The brisk, October wind blows across the Wyoming plains. Tiny, golden leaves scatter across the field like tiny, golden, butterflies.  I pull my dark blue hoodie over my head, grab my backpack, and quickly make my way down the dark, old, oak flight of stairs.  I quickly open the worn back door and get on my bike (which is also dark blue).  I start out slow, but it's not before long that I feel as if I'm gliding on air!  I quickly glance at my watch—it says 3:35pm.  I pedal faster.  As the houses go flying by, neighborhood after neighborhood, I quickly check my watch one more time—it says 3:38pm.  I can't be late.  

Finally, after many minutes of very hard pedaling, I reach a dark gray house.  I get off and quickly throw my bike aside.  I head up the long flight of granite stars, and head in.   

"Hey Ben, I'm here..." I call, unsure of where he is. Ben has been my best friend since kindergarten. We've stuck together like glue.  I hear quick, heavy footsteps coming down the tall, dark flight of stairs.   

"Hey, Dylan!" Ben says with warmth in his voice as he gives me a high-five.  

"How've ya been? He asks. 

"Good..." I reply, still slightly out of breath. 

"That's cool..." He replies with a small sigh," Well, ready to get started?"  

I nod and we quickly and quietly head up the tall flight of dark oak stairs.  We sneak past his mom's bedroom, and down the hall to his room.  We move quick, like cats stalking their kill, but we're as quiet as a mouse.  We make no sound, for fear of waking his mom.  We soon make it to his room.  We go in and quietly shut the door.  I lay my dark grey backpack on Ben's bed—which has a blue fleece blanket spread out on it. Ben goes over and gets something from his closet—It's a zombie costume.  I grab a white and black hoodie and some black pants from my backpack.  I'm going as a skeleton.  I also grab two dark blue flashlights and a piece of paper that has a map of our neighborhood on it.  I hand one of the flashlights to Ben, and the piece of paper as well.   

"Ok..." He starts, and points to a place on the map, "We're here, at my house, where should we go next?"  We’re going Trick-or-Treating.  I point to a place on the map farther away from Ben's house. MUCH farther. It was so far away, it was in the woods!  

"Why don't we go there?" I suggest, pointing to a faded part of the map. I am pointing to an old cabin in the farthest corner of the woods. 

"Ha ha, very funny, Dylan..." He chuckles sarcastically, " You know we can’t go there...my mom would kill me!"  

"But what better place to go to on Halloween than an old spooky cabin in the woods?" 

Ben and I sit in silence until he finally says, 

"You're really serious about this, huh?"  

I nod and wait for him to continue. 

"Dude, you know what happened the last time someone went there, don't you?" 

I've heard bits and pieces of this story before, but never the whole thing. So, I answered "no" and waited for him to tell me.  We sit in silence for a moment and just as he's about to tell me, his mom shouts up the stairs, 

"Ben?" She calls, "Is Dylan with you?" 

We look at each other and shrug. Ben shouts back, 

"Yeah, he just got here about ten minutes ago...why?" 

There is silence for a few awkward seconds and then she replies, 

"Ok, just checking..."  

We shrug and I think,  

"Well, there goes our window of sneaking out..." 

I can tell Ben is think the same thing too, because he gets up, without even bothering to take his costume with him, and opens the door.