"Mack!" Daniel was at the end of her road, walking towards her, though they'd agreed to meet in the town centre. "Hey, don't look like that, I just came here instead because I got bored."

      "Sorry I took so long," Mack rolled her eyes. Then she walked forward to meet him. 

      "You know that's not what I meant." Daniel laughed and turned around, as Mack walked forward, so they were standing side by side. "You ready?" He started walking forwards, quicker now, excited.

      "Of course I am," Mack said sarcastically, "Because who doesn't want to walk the streets looking like an idiot?" She laughed, throwing her head back a little. Grinning at Daniel, she asked, "And you?"

      "You say idiot, I say amazing," Daniel grinned back, he couldn't wait to get his Halloween costume. It was the night before Halloween and he'd never seemed so excited.

      "An amazing?"

      "Ha-ha. Very funny, you know what I meant," Daniel said. "Aren't you even a little excited to get your costume? A chance to be creative? And before you say anything, no, being the class rebel doesn't count." 

      Mack answered with a roll of her eyes. "Let's get this over with."

~ ~ ~

      Daniel and Mack met Anya, Kono and Ralph in the town centre the next day. Daniel was dressed as the Reaper, Anya and Kono were dressed in a two person dragon costume and Ralph was a fairy prince. Mack was dressed as a warrior. "You were right, Dan. Dressing Mack up for Halloween can be good. She finally gets to be the warrior she really is," Ralph laughed. 

      "Finally allowed to carry a weapon," Mack smirked.

      "You know you're still not allowed any real weapons, right?" Daniel asked. 

      Mack just chuckled and looked at him as if he was stupid. Anya backed away from her slightly, as a joke. "One hour left before the party starts," Ralph grinned, changing the topic.

      "One hour left to Trick-Or-Treat!" Daniel grinned. He loved Halloween so much; it was his favourite holiday. He had the biggest sweet tooth Mack had ever known, though he also really enjoyed dressing up, which Mack didn't understand. Daniel had the heart of a 6-year-old inside his teenage body. 

      Anya and Ralph were quick to agree. Kono took her time but replied, "Sure. It's Halloween after all!" Which left Mack trailing after them, dressed as a warrior, dragging a potato sack, on the night of the year she considered her worst.

~ ~ ~

      "That's every house done!" Daniel grinned. "And our sacks are almost full!"

      "Yeah but," Anya complained, "They're not full yet! There's still plenty of room to fill!"

      "Who cares? We had fun, we've been to every house, now we've got a party to get to." Kono didn't care about the sweets. She loved Halloween, but she preferred chocolate to sweets anyway, and not many people seemed to give those out. 

      "There's one house you guys still haven't done," Mack said, confused. 

      "No, pretty sure we've been to all of them," Ralph said, turning away before she could say anything else. Everyone followed suit. They started walking away, assuming she'd follow, until they got to the end of the road. 

      Daniel was the first to turn around and see Mack just stood there, one knee bent, arms folded. "C'mon Mack," he called out, "I know which one you mean but you can't expect us to go in there." When Mack's only response was lifting her eyebrows, he sighed and continued, "Besides, no one's been in there for years. No one will answer the door." He didn't turn back round, like the others did, nor did he walk away. He stood and stared and raised his hand slowly with worried eyes, as if coaxing someone away from the edge of a bridge. 

      "Don't tell me you actually believe all the rumours?" Mack asked, almost laughing.

      "Don't tell us you just disregard them when they've basically been proven true," Ralph said. He didn't ask.  He was terrified of that house. That mansion on the corner. 

      "Let's find out for sure then," Mack suggested and everyone recoiled in horror, fear.

      Kono did not want to go anywhere near that so-called-cursed house and thought Mack was ridiculous for asking them of such a thing. She slipped out from behind Anya, cutting the dragon in two and crossed her arms, "Go on then Mack, you do it. I dare you. And while you're at it, sleep over there too."

      "Fine. I will. See you tomorrow," Mack started towards the house, turning back only to whisper, loud enough for them to hear, "If I survive," before walking away with a laugh. 

      Sure enough, it wasn't even a minute before Mack heard heavy footsteps on the road behind her. Looking smug, she continued towards the house, assuming it was her friends running after her, coming to join her.

      A few paces later, the thudding footsteps stopped. 

      Spinning round, Mack looked for the friends she'd assumed had been there. They weren't. At least, they weren't there anymore. Still convinced it was them, that it was all a joke, she turned, with a roll of the eyes and a short chuckle, to keep walking towards the house on the corner. The mansion said to be haunted, mind-eating and powerful. 

      The footsteps started up again a minute later, when the mansion came into view. She didn't bother looking back to see if her friends were there, they'd only hide again. 

      Tall bronze gates loomed over her, framing the old cream brick. It was a very well-kept building, considering its age. The trees stood tall and defensive in the garden, each branch bare of leaves and supporting a spider's web big enough to hold a dog. The path of stones leading to the large front door was coated in a layer of dust and dirt. Lying off to one side was a small, dusty crater lined with rocks, and next to it, a piece of old rope and a plastic board. A small bronze latch held the gate closed. Nothing more was needed when no one dared come close. 

