1

Halloween

The streets of Haddonfield were still that Halloween morning. Leaves blew down the suburban streets like an orange and brown wave. There were some kids walking around in their Halloween costumes, and backpacks heading to school. There was a little fog that made seeing too far that morning almost impossible. A shape, standing perfectly in the fog moved by the Strode house.

Laurie woke up that morning feeling sick. She knew what day it was, and couldn't handle it. She walked into the bathroom and splashed water on her face. She started to breath heavily. She knew this day would be hard but she wasn't ready. Her father petitioned hard against any type of medication recommended by the doctors she had seen. He didn't want his daughter on any hard drugs. She didn't need them, he would say. It wasn't the Strode way.

"Make it go away." Laurie cried out. She felt alone, and had nobody to turn to. She wanted to talk to somebody, she needed to talk to somebody. She felt dizzy as she walked towards her room to get clothes she would wear today. She grabbed jeans, a shirt, and some boots. She grabbed a light coat as well.

She walked out the front door that morning looking around cautiously. Some kids ran by her front driveway screaming. Laurie made her way towards her car when she saw someone walking up her driveway. Her heart started to race.

"Laurie!" Tommy said, he hugged her side. "I've missed you."

"Aw, I've missed you also."

"My mom said not to see you, but I needed to see you today. I'm scared." Tommy said.

"There's nothing to be scared of Tommy." Laurie said, as if she actually believed herself. Her saying this was just a cycle of what she was being told as well.

"The Boo—"

"Please Tommy." Laurie said convincingly. She thought of how he may be feeling. He was there, he saw him.

"I feel safe with you. Can you drop me off at school?" He asked. Laurie hesitated a moment. "Please?"

She pointed towards the passenger seat. Tommy smiled and ran around, getting into the car. They made their way down the road mostly in silence. She parked outside of the school, he quickly got out. "Thanks Laurie. Nobody understands." He said and ran into the crowd of students standing outside.

Laurie was sitting on the corner of the ambulance, Tommy and Lindsey also inside crying. She remembers Mr. and Mrs. Doyle getting home and running towards the ambulance, completely ignoring Laurie and hugging their son. Understandable. They pulled Tommy out of the car. They looked at Laurie, Mr. Doyle smiling and mouthing a 'thank you.' He handed her five dollars.

Laurie held the five dollar bill in her hand as they walked away. She was still in shock and didn't think she could have a conversation at that moment anyways. The coldness of the exchange has also haunted Laurie. Not that she expected a bonus for her babysitting duties that night, but $5.00. She would have rather not gotten paid that night then a five dollar bill. It felt dirty to her. She slide it off her lap and it blew in the wind.

She heard Loomis screaming in the background at one of the officers. Mr. Brackett breaking down in the middle of the street once they discovered the bodies in the other house. Lindsey sat alone in the back of the ambulance. Laurie couldn't even turn around at this point to look at her, and comfort her. She couldn't even comfort herself.

The Wallace's eventually arrived and took Lindsey, they couldn't go into their house as it was a crime scene. Laurie never seen them again after that night, last she heard they moved to Russellville. She then thought, Annie wouldn't be getting anything for babysitting that night. She wouldn't even have been there if it wasn't for them.

Laurie's parents were nowhere to be found. She was taken to the hospital and operated on, she didn't even see her mother until the next morning when she was waking up from the surgery. She mother was caressing her face when she awoke. A moment of comfort.

Laurie moved her map around the passenger seat as she drove. She was heading towards Smiths Grove Sanitarium. She wanted to talk to Loomis. She thought of him as her savior. However she has not seen him since he shot Michael and helped her downstairs to the paramedics. The man was cold as well. She knew that he was hellbent on killing Michael that night, and the police took him away to Harden County.

She arrived at the Sanitarium and walked towards the front, there was a large glass window with a small hole to talk to the nurse that sat alone. "Hello." Laurie said shyly to the nurse.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I was here to see Dr. Loomis." She said.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No I don't."

The nurse pulled out a roster and started to look through, "Loomis you say?"

"Yes."

"I don't see a Loomis, are you sure he works here?"

"I believe he does."

"One second." The nurse stood up and walked towards a back office. Laurie stood there looking around. In the background she saw a man standing at the door to his room. He just stood there staring at her. Laurie felt uncomfortable and looked away. The nurse finally came back, "I'm sorry but I am being told that Loomis no longer works here." She said.

"Oh, is there any way to get his contact information? Or perhaps information on where he works now?"

"I'm sorry miss, but we can't give out that type of information."

"I understand. I drove a long way, is there anybody here that I can talk to about Michael Myers?" The nurse looked shocked by this.

"Michael Myers…why?"

"I am just, I'm doing a news article."

"I'm sorry but we are told we cannot make statements on Michael Myers. Miss I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse said.

Laurie just turned around and walked out of the Sanitarium. As she walked down the stairs back to her car a man recognized her. "Laurie Strode." He said proudly.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, I am Dr. Victor York. I worked with Loomis. I read all about what happened last, well damn, last Halloween."

"You worked with Loomis?" Laurie asked interested.

"Yes, well used too."

"What happened to him, does he no longer work here?"

"His license was stripped away from him. There was a lot of lawsuits as you know, related to what happened last year. One of the stipulations of a settlement was for him to no longer be able to practice medicine of any kind."

"That is harsh…" Laurie said, "He saved my life."

"But caused the death of 4 others."

"How do you figure it was his fault?"

"I don't, but the people did."

"Are you still in contact with Dr. Loomis?" Laurie asked.

"Nobody is really."

"Do you know if he lived around here?" He pulled out a business card from his wallet. It was an older card for Dr. Loomis. It had an address on there.

