My name is Sally Louise McGiverns, I'm eleven years old and will be turning twelve soon. I was born in Mayville, Wisconsin; and I lived a happy life with my family. Sadly things were starting to fall apart this year. My parents were getting into more arguments every night, and I hardly got any sleep from all the shouting. That was the moment I knew that they were splitting apart. Before I couldn't take it anymore, my mom and dad decided to send me to live with my grandparents until things have settled down with the divorce.

Even though I was glad to be away from the fighting, and get some peace and quiet for once, however, I was still very depressed. Almost every day since May, I would sit by my bedroom window and stare at the view of the neighborhood to watch the beauty of spring moving to autumn with the red and orange leaves falling from the thin black trees. At school, I was very lonely and picked on because I wear glasses and students call me "four eyes," but there were two boys that stood up for me and were my only friends. Their names were DJ and Charles, also known as Chowder, they were outcasts too, and they were similar to me. After school and on the weekends, we would hang out together at their houses or mine.

On this day on October 30, just the day before Halloween, I was in my room again looking out of the window as the blues got into my mind. I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard a soft knocking on my door and looked over.

"Come in," I said quietly as I had my arms folded over my chest.

The door opened and there stood my grandmother, she may be old, but she was still strong and healthy, just like my grandfather.

"Oh, hi Grandma," I sighed looking away from her and stared out of the window.

"Sally dear, are you okay?" she asked. She made her way into the room and sat across from me on the windowsill. "You've been very quiet all morning."

"It's nothing, really," I shrugged as I looked away. My grandmother was very stern and she can tell when I'm lying or avoiding conflicts.

"Sally, I know this divorce is very difficult on you, but…"

"But what?" I cried as tears formed in my eyes. " Why is this happening? Maybe it was because of me, and I'm the cause of this!"

"Sally Louise McGiverns!" Grandma said sharply. "Do not say those words! Your parents' divorce has nothing to do with you. Mostly divorces involve around money, and probably lack of communication. It seems to me that your parents may have grown apart."

"I thought they'd be together forever! Just like you and Grandpa!" I grumbled.

"Yes, some couples' marriages do last forever, but sometimes others don't," Grandma stated firmly, and sighed gently. "I mean Grandpa and I fight sometimes and have a few disagreements, but that doesn't stop us from loving each other."

"But how?" I asked, taking off my purple rim glasses and rubbed the lenses on my turquoise t-shirt to clean the tears, as I also wiped my hazel eyes. "Relationships don't make sense at all, and what if it happens to me? What if I don't find the right guy?"

Grandma put her hands on my shoulders and gave me a firm, but kind look.

"You don't have to go into relationships very quickly sweetie. If they try to give in, just ignore them and walk away. That was how I felt before I met your grandfather, even your father before he met your mother. Odds are, I know that someday you'll find the right one to be not only a partner or husband, but your best friend."

"I guess so. I feel so alone."

Grandma wrapped her arms around my shoulders and hugged me. "You are not alone dear, Grandpa and I will always be there for you and we love you very much."

"I love you too Grandma."

"Maybe you should go out for some air and meet up with your friends," she suggested. "It's not healthy to stay up in your room all day."

"Yes, Grandma. I think you're right," I said.

I got up from the window seat and pulled on my brown sneakers, and we both headed down the stairs and I went to the front door.

"Enjoy yourself dear, be back before six!" Grandma called. "Be sure to stay on the left sidewalk."

"Yes Grandma!" I called. "I'll be back in a few hours! I promise!"

I closed the door and walked along the left sidewalk, with each step I took, I inhaled the cool and crisp autumn breeze. Walks have been known to calm me down when I'm sad and lonely. The breeze formed goose bumps on my skin, although I don't mind the cold very much.

I kept walking down and turned to the corner where one of my friends lived, I looked across to see one of my neighbors, Eliza. She was a cute little girl, with her blonde hair in pigtails and rode her tricycle with joy as she sang. She suddenly ran into a lawn, and struggled to move. She stopped and looked at the old house, and my gut clenched in fear.

