Annie wiped the sweat off her forehead. It was probably the hottest halloween ever, at ninety degrees. She was just in a generic Party-City black cat costume, but it felt like she was getting heat stroke. Gabe, Annie’s little brother, was dressed up as a pirate. Annie’s little sister Everette was Snow White; short black wig, bright red lipstick and all. Turning around to watch her little siblings bound up to the front step of the Miller’s house, Annie realized this would be her last time trick-or-treating. It just became a chore as she got older, not a fun night. Still, that’s not to say the spirit of Halloween wasn’t around her. She still felt the chills and eerie presence of Halloween in her bones. She supposed that never went away, even as people grew up. Everette came running down the cemented steps of the Miller’s house, an ear to ear grin across her face. “Annie! Annie!” she exclaimed, thrusting herself at her big sister. “Mr. Miller’s giving out full-size Whatchamacallit bars!” Annie smiled at her sister. “It’s your lucky day, Ev.” Gabe came trodding down from the Miller’s house, with a less-than-enthused reaction on his face. Gabe was allergic to peanuts, so he couldn’t take the candy bar. Annie stared at her deflated brother and so badly wanted to comfort him. “Gabe, it’s only the second house. I’m sure some houses will have candy without peanuts in it!” Gabe looked at Annie dejectedly. “Yeah, okay.” Annie grabbed her siblings and started to walk to the next house. It was their neighbors, the Kellys, who had only a few halloween decorations. A measly couple of jack-o-lanterns and a paper skeleton hanging on the door. Everette stared at the house, a big smile creeping across her face. “Race ya, Gabe!” she giggled, and took off toward the Kelly's door. Gabe already seemed to be in better spirits, as he raced Everette up the steps. “Gabe, be careful!” yelled Annie, who remembered that too much exertion could bring on an asthma attack for Gabe. “I will,” cried Gabe, dismissing his big sister. Gabe was a little out of breath, not dangerously, but because of him taking Annie up on her word, Everette had already rung the doorbell. The door swung open, and a silhouetted figure appeared at the door. The lights were turned off. Everette trembled, clearly terrified. She looked away and braced herself for who knows what. Suddenly the light flicked on and the figure revealed itself as Mrs. Kelly, dressed as a witch. “Hi Everette! Hi Gabe!” smiled Mrs. Kelly, very familiar with Everette and Gabe because she often drove them to school. “H-Hi Mrs. Kelly,” said Everette, a little shaken but trying to hide it. “Are Gabe and Everette here?” called a small voice from the back of the house. Anyone could recognize it as Monica Kelly, a friend of Everette and Gabe, who was right in between them in age. Monica ran to the front door, revealing to the world that she was dressed as a bumblebee. “Hi Monica!” yelled Everette and Gabe at exactly the same time. “Gabe, we remembered to get some special candy for you. Gummies, so there’s definitely no peanuts,” said Monica. Monica’s mother looked at her and then Gabe with a worried expression on her face. “Now Mon, don’t you get Gabe’s hopes up like that… we ran out of that candy a few minutes ago,” said Mrs. Kelly. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry, Gabe,” said Monica sadly. Gabe sighed. “It’s okay, Mon. It’s not your fault I’m allergic to peanuts.” It was quiet for a few minutes. “Well,” said Mrs. Kelly, “I suppose we could still give Everette some candy.” Gabe turned and walked back sadly to Annie. Annie read her brother’s face, and when he got back to her, she pulled him into a hug. “Weren’t the Kellys gonna buy you some special candy?” Annie asked her brother. “They did. But they ran out,” Gabe sniffed. Annie felt so bad for her brother. Annie looked straight ahead, at the house at the end of the street. “I know what’ll cheer you up, bud,” she said to him. “What’s that?” said Gabe. “The Davises are having a haunted house this year. And I know how you like creepy things,” said Annie. Gabe’s face lit up. He was aware of said haunted house but his mother had told him not to do anything too scary because she was afraid of his asthma acting up. “But whatta ‘bout my asthma?” asked Gabe, putting the weight on his mind into words. Annie ruffled his hair. “I’m more cautious about that than Mom. So if I think it’s okay, you should know it’s probably okay.” Gabe beamed at Annie. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He gave Annie a giant bear hug. “Okay, but Gabe, there’s two things you should know. One: You’re taking your sister with you. Two: You can’t tell mom about it. Not a thing.” Gabe continued to smile, “Done and done.” He stopped and frowned for a second. “Wait, but aren’t you gonna come with us?” Annie raised her eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? I hate scares!” Gabe came to some kind of realization, and his smile came back intact. Everette finally finished getting her candy and talking to Monica and came skipping down the steps, swinging her plastic jack-o-lantern behind her. Gabe ran over to her, almost knocking her down. “Everette! Everette! Annie said we could go to the Davis House!” Gabe exclaimed. Everette’s eyes widened. “Really? Really-really?” begged an excited Everette. Annie chuckled. “Really-really.” Everette started to jump up and down. “Yes, yes!” Everette and Gabe loved to watch horror movies together, and this was a dream come true for both of them. Suddenly, Everette took off toward the Davis house. She looked behind her and saw Gabe walking, and slowed to a stop to wait for him, because she had forgotten about his asthma. Gabe soon caught up, and he and Everette started to speed-walk, side by side, over the asphalt to the end of the cul-de-sac. Annie lagged behind, trying to stay as far away from the screams and jump-scares as possible. The driveway was packed to the brim with people, and there wasn’t an inch of cement to stand