The night of all hallow's eve in the land of Santa Monica, and the kids who celebrate it throughout the years.

...

October 31st, 1978.

They hadn't been out since Sunday night when they decided last second to finally catch that horrific Halloween movie everyone else had been raving about. It scared the wits out of Jack and Janet, but Chrissy—poor, poor Chrissy, she's had nightmares for the past two nights.

"Chrissy, honey, the boogeyman isn't real. Michael Myers isn't real. The man you claim you saw stalking behind that shrub earlier wasn't real either."

"Yes he was—he had, glowing, meaty eyes!"

"M-meaty? Do you mean 'beady'?"

Chrissy paused and mentally backtracked what series of thoughts she had just hurtled through.

"Uh...yeah, beady. I think I definitely meant beady. But my point! Stands!"

Janet didn't waste another moment not rolling her eyes. Her signature style, of course.

"You don't think my eyes are actually glowy and meaty, do ya?" Went Jack's voice as he came bounding out of the kitchen, shoulders swaying in controlled rhythm, certainly feeling suave and majestical in his costume.

The trio is going to a Halloween party. And because of that, they had to make the most of it and put together clever, or at least fun, creative outfits.

Jack, earlier in the day, went walking down the street to the 99-cent store and bought a single dollar's worth of plastic fangs and a small vile of fake blood. He begged Chrissy to use some of her white setting powder, and he begged Janet for her black eyeliner and old maroon, satin neck scarf. It was put together last second, sure, but Jack made it work. A dark, charming vampire from the early 20th century.

On the other hand, Janet's wasn't nearly as last second, but the poor choice of the wrong size didn't make for the image the brunette had in mind. She bore an achingly oversized pumpkin costume, that truly swallowed her entire frame. Janet could barely sit in one comfortable position on the couch, having to move and maneuver every other moment. At least her makeup was cute and her hair looked perfect.

On the other, other hand, we have Chrissy, who didn't procrastinate much and looks good. The testament of her entire being—a literal Angel with a long virgin white dress, soft and frilly wings, and a golden halo headband. Chrissy looked pure and beautiful. Janet definitely figured she will have a long night fending off horny grown men who will undoubtedly approach the air-headed blonde.

"So, it was you in the shrub?" Janet looked at Jack and lowered her voice into a threatening register. "She was so terrified she almost didn't agree to come out tonight, you ass."

"I know! And I'm sorry Chrissy, I'm dearly sorry." His eyes panned to the Angel sitting next to Janet, blue globes shining and pleading. When Chrissy finally nodded an understanding and thus the apology finally accepted, Jack snapped his attention back to the great pumpkin Janet. "Now can we go to the party?"

Janet didn't scoff at his question, more so than at the actual way he said it, which was in a monotone voice—a drastic change from his previous regretful tone mere moments ago. But then Chrissy started to whine, too.

"Yeah, Janet. What are we even waiting for!" She said as if she wasn't just contemplating staying home for the rest of the night. Regardless if she and the other two had already donned their costumes and had been sitting around the apartment.

"Well, besides you and your paranoia, we're waiting for Larry. Did we forget he's the only one who knows where the party actually is?" Janet reminded the pair, both realizing she was right, and in fact, that Larry was the one to even invite them out to this specific bash, anyway.

But just like that, their front door received a series of rhythmic drumming, insinuating that someone they know and love has at last arrived.

"That must be the Casanova himself," Jack made great strides to allow their upstairs neighbor in. He swung the door open and Larry was revealed, which he had to take a good look at. A cheap-looking pirate costume. "Lar! What are we? Captain Hook?"

"More like Captain Crunch." The girls giggled to each other over Janet's teasing comment, neither noticing Larry's deadpan expression. Choosing to ignore them, the pirate turned back to Jack and appraised his look in return.

"You a funeral director or something, Jack?" Larry raised an eyebrow and smirked in amusement at Jack's sudden fumbling confidence, clearly caught off guard by his best friend's snide remark. Then he's reminded of his farce fangs snugged in his pocket. He didn't plan on putting them in until they arrived at the party, but now was a good time to reestablish his assurance.

"No, no, take a look at this, matey," he said, turning around from the other three to face the window and put in his plastic vampy teeth. He swished back around, fangs in place, nostrils flared, and eyes mischievously dark. "I've come to suck your blood, bla bla bla!"

Larry laughed good-naturedly at the taller man's fairly poor impression. After a moment of joking about and catching up, the foursome finally decided to collect themselves and leave apartment 201.

Before they even reached the bottom landing of the stairs, they found their landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Roper, squabbling over a basket of candy. The older couple didn't seem to care that there were children standing silently in front of them, waiting awkwardly for their treats. Thankfully, Mrs. Roper seemingly wins whatever argument they conjured up, and proceeds to give a large handful of candy to each eager child.

