Seeing Mia's family had put a damper on the Halloween party. Everyone in the Shiba House tried to enjoy the rest of the night, especially once Mike was no longer able to distract Mia and she returned to the party. Knowing what they knew, though, they couldn't enjoy this night.
Nighlok liked to play tricks. With Serrator gone, there was some doubt about who would be this cruel. Time and time again, different teammates approached Kevin with the thought that it was Serrator behind this nasty prank, only for Kevin to remind them Serrator had been destroyed. The deceptive monster had played so many games and had caused so much pain, putting the other Nighlok in the shadows. Now, there was no telling who would be this cruel, or who even knew about Mia's family, how this would hurt her, and who was smart and powerful enough to pull off this kind of prank. The best thought Kevin had was this was Dayu adding insult to injury, but he was almost certain Dayu was too busy chasing Dekker around. She hated Mia, but not enough to go out of her way to hurt her. Mia was no threat to Dayu's potential relationship with Dekker – which was all she cared about. Mia was just the meddling pink Ranger.
But that didn't mean Kevin scratched Dayu's name off from the top of the list, he just wasn't completely certain.
Mia seemed to know there was something wrong. There was no hiding it from her. She always knew. When the others started to turn in for the night, and gave her sympathetic looks, she knew something was up. She wrapped her arms around Kevin's waist and held him close.
"What's going on?"
Kevin didn't like lying to Mia, but he saw no other option, "Nothing. Just a prank gone wrong."
"Kevin…"
"I don't really want to talk about it tonight," Kevin shook his head. He wrapped his arms around Mia and hugged her tight, "Let's just turn in. We'll all feel better in the morning – once the sugar rush wears off."
"Are you sure?" Mia asked, "We can talk about it, if…"
"Talking will just make it worse."
-Samurai-
Emily tried her best to be brave as she was dragged into the Haunted House by Terran and Carrie. Both were excited to experience their first and only Haunted House and had insisted Emily tag along. She had already warned them of her fear but couldn't deny them this experience and was forced to find some courage and dive in head first.
On top of that, though she had admitted she was scared, she wanted to be the brave mother her daughter saw her as. Carrie had been spending a lot of time with Mike due to Emily needing to rest and recover from Kevin's attack, but whenever Carrie and Emily did get time together, Emily saw the pride in her daughter's eyes – and it wasn't misplaced. Emily would do anything for her daughter, including die. She had done so in Carrie's world, and her only regret was the pain it caused Carrie, and she had almost done so in this world again, taking a shot that was meant to kill Carrie.
Reminding herself she fought real monsters daily, and had come face to face with much worse than plastic toys or people dressed up as ghouls, mummies, or demons, Emily made it inside the house. She was scared, but she tried not to let it show.
Still, her screams were the loudest. When something jumped out at her, she jumped a foot in the air, screamed, and punched it. Fortunately, it was just a dummy vampire, designed to jump out when people walked by.
She couldn't be mocked for her screams and scares. Terran and Carrie were also scared, but they were having a good time and a good laugh at Emily.
"Relax, mom. You know we're safe," Carrie chuckled and took Emily's hand. "They just jump out at us. No one's grabbing us or pulling us."
"And they're lucky they aren't," Terran smiled, "Aunt Emily would knock their lights out. Poor ghouls wouldn't know what hit them."
"Don't I get points for just being here?" Emily took a deep breath and then pushed Terran ahead, "C'mon, kid, next room."
"Ladies first," Terran stepped out of her way and gestured for Emily to walk. She shook her head and looked to Carrie.
"Age before beauty," Carrie insisted. Emily grumbled. She hated the kids.
The next room was just as spooky as the last. Flashing lights made all the fake props look twice as scary and Emily wasn't sure where the next scare would come from. Whenever she thought to keep her eye on one thing, something would jump out from behind her. She was going to have nightmares for life. At least Mike would be happy, as he would never be deprived of a nighttime cuddle.
Then again, if this house got any scarier, Emily was going to need more than Mike to chase away her nightmares. Serena and Mia would have to crawl into her bed, as well as the rest of the house. For life. Maybe Mike wouldn't be so happy.
"Care, I hope you know you're not getting any brothers or sisters after tonight," Emily turned around but Terran and Carrie weren't behind her. "Carrie? Terran?"
Despite her mind telling her to move forward and get out, Emily swallowed the lump in the throat and retraced her steps, "Guys, this isn't funny. We need to stick together. You promised!"
She went back to the last room but the kids weren't in sight. Suddenly, the floor disappeared right from under her and Emily fell into the basement.
"Worst Haunted House ever," Emily muttered and picked herself up from the ground. The basement wasn't decorated for Halloween at all, but the concrete walls, the dripping noise in the distance, and the dark made it even more terrifying than the rooms above. "This isn't worth all the candy in the world…"
