook. It really didn't help that they were clammy too. He stepped onto the first step of the porch and immediately all sounds of children down the street trick-or-treating seemed to disappear as that first step squeaked loudly throughout the night. He paused looking back at his friends who waved him on in encouragement from the safety of the other side of the street. The challenge was simple. All Chris had to do was stay in the house for an hour. Chris couldn't stand ghosts, he couldn't even bear to get on the haunted house rides at the Halloween fair, and his friends knew that, which is why they all said that he wouldn't last five minutes in there. His pride wounded, he foolishly said that he could stay in there for an hour without a problem. Gulping, he turned around and continued up the steps to the porch; the silence just as unsettling as the squeak of the first step. His hand shook as he reached out for the doorknob. He turned it slowly, and gathering every bit of courage he had… he pushed it open, listening with dread as it creaked the entire way effectively unnerving him as he stepped inside.

He took one step past the threshold, then two, and finally three. Feeling slightly better he started to relax, only to go rigid with wide eyes as he heard the door creaking closed of its own accord. With an audible click, the door was shut and Chris knew that the countdown had begun. He forced himself to walk forward into the house, all the while berating himself for doing something so foolish as he desperately tried to resist the feeling of looking over his shoulder. Looking at his watch he realized that a minute had already passed and nothing too bad had happened, so he decided to sit on the down on the first step of the hallway stairs to wait out his time.

Five minutes. That's how long it took for his friends outside to exchange money and candy as some of them lost or won a bet. Another minute was all it took for them to get tired of waiting and they all agreed to go find something else to do. Chris was now alone… but he didn't know that of course. Looking at his watch, he realized it had been seven minutes and he was starting to feel silly for being scared of the place over nothing. Although, he was wishing he had taken a sweater like his mother wanted him to, he was starting to get a little chilly. Thoroughly bored, he decided to explore the house a bit and see if it made the time go by a little faster. Walking through the downstairs hallway, he stopped and looked upwards as he heard a door open, and then close. For several seconds he just stood there listening and to his horror, he heard something that sounded a lot like light footsteps. Then… silence.

Chris was surprised to find that he hadn't been breathing, and he quickly took a deep calming breath. Continuing down the hallway, he found a large room with a large sofa against the far wall and near the opposite wall sat an old, dusty, grand piano. Cautiously, he pressed one key, and almost jumped at the loud and definitely out of tune noise it made. Then he did jump as he heard heavy footsteps running upstairs towards the staircase. Then silence. Breathing heavily, he began to back away from the piano, eyes darting back and forth as he tried to see into the shadows around him. He began shaking from both fear and cold. Part of him wondered when it had gotten so cold. He could even see his breath. Enough was enough. He started to head towards the front door so he could leave, but a darting shadow seen from the corner of his eye stopped him and he quickly spun around to try to spot what was in the room with him. A sudden breeze from behind him had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end and he spun around again in time to see a cluster of dust bunnies slowly drifting down as if they had been disturbed by something running by. Backing away from the disturbed dust, he jumped as he accidently bumped into the piano, causing random notes to ring throughout the house. It felt as if his heart was trying to jump out of his chest. His eyes widened as he felt a noticeable cold spot of air behind him and then he heard,

"That's mine."

It was just a whisper, but it was enough to make him run screaming from the house as if the devil himself were behind him. He wrenched open the front door and practically jumped down the porch as he listened to a laugh that echoed all around him. He didn't care that his friends hadn't been outside like they were supposed to be as he ran all the way home without stopping. Back at the Old Willis Place, laughter could be heard as a phantom with white hair and a black hazmat suit faded into view floating a few inches off the ground, doubled over from laughter. Finally calming down he floated over to the coach and said,

"Tuck. Please tell me you caught that one on video."

"Yeah dude," Tucker laughed as he pulled out his PDA. "Did you see his face? It looked like he was going to pee himself."

Next to him a goth girl stood up next to Tucker and said, "Those footsteps you did, Danny were a great touch. What made you think of them?"

"All those horror movies that you had me sit and watch with you, Sam. How many people did we manage to scare, Tucker?"

"Five."

As the trio began to head towards the front door, Danny landed and changed to human and started walking with his two friends.

"Geez… I think I might have over done it with my ice powers. It's freezing in here. I can even see my own breath."

With that final statement the trio left and began walking down the street laughing as they talked about their favorite scares. As they disappeared around the corner of the street, there was no one there to hear the sound of an old and out of tune piano playing a haunting melody into the night.

Posted: October 31, 2015; Saturday