"Have a happy Halloween, cherubs!" Mrs. Roper calls after the running cheering kids, donning a beautiful costume of her own. She had on an impressive Queen of Hearts getup; a long bright maroon dress and a sparkling crown with heart-shaped designs.

"Cherubs? They're hooligans, Helen," Mr. Roper piped in, in his usual disinterested drawl. "If we didn't just now give them nearly all of our candy, they would've sabotaged our door handle or something."

Surprisingly, with Mrs. Roper's elegant attire, her husband complimented her with a formal blue suit and tie. Though, the tie had seemingly a theme of its own, sporting the American flag design. That could only mean one thing.

"Oh, keep your slacks on, Mr. President. The night's ending and we have to give the rest of this candy away. There's absolutely no chance I'm keeping these around the house for the next week, catching you with a snickers bar hanging out of your mouth in every dark corner."

"It's not my fault barely any of those juveniles showed up this year."

"It most certainly is! Look at the decorations, Stanley, any person with eyes can see how carelessly you tossed them up. No one likes a grumpy wart to hand them treats—oh, hi kids! Going out tonight, are we?" Mrs. Roper eventually noticed them lurking by the bottom of the stairs, undoubtedly having eavesdropped on whatever show the couple displayed then.

"Just to a small get-together, Mrs. Roper. Nothing too adventurous." Jack supplied the couple. Mrs. Roper, with a smile, nodded her head and took a good look at everyone's ensemble. Mr. Roper inched in and out of his open doorway, clearly debating if he should converse with his tenants at all, unlike his wife.

"You all look wonderful! Janet, dear, are you in there?" The redhead smoothed a hand down the brunette's arm, poking a finger with the other to try and locate Janet's hidden torso. The younger woman laughed and squirmed a bit in her spot, obviously fairly ticklish.

"It's only my luck that I accidentally picked out the largest size," Janet explained, lifting her arms into a T-pose. This showcased just how long the orange fabric stretched downward and outward; the head, neck, arms, shins, and feet were her only visible body parts.

"Aw, that's okay Jan, you look utterly gourd-geous." Larry used a mocking tone with that one, which caused Jack to playfully shove his best friend a little, almost as a warning.

"Watch it, Lar. You're looking a little crafty yourself." Defended the vampire, punctuating that with a sneer towards Larry. Janet performed a roll of her eyes again, trying to be annoyed with the display of male bravado, but it still didn't quite mask the hint of blush that had risen to her cheeks.

The group collectively complimented Mr. and Mrs. Roper's costumes, bid them good night, and then proceeded to pile into Larry's used car.

"Welcome aboard S.S. Dallas," Larry announced, pulling down an eyepatch he previously had pushed up against his hairline.

"Uh, excuse me, pirate Pete, but what's that you're doing? Putting on an eyepatch just before driving us out onto the busy roads?" Jack pointed out from the passenger seat.

"Larry, come on, you're already a bad driver, we don't need you impairing your vision, too." Janet chimed in from the backseat, handing over her chapstick to Chrissy who had asked for it just before sliding into the seats of the car.

"Pals, relax. I'm not your typical, run-of-the-mill, goofy upstairs neighbor," he started, turning the car engine on and shifting the gear into drive. "I'm your faithful, dependable pirate. And this pirate knows how to steer his ship."

And with that, he flattened the gas pedal and floored it right into the murky streets of Santa Monica.

After a short stop at the liquor store, the gang made it to the apartment building that housed the raging Halloween spectacular (what Larry called it). Cars filled up along the street, and lots of people in costumes, or lack thereof, roamed around on the lawn and sidewalk. Larry led the trio through the swarm of happy, singing (and inebriated) partygoers, up to the entrance of the gated complex.

"Who's party is this, again? Hugh Hefner's?" Jack quipped, eyeing some passing by women and their unbelievably short skirts.

Larry snorted. "God, I pray every night to that deity. But no, this is my buddy's bash, the one I work with? I told you about Piney."

"Piney? Larry, this isn't going to be one of those...key parties, is it?" The slight tremor in Janet's voice had given enough reason for Chrissy to loop her arm around her shorter roommates, suddenly very aware and on guard of the strangers that frolicked about.

But Larry merely laughed again. He attempted to blanket their anxieties but to no avail. Janet and Chrissy didn't end up having the best time, which wasn't to anyone's surprise. Jack had the better time of the 3, but no better than Larry the larper.

For most of the duration, the girls kept themselves well hidden near a dark corner of the prominent party floor. Apparently, the event really did carry over to the rest of the complex; with every unit a revolving door of rowdy young adults, going in and going out. It's shocking to the two women that the cops hadn't been contacted to regulate this...horror of a mess.

Jack had regularly disappeared and then reappeared just to check in on them, sometimes while holding the waist of an unknown giggly girl (a different one every time), and other times holding a half-empty cup of whatever it was they were serving; which was everything and anything. Apparently.

