Gently you put on your black witch dress, which is covered in green glitter and lace. You put on your knee high black boots and you suddenly notice the single coloured band on your ring finger.
How could you forget! You quickly glance around your room, looking for the black witch hat.
You know, the one where you attached a green squiddle on top of the brim last evening.
You are very proud of this year's Halloween outfit, you can't ruin it by leaving your precious hat at home! You sigh of relief when you see the hat lurking on your desk.
You quickly apply it and you jump in front of your mirror to gaze at your cute outfit. You put a lot of effort in adding the squiddles and glitters all by yourself, and your work did pay of extremely well now you see the fully completed outfit. You apply the last make-up and you grab your trick or treat bag, decorated with squiddles of course! You hop out of the door after saying goodbye to your beloved dog and best friend. It's a lovely night for a stroll, and you are delighted to see a clear sky with stars scattered all over the place, sharing their warm atmosphere with the illuminated street. Even though you are running at full speed towards your friends house, you still take the time to admire other peoples costumes. You are convinced yours is the cutest though!
You suddenly freeze.
You have reached your friends house, but you sense a quite eerie kind of atmosphere. Boy, those Striders sure know how to decorate a house in Halloween style! After encouraging yourself you gracefully skip towards your friends door. Just as you reach out to ring the doorbell you hear a loud noise right behind you and you scream out in fear. You feel arms being wrapped around you, and as you slowly open your eyes to take a peek you notice your friends brother is holding you in his arms, smirking.
"Long time no see, Harley," He says as he puts you back to your feet.
"Jeeeez! This isn't funny Bro! I thought I was being kidnapped!" You yell out in anger. You don't like scary pranks like this, they make you feel all awkward and silly! "Besides, why would you even do stuff like this? It doesn't make any sense!" You complain.
"Well, why wouldn't I? It makes perfect sense when you're a Strider, right Dave?" He laughs.
You quickly look around searching for your friend but he's nowhere to be seen. You cross your arms and glare at the older one of the Strider duo. "Haha, very funny! Dave isn't here silly!" you say, even though you are almost a hundred percent sure the smaller one of the duo is lurking at you as you speak.
"BOO."
You jump of fear yet again, and when you turn around you are welcomed by Dave who is currently laughing his coolkid ass off at your silly shriek.
"DAAAAVEEEE! JEEEEEEEEEEEZ DON'T STARTLE ME LIKE THAT!" You yell in frustration. "You know I don't like it!" You try to stop tears from welling up, and luckily you succeed. You don't want to look weak, ESPECIALLY after these guys made you jump like that.
"Relax Jade it was just a joke." Dave tells me nonchalant. "It's not like we hurt you or anything like that." He says while shrugging.
"B-but you know I hate being startled like this!" You manage to hide the trembling in your voice. "Ugh, let's just go pick up John-" You stop in the middle of your sentence realizing that Dave is dressed up as his bro.
"What is it Harley?" The blonde asks you, and you realize you are staring at him with a confused expression.
"Nothing, I just noticed your costumes that's all!" You decide to examine Bro's outfit a bit closer and you turn to him. You can't help but grab the black cape he is wearing and you examine the fabric.
"Wow this is some actual quality you got your hands on!" You yell out in amazement. "Come on open your mouth and let me see those vampire teeth!" You say while you poke the older Strider in his stomach.
"Hehe, rawr!" You giggle as Bro starts doing all kind of epic Dracula poses. He isn't dressed up as Dracula for nothing after all.
"Oh for gogs sake bro! Stop that! You are making us look uncool." Dave said, lowering his shades a tiny bit so he was just able to glare at his brother.
"Relax little bro, our cool lasts forever! Besides, I haven't met a single chick who could resist me before so you could actually learn something from this young man." Bro replies, stopping his foolish posing session.
"Yeah whatever, come on Jade let's get out of here." He said, grabbing Jade by the hand and pulling her with him.
You let out a surprised squeak and you feel your face flushing a bright red. You hadn't expected Dave to grab your hand out of the blue like that. The two of you start your journey towards the house of John Egbert, another one of your friends. You walk hand in hand for a while until Dave realizes what he is doing and he let's go of your hand again.
"Sorry Harley, don't know what came over me man." He tells you while your face turns the colour of a tomato.
"I-it's fine! I didn't mind at all!" You smile. Even though Dave is always acting cool and ironic, you are sure he has a soft, sweet side. A side you really like about him.
"Nice costume you got Harley, your work did pay off in the end after all."
You frown. "What's THAT supposed to mean? Did you think I couldn't do it or something?" You ask him while frowning.
"No man I believe in you, but you are uh.. pretty clumsy sometimes but that's ok I guess." Dave answers nonchalantly.
You reply with a single "Hmph." and you continue walking towards John's house, which is now appearing in your sight. The rest of the stroll is haunted by an awkward silence between the two of you, and therefore you are happy when you see John opening up the door in his Nic Cage costume.
"Hey you guys!" He greets the two of you. "Let's go! Bye dad, see you later!" And with that he closes the door behind him.
"Sup Egbert? Man I can't fucking believe you actually put that shitty costume on man."
"But Dave, how could I not put this amazing outfit on! And It's not stupid, I love Nic Cage and I absolutely adore Con Air!" John replies to Dave as they are now heading towards the sidewalk.
"Guys will you focus for a moment? We need to get candy remember?" You sigh. Even though these guys are your best friends, they can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes. "We should start with that house!" You say as you point at the house the opposite of John's house.
"Well actually Harley, why won't we try THAT house."
You stare at the house Dave is pointing to. He is kidding right? Dave is pointing at the creepiest house you have ever seen. You usually avoid coming close to that house since you heard the rumors. According to most people the place is haunted, and whoever enters won't come out ever again. You swallow at the thought of only standing anywhere close to this place.
"Uhm Dave, are you sure about that?" John asks him, not looking to comfortable with the idea either. "It looks really creepy!"
"Man come on, nothing will happen! Besides, you don't want me to think that you are some big bunch of babies right?"
"Well no but-"
"Come on Egbert, we're going to make this happen." Dave says, pulling his two friends towards the dark, haunted mansion in the distance.
End of chapter one.