Mary was having a great night giving candy out to the trick-or-treaters that came to her door. There were a lot more kids out this Halloween than last year and she made sure to take lots of pictures of all the costumed children, especially of her two sons. Even though it was dark out, the streets were still crowded as everyone tried to get as much candy as they could before midnight. The doorbell rang again, and Mary picked up her candy bowl for the children outside. She walked over to the door, opened it, and smiled as two voices called out-
"Trick or treat!"
The smile on Mary's face turned into an expression of confusion when she saw who was in front of her. The two people on her front porch weren't children- they were adults. Looking down, she saw they didn't have any children with them either.
The man was short and wore a purple and yellow jester's outfit complete with a hat with bells on it covering his mop of scruffy, black hair. The woman was younger than her partner and wore a mad scientist's outfit- the usual lab coat, gloves, and white streak in her short, brown hair. They both had sacks with them already filled half-way with candy, but Mary couldn't understand what they were doing. The two of them, especially the man, looked too old to be trick-or-treating.
She must have been staring at them for longer than she thought because the jester looked around awkwardly and cleared his throat.
"Er, excuse me, may we take some candy now? You're not holding the bowl out to us."
Mary shook herself out of her thoughts and finally managed to ask, "What are you two doing?"
"We're walking around from house to house dressed in costumes to receive candy, thereby celebrating a tradition that may have originated from customs related to Celtic festivals," the mad scientist quickly supplied, sounding as if she knew what she did about Halloween from books, but not from experience.
"Or, as most people call it, trick-or-treating," the jester added with an impish grin.
"Don't you think you're a little too old for this?" asked Mary, furrowing her brow at them.
"Too old for free sweets?" the jester asked incredulously, staring at her like she was the one dressed up in a silly costume. "That sounds ridiculous!" As he said this, he shook his head, making the bells on his hat jingle and making him look ridiculous as well. "I'm 450 and look at me!"
"You're 450?" Mary scoffed, not believing any of what these people were saying at all.
"Well, I don't really know," he admitted, looking sheepish; it seemed as if he didn't catch the sarcasm in Mary's voice. "I haven't been keeping track of the years. I might be 457 now."
The weary mother shook her head in disbelief. Whatever joke these people were playing, it wasn't that funny, even though the little man was making her feel like laughing. Briefly she wondered if he was actually a real jester and not just dressed as one. She cast a glance at the scientist, half-expecting her to laugh at her partner's joke. Surprisingly, she looked as if she believed that what the jester was saying was the absolute truth. "Let me guess, you're 457 too?"
"Oh no," the young lady answered with a chuckle. "I'm human. Are going to let us receive a treat, or do we have to play a trick?"
"Don't worry," said Mary, "you already have."
"Wait," the man started, "does this mean we don't get-"
His next words were drowned out by the door slamming in their face.
Mary sighed, knowing that what she did was a little mean, but she knew that trick-or-treating was only for kids, and that one day you had to grow up. How in the world did they manage to get so much candy by now anyway?
Her train of thought was interrupted by the doorbell ringing again. She smiled, figuring that these must be some children that were held up by those two adults. She opened the door and grew confused yet again. There was no one out on the porch this time. She stepped outside and looked to her left; after seeing no one there, she looked to the right.
What she saw was a gory face leaping out towards her and roaring. The sudden shock paralyzed her and she let out a shriek as her brain couldn't process anything other than sudden fear.
If Mary wasn't as easily scared as she was, then she would've noticed that the gory face belonged to a young man dressed as a zombie. The makeup on him was perfect for a member of the undead, easily representing convincing rotting skin and blood stains. The blood stains were also put on his clothes: a ragged, cream-colored shirt and a kilt, both of them looking like they had seen better days. Mary would've also noticed that as he was yelling at her, he was also tipping the contents of her candy bowl into one of two sacks: one empty and one full.
Once all the candy had been poured into the once-empty sack, the zombie shouted, "There's yer trick!" in a Scottish brogue, then ran away towards a row of bushes a few houses over.
Mary just stood there for a few seconds, gaping at the empty space in front of her, then at her empty bowl. Finally, she quickly ran back inside her house after turning the 'Trick-or-Treaters Welcome" sign on her door over. Maybe she could sit Halloween out this year.
"Great job, Jamie!" the Doctor cried cheerfully as his costumed companion joined them in their hiding spot behind a row of bushes. The Scot started to divide the new candy into three piles, smiling all the while.
"Great plan, Doctor!" he answered. "I'm startin' t' like trick-or-treating!"
"Only because you like scaring people almost every other house!" Zoe pointed out, trying her best to look disapproving. "Technically, you aren't even really trick-or-treating. You wouldn't be enjoying it as much if you were in their place."
"Och, I know ye liked watching that," Jamie said, nudging Zoe playfully. She frowned, then slowly smiled and broke out in giggles.