This old house had two windows on the second floor, with a door, old scraped paint, loose shingles, a porch, and dead trees on the dead lawn. The owner of the house was a mean old man named Horace Nebbercracker, and my grandparents forbid me from going near his house and walking on that sidewalk.

Nebbercracker hated all children, and when a kid loses his/her toy or belonging, he comes out on the lawn and takes the item away shouting at them to get out. When I was seven, I once left my doll, Lizzie on his lawn and tried to get it back, then he came out and scared me half to death, causing me to run away in tears. Not only was he a recluse, but also there were many rumors spread about him, that he catches children and dogs to eat them for breakfast, and the most common rumor was that he killed his own wife and ate her.

My thoughts were interrupted as I saw an old man charging out from his door and shouted at the little girl, "Get off my lawn!"

Eliza screamed and tried to ride away, but her tricycle was stuck on the grass. Nebbercracker came towards her with his arms in the air.

"Trespasser!"

The old man got near her and gave her a hard glare.

"Do you want to be eaten alive?"

"No," Eliza said meekly.

"THEN GET OUT OF HERE!" He bellowed.

Eliza screamed, got off her trike, and ran away. She stopped and looked back.

"My trike," She cried.

Nebbercracker grabbed her trike and tore it apart, giving Eliza another scary face. Eliza began to cry and ran away to home from the crazy old man.

"Stay away from my house!" he shouted.

I glared at the old man, oh how I wanted to stand up to him and shame on him for scaring Eliza, but I never found the courage to do so. I watched as Mr. Nebbercracker walked straight back to his house with Eliza's broken tricycle. He looked back again, and he caught me staring at him and growled.

I gasped and looked away and saw Mr. and Mrs. Walters walking out of the house and called to their son.

"DJ!" his mother called.

"We're gonna be late!" his father said.

"I'm coming!" a voice called from inside.

"Hey Sally!" DJ's dad came up to me with a friendly smile.

"Oh, hi Mr. Walters," I replied as I shyly smiled. "Where are you and Mrs. Walters off to today?"

"We're off to a dentist convention, for the night. We're hoping to encourage more people to brush their teeth right. Even floss, do you floss?"

"Oh yes," I said clearing my throat. "Yes, I do floss 24/7, even I brush my teeth after every other meal."

"Good for you!" Mr. Walters smiled. "I hope DJ gets his butt out soon."

"Mom," I saw DJ running out from the house. DJ had dark hair and brown eyes, he wore a red, white, and black striped shirt, blue jeans and blue/brown sneakers came to his mother. "Mom, he did it again. He took another tricycle."

His mother was not listening and gave him a firm look.

"Okay, honey, we've talked about this. You cannot stay up in your room all day staring at an old man through a telescope." She reprimanded him.

"But, Mom, there's something wrong with that house. I'm serious," DJ complained in a childish voice.

"What was that?" Mrs. Walters asked. She did not like DJ's attitude at all.

DJ cleared his throat and spoke in a serious mature voice, "I'm serious."

"His voice sounds funny." DJ's mom said as she gave him a look.

"Someone is hitting puberty. 'What's happening to my body?' Right, buddy?" his father said jokingly as held a model of a tooth.

"Maybe you should come with us." His mom said worryingly.

"Oh, the boy's too busy. He's got his spying to do." His dad said.

"I'm not spying," DJ protested. "Well..."

''Well... That's okay, buddy. When I was your age, I did exactly the same thing. Of course, it was with binoculars and involved the lovely Jensen twins," Mrs. Walters gave her husband a look. "Neither of which was as lovely as your beautiful mother. Will you be an angel and help me bring out the incisor?"

"Oh, the incisor," she said in relief. "Yeah, you don't wanna forget that."

"Hold this," his dad gave the model of the tooth to his son as they checked around the house one more time. DJ and I looked back to see Nebbercracker pulling down the blindfolds in his house.

As the Walters' started up the engine, they rolled down the window and looked back at us.

