Becky and I eagerly waited our turn. We were last in line, and as Charlie Brown and a witch who were in front of us stepped away with their goods, the door closed. I looked at the S-shaped knocker and wondered if it was the initial of the new owner. When I peered closer, I saw it was a serpent with emerald eyes. I rapped it gently, hoping the Gothic guy would answer. I wanted to ask him if he was the one in the road the other night, and if so, what he had been doing? Most people got their exercise at the gym, not on spooky country roads in the dead of night. But no one answered.
"Let's go," Becky suggested nervously.
"No, we waited forever for this! I'm not turning back until I get some candy. He owes us!"
"I'm tired. We've been out all night. It's probably just some creepy old guy who wants to go to bed. And I do, too."
"We can't leave now."
"I'm going home, Raven."
"I can't believe you're so chicken. C'mon, I thought we were best friends." "We are. But it's late."
"Okay, okay. I'll call you tomorrow and tell you all about Mister Creepy."
There were enough treaters walking around that I wasn't afraid for mousy Becky. She'd get home safe. But would I?
I stared at the serpent knocker and wondered what stood behind the huge wooden door. Maybe the new owner would pull me inside and hold me captive in his haunted mansion. I could only hope!
I knocked again and waited. And waited.
I knocked again. I banged and banged and banged. My hand was starting to hurt. I dashed around to the side, then I heard the locks coming unlatched and the creaky door open. I quickly ran back up the front steps. And there he was, standing before me: Creepy Man.
He was tall and skinny, his face and hands pale as snow, in sharp contrast to his dark butler's uniform. He had no hair, not like he'd lost it, but like he'd never had any, and bulging green monster eyes. He looked like he had been alive for centuries. I loved him.
"We have no more candy, miss," he said in a deep foreign accent as he peered down at me.
"Really? But you must have something. Some peanut-butter twists? A piece of toast?"
He opened the door, no further than necessary. I couldn't see anything behind him. What did the place look like inside? How had it changed since I had snuck in four years before? And who were "we," and did they look creepy, too? We could all be friends. I felt someone watching, looming, and I tried to step past the doorway.
"Who else lives here?" I asked boldly. "Do you have a son?"
"I don't have any children, miss. And I'm sorry, but we don't have a crumb left." He started to shut the door. "Wait!" I blurted out and blocked the door open with my shoe. I reached into my pumpkin basket and pulled out a Snickers and a spider ring. "I'd like to welcome you to the neighborhood. This is my favorite candy and my favorite Halloween treat. I hope you like them, too."
He almost didn't smile. But then as I placed the treats in his spidery snow-white fingers, he smiled a creaky, crackly, skinny- toothed smile. Even his bulging eyes seemed to twinkle.
"See you!" I said, dancing down the steps.
I had met the creepy man! Everyone in town could say they had gotten candy from him, but who else could say they had given him a treat?
I spun around on the front lawn and looked back at the grand Mansion. I saw a shadowy figure watching from the attic window. Was it Gothic Guy? I quickly stopped spinning and stared back, but there wasn't anyone there, just the ruffle of a dark curtain.
I had just passed through the iron gate when a ghoulish vampire in a red Camaro drove up to the curb.
"Want a ride, little girl?" Trevor asked. Matt the Farmer sat comfortably behind the wheel.
"My mother told me not to talk to strangers," I said, taking a difficult bite of a Mary Jane. I was not in the mood for a Trevor confrontation.
"I'm not a stranger, babe. Aren't you too old to be trick-or- treating?"
"Aren't you too old to be toilet-papering the town?"
Trevor got out of the car and came over to me. He looked particularly sexy. Of course, I find all vampires sexy, even fake ones.
"What are you supposed to be?" he asked. "I'm dressed up as a freak, can't you tell?"
He was trying to be cool but was stepping on himself. I was the only girl that had said no to him. The only girl in town he could never have. I had always been a mystery because of the way I dressed and behaved, and now I was standing before him dressed as his perfect dream girl.