"Alright," she said, after scooping her new candy into her sack. "I'll admit that watching it was fun."
"There we go. But tha' wouldn't happen, because if I was in that woman's place, I would have given ye the treats anyway. Not giving free candy? That's just cruel!"
"I knew you two would enjoy Halloween," the Doctor said while unwrapping a chocolate. "It's personally one of my favorite Earth holidays. Costumes, candy, not to mention the parties they have."
"Can we visit a Halloween party, Doctor?" asked Zoe. "It would be interesting to study the ways of human behavior in large gatherings of-"
"It sounds fun!" Jamie interrupted Zoe mid-explanation.
"I'd love for us to do that," the Doctor answered after licking some chocolate from his teeth. "But it would be very rude of us to show up without an invitation, wouldn't it? It's not like we have special passes that can get us into anyplace we want." Then he looked off into another direction, a curious gleam in his eyes. "Although, that's not a bad idea..."
The trio of time travelers was suddenly interrupted by an angry cry of, "There they are!" As one, they looked over the hedge to view a small group of angry mothers, fathers, and older siblings that had spotted them behind the bushes. All of them had two things in common- they were given the job of staying behind to give out candy and they had refused to give candy to the Doctor and Zoe, making them resort to Jamie stealing an entire bowl's worth.
"I also think we've overstayed our visit here," the Doctor added, starting to stand up. "We had better get to the TARDIS. Jamie, Zoe, run!"
The three of them grabbed their sacks of candy and ran out of the shrubbery with the angry parents following behind.
A few minutes later, they had lost the group that was chasing them by using the old-but-good 'hiding behind a nearby wall' trick. Fortunately, the wall was only a block or so away from the TARDIS, so they didn't have a high chance of encountering any of the mob again.
"Doctor, can't we stay here for a little longer?" Zoe sadly asked when they had reached the time machine.
"There are still plenty o' houses left to visit!" Jamie pointed out. "And it's no' that dark out."
"I would love to stay here for the rest of the night," the Doctor admitted, fishing around in his colorful striped pants for the TARDIS key. When that failed, he thought for a moment, then took off his hat and retrieved the key from inside it. "But we shouldn't have annoyed all those parents. Somebody has to pay for the treats originally, and not many people nowadays like tricks."
"By 'we', you mean Jamie," Zoe added.
"If you dinnae want yer candy, I'll take it! I'm responsible for getting more than half o' what we got."
"Yes, Jamie, and we're all very grateful for that," the Doctor said as he opened the door. "But you have to learn that with scaring, it's often not fun for the person getting scared."
He unlocked the TARDIS door and walked into the time machine with his companions in tow. They entered the bright control room, a contrast to the dark night sky outside, greeted by a welcoming buzz from the TARDIS.
"Hello again," the Time Lord softly muttered, laying a hand on the console. He quickly looked up at his companions and grinned. "Well, I think we should get ready for bed, don't you?"
"Doctor, we're no' tired!" Jamie complained. He rolled his eyes for emphasis, then spotted something above them. "Um, there's somethin' wrong with the ceiling."
The Doctor and Zoe looked up and saw what the Scot had spotted- a piece of the ceiling that was shaped a bit like a loose board was hanging dangerously above them.
"Oh my giddy aunt, how did that happen?" he wondered.
"I didn't know the ceiling could break like that!" Zoe exclaimed.
"I'll fix it once we're in flight," the Doctor decided, starting to activate the TARDIS's controls. "I know that almost anything can happen in the TARDIS, but this is really different." A flip of a switch and a turn of a knob later, the blue box was entering the time vortex.
The engines whirred and groaned, and the TARDIS slowly dematerialized out of the dark street.
"Hopefully nobody gets hurt by... whatever that is," the Doctor said, looking up at it curiously. "Anyhow, I've set the TARDIS on a steady flight, so we can-" his next words were suddenly drowned out by a loud booming noise that sounded almost exactly like thunder.
The control room started to tilt from side to side and shake. Zoe held onto the console as Jamie tried to make his way to the Doctor. The lights flickered on and off, and the Doctor struggled to try and stay upright so he could press the right series of controls. The thunder-like noise sounded again just as the correct switches were pressed to stop the TARDIS from shaking. The relief of stable ground didn't last for much longer as the lights finally stopped flickering and turned off- drowning the three occupants of the room in complete darkness.
There was an almost palpable silence for a second or two before it was broken by a sudden frightened scream.
"Doctor! It's only me!"
"Oh, Jamie. Don't startle me like that! I couldn't have possibly known who had grabbed my arm!"
"But Doctor, Jamie and I are the only ones in here other than you."
"Zoe, I know that, but... Oh, why aren't the lights working?"
Three yelps of surprise sounded in unison as the thunder-like noise boomed and crashed.
"Doctor... what is tha'?"
"It must be a storm."
"A storm? In the time vortex?"