It had seemed as though that would be the rest of the night: just Janet and Chrissy finding decent places to sit or stand, Jack sporadically popping in with them to say hi, and Larry literally being nowhere in sight.

Although craving for something—anything—interesting to happen, Janet, unfortunately, received her wish in the form of an attractive couple sauntering right up to her and Chrissy. The man, all smiles and all teeth wore a dark blue (almost black), fairly wrinkled striped suit and tie. The woman, eyes shimmering and round, wearing a complimenting black, long dress, not as wrinkled. The dress was tight on her slim frame. Morticia and Gomez Addams, she could guess. Festive.

"Hi cuties," the woman said in a honey-like voice, soft and sultry. It definitely felt fabricated just for their ears. "Me and my man really dig your looks."

First, they gave an interesting glance to Chrissy, grinning at her pretty appearance. Then, they turned to Janet. Their grins grew, chuckling in amusement.

"You're both adorable," the man said, not as soft, not as sultry, but just as intimidating.

The girls stared at them, but eventually like muscle memory, Chrissy formed her signature pristine smile, polite and inviting. Janet, contrarily, grimaced. But only for a moment. Then she switched, forcing a smile, not polite, not good by any means, but enough to not deter these strangers from their reeling gazes. Perhaps they ignored her initial reaction altogether or perhaps they never even noticed it in the first place.

"I'm Carrie. This is Doug. We're friends of friends of Piney's. Do you know him?"

"Not at all. We're here on behalf of our friend who's his friend," Chrissy explained. "How do you know his friends?" She continued, making further conversation despite Janet's vibrating alarm coursing through her body and attempting to warn and jump into Chrissy's.

"We, uh, know them from school," the man cut in before the woman spoke before him. "So, what's say we ask you the same thing? You girls in school?"

Janet laughed for the first time in a while. Genuinely or not, she tilted her head and threw a look at Chrissy. Not that the blonde figured out what the other was trying to convey, which was how incredible these two sounded.

"I think we're both a little over the hill for third-period Algebra."

"Ooh," cooed the Morticia-esque woman, who doesn't look representative enough of a young schoolmate herself. She glanced at Doug and he visibly nodded. "We like that. The older, the sexier, the better."

And that's the final and reddest flag.

Janet clamped her hand over Chrissy's, already opening her mouth to paint an excuse to leave immediately, before even having conjured any actual thoughts along those lines. Her blonde roommate was slower on the uptake, of course, but soon she was nodding along and following Janet's lead.

"You're both seemingly very kind and very, uh, welcoming, but we do need to be on our way," the pumpkin florist insisted, pulling Chrissy with her and around this couple. "Our roommate surely is looking for us and we already agreed to meet him somewhere...around here."

But at the sound of "him" the two swingers have a sweeping dawn of understanding, or more so misunderstanding.

"Oooooh, you guys are already spoken for, huh," Carrie concluded, smile still glowing and crooked. Her man whistled rather pervertedly, a belly laugh bubbling out of him as well.

"He is one lucky son-of-a-bitch! Tell him if he ever wants a new set to party with, that he can come looking for Doug and Carrie."

The shocked roommates didn't bother to turn back around to properly say goodbye as they hurried out of the general vicinity, finding their chances better outside of the apartment and waiting by Larry's parked car. They had enough of this particular soirée. They had left so quickly and abruptly that they didn't bother to actually find their third roommate. Jack, as far as they knew, remained inside and with whoever he happened to be with at that very moment. Whether a blonde or a redhead or even a girl in a wig, they somehow figured they'd be waiting impatiently for a while.

Very impatiently.

"I think I'm going to go back inside and look for Jack. And Larry, for that matter." Janet decided. She kept her gaze on the fairly bustling crowd of booze-inducing twenty-somethings.

"But Janet," Chrissy leaped from her slouch against the thunderbird. "Janet, this party's outrageous. Even the partiers are party-pooped," she gestured to some passed-out people, and one or two retching ones. "How're you gonna find them? And you shouldn't go alone."

"Honey, we have to. I don't want to wait around for another hour or two. We want to go home, right, so I'll go and I'll find them. Plus, I'm the only one of us who won't get so distracted along the way. No offense, Chrissy."

"Nah, you're right. So I'll wait here?"

"You'll be okay, yeah? Just don't talk to anybody and please, for the love of God, stay. here. I don't want a horror movie plot point where you're not around when we come back."

Chrissy accepted that requested direction and stayed put next to the car. She watched, a bit apprehensively, as Janet trudged back into the complex, steps heavy and practically exhausted.

