Most people had never heard about the town of Ambrose, but from what Sam learned about it from that roadkill driver he met earlier, it seemed like a decent place to check out for trick-or-treating.
Upon arriving in Ambrose, Sam quickly realized there was something not right about this town. It felt more like a graveyard, especially considering there seemed to be nobody around. No people were walking around town, not even children. The only sign of life he saw was a litter of puppies sleeping in the pet shop window. Sam turned his body and looked towards the house up on the hill, seeing a light on in one of the windows. Maybe there was somebody living in this ghost town after all. Heading up towards the house on the hill, Sam noticed there were no Halloween decorations hanging out in the yard, not even a jack-o'-lantern. That was never a good sign for him. He knocked loudly on the door and waited patiently for somebody to answer, hoping the person who lived here at least had a treat to give him.
A man named Bo Sinclair came and answered the door. He was not too bad-looking. In fact, he was quite handsome and seemed to have a charming personality about him, but that didn't matter to a person like Sam. The young trick-or-treater was more concerned about why Mr. Sinclair wasn't wearing a costume or had any Halloween decorations hanging up around his house.
"Can I help you, little guy?" Bo asked him.
Sam looked down at the burlap sack in his right hand and opened it, holding the sack out in front of him as he looked up at Bo, giving him the impression that he wanted something. Preferably chocolate.
"Sorry, kid. I don't have anything", said Bo, shutting the door and locking it from the inside. That was the wrong thing to do.
Sam lowered his burlap sack, hiding his contempt for the horrible man beneath the burlap mask that he wore. If that was the way Bo wanted it, then Sam was going to have to do things the hard way.
Using his telekinetic powers, Sam opened the door and stepped inside to confront Bo, who turned around and looked to see who just barged into his home.
"Hey, you little freak!" Bo shouted. "This is my house! You think you can just come in here without permission?"
Sam said nothing and used his powers to shut the door behind him, wanting nothing more than to kill this man for not following the rules.
Bo acted like what he just saw was completely normal and warned him, "Listen, if you don't get outta here, I'm gonna call the cops."
Sam threw down his burlap sack and folded his arms across his chest like a pouting child, refusing to leave until he got what he wanted.
"All right, you asked for it", said Bo.
Walking into the kitchen, Bo picked up the telephone and pretended to dial 911. The phone hadn't worked in over ten years, but Bo made it look like he was making the call to fool the kid into thinking that he was.
Sam saw right through Bo's little charade and looked down at the burlap sack he threw on the ground. Bending over, he reached down and opened the sack, pulling out a chocolate bar with a bloodied razor blade sticking out at the top. He planned on using it to cut Bo's throat open or maybe stab the chocolate-covered nougat bar into his eyeballs. That would teach him a thing or two about respecting the rules of Halloween.
"Yeah, police. I wanna report somebody breaking into my house", Bo spoke into the phone, pretending to talk to someone on the other end. "Yeah, he's about six years old, maybe seven...No, I don't think he-"
Before he could say another word, Bo felt himself being tackled by the boy, who gave a terrible shriek and tried to stab at him with the weaponized candy bar, but being that he was much more bigger and stronger than the child attacking him, Bo managed to grab the boy and threw the little fucker off his back, slamming him hard onto the floor and not caring if he hurt him or not. Bo seemed to have knocked him out, as the kid laid motionless.
Just then, Bo heard footsteps and turned around to see none other than Vincent, his younger twin brother, enter the room, having heard the commotion from his bedroom upstairs.
"Vincent, take this brat downstairs and get rid of him", said Bo.
The long-haired, masked man looked down at the masked boy in orange pajamas, then he looked at his older twin, shaking his head in defiance, telling him he wouldn't do it. Men and women he was okay with turning into wax sculptures, but not children.
Angered by this, Bo lost control of himself and, without even giving it a minute to think about, hit Vincent hard in the stomach. He thought about going for his brother's face at first, but Vincent's face was damaged enough already from the surgery their father performed that separated the two of them when they were conjoined at birth.
Vincent let out a grunt of pain and fell down to his knees, moaning softly from the impact of Bo's fist. It hurt him really bad, but Bo didn't seem to care. Vincent would have hit him back, but he wasn't like that. Feeling Bo grab him by the front of his jacket, Vincent kept his head down, not wanting to look his older brother in the face.
"If you don't get rid of him, I'll do it myself!" Bo yelled at Vincent, scaring his younger twin, who flinched when he raised his fist and threatened to hit him again. "Is that what you want, huh?"
