Chapter Seven

While Steve and Miranda made love upstairs, the others took their drinks and congregated in the living room. Ben turned on the radio and switched to an oldies station, twisting the volume dial about halfway around. He had been a little worried about how the others would take his taste in music and preference for a lower volume level in an age where loud rock was much more popular. But Joey and Alice didn't seem to mind. They were dancing in timed swaying motions, facing each other, Joey's hands around her, Alice's hands on his shoulders.

Ben and Katie were seated on the living room couch, watching Joey and Alice dance. They were sitting rather close and Ben was fully aware of her proximity, though he tried to pretend otherwise. He had never been so nervous around a girl before, and he had no idea why he was now.

Katie turned to look at him. "Enjoying the party?" she asked, grinning.

Ben grinned back. His smile was normal now; he'd taken out the vampire fangs a few minutes before. "Yeah," he said. "It's going great."

Katie didn't look away. "Does it still bother you?"

Ben didn't need to ask what she meant. "A little," he admitted. "It's unnerving to know that a lot of people died in this house. I didn't tell my parents, though. I didn't want to worry them or ruin Dad's new job because of my stupid worries."

Katie nodded thoughtfully. "That was very kind."

Ben studied her eyes for a moment. Then he confessed, "Someone followed me home from school." He told her about his experience in the drugstore, his encounter with the masked stranger, learning of his neighbor's death, and about searching the house. When he finished, Katie was looking rather startled, but not outright fearful.

"Do you think I'm going crazy?" he asked her.

"No, not at all," she said. "In fact, I think you're handling it all very well, all things considered. I don't blame you at all for being a little freaked out about living here. I would be too. Remember, I always tried to avoid coming down this road because I was so scared of this house. You're very brave to agree to live here and not complain about it."

Ben felt a happy bubble swell inside him.

"Anyway," she said, smiling, "I'm glad you moved to Haddonfield, Ben."

Ben felt that bubble inflate more rapidly as she smiled at him. Gathering his courage, he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly, their lips meshing together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle as Joey and Alice danced away to the music.

…

Upstairs, Steve and Miranda lay together in Ben's bed, their breathing slowly returning to a normal rate.

"We ought to get back downstairs," Miranda murmured, sounding as if the idea wasn't high on her priority list. "Ben will start to wonder what's taking us so long."

Steve sighed. "I guess." Then he grinned. "Though he might be too busy to even notice our absence."

Miranda frowned. "What're you talking about?" she asked.

"Haven't you seen the way Katie keeps looking at him?" Steve said, chuckling. "And Ben's been giving her the eye since he first got here, too. It's only a matter of time, if you ask me."

Miranda smiled. "Aw, that's sweet," she said. "It's about time Katie got a boyfriend."

"And if they get involved with each other downstairs," Steve pointed out, "then chances are good that we have time for…" He trailed off, his fingers moving toward her breasts.

Miranda giggled and swatted at his hand. "Maybe later, babe. Right now we have other business to attend to." She sat up, reaching for her leather jacket. "Let me see it."

Steve sighed in disappointment but obediently reached for the brown paper bag he'd dropped on the floor. He showed Miranda the contents, and she quickly covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. "This is gonna be good," she said.

"Sssh," he said, grinning and standing up. "You don't want to give away the surprise." He emptied the bag and started pulling on the costume.

…

"I'll be right back," Joey said, reluctantly letting go of Alice. "Bathroom."

"Okay," Alice replied. Then she grinned. "Don't take too long, all right?"

Joey smiled. "You got it."

"Bathroom's down the hall on the left," Ben directed, motioning toward the living room door.

"Thanks," Joey said, raising his eyebrows slightly as he observed Ben and Katie seated snuggled on the couch together. Then he left, chuckling silently.

He entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him, turning his back on the entryway and facing the toilet. As he emptied his bladder, he wondered vaguely where Steve and Miranda had gotten to. It shouldn't have taken this long for Steve to put his costume on.

Steve, if you're planning on playing some prank on Ben, I'll kill you, he thought as he finished, zipping his pants and flushing the toilet. That poor boy's got it hard enough already, living in this house. He doesn't need you making things…

The bathroom door was open.

He froze, staring into the mirror above the sink. Behind him, the door was standing wide open. He turned around, frowning at the entry in confusion. He was quite sure he'd shut it firmly when he'd entered.

He remembered how Ben had described the house on his first day of school: "It's just an old house. It creaks a bit and the doors don't shut worth a damn, but other than that, it's perfectly ordinary."

"Old house," he muttered, reaching out to shut it again, making sure this time that the latch clicked in the frame. Then he returned to the sink to wash his hands.

