Once a long time ago, a pair of playful twins prepared for Halloween. They took the phrase "trick or treat" very seriously and set up their pranks and their candy meticulously in and around their playhouse in the backyard. The twins had set up a complicated series of pulleys and levers connected to various items meant to pop up and scare a victim down the lawn and into the playhouse. Those who made it down the calculated path would be rewarded with candy. Those who didn't were expected to drop their candy in terror as they bolted from the yard. The twins would collect the abandoned treats and add it to their pool of candy to giveaway.

Lanterns and candles lit up the playhouse with an ominous glow. A large faux jack-o-lantern sat just at the entrance of the yard. Its removable lid was the trigger to the twins' plot. A sign staked in the ground next to it read, "Lift Top for Candy".

Each twin played their part to perfection. The girl stood close to the edge of the yard, jumping out at passersby and then pointing them towards the jack-o-lantern. Anyone whom she deemed too scared or too startled by her act was given a small treat and bid a good night. But the braver ones were shown no mercy.

The girl would look on in utter delight as those chosen to lift the jack-o-lantern lid tripped through the backyard. Some victims would wail. Others would curse. But she loved it the most when they froze up at the manufactured ghouls and ghosts that greeted them. That look of sheer terror on a person's face made her giggle.

Once the entire show was over, a brave person would have found themselves in front of the playhouse. A sign hung from the door outside. "Enter and Your Courage Shall Be Rewarded", it said.

But walking into the playhouse triggered one last trap. It slammed the door shut, and locked it into place. If the person within it panicked and started banging on the door or otherwise became too noisy, three loud knocks would sound from underneath the floorboards. The knocks were repeated until the person inside the playhouse quieted down, and then, finally, the second twin would emerge from a trapdoor in the center of the playhouse to give the victim a small bucket of candy for his efforts. This twin would then unlock the door and bid the visitor to keep the whole prank a secret from the rest of the neighborhood.

After a few hours of this menacing fun, the first twin entered the playhouse to ask her brother if they should call it quits for the night. But the boy insisted on one more play. And so they continued. Growing weary, the girl did not screen the next passerby with a jump scare. Instead, this person was hurriedly invited to take the lid off of the jack-o-lantern.

She regretted this decision as the stranger, hysterical and terrified, sprinted and staggered his way towards the playhouse as the pop-up ghouls shepherded him. But this was the last play. And then the twins could go to bed, so she did nothing to stop this one last victim.

The young man entered the playhouse, shaking, gasping. When the other twin knocked on the floorboards, it was all that the stranger could take.

He banged on the door that locked behind him, screaming. And the twin continued to knock from below. The stranger saw the trapdoor in the center of the room, and, noticing it wasn't locked, used his shoelace to tie it down. He whipped his head back and forth, terrified that the trapdoor now began to shake.

"Hey!" The twin shouted from beneath the floorboards. "Hey, let me out!"

The stranger didn't stick around long enough to realize what he had done. He kicked down one of the playhouse windows and forced his way through it, knocking the lit candles and lanterns onto the wood floor.

And just like that, the playhouse went up in smoke. By the time the twin sister came, it was too late. The playhouse, and everything in it, was nothing but ash.

The girl wept, horrified by the sight of it all. But her tears dried almost instantly as something emerged from the burnt and smoky remains. Out from the ashes of the trap door that was her brother’s grave appeared a translucent figure. Perhaps she was hallucinating, but the thing seemed to resemble her brother as well. The specter didn't seem to notice her and began to drift away. Without a second thought, she followed it.

Eventually, the girl had followed the spirit to a large gate. There was too much fog and mist to see where the gate led. Nevertheless, it opened for the spirit. But as his soul tried to cross, the girl attempted to come in after him. The gate slammed shut before she could enter, so she cried after the ghost of her brother, "Stop! Don't go!"

He turned around to face her through the bars, suddenly aware of their separation. "You can't come with me?" he asked.

"I'll try!" his sister responded. "I'll climb the gate. Or I'll crawl under it. Or--"

A loud voice boomed somewhere beyond the gate. "Only one of you may enter here," it bellowed.

The boy’s spirit was defiant. "I won't go anywhere without her!" he shouted back.

There was a brief pause. "Then you are both lost."

Suddenly, it was as if the ground beneath the two disappeared. The girl screamed, falling through the air as the spirit of her brother spiraled down with her. When it finally stopped, the twins looked up, and there they were--inside their resurrected playhouse.

A new voice, different from the one at the gate, cackled through the floorboards. "You two can stay together here," it cooed.

The girl and her brother gave each other a look. "Can we ever go home?" the girl asked.

"If you can find two others to replace you, I will send you both home," the voice responded.

"Do you promise?" the brother asked.

"Pinky swear." A shadowy figure worked its way up through a crack in the floorboards, offering its pinky finger to the brother.

Before his sister could question any further, the spirit and the shadow locked fingers. The floor shook, the window rattled, and the stranger let out a deep and eerie laugh.

“It’s playtime.”