      Reaching her hand out, her fingers stoked the handle on the latch. One glance upward at the old building, a quick grin and flick of her wrist, and the gates swung wide. She was sure she'd only opened the latch, she hadn't pushed the gates at all, but she didn't think much of it, there were too many other things on her mind. The trees looked not nearly as tall, less harsh, shrouded in lush green leaves. The silver-grey paving stones had been washed down, sparkling in the evening sun. To her right, she noticed a pond, the water reflecting the sunlight beautifully, the goldfish swimming in circles and under the small stone bridge built over them. Just beyond the pond stood a large tree with a blue swing tied with red rope to one of its branches. And on that swing, sat a child. 

      The young girl, her pale blonde hair tied back in pigtails, was dressed in a long blue dress with white lace round the neck, wrists and waist. Two white socks covered her feet, her blue shoes were seated on the grass below the swing. "Welcome to our house. We don't get many visitors."

      "No, living in this house, I don't suppose you do," Mack muttered.

      The front double doors opened. A woman of about fifty with eyes that could turn you to stone stood next to a man of similar age with a scowl that could scare away a bear. "And whom might you claim to be, young miss?" The woman asked, a smile so small it was hardly noticeable. 

      "I'm Mack," she said, unimpressed, "Who are you and can I get in the house?" 

      "Oh, you don't want to do that," the little girl said, walking over, shoes in hand. 

      Mack gave the girl a confused look but the girl only looked scared. 

      The adults welcomed Mack into the house, showing her down the hall. Pictures of people hung on the walls, scared, screaming. What Mack noticed next bothered her greatly, "Why didn't your reflection show in that mirror?" 

      The man spun around, "You're a curious little thing, aren't you?" His rough fingers stroked her neck playfully.

      "You call me a thing one more time and I'll have your head on a stick."

      He chuckled, though his eyes seemed to get darker, and turned around again to walk to the other side of the table in the centre of the next room. "Sit. Eat." He lifted the lid from a silver platter to reveal a tray of sandwiches. "They're good, made them myself from last night's leftovers."

      "Honey! How many times do I have to tell you not to advertise our food as leftovers?" The woman laughed a laugh that did nothing but send a chill down Mack's spine, the lady's voice scratchy and emotionless. "Besides, her next question would be what you had last night, then she'd never eat anything!"

      "What did you have last night, then?" Mack asked, cursing herself when she realised she'd done just as the woman had said. 

      "See!" Pointing a finger at her husband, she muttered, "Don't you dare bring out the goblets of blood next."

      Mack raised an eyebrow, she didn't trust herself to open her mouth without sounding scared. The man simply waved his hand, dismissing the thought, "Never. Those goblets have long since browned and stiffened. Fresh is better." He shot Mack a hungry glance. She stumbled back, turning to run, slamming into the chest of the woman instead, finding fingernails tearing at the skin on her back. 

      A sharp lift of the knee and the woman doubled over, giving Mack chance enough to run. "Quick! This way!" The little girl held the door open.

      The woman then appeared behind her, fiercely grabbing at her shoulders. Mack kicked and stumbled out the front gate to find her friends waiting for her with a policeman, the only policeman who was brave enough to near the mansion. 

      "Come away from there now, Miss," the police officer commanded. "We're going to bring this house down; finally found two bulldozer guys with wits enough to try it."

      "You can't," Mack said, shaking, "There's a family inside!"

      "No one's been in there in the last hundred years 'cept you, Miss."

      Daniel took Mack's hand, "He's right, Mack. Let's get out the way so they can do what they have to do." Anya and Ralph nodded eagerly, desperate for them all to get far away from the wicked mansion. Kono waved them all onward, eager to leave, too. 

      "You don't get it!" Mack cried, "The family! You need to arrest them, they deserve to do time in prison. The dad, I swear the dad's a vampire and the mum, she's got to be a monster, too. The girl's the only sane one, you have to get her to a better family, an orphanage maybe! Something away from them!"

      Daniel was in tears. "She's gone mad. They all go mad."

      Anya whispered almost imperceptibly, "All the rumours were true."

      Shouting, Mack protested, "I'm not going mad! There's a family in there, a family of monsters!"

      Kono spoke sadly yet firmly, as if there was no way to avoid what came next. "You know what happens to the mad." 

      Mack cried, "No! No, I'm not mad!" She threw herself forward and Daniel caught her, "None of them were mad!"

      The policeman nodded to Kono and stared at Mack. "You may be gone, but if you can hear me, we have to do this."

      "I'm not-!" Bang. 

      The policeman put his gun back in his holster and left the children with their friend, dead in a puddle of her own blood, outside the mansion known to drive people insane. Walking away, he passed a furniture shop with mirrors in the windows, but his reflection couldn't be seen in any of them.