It was 8 am the Sunday before Halloween. The sky was as black as night and you couldn't help but shiver. In the distance there was a two-story house that was a daycare center.

The daycare held up to 20 children but this cold October morning only 11 children were there. Their names were Julie, Sam, Max, Anna, John, Lily, Susie, Conan, Chris, Mathew, and Vanessa (the daughter of the day care woman). They were in the living room practicing a puppet show that they had created that past week. It was about a ghost that couldn't figure out what monster he was.

Then their daycare leader, Mrs. Umbel, came into the room and said," I have to go to the store. I have asked my next door neighbor named Mr. Jackson, to watch you while I'm gone. He's elderly so don't drive him crazy. He will be here in 5 minutes." Then she left.

As the kids practiced Sam became upset and shouted, "Julie stop drawing a dress on your puppet! Susie, Lily, and Chris get into your spot! Anna and Vanessa speak louder! Mathew, John and Conan can't you speak deeper! Man, this show's terrible!."

Just then they heard an unfamiliar voice say, "I don't think it's terrible. Everyone was doing just fine." Vanessa ran to a man saying," Mr. Jackson, Mr. Jackson! You're here, you're here! Mom said you'd come!" The man replied, "Yes I have. Now, who wants a snack?" Mr. Jackson brought back cheese and crackers for a treat, then left the room.

While the kids ate, Anna told one of her scary stories; it went something like this, "Did you hear about the guy who cuts up puppets and kids." "No", replied John as he was hanging from a bar that held the window curtain. Anna continued, "Well, he takes the parts and puts them together to make a monster." Max said, "That's cool but why are you telling us now." Anna responded, "Well Mr. Jackson looks like the man I saw in the newspaper; I wonder if it is him." Julie cried, "Anna you're scaring me, best friends aren't supposed to do that."

Just then they noticed that Vanessa, Chris and Lily weren't in the room with them anymore. Conan said, "Let's look for them." Mathew proclaimed as he punched numbers into his calculator, "If my calculations are correct, we'll not be able to find them if we are in a large group; I think we need to split up." Sam started to organize everyone into groups. Julie grumbles, "Who made you the boss?" Sam says, "I am the oldest, that's why I am the boss." They finally decided on groups that made everyone somewhat happy and started on the way to find their friends. Susie said, "We will meet up here in an hour".

Conan's group (Conan, Sam, and Anna) arrived back after searching for an hour. They sat waiting for 15 minutes and no other group showed up. They started getting worried. Anna exclaimed in a sarcastic voice, "What if Mr. Jackson has gotten them all!" Conan replied, "Let's split up and search the house again and see if we can find everyone before we go jumping to conclusions." Sam says, "Right Mr. Detective, you go that way, I will go this way, and Anna will go up the stairs.

A few moments later, Sam heard a familiar voice. It was Conan yelling "RUN, GET AWAY, RUN!" After running around the house for a bit Sam realized he was all alone. He couldn't find anyone, including Conan or Anna.

Meanwhile in the attic, all the kids,except Sam, were laying on mats. Conan, who had fainted during the chase, just woke up and found everyone laughing and chatting. With a confused look on his face, Conan asked, "What are you guys doing up here and why aren't you afraid?" Behind him, there was a kind voice saying, "Why should they be? Conan spun around startled. He saw Mr. Jackson and screamed "AH! Mr. Jackson the monster creator." All the other kids started laughing. Max ,who had a blanket for a cape, jumped on to a nearby chair, pointed to the sky, and said in a deep voice, "Super Max will explain…Anna was just making that story up. We were in here decorating the stage for the puppet show." Lily said, "We should go find Sam and tell him the truth". Anna said, "Yeah, before he really freaks out." "Wait," said Chris, "I have an idea to show him how good we can act." Then he explained how they could all dress up to make it look like Mr. Jackson really made them into monsters. They started making costumes out of fabric and cotton ball that were for arts and crafts

An hour later in the living room, Sam started to see strange shadows and hear strange noises. He heard people calling out his name. Then he saw it! It was Lily but it wasn't really Lily, it looked like half of her puppet and half of her. As she came closer she stretched out her arms and said, "Your turn…join me…join us." Then Sam saw one after another, all the kids appeared as if combined with their puppets. In confusion and shock, Sam ran screaming upstairs. Sam was so scared that he wet himself. At that point everyone downstairs was laughing hysterically. Sam figured out the joke was on him and he started back down the steps.

John came up to him and said, "The show's was suppose to be a treat for all of us but your yelling caused the experience feel awful. So you got a trick instead of a treat!" "Happy Halloween!" exclaimed all the kids to Sam. Then Ms. Umbel walked in the door and saw the costumes and Sam in wet pants. She exclaimed, "What happened while I was gone?" The kids had a fun afternoon explaining their experience to Ms. Umbel.

THE END!