"Try this. Can't assure you if he lives there or not, but worth a try I suppose. For you anyways. I must be going, it was a pleasure meeting you my dear." The man turned and walked into the building. Laurie looked down at the card then back at him.

She got into her car and looked down at the map trying to track down Green Street.

She started to make her way towards it, it was way off the backroads. It was strange that a man like Dr. Loomis would live so secluded. She pulled up at a house that stood in the middle of forest. There was an iron gate blocking the front door. Laurie walked up and started to knock. There was no response. She stood back and looked up at the windows, she saw a shadow of someone behind a curtain. "Dr. Loomis?" She called up.

She looked around the old home, the dead bushes, and grass. The fall leaves danced around wildly in the wind. Laurie walked down the steps of the house back towards her car. She turned back around. "Dr. Loomis, I really need to talk to you. If you are home, please…please."

The front door opened.

2

On the walls of Loomis's home were family photos. Everything was dusty, and the house was crowded with boxes, and random knickknacks. "Sorry about the mess. Wasn't expecting any company." Loomis said making room for Laurie to sit.

Laurie sat down and looked at a picture of a little girl sitting on a younger Dr. Loomis's lap. "This is a cute picture." Laurie said monotone.

"That there is my daughter Isabelle." Laurie had no idea that he had kids, she never thought about him having a family. She didn't dare ask what happened to her, or his wife who were clearly no longer around. There was a long silence. "Why did you come here today?" Loomis asked, looking down at some papers on his coffee table.

"I'm scared." Laurie said.

"We both know, he isn't a normal man." Loomis began, he stood up and started to walk around his living room. "Michael was simply, and pure evil. However…I shot him six times. I believe, with my logical mind that he is dead. He may have wondered off, into the woods and died. We both know the police department half assed that search for him. I've been out there you know? In the woods, looking for a body. Hoping to find his rotting, decaying body." Laurie was surprised by this, because she as well had looked in the woods for his body.

"Peace of mind." Laurie said.

"Exactly." Loomis walked to a picture on his wall. It was a photo of him and some of his patients. It was like a class picture in a normal school except with patients. They were all younger. The one that stood out was the blonde boy in the background just standing there. Looking into the soul of everyone that looked at the picture. "He had an innocent look. I knew there was something menacing about him. I remember meeting him for the first time. Silence. It was as if the boy was lobotomized. He would stare at you though. A haunting stare. I would stare into his eyes, back at him, for hours at a time. Waiting for him to say something. Antagonizing him, to say anything. It was frustrating, and fascinating."

"He never spoke to you?" Laurie asked.

"Never, not one simple word. Not even a cough. No sneezes. There was nothing natural about him. That is why I wanted him to die that night. I wanted to kill him. He was a killing machine, nobody believed me. And when he escaped, and did what I warned them against. They blamed me…" He said with a bittersweet laugh.

Laurie readjusted herself from the uncomfortable sofa she sat on. "Dr. Loomis." He looked at her waiting for whatever she was going to say, "What if he is alive?"

"Well, I just don't know Laurie."

"Do you think he would come after me again?"

"He found something about you interesting that's for sure."

"I replayed that day in my head, everyday…for the last year." Laurie began, "My dad…he asked me to drop off a key at the Myers house that morning. I did go back to his house that morning and dropped off the key. I read some of the report that he was at that house earlier that day, that he killed and ate a dog." Laurie said. "I think…maybe he saw me when I did that. After that I noticed him, stalking me. At first I thought it was in my head, or I was being paranoid…but when I saw that mask…I couldn't help but feel guilty for not calling the police about it sooner." Laurie said breaking down a little. "Maybe, it could have been stopped."

"You cannot blame yourself for that Laurie."

"It's hard not to. Shit, I can't even remember what happened from the moment I went into that house, to you walking me downstairs after shooting him off the balcony…"

"Has your therapist helped you with that?"

"What therapist." Laurie said with a laugh.

"I'm assuming you talked to someone about that night?" Loomis asked.

"Nobody…" Laurie said longingly.

"Nobody?" Loomis asked shocked.

"Not the Strode way." Laurie said holding her chin up, she let out air in a slight laugh, dropping her chin back down.

"It is in my expert opinion that you see somebody about what happened that night. You need to have some sort of closure."

A tear rolled down Laurie's face, she looked up at him. "I need help." Dr. Loomis, in all his coldness, hugged Laurie. She hugged him back and started to cry violently. Dr. Loomis has dealt with patients for over thirty years. He comforted her.

3

Laurie got into her car, Loomis stood there on his porch. She started to pull out of his driveway, she waves at him. He gave a wave back. Laurie got onto the dirt road and started to drive back towards Haddonfield.

Loomis turned around and walked back into his house. The darkness in his house, although it was daytime, gave the room a coldness. Loomis heard a creek from upstairs. He looked at the stairs and made his way up. He started to look around rooms with his gun. His daughter's room made him sad. He saw a picture on her nightstand, of him and her.

Loomis had become obsessed with work once he started to work with Michael. He was at the Sanitarium late. Almost constantly with Michael. His wife grew apart from him. Eventually taking his daughter away to Florida. Loomis chose to stay at the hospital. He missed his family, especially now that he was home all day. He was still obsessed with Michael Myers.

He walked towards a window and looked out into the woods. The leaves were everywhere. It looked so cold outside, even with the sunlight that came down. He heard another creaking noise behind him. He jolted back and looked into the hallway outside his daughter's bedroom.

"Michael?" He called out, then laughed. He started to make his way into the hallway. He turned back around and looked into his daughter's bedroom. "Goodnight Isabella. I love you." He closed the door and made his way back towards the stairway. A breathing sound came from behind him in the darkness of the hall. He turned around slowly and felt a presence of somebody there with him.