Special edition chapter for Halloween: over 800 words!

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Chapter 9: Hallowe'en


I adjusted the tinfoil diadem resting on my hair and smiled at myself in the mirror.

"Well, when you're done imitating Narcissus, we can leave to go trick-or-treating," Diana said impatiently.

"Oh, sod off," I said, before realising that Rowena Ravenclaw would be much more polite and ladylike. "Who are you lot supposed to be anyway?

"Bella," Bree piped up. "Now I have an excuse to trip over everyone."

"Lovely," Cassie commented. "My costume is better. After all, who doesn't want to be Silena?"

I turned back to Diana. "And who are you?"

"Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, intelligence, learning, etc. Also known by her Roman form: Minerva. She was born when…"

"Okay, I get the idea. No need to go all Greek geek on me!"

"Greek geek!" Bree repeated shrilly, giggling.

I stared at her. "Please don't tell me you're already on a sugar high."

Cassie pulled some empty chocolate wrappers from Bree's pillowcase. "Yup. Same thing happened last year, remember?"

"Oh my gods, last year was epic," Diana exclaimed, "though we never really did find out who the creepy masked guy was."

"I bet it was James," Cassie said. "He's this twenty-year-old video game addict down the street that still lives with his parents and has no social life."

Bree burst into hysterics again. "Greek geek!"

"Merlin, if she's like this just from sugar, I shudder to think of how she'll act when drunk," I said in a British accent.

"Are you girls leaving yet?" Diana's mom asked, walking into the kitchen and rummaging through the pantry.

"We're going right now."

"Be careful," she found a bag of candy and poured it into a bowl. "Look both ways before you cross the street, never go into anyone's house, never eat any candy before you bring it home for inspection, stay in a group, and don't go into the cemetery on Elm Street."

Cassie took a piece of candy corn and popped it into her mouth. "Why not?"

Diana's mom lowered her voice. "They say that several years ago, a girl decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery. Her three friends refused to go with her, so she entered alone. All was fine until...AAAAGGGGHHHH!" She screamed loudly.

We all screamed too.

Laughing, Diana's mom threw away the candy's plastic packaging and carried the bowl towards the front door, calling over her shoulder, "Like I said, don't go into the cemetery."

Have I mentioned that Diana has the awesomest mom in the world?

"Let's tell scary stories," Diana suggested as we walked towards the rich-people part of town (the richer the person, the better candy they give).

"Oooh! I have a really good one!" Cassie cleared her throat. "Once upon a time, there was a dark, dark forest. And in the dark, dark forest was a dark, dark house. In the dark, dark house, there was a dark, dark, room. And in the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark closet. In the dark, dark closet, there was a dark, dark coat. And in the dark, dark coat there was a dark, dark pocket. And in the dark, dark pocket, there was… A PINK JELLY BEAN!"

"How scary," Bree gasped sarcastically. "I can come up with a better one. Once upon a time there was a girl named Bella. She had a boyfriend named Edward. One day, for her own safety, Edward had to leave her. Isn't that scary? And tragic?"

I stared. "First off, that story had no plot whatsoever. Where's the conflict? The climax? Secondly, when Edward left Bella for her own safety, she became depressed. When Harry left Ginny for her own safety, Ginny led a rebellion against Snape's new regime, restarted the D.A. with Luna and Neville, and nearly succeeded at stealing Gryffindor's sword."

"Let's see you try to come up with a better horror story, then!"

"Oh yeah? That shouldn't be too hard."

"I have a real-life horror story," Diana announced loudly to stop our arguing.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Of course. It's not like that's what everyone says."

"In a place not very far away, there was a country. All the leaders spent a lot of money and then the next generation of the country had to pay off the debt of over fifteen trillion dollars. Plus they had to worry about global warming and the oil crisis and unemployment and the cost of health care and education. True story, I swear."

"…"

"I think we should just stick to trick-or-treating."