He glanced up in the mirror and felt his heart miss a beat. The door was swinging open again.

He whirled around and stared at the entryway. How in the world…?

Then he huffed. "Steve, you asshole, knock it off!"

He walked up to the threshold and stuck his head out into the hall, looking left and right. There was no one around.

There was an odd sensation brewing in the pit of his stomach and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He ducked back into the bathroom, finished washing his hands, and quickly departed, glancing once over his shoulder as he made his way back to the living room. The hallway was still deserted.

So why did he feel like someone was watching him?

"Hey," Joey said as he reentered the living room, "have Steve and Miranda come back down yet?"

The answer was fairly obvious: Ben, Katie, and Alice were the only people in the room.

Frowning, Ben shook his head. "No, they haven't. What's taking them so long?"

Joey, thinking about the bathroom door, merely shrugged. There was no reason to tell Ben about his experience. It would only cause him further worry, which he didn't need. "No idea," he replied, returning to where Alice stood and taking her into his arms once more, successfully pushing all thought of Steve and the bathroom door out of his mind.

…

"Now go down there and act natural," Steve said, grinning in anticipation. "Tell them I'm taking a piss or something. I'll be down in a bit."

Miranda nodded, kissed him, and left the bedroom, still shaking with silent laughter.

She returned to the living room and said, "Steve's in the bathroom. He'll be down in a second."

Ben nodded, not really listening. He was distracted by Katie and had no room in his head for much else. Katie was grinning, shyly looking sideways at him from time to time, her hand entwined in his. Joey and Alice had started dancing to another song on the radio. It was "Mr. Sandman" again. They were a little closer together than they had been before, and they only had eyes for each other.

So none of them saw the shape step into the doorway.

He was tall and muscular, dressed in plain navy overalls and wearing a plain white mask, void of expression. He was holding a shiny butcher knife in one tightly clenched fist.

Joey was the first to see him. "Holy shit!" she shouted, jumping backward. Alice wheeled around and Ben and Katie twisted in their seat to see the stranger standing there, silent and unmoving. The girls screamed and Ben yelped in terror, leaping up and pulling Katie behind him. Reaching toward the fireplace, he pulled out the long poker he'd used earlier and brandished it.

"Hey, whoa, don't hit me, man, it's just me!"

The hand that wasn't holding the knife reached up and pulled off the mask, and Steve revealed himself, his mouth parted in a broad smile and face red with laughter.

"Goddamn it, Steve!" Ben shouted. "What the hell is this?!"

"Hey, man, it's just a joke," Steve said, still choking with laughter. "It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare."

"You bastard!" Ben said, his voice higher than it had gotten in a long time. "You fucking bastard! Is this what Michael Myers supposedly wears?"

"Yeah," Steve said. "He stole a mechanic's overalls and a mask from the department store here in town that first Halloween. I'm just carrying on the tradition."

Ben let out an inarticulate cry of rage and lifted the poker above his head. "Okay, okay!" Steve added quickly, backtracking a little. "I'll go take it off."

He turned away and left the room, leaving a stony silence behind him. Miranda was standing awkwardly in the corner. She'd laughed with Steve when he'd appeared and revealed himself. But after the unexpected blowout from Ben, she wasn't finding it very funny anymore.

Ben turned to her, his eyes cold, and said, "You were in on it, weren't you?"

Miranda blushed and looked at the floor. She nodded.

Ben said nothing more. He turned away and flopped back down on the sofa, his eyes distant and unseeing.

It looked like the party was over.

…

Upstairs in the bathroom, Steve was clambering out of the coveralls. He faced his reflection in the mirror and asked himself, "Did I really deserve that?"

He studied himself for a moment and then answered his own question. "Okay, maybe I overstepped my boundaries a bit. But I wasn't gonna really stab anybody! Jesus, Ben's more paranoid than I thought."

He shook his head and bent down to pick up his jeans.

He didn't see the shower curtain shift.

He didn't see the white mask appear.

He didn't see the knife rise up behind him.

Steve straightened, pulling his pants up to his waist, and looked back at the mirror. He saw it standing behind him and his eyes widened in shock and fear. His mouth opened, articulating a scream.

The shape rammed the butcher knife into Steve's back, plunging it into his heart and out through his chest, the point dripping blood, protruding an inch from his skin. The scream he'd been about to release died in his throat and came out as a sharp expulsion of air instead. The last thing he saw was the mask's reflection, leering expressionlessly at him as he died, the eyeholes dark and empty, pouring the very essence of evil into his soul.

Then the world went black.

A/N: And so it begins…