Tendrils of mist swirled about the air. Flashing lights and delighted squeals and screams would occasionally break its eerie grip on the world, but the darkness and silence would immediately return once they disappeared.
Only a few porch lights remained lit, as the night was almost over. Daryl, a very excited child at the age of five, eagerly peered down into his plastic pumpkin to see what goodies awaited him for when he would return home. His long sheet of a ghost costume lowered his visibility, causing him to stumble quite often when he would make this excited survey of his treasures.
Daryl looked up at his mother excitedly. She chuckled and rubbed his head, his ghost costume falling to the ground as a result. Daryl laughed and picked the costume back up off the ground, throwing it over his shoulder as they made their way home.
An old, shabby home awaited them at the end of a short, well-worn driveway. Times had been tough since Daryl's dad had left. Daryl could not remember his father. He did not know his name; he only knew that he didn't love him like his mother did.
  His mother, Susan, had done her best to try and support him as best as she could, often sacrificing her own chance to eat so that her son would get a meal, and she did her best to try and find a job to help keep them going, but her luck was nonexistent. Christmas offered no gifts, so Halloween was Daryl's favorite holiday. Candy is free on Halloween; gifts are not. Not really.
He loved having a chance to get plenty of sweets without fear of his mother spending too much. Daryl was different from other kids this way; his mother had taught him to be aware of money. He was always careful about what he asked for, as he knew that nothing came free. 
Nonetheless, he still felt like his mom was the best mom in the whole world. Whenever he was bullied, his mother would always comfort him and tell him that it would be okay. She would hold his hand when he was scared and read him bedtime stories every night, taking him on adventures to lands untold—lands filled with riches and fantastical creatures of all shapes and sizes.
He smiled as she opened the door and allowed him inside. The lights no longer came on, as they could not afford the electricity bill. The smell of mold and mildew was thick in the air, making Daryl cough upon entering the room.
"Alright, let's see what you got," Susan said cheerily to her son.
They sat out on their filthy carpet and began to sort through the candy. Daryl made sure to save all the peanut butter cups for his mom; he knew that they were her favorite. He piled them all up and gave them to her, a smile spreading across her face as she realized his intent.
"Daryl, that's so sweet!" his mother exclaimed.
"No problem, Mommy," Daryl yawned. "Mommy, I'm going to go to bed."
"Okay, darling. I get it. It is rather late; way past your bedtime. Maybe, since tomorrow is Saturday, we can go for a walk at the park. You game?" she asked.
"Yeah, okay. I don't think I need a bedtime story tonight. I'm too tired," Daryl confessed.
"No problem, kiddo. I'm going to stay up to clean for a bit. Is that alright?" she asked.
"Sure," Daryl replied sleepily.
He stumbled groggily toward his small, lightless room. He had no mattress, so he had a small section of blankets and cushions piled high in a corner of his room. He grabbed his scrap of a teddy bear and buried himself amongst the covers.
A wash of cold air hit his back and goose-bumps formed all up and down his arms and legs, and he got the feeling he was being watched. Slowly, his fears were assuaged by his exhaustion, and he drifted off to sleep.
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Daryl woke up with a fright. Sweat soaked his back and chest; his body was shaking with fear. He heard the sounds of his mother screaming in the other room. He tried to call out, but found that something was clenching his throat.
He looked up to see a masked figure attempting to choke him. Daryl tried to break free of the man's grasp, but found that his hands were far too tightly clenched about his neck for him to breathe.
"What are they here for? Mom doesn't have anything valuable! What are they here for?!"
"No! Please, don't!" Susan screamed from the other room.
The masked figure continued to grip at his throat, and Daryl felt the world slowly fade to black. Suddenly, a pair of sharp claws plunged their way through the perpetrator's throat. A slight gasping, gurgling noise erupted from his mouth as the man fell backward, revealing Daryl's strange savior.
A dark, looming figure with white, glowing eyes stood tall over Daryl, long fangs dripping with what looked like venom. Daryl tried to scream, but his throat was still clenched nearly shut.
"Shh. Don't move. I'll be right back. You're mother is dead. I must tend to these tricksters at once. No worries, child. I shall destroy them in no time. Shhh..." the figure hissed.
It began to hobble toward the door. It appeared to have feet similar to that of a Tyrannosaurus skeleton that Daryl had seen once in a picture book, only its feet were covered in sleek black fur—the rest of his body covered in the same coarse fur—and much smaller. It had large, bull-like horns sprouting from either side of its head, and its face was a mixture of Boxer and gargoyle. Daryl had no name for what had just saved him from impending doom.
He heard a strange, muffled scream erupt from the other room. Hesitantly, he began to stand to his feet. He found his voice once again. Tears began to course down his cheeks.
"Mom!" he called.
No response came. Instead, the figure with glowing eyes came back into the room. It hobbled toward him, staring at him curiously. Daryl wanted to scream in terror, but the creature placed a claw over his mouth.
"Listen close, I'm going to take you away from here. Understand? If I don't, some strange people might come in here again. People do weird, violent pranks on this night. I shall carry you far from here," it hissed.
"Where?" Daryl inquired fearfully. "Mommy said not to go off with strangers."
"Just trust me," it hissed. "Your mother's dead anyway. You must come with me now."
The creature held out its claw and waited expectantly. Daryl slowly placed his hand in the creature's claw, and in an instant the world went dark.
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Marksville Daily News
On the night of October 31, Halloween, a woman and her child were found dead inside a house near the local homeless shelter. Many in destitute conditions are known to reside in this area, and this case was no different.
Strangely, the two perpetrators responsible for the deaths were also found dead within the home. It seems that they were both notorious serial killers that have been wanted for quite some time. They are known to frequent homes on Halloween night as their form of some kind of sick prank. 
The mother was found strangled to death in her bed, while the son's body was found in another room. His cause of death is strange in itself, as it seems as though he died of natural causes. No major marks were found on his body, and his autopsy reveals that there was no sign of any harmful substances that might have been ingested to cause his death.
A few marks were found on his neck, as though one of the perpetrators tried to strangle him as well, but that was ruled as separate from the actual cause of death, as the autopsy reveals that something seemed to have interrupted the killer in the middle of his cruel act. The cause of this distraction remains unknown.
One of the murderers was found decapitated while the other, found in the boy's room, had large gashes in his neck. The police department is working diligently to find what might have caused these strange deaths, and they ask that anyone in the area with any information about this situation to call the police department at once. Rewards will be provided by the county, as no known family members have come forward to offer a reward of their own.
-November 20