Vincent shook his head, his long hair swaying with each movement he made.
Taking that as a no, Bo released his hold on Vincent's jacket and straightened himself up as he walked away into the kitchen. Vincent raised his head and stood up on his feet as he watched Bo grab a beer from the fridge, then drew his gaze to the floor again and looked down at the unconscious boy.
Out of fear that Bo would hurt him, Vincent followed his brother's orders and grabbed the boy, picking him up as though he weighed no more than a rag doll, and flung him over his shoulder. Then he grabbed the boy's burlap sack off the floor, and took the boy and his belongings upstairs, finding his way to the secret hatch that led down to an underground tunnel beneath the house, which led down to his atelier below the wax museum.
Dropping the burlap sack on the ground, Vincent laid the boy on the table he used to prep victims before turning them into figures for the museum. Tilting his head in curiosity, Vincent studied the features of the boy's mask, which reminded him of the face of a scarecrow, with its two black button eyes and sown stitched-on smile. Vincent couldn't help but wonder what the boy looked like underneath his burlap mask. Was he deformed, too?
Vincent noticed there was a rope tied around the boy's neck and quickly started to untie it so he could take the boy's mask off and see what he looked like, but just then, the many candles that lit up Vincent's studio blew out, leaving him trapped in a world of blackness for a second. When a fire lit up beneath the cauldron of wax, giving him just light enough to see, Vincent found out too late that the boy was gone.
Panicking, Vincent started looking around his lair to see where the boy might have gone, when all of a sudden, he felt something hit the back of his head. Reaching a hand behind his head, Vincent felt something wet and sticky in his hair, pulling his hand back and realizing it was egg yolk. He heard the sound of a child laughing and turned again, seeing the little boy standing right next to the cot in the corner.
Thinking the boy was making fun of him, Vincent grabbed one of his dragon-handled knives out from his satchel and was about to walk over and attack him, but Sam held up his hand and spoke to him telepathically.
Stop! Sam commanded the masked man, speaking in an innocent, childlike voice. Don't come closer.
Vincent froze in his tracks and lowered his weapon, tilting his head, staring at the boy.
Sam lowered his hand and said to Vincent inside his mind, I didn't come here to kill you or your brother. I came here because it's Halloween. My name is Samhain, but most of my friends know me as Sam.
Vincent had heard that name before. Being something of an expert in mythology and legends, Vincent knew all about Samhain and what he represented. He was an ancient spirit who usually appeared on Halloween night, making sure people followed the rules by handing out treats and respecting the dead.
I know why you hide your face behind your mask, Vincent, Sam continued. You hide behind it because of the way you look underneath. In a way, you and I are both the same.
Vincent sheathed his dragon knife into his satchel and signed to the boy, 'I'm nothing like you!'
Of course not, Sam told him. But tonight is still Halloween. You know all about me, you know what I want, and I am not leaving here until I get what I want. So, how do we resolve this little dilemma?
A few minutes later, Vincent came back upstairs through the hatch, carrying a bundle over his shoulder, wrapped in an old, blood-stained pillowcase. He went to take the load outside to his truck and went back inside to let Bo know the dark deed he asked him to do had been done.
"Good", said Bo. "Last thing we need is some snot-nosed, little shit fucking around with our town. Where the hell he come from, anyway?"
Vincent shrugged innocently, not having the faintest idea himself.
When Bo walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs to his room for the night, Vincent grabbed something from off the counter and stuffed it into his pocket before he went to the living room and walked out the front door.
The bundle in the back of his truck starting moving, and pretty soon, Sam came crawling out of the pillowcase, having escaped with Vincent's help. Sure, Sam could have used his powers and easily vanish into thin air, but Vincent wanted to fool Bo into thinking Sam was dead. His own idea of a trick. It especially helped that Vincent was willing to make Sam an offer, so long as he cooperated. Reaching into his pocket, Vincent pulled out an apple and presented it to Sam, the only thing he could think of to offer him for a treat.
Sam tilted his head, regarding the apple before grabbing it from Vincent's hand. The man smiled behind his mask, as Sam dropped the apple into his burlap sack and signed to Vincent, 'Thank you'.
'You're welcome', Vincent signed to him. 'Happy Halloween.'
Satisfied with the masked man's offering in order to avoid bloodshed, Sam jumped down from the back of Vincent's truck and walked away from the Sinclair house, wondering what the next town he visited would be like.