I immediately recognized the NewGrounds style. This game was nowhere being subtle about its greatness, nowhere being quiet with it's free to use music, and nowhere being less awesome and overpowering with epic proportions. The music of impending doom attacked us from Mark's computer as we both got our hands at the ready on the single keyboard. The air suddenly became intense and it felt like we sat there for what felt like hours. Then finally - it started. Stick Figure Ninjas.

What started out so serious and intense quickly snapped into a silly battle of who could make weird noises every time one of us hit the other or at least attempted to. I am pretty sure our neighbors thought we were having some kind of really freaky ritual that involved sacrificing the knights that say 'NI!' and pirates. I made several laughs made of pure evil as I won a round and soon took the lead. How long had we been playing? A half an hour? Two hours? I couldn't tell as we made a swift transition from Stick Figure Ninjas to a different game and then to another and then a short cool game till we somehow ended up doing Table Tug.

After playing quite a few rounds of that, he looked at me and gave a dark sinister look. I looked at him and let an eyebrow go up, trying my best not to laugh at him because I always had a tendency to laugh in the face of 'danger'. "Well, Brielle, I bet you were expecting a scary game to begin with. BUT! I then threw you off with my expert skills and deliberate tactics with silly games to make you think that we would never come around to playing a scary game. Now... we cut to the core of Halloween. Don't worry though... this is just a little pixel horror."

Mark stood up with a grin and said nonchalantly, "go ahead and start playing. I'm going to go grab something." Before I had the chance to ask him for an explanation, he disappeared off into the other room.

I grinned and decided to play along, figuring he was out to give me a good scare. I started to play the little pixel horror and didn't find it to be all that terrifying. It was a really quiet game, mainly involving the sound of footsteps and breathing. But it kept glitching out. The character would suddenly spin around at random times without my consent and would switch the controls of the buttons on me. Only some of these were not quite glitches and really was meant to build up that spooky-scary atmosphere factor. Just to give it a dash of true creepiness, it would black out here and there with something just barely visible sliding its way in and out of view. I was never able to catch what the image was of but it made me smirk thinking of what Mark's reaction would be. Speaking of which... it had been at least ten minuets since he left.

I didn't have to wait long before I heard a long scraping sound. It made me jump and cover my mouth quickly as I had a brief flashback of Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. A smile soon crept onto my face. Is this how he was going to play it? I kept from giggling as I continued to play the pixel horror. About five minuets later, I heard Mark start to hum creepily. He obviously had to do it rather loudly so I could hear it from outside the room.

I got up and began to follow the humming. He was started moving away from me as I neared the spot he had been at previously. He had turned off all the lights and every time I reached for the switch, I could feel that tape had been placed over it. This was all obviously part of his brilliant plan. I couldn't help but start to whistle to keep myself from grinning. It was a good thing our apartments were so alike apart from the clothing items tossed beneath my step here and there or else I could have very well fallen in the dark and broke a finger or a neck or something. Or a spontaneous Markiplier.

This game turned into a hunt for each other. My whistle and his soothing hum were slowly and carefully chasing after each other; had it been day time on any other day they would have sounded quiet innocent. I stopped whistling after realizing that I couldn't hear his humming anymore. My smile turned into suspicion as I could only hear my own foot steps and breathing like the pixel game. "Oh Markimoo...? Where are you hiding?" I giggled.

I then swallowed slightly as no answer came from the darkness. I strained my eyes to see through the black veil that was my vision but there was nothing, not even the light from a dvd player being on and plugged in. I kept searching for him, feeling briefly over the couch, around the living room. How did even know if I was close by or not? The hairs on the back of my neck began to rise as I knew he was watching me but had cleverly hid himself. I didn't even know it was possible for him to stay so silent for so long.

"Right behind you," his deep voice purred. I jumped and closed my eyes, a naturally reaction from whenever I watched Mark's scary videos and there had been a jump scare. I laughed it off nervously and turned around and reached out to feel his chest or face. I yelped in surprise and then shook my head as I felt that it must have been a rubber chicken mask under my hands on what seemed to be a camera tripod. You clever son of a gun.

I started to back up and then squeaked in surprise as I ran into something solid. I took in a quick deep inhale through my nose as something wrapped around my arms and torso. "Gotchya," a voice spoke into my ear.

After a pause of silence, I turned around in his arms and wrapped my own around him. "I've got you too," I whispered. He obviously wasn't expecting this as we both stayed quiet for a few minuets with our arms wrapped around each other.

My heart was thudding so loudly, I was sure he could feel it beating through my chest. The silence was only broken slightly but the sounds of us breathing; listening to each other. My face began to burn with blush as I realized I could hear his heart beat too and it was going nearly as fast as mine. Gently, I turned my head and rested it against his chest. I closed my eyes as I felt his embrace tighten slightly.

His hand then began to slide up feather like over the side of my arm; into the curve of my neck; cupping the side of my face. I slowly lifted my head and let my arms flow upward as if I had just pressed my arms against a door frame and let them float. They reached his face and I could feel his jaw stubble underneath my palms. I smiled when I felt his warm cheeks rise slightly as he breathed in with a happy smile. I suddenly just felt so right. Standing here. Enveloped in his warmth, feeling every slight imperfection of his skin, loving every flaw in the dark that the eyes could not detect.

I felt his face move towards mine and almost naturally, I tilted mine the side. For a breath second I could feel the heat of his breath before his lips reached mine. His lips were softer than I imagined them to be but they seemed to melt into mine so perfectly. I could have sworn that our heart beats had become one as my hands began to move on their own accord. One began to grasp his shoulder while the other ran through the back of his hair and then held on gently. His hand fell lightly onto the dip of my neck, his other gently pulling on my hip.

Time broke down and faded into the darkness and was filled with this one moment. Holding onto each other as if we weren't going to see tomorrow. We broke the this only because breathing through our noses was getting to be too hard with how much our hearts were pumping for oxygen. The quiet was filled with our breathing once again.

I suddenly closed the small gap between us once more and hugged him tightly, my face slightly shoved into his chest. "Happy Halloween," I smiled.

Mark smiled and hugged me back firmly. "Happy Halloween," he replied quietly.

I think it was a silent mutual decision because I soon found myself at the door, holding his hand. I opened it and let it swing open. The cool October air breathed over the warmth of my skin and I saw the light for the first time since being in Mark's computer room. Turning around with my hand still in his, it was almost strange to look back and see his glowing face - wondering if I had really just kissed him. "Have a good night, Mark."

"Good night, Brielle."

Our hands slipped away and I began to walk away, forcing him to close the door. I hadn't realized how lonely my hand felt without his entwined with it. As soon as the door had shut, I paused in my steps to look back at the door and smile. I could have sworn that I saw movement in the window after I had managed to start moving again to get into the warmth of my own apartment.