"When we fly through the vortex, bolts of lightning- well, not lightning, but similar to it, strike the TARDIS as we travel. Sometimes, a large group of energy builds up in the vortex, almost like a storm cloud. The 'cloud' is filled with energy that's twice as strong as what usually hits us, and that is what we're hearing."
"Can we not turn the lights on again?"
"No, we'll have to wait until we drift out of the storm. But I believe I might have a flashlight in my coat pocket."
"Well, where's your coat?"
"On the chair at the other side of the room... Um, Jamie?"
"Aye?"
"You have to let go of me so I can get it."
A high-pitched giggling rang out through the darkness, followed by an annoyed sigh.
"Quiet, Zoe!"
"Alright, I'm making my way to the chair."
"Let me help ye."
"Don't worry, I know my way around this ship like I know the back of my- Oh!"
The sentence was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a person tripping and falling.
"Doctor, are you alright?"
"I'm fine... I guess I don't know my hands well enough. But I found my coat, so let me just... Ah! Here we are!"
A beam of light pierced the blackness and landed on Jamie, who jumped as the Doctor suddenly cried out again.
"What's wrong?"
"We've got to get that make-up off of you," the Doctor answered, rubbing his eyes. "You're even scaring me. It's not funny!" he whined as the Scot chuckled.
"Doctor, do you think we can get a better source of light?" Zoe asked, wincing when the flashlight beam moved to her.
"Maybe I have something else in here..." The Doctor reached into the coat pocket again and triumphantly pulled out an electric lantern. "Success!" He flipped the 'on' switch under it, and the lightbulb turned on, filling a small section of the control room in a dim light.
"It's no' that bright," said Jamie, picking up the Doctor's jester hat from the floor and handing it to him.
"Yes, well, it will have to do for now," the Time Lord answered, placing the hat back on his head. He stood up and stiffened when another crash of 'thunder' resounded through the TARDIS. "Oh, this is a big storm. They happen very rarely, but when they do, you have to be careful until it ends. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will go on for at least an hour."
"What are we goin' t' do for at least an hour?" asked Jamie, who looked as if he didn't believe that anything could make this situation better.
"Well..." the Doctor began, trying to think of a solution. He furrowed his brow and thought in silence until his eyes fell on the lantern in his hand. With a smile of childish glee, he announced, "We'll tell each other Halloween stories!"
"Halloween stories?" asked Zoe.
"It seems fitting seeing as how we just came back from celebrating Halloween," the Doctor explained, setting the lantern on the floor and sitting down in front of it. "Sitting in the dark telling scary stories is another tradition for the holiday." After another 'thunderclap' filled the room, he added, "And it's even better if it's done during a storm." He patted the floor beside him, motioning to his companions to sit down with him.
Jamie shrugged and sat down. Afterwards, Zoe did the same. The three travelers were now sitting around the lantern in a triangular formation, shadows cast across the parts of their faces where the dim light didn't reach. The lantern was only bright enough to illuminate the part of the room where they were sitting, and the rest of the room faded into darkness. This, added with the energy bolts crashing against the ship, made for an eerie atmosphere.
"So, what sort of scary stories do we tell?" Zoe asked curiously, pulling her sack of candy closer to her spot around the lantern. She handed Jamie his pillowcase after he gestured to it.
"Well, the name basically describes everything," the Doctor answered, "although, maybe we could do something special to try and make it different."
"I dinnae think it matters how different we make it," said Jamie, unwrapping a piece of taffy. Before popping it into his mouth, he added, "No matter what kind o' stories we tell, it won't be as scary as some o' the things we've already been through."
"Wait, that's it!" Zoe exclaimed. "We should make up stories about ourselves!"
"That's a great idea, Zoe," the Doctor praised. "We can try to make up adventures for us that are even more horrifying than the Ice Warriors, or the Cybermen."
"Good luck with that," Jamie muttered, reaching inside his candy bag again.
"You know, Jamie, because of your enthusiasm, maybe you should be the one to go first," the Doctor suggested, raising an eyebrow at his companion.
The young highlander froze, his hand halfway to putting candy corn into his open mouth. Then, he shrugged and ate the small treat. "Alright, I'll start. And I'll make sure t' make my story really scary. I bet that I'll get ye t' have nightmares after it's over."
"You're the one that's going to have nightmares if you keep eating that candy," Zoe warned as Jamie retrieved a caramel from his bag. "Large amounts of sugar before sleep can lead to bad dreams."
"Don't worry, I won't eat tha' much," Jamie reassured her, then continued to eat the caramel. He ignored Zoe rolling her eyes at him, swallowed, then continued to talk about his story. "Anyway, I'm goin' t' tell ye about a demon's house an' why no one should ever dare t' trespass inside one."
"Let me guess," the Doctor interrupted, reaching into his own bag of treats, "we dare to trespass in one?"
"Who's tellin' the story here?" Jamie snapped. "It's called...
"Haunted House and Home"