"Elizabeth will be here in a few hours," his mom said. "If anything happens, call the police and hide in your closet."

"He knows that," his dad said.

"See you tomorrow night," Mrs. Walters said waving.

As the car backed up from the driveway, another boy wearing a monster mask, with a basketball roared and the Walters' accidentally hit him. I gasped in shock hoping he wasn't hurt.

"I'm okay," the boy said as he slowly went up to the front.

"What have you done?" Mrs. Walters cried.

"Just let me drive this thing, will you?" Mr. Walters said.

"Where is DJ? Where's DJ?" his Mom cried.

"I'm fine." The boy reached up to them.

"You would be so happy if he was under the car, wouldn't you?" his Dad argued. He rolled down the window to watch our friend come up to them.

"Sorry. It's hard to see with the mask on," he admitted.

"Then why don't you keep it off, Chowder?" Mr. Walters said as he tore the mask off in annoyance. As he rolled up the window, he and his wife start to have an argument.

"Chowder," DJ said depressingly.

"Hi, DJ," Chowder said. "Hi Sally."

"Hey, Chowder," I said. Chowder had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was overweight. He wore a baby blue t-shirt, a red cape with tan pants and sneakers.

After a while of arguing his mother rolled down the window saying, "We both love you. That includes your dad."

"That's right," his dad agreed as the car rolled over Chowder's mask leaving tire tracks. We watched as the car rolled down the driveway and rode away down the street.

DJ let out a scream of distraught, it seems that nothing is working out for him.

"Cheer up. It's almost Halloween. In one day and three hours, it's candy time. Okay?" Chowder said.

DJ didn't say anything, as he was more depressed than I am about the divorce.

"How are ya Sally?" he asked.

"I'm all right, everything is getting a little peaceful at my grandparents' house. I should think about Halloween to get out of my depression."

"Don't worry Sal," Chowder put his hand on me. "Everything's gonna be fine. You'll see."

I gave a small smile to Chowder, and my cheeks blushed up.

"Check it out, I got a new ball," he said.

"Cool," DJ said. Chowder passed him the ball and we begin to play basketball. I wasn't much of a sports person, but I guess a little exercise never hurts.

"Oh, speaking of which, have you decided? Skullzor or Crypt Keeper?" Chowder asked and imitated a scary monster, which made me sigh. Sometimes he's a little weird and immature, but he does have a heart of gold.

"Chowder, Sally," DJ said. "I don't think I'm going trick-or-treating this year."

"What?" Chowder was surprised.

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows.

DJ shot up the ball and it went through the hoop. I grabbed the ball and tried to get it in the hoop.

"Come on, you're gonna break a six-year streak," Chowder said.

"Yeah, six years of being jumped and egged," DJ complained.

"Even getting pranked and scared by monsters in haunted houses. Although I still have my costume," I said. "DJ, I know you think your parents still treat you like a baby, but you gotta show them that you're a big boy."

"I know, if only they could just listen to me," DJ admitted as he threw the ball up. "Maybe I'm getting too grown-up."

Chowder caught the ball and made a whinny face at DJ, and began to bounce the ball on the driveway imitating a professional basketball player.

"Three seconds on the clock," the blond boy twirled around us. "I'm playing basketball. It's time for an in-your-face disgrace."

As Chowder shot the ball back up into the hoop, the ball hit the rim and smacked him in the face and balanced away. Chowder landed on the ground in pain and clutched his nose.

"Chowder!" I cried as DJ and I knelt to him.

"Are you okay?" DJ asked.

"My nose is in my brains," Chowder cried.

"Let me see," DJ checked him. "Oh, my God."

"What?" Chowder asked as he scrunched up his nose.

"You're a dork," the dark haired boy said.

"You're fine Chowder," I said. "No nose bleed, you're a-okay."

"Where's my ball?" Chowder asked.

I looked around, hoping it landed on the street. But my thoughts turned to fear as I saw where the basketball was.

"Um, Chowder, I think I know where your ball is," I said pointing over.