Despite not exactly having a strenuous night, the brunette did suddenly feel tired and wound down. Unexpected key parties can do that to a person. At least, to a Janet and to a Chrissy. She climbed the stairs, still alive with sitting and standing drunks. More people were coming down while she was going up, just her luck really, as they began to unconsciously and slightly shove her to the side of the railing. Thankfully, truly, her ridiculous costume kept her body from actually being touched and prodded. And sure, tight up against the railing is never a great place to be, but again, her thick pumpkin layer protected her from any chance of rail bruising.

Eventually, she made it to the third floor. For a moment, she thought she'd forgotten the number of the apartment, but how could she forget the apartment still filing in and filing out more bodies? Honestly, Janet's never seen so many inebriated people in one place. She doesn't think she likes it very much, either.

Once she reentered the apartment for hopefully the last time, she started scanning the loud, pulsating room for Jack and Larry.

"Back again so soon?" A familiar soft voice uttered near her ear. Janet jumped visibly, honestly sorry she ever did come back into the building. And as she feared, she turned her head to find the very two people she and Chrissy had just escaped and were hoping to avoid for the rest of the night. Well, thankfully Chrissy isn't anywhere close by for them to chat up and take away.

"I'm just- I'm just looking for someone," she said and turned back to face the crowd.

"Well, who's someone? Maybe we can help you." The man, Doug, suggested. He tried to offer her a second cup of whatever it was he had held in his second hand (she hadn't noticed before he was holding two).

"No thanks, no thanks," she answered.

"That's okay, it's not that strong anyways," Carrie commented and smiled, still much unaware of the uncomfortable effect they've been having on the short brunette.

"No, I know, it's just- I don't drink. I mean, I don't drink much. Thank you, however," There was absolutely no chance she was going to accept a drink that she hadn't made, or seen poured herself. "But really, I should be finding Jack." As soon as she said it, she mentally cursed herself for revealing his name to them.

"Jack? I think I know a Jack here. Let us help you. Doug can look for him that way, and you and I can look this way." Her tone suggested matter-a-factly, attaching herself to Janet's arm.

"No, really, I don't want to trouble you both, I'm sure I can find him in no time. All I have to do is yell something negative about Julia Child or something and he'll come running, aha." Janet awkwardly laughed, still attempting to shake these two...leeches.

"You're hard to convince, aren't you? Like a real challenge," she threw a look to her man. "isn't that right Doug, baby?"

"That's right, sweet cheeks. We like a little challenge. By the way, where's your pretty friend? Hot blonde?"

"She's...around. Which reminds me, by the way, I should be getting back to her. She's not someone who likes to be alone."

"Heh, just point the way and she won't have to be alone for the rest of the party if she wants."

Janet's eyes grew wider at the thought of them being anywhere near Chrissy at that time, so once again, she tried to shake them off, hopefully losing them in the throng of partiers. And like a true blessing, prayers answered and heavens opening before her, the person she was just looking for spotted the petite pumpkin and made his way over to her.

"Being friendly, Jan?" He chortled, but soon his face grew serious at the panicked state of Janet. "Being held hostage, Jan?" He said, voice lowered only meant for her to hear.

"We need to leave. Now." Was all she said.

Jack nodded and turned his head to glance around. Looking for Larry, no doubt.

"You the Jack she's been rambling about? Nice vamp getup."

The vamp in question looked the two strangers up and down, decided he didn't like the looks of them and grabbed Janet's hand.

"Yeah, thanks, but this is no getup."

Carrie's and Doug's brows shot up practically to their hairline, not being given the chance to respond as Jack and Janet leave them behind and confused. Still holding on tightly, Jack tugged the shorter one along, actually being mindful and careful to not pull her so hard. Once they believed they were in the clear, they paused in a hallway where Janet guessed the bathroom and bedrooms lay.

"Hey, um they weren't trying to-"

"Yes. Yes, they were, and I told Larry I didn't want any part in this if this was what the party was going to be. And it is!" She huffed and puffed but eventually simmered down, casting a forlorn look toward the fairly scuffed floor.

Jack looked at her, maybe just as forlorn and helpless. To be honest, Jack had no idea this party was what Janet said it was, but he should have known better—he should have known Larry. And at the thought of the greaseball of a man, he tensed and cursed him inwardly. But right now he needed to comfort his roommate.

"I'm really sorry, Janet. If I would've known- I mean, I guess I should've known, but, just in case Larry's a stubborn peg, just know that I'm sorry."

Janet looked up from the floor and back at him, crinkled brows smoothing out and a small smile manifested.

"Thanks, Jack. I can always count on you."

He smiled back and reached for her hand again. "Let's get that mangy pirate and get the hell out of here. Where's Chrissy, by the way?"

"I left her by the car. Don't worry, I told her to stay put no matter what."

"No matter what?"

"...we need to get back as soon as possible."

...

...hi... I started this piece literally two years ago, but I didn't work on it (for more than two days) until this year lol. Chapter two WILL be coming! Please please enjoy, and happy halloween/happy October/Happy fall! :D