on. Eventually, the three made it, and Gabe and Everette got in the line of people who were, on average, five years older than them. A four-foot-seven pirate and a four-foot-five Snow White was quite a sight to see in a line of Jasons and Freddys and Leatherfaces. Annie wasn’t worried about them being too scared. If there was one thing Everette and Gabe had in common, it was fearlessness. But Annie was worried if the Davises would even let them in, because they might turn them away for being too young. Eventually, both reached the front of the line. Annie saw the stunned expression on Mr. Davis’s face, that was obviously due to the fact that Everette and Gabe were braving the haunted house without Annie or their parents. Nonetheless, he let them inside the yard gate. Gabe entered the gate, a little nervously. He wondered if Everette was a little nervous too. It was dark and almost silent, with a faint red lighting cast around them. This had a creepier effect than other haunted houses, being free of cheesy music and fog machines. Almost as soon as they started walking, it felt, a man in a zombie mask jumped out and screamed at them. Gabe gasped, but he didn’t even feel Everette, brushed against his arm, flinch. They moved on to the next section of the house, with Gabe oh-so-slightly shaking. It was a tiny, dark little room, which Everette and Gabe discovered was packed corner to corner with people. Suddenly, behind them the door slammed shut. It was pitch-black and Gabe could barely make-out anybody, not even Everette. Suddenly there was a crash, and someone wearing a home-ec mask popped out upside down from the top of the ceiling. The teenagers screamed in unity, and Gabe let out a little whimper. Soon the door on the other side of the room, which had been locked the whole time, inexplicably opened. The teenagers rushed out, and Gabe nearly got trampled by them. When they got out, there was a choice of two doors to go through. Gabe, knowing the Davises house, recognized them as the doors to the guest room and the garage. Gabe decided to go into the guest room because he thought he knew the garage a little too well for it to scare him. He stood by some of the teenagers, waiting for the door to open. He saw a blonde guy mouth, “So scary,” to his friend, but not too loud, to not look like a wuss in front of a pretty girl he was with. Gabe felt something tickle his back and he looked behind him. There was nothing there. Gabe heard the door open and everyone headed into the room. There was a doll in the corner, and Gabe recognized it as the doll tiny four-year-old Riley Davis carried around. Suddenly the doll jumped up and lunged at a terrified teenage girl, revealing it to be Riley dressed up as her own doll. Clever, thought Gabe. Riley went back to her spot, and broke character a smidge by waving oh-so-casually at Gabe. Gabe smiled and waved back. All in all, it was still a pretty impressive performance for a kid who just got out of pull-ups. Leaving the less terrifying guest room, the group moved on to the next section, which was outside. They came upon twelve year old Robby Davis performing an exorcism on his eight year old sister Rachel. The whole thing was actually pretty creepy. The teenagers and Gabe were a little jittery from how disturbing it was. Clearly Robby and Rachel had watched the movie, because it was dead-on accurate, as Robby was muttering a bunch of gibberish, and Rachel would lift her head and neck (painted with green and white makeup) erratically. Finally, the group noticed the gate and opened it to the bright lights of the Davises driveway. There were still a gazillion teenagers standing in the driveway, and the ones who were with Gabe ran to exasperatingly tell their friends how great the haunted house was. Gabe pushed and shoved his way through the crowd and finally got to the edge of the driveway, where Annie was waiting. “How was it, bud?” she asked. Gabe beamed. “It was awesome. Robby and Riley and Rachel did so good! And there were some other, like, adults I didn’t even recognize. It was professional!” Annie chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve had enough excitement for one night. Ready to go home?” Gabe nodded. “But we’ve gotta wait for Everette.” The cold silence of the warm night surrounded them for a few seconds. The sounds of the chatting teens disappeared. Annie stared blankly at Gabe. “Who?” Gabe froze. He gave her a confused glance, not thinking much of it, thinking this was some kind of trick. “Everette. Our little sister.” Now Annie was confused. “Gabe, we don’t have a little sister. It’s just you and me.” Gabe stared at Annie like she was insane. “Are you messing with me?” Gabe choked. “No,” Annie said flatly, and Gabe knew she wasn’t. She was just acting really, really strange. This was the first time he was scared tonight. “Yes we do. She dressed up like Snow White? She was trick or treating with us earlier? She went into the Haunted House with me!” Annie gave Gabe a slight smile. “Gabey, I think we need to get you home to bed.” Now Gabe was getting frustrated. “Annie! Stop it! We have to wait for her! I don’t know why you don’t remember her, but give her five minutes! She’ll come out!” Annie sighed. “Oh, all right.” And so Annie and Gabe waited. And waited. And then five minutes passed. “Gabe, it’s been five minutes. We need to get you home,” said Annie. Gabe was on the brink of tears. “B-b-b-but… we can’t leave her!” Nervousness creased Annie’s forehead. “Gabe, you’re scaring me! I swear on my life we don’t have another sister. Ask mom and dad. Ask anyone!” Now Gabe was hysterical. “A-A-Annie! Y-y-y-you can’t l-l-l-leave her here! You’re g-g-g-gonna g-g-get in trouble!” Annie’s nervous creases slowly turned into anger. “Wait a minute. I see what’s going on here! You’re making all this crap up so you can stay out later. Gabe, we are leaving right now!” Annie yanked Gabe’s arm and pulled him from the house. Gabe looked back behind him and kept muttering, “B-b-b-b-b-b-but…”