Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Family, Humor

Rating: M for sexual situations and language

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: Since this chapter is so short I'll be posting the next one later today so if anyone wants to read that look out for it later!

A/N #2: It was great to get feedback for the last chapter, so I'll go ahead and get my thank yous started! Guest (Really nice that you thought the prologue was a nice start!),

TORONTOSUN (I was glad reading you thought the prologue was a very good start to this new story!) and

Mb (Really pleased to see you thought the chapter was a sweet beginning to the story. And I'm lad you enjoyed Derek there to help their dance teacher with what Julia and Peter are going to dance during the concert. I'm really happy you thought their hike was a lovely walk on the trails. I'm not surprised the weather is like that in the northeast, annoying I can imagine but not surprised. Great you thought the birthday party for Maddy was nice, I figured it'd be good to show she was making new friends after moving from D.C. You're welcome for the first half of the chapter! Not surprised you thought it was good that Julia and Mari made it through the haunted house, lol. And I'm not a fan of them either, but yeah, you have to admire people that like them and just keep going to them, lol. Nice to see you enjoy mazes and hayrides, I've never really done either of them, but they would be fun I imagine. So happy you enjoyed their memories from the first birthdays they celebrated with each other and their gifts along with their thoughts about one another since I had hoped that would work! Had to laugh at how you said then boom, but it definitely described as you said Castle and Beckett enjoying the gift of each other in their passion and love. You're welcome for sharing the second half of the chapter!).

Thanks so much for the reviews, I enjoyed reading them and appreciate the time taken to write them out and send them my way!

A/N #3: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Thriller written by Rod Temperton, from the Michael Jackson album of the same name.

Closing In On Every Side

"This place is so creepy."

"I know, but I've never really been here and the guys said it was awesome," the man said to his wife's annoyed tone. He squeezed her hand since he could hear she was still unsettled after the last scare they'd gone through and said, "Do you want to leave; there's an exit over here."

"Would you be mad if we did?" she asked. When her husband shook his head, she breathed out and told him, "Let's go."

Though he had wanted to see the other rooms, the man turned to leave when a painting was dropping near them, and an actor was growling. He yelled in shock as his wife screamed and they were going down the hall in their fear. When they were finally able to stop, they leaned against a wall that didn't have anything he could see might drop to scare them, and said, "Sorry."

"No… I guess we we'll just go until we find the next exit," the woman replied, shaking her head. She let her husband take her hand to lead her down the hallway and they found there were rooms to go through though they weren't forced to. "Why did they do that?" she asked her husband.

"I don't know," he replied quickly. He looked down the rest of the hallway and said, "I guess we could go out this way."

"I hope you're right," she replied before jumping with him when there was a scream from the room they were near. "Wait-" she started to say as her husband was going to the doorway near them. She followed him; reluctantly; and then peered into the room while he was doing to find that there was a group that had passed them in the hallway being chased briefly by an actor dressed as a butcher with a fake butcher's knife in their hands. She moved away from the doorway, shuddering in fear at the sight though she knew it wasn't real. She motioned to her husband; across from her; trying to tell him to join her so they could go down the hall and leave. But he seemed to be fixated on the scene inside and she had to wait for another group to go in so she could rush over to him. "Let's go," she hissed to him, tugging him after her.

"I'm sorry," he said apologetically. "I was watching the actor; they did a really good job." He was intending to get them past the next room, but they were suddenly pulled in by a female actor there before he could stop her.

"Come play with me," the actor was saying in a child-like voice.

"We… okay," the man said, getting the feeling he needed to go along with her.

"Play dollies with me," the actor said, gesturing to the woman.

The wife bit back a whimper of fear because she knew it wasn't going to end well but she knew she couldn't leave her husband there. She crouched down as her husband was on his knees, and she watched the actor going to a rocking chair with stuffed animals on it before she was pulling off the head of a teddy bear.

"Play forever!" the actress was screaming as she held out the head that had a knife on the other side.

Reaching for her husband, pulling at his shirt sleeve, the woman was going to head out to the doorway when a panel slid in the way, and they were turning around to another doorway that had suddenly appeared as a panel slid away from it. "I can't believe you!" she said when the panel went back into the doorway behind them, smacking his arm.

"I got caught up," the husband said, sighing. "I swear I won't do it again," he told her.

"I hope not," she replied before they were looking around the room.

"I think it's dead space," the husband said, going around the walls.

"What're you doing?" she asked him while she watched him.

"Seeing if there's a door to push," he replied. He glanced back at his wife when she didn't respond to him and told her, "So we can leave; not go to the next room."

"How are you going to be so sure about that?" she said in frustration.

"Because they wouldn't put a panel to where they come in and out while the house isn't being used," the man replied.

"Oh," she replied, realizing he made a point about that. She was watching him check each wall carefully before he was pressing on a wooden panel and the door opened just as she was gasping and whirling around while a panel was coming up.

"Come on," he told his wife as she looked at him with wide eyes. He went over to her and took her hand before they were heading inside the smaller room. "There's another door, it looks like a regular one," he told her reassuringly. "Let's go!" He turned to run to the door to show her it was okay when he slammed onto the ground hard. He heard his wife crying out his name before he was pushing himself up.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked tearfully.

"Yeah," the man said, breathing out a little hard. "I almost got the wind knocked out of me." He reached into his pocket, though they had been told to turn their phones off going into the haunted attraction. It took a moment for his to start up but as soon as it had he turned on the flashlight app he had and winced when his wife screamed at the body leaning against the wall in front of them. "Don't worry," he told her.

"It's real!" the woman said nearly tearfully since it looked like it was a mummy.

Shaking his head, the man walked up to it and said, "It weighs a hundred pounds and they put some planks of wood on it," pointing them out because they'd fallen as he had. He then smiled and said, "But I get why they didn't use it out in the house, the arm is half off. I bet if I push it, it'll fall off."

Rolling her eyes, the woman said, "Let's just-" before her husband pretended to shake the mummy's hand and the arm fell off.

Backing up as he gagged, the man threw it against the wall and then rushed with his wife over to the door while she was screaming repeatedly.

In the room left behind, the mummy remained against the wall sans an arm though the bone at the shoulder was white and shining in the moonlight pouring in.