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Trick-or-treating was the absolute best part of Halloween. What kid could resist the draw of free candy? No kid, especially not Samson Colt. He had been wearing his costume all day. Even at school he was dressed as a werewolf, complete with claws and frightening rubber mask. Since he got home, he spent his time waiting for Ainsley to show up at his door by stomping around the house practicing his claw swipes and howls.

“Ooowwwooooooooooooooo.” Sam howled. He had taken off his mask to eat dinner, but still wanted to get his practice in. His mask was precariously tipped up on the top of his head, just waiting to be pulled down. This boy was just about ready to be a terrifying monster. That was, after-all, what Halloween was all about, other than the candy.

There was a knock at the door. Some trick-or-treaters were already out, but Sam was betting it was Ainsley. Pulling down his mask and grabbing the empty pillow case he was going to use for a sack, Sam very slowly opened the door. It creaked, and the eerie music that Sam’s parents had put on accompanied it. Sam’s fuzzy clawed gloves inched around the corner. Then, quickly, Sam flung the door open and jumped into view with a loud ‘RAWR!.

After jumping out, Sam was glad to see it was indeed Ainsley. Seeing the blonde jump made Ixion laugh. His laugh, muffled by the mask, sounded almost like muted cackle. A furry claw rose to his rubber wolf face and gently slid the mask up to just over his eyes. His face was entirely human and normal understand. Still giggling, he looked over Ainsley’s costume.

“Not bad. Cute, not that scary. What are you? A Bat? Or…? “ Sam couldn’t immediately come up with a word to describe Ainsley’s outfit. A dragon wasn’t what immediately came to mind. But that was likely because Toothless looked a bit more like a cat then your typical dragon.

“Excellent.” Sam grinned as wide as he possibly could, in an oddly wolfish way. It showed off his teeth, a fake set of pointy fangs just for show; all the better to eat candy with. “That’s what I was going for.”

Taking a second look at Ainsley’s costume, he say the wings, tail, and clawed paws. It was vaguely familiar. “Oh. So not a cat? I guess that’s sort-of scary. But I dunno, you’re still pretty cute.”

Sam held up a finger, gesturing to hold on for a minute. He popped inside quickly to grab a big red empty pillow case that he intended to use for candy toting. “Ready to go? I figure we can start a few blocks down and work our way around.”

When Sam came back out, he found himself basically talking to himself for a moment. Ainsley was gone. Had he upset her? Did he say something wrong? Momentarily he puzzled about what he might have said or done, completely unsure of what he could have possible done to make Ainsley leave. But that was quickly thrown off his brain as something black quickly jumped out at Sam, seemingly coming out of nowhere!

Sam recoiled automatically, putting a hand up to defend himself it necessary. It might have been a youma! But it didn’t attack him. Sam’s eyes shifted to take in the full figure infront of him. Just as he had scared Ainsley, she scared him right back. Seeing how silly he was, standing there ready to fend off the dragon, Sam had to admit there was an element of scary to the costume. “Ha ha. Okay, you got me. I guess a dragon is kind of scary.”

Instead of hitting the dragon with his raised hand, Sam extended it. “All set?”

And lead the way Sam did. He walked with Ainsley down a few streets to start their trick-or-treating epic adventure (because it always is). There weren’t that many children in their neighborhood, but he did spy a few others going around and several older kids and teenagers doing their candy rounds. House after house, their sack and basket were being filled. Rounding another street, the two children found themselves on a vaguely unfamiliar block. Had it always existed there? The majority of the houses were empty with the lights out; nobody was home there.

There was however, one house that was decorated with all the Halloween trimmings. Convincing spider webs hung around corners, the lawn’s grass looked long dead and yellowed with fake tomb stones laying here and there. As they drew closer, faint generic creepy Halloween music and sounds could be heard.

Underneath Sam’s mask, his face lit up at the sight of it. Someone, or really some thing, had gone all out in creating a haunted house. “This’ll be good.” Sam took Ainsley’s hand and pulled her all the way up towards the ominous front door. There seemed to be no lights on either, except for the candles in the jack-o-lanterns.

“Just a haunted house. I’m sure it’s fine.” Sam let go of Ainsley in order to ring the doorbell. He stood there waiting for what seemed like ages but nobody came to the door. Still, the creepy music played on. Sam could only assume that the owner was trying to make it authentic.

So he knocked on the door. As Sam rap-a-tapped on the door, it slowly creaked open. Revealing a dark, gloomy looking interior. Webs covered the entry way and candles decorated the staircase. “Trick or treat!?” Sam called out. There was no answer.

Looking back at Ainsley, Sam shrugged. A few pairs of shoes were left just inside. There came a distinct laugh, coming from where he couldn’t tell. “Guess they’re waiting inside.”

What Sam couldn’t see were the abandoned bags of candy left just behind the door. Abandoned from the unknown number of people who had gone inside that house on this night.

Sam was quick in deciding what to do. He poked his head inside the door frame, looking around curiously, still unable to catch the candy left behind the door. It didn’t look all that dangerous. While he had been taught not to go into strangers’ homes and be careful, this was Halloween. That was the time to face fears, go boldly into the dark and venture into Haunted Houses. Nothing really scary ever actually happened on Halloween, no matter what teachers at school said.

Looking back at the decorated lawn, Sam felt reassured that this was only a game. There were people inside, shoes were at the door! Maybe there were just waiting for a good time to come out. Despite being a senshi, Sam wouldn’t have guessed that the people who those shoes belonged too would be passed out on a floor, their energy drained from them.

“Let’s check it out. Maybe there’ll be some games or something inside! Must be good if people have stuck around.” Sam pointed to the shoes. Then taking Ainsley by the hand again, stepped inside the house and into the a long empty hallway.

As the two kids moved through the house and down the hallway, the floors boards creaked and cracked with each step. There was nothing to see, nobody seemed to be home. They came to empty living room. Sheets covered the furniture. Everything was vaguely dusty like no one had lived in this place for a long time. Sam had to tell himself it was all just for show, and that haunted houses weren’t real. They came to another door. Cautionously, Sam opened this new door.

Unlike the previous one, there was something behind this door. As soon as the door opened, the kids came face to face with jack-o-lantern youma. It looked like something out of a movie. The youma was tall and willowy, with a skeletal body made of sticks and baggy clothes hanging off it. It’s head was carved pumpkin, with bright candle lit eyes and a mouth that really moved. The youma made some sort of growl at the children and grabbed Sam in it’s twiggy hands.

Sam screamed, trying to push the youma off of him. “Get out of here! Run and I’ll catch up with you.” He had to make sure Ainsley ran away, then he could transform and smash this pumpkin monster.