This Is Halloween

The next time I open my eyes, I was thrown onto the floor. The ground beneath me was cold, but I could feel heat radiating from somewhere near me. Someone had their arm around me. He was coughing.

"Gerard?" I asked.

"We have to get the fuck away from here," he said. There was a small cut on his face.

"Where...Mike...Fra..."

"I honestly...don't know."

Gerard lifted me and ran. The heat I'd felt before was gone. My eyes, barely opened, showed me a giant red glow flickering. Gerard was running away from it.

Was the house...on fire?

"But...F-Frank. A-and...Mikey."

"I'm worrying about you right now, Miranda."

My body escaped from Gerard's arms, ever so gently. I was on the floor. Every muscle in my body that wasn’t numb burned with a painful intensity. Something like ash choked my throat and I sat up, coughing.

"Thank God!" I heard Christie's voice say. I was barely conscious. My eyes were closed even as I sat up.

"Mikey...Frank..."

"Don't worry, Rand," Bob said softly. "Don't worry..."

Christie held my body to hers. I watched through slits as Ray and Gerard ran back toward the burning house. Bob cursed at the car for not starting. I closed my tired eyes, but I could still hear everything.

“We need to get help for Miranda,” Christie whispered to who I assumed was Bob. She rocked me gently back and forth. Her voice and hands were shaky, nervous. “Look at her feet. And, my god, she’s going to be choking up from all that inhaled smoke.”

“We’ll get out of here soon enough,” Bob’s voice assured Christie. “If Mikey and Frank are still alive.”

There was a silence in which my mind heard the echo of Jenny’s manic laughter, and I too feared for Mikey and Frank’s lives.

"I hope they got out on time. That house caught fire pretty fast."

That was the last I heard before I lost conciousness.

**one year later**

"Boys and girls of every age," I sang lamely, "wouldn't you like to see something strange?"

"Come with us and you will see," Frank started, "this our town of Halloween."

"This is Halloween," we sang together. "This is Hallo—“

"Hey!" Bob complained. "Would both of you just stop?"

Everyone in the cramped car laughed.

"I'd prefer 'happy birthday, Frank', thank you very much," Frank said.

"You girls are sure looking pretty for this Halloween party," Gerard said from the driver's seat. There was a scar across his face from what had happened the Halloween before, a night we never dare speak of.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I said, trying to sound offended. "We're not usually pretty?"

"Oh, you are. You're just a lot prettier tonight than usual."

"I'd hurt you if it weren't for the fact that your driving," says Christie. This time, she was sat on Ray's lap. Things between her and Bob hadn't been the same since that night.

"Wait," Mikey said, his voice hoarse. He, too, hadn't completely recovered. "I know this road."

I looked out my window from my seat on top of Frank. It was dark desert land, acres and acres of pure death. Everything was eerie and gray. There were no other cars.

"Oh no," Gerard said.

"You didn't, Gerard," Ray said.

"Ah..." Gerard said nervously. "My bad. Wrong turn."

"Gerard!" Christie complained.

"Don't worry. If we turn back now—“

"Shit!" Mikey exclaimed.

The car swerved the same way it had before, and came to an abrupt stop.

"I'm going to kill you, Gerard," Bob said into the silence that unfolded, emphasizing every syllable.

"But..." Gerard stuttered. "The house burned down."

We all got out of the car, surrounding it and seeing that it had the same damage as the year before.

"Oh shit," Christie said. We all looked at her. She pointed a shaky finger that we all followed. It led us to a black house, about two hundred feet away. There was a single tree in front of it with a tire hanging from it and a fog surrounding it. The night was as dark as last year, but there was no wind.

And the tire swung slowly, back and forth...

When the wind did pick up, the tire stopped. A voice carried by the breeze spoke three words into my ears.

"You stay here."