• Payton slung her backpack over her shoulder, grabbing the present off the table. "Common mom! I don't want to be the last on there!" She whined to her mother. Today was her best friend's birthday party. And better yet, it was Halloween. She had been waiting for this day all month.
    Her best friend always had awesome parties and always managed to scare the crap out of each other one way or another. This year wasn't going to be any different, she hopped. "Alright, alright let’s go." Payton's mom said, grabbing her keys and walking out the open door. The second her mom said anything Payton was out the door and was sitting in the van.
    Her mom laughed and got in the drivers seat. "Did you tell your dad goodbye?" Her mom asked, looking over to Payton. She scowled at her mother and buckled up. Her mother laughed again and started the van, on their way. Finally.
    * * *

    Payton was bouncing up and down as she heard the doorbell echoed through her friend’s big house. She giggled as she could hear stomping feet running to greet her. The door flew open with smiling faces swarming her. Payton dropped her backpack on the ground and crushed her friend in a big hug.
    "Happy birthday Dylia!" She exclaimed jerking back and forth happily. "Thanks Pay. Uh, air?!" She gasped, everyone started cracking up. Payton let go of Dylia and picked up her bag. "You can put that stuff in my room. We're going to have dinner soon. Then cake, ice cream presents yadda yadda. Then trick or treating. Hope you brought your costume!" Dylia rushed in one breath. Payton laughed. "Yup, gotchya." And she turned to her other friends, Taylor and Kayla, "What's goin' on my sisters?!" Payton yelled giving them both high fives. "Guys close the door please, it’s getting cold outside." Dylia's mom said, walking over. We came inside.
    "Hey Payton." She added, seeing me. Payton smiled and followed the other two to Dylia's bedroom. Payton smiled at all of the black and orange streamers lining the top of the walls. The fake spider webs and spiders hung everywhere.
    "Awesome decorations!" She exclaimed, putting her bag down by the door of the bedroom. "Thanks, and my mom will dim the lights when it gets dark so it will look even cooler!" Dylia said happily. Then the three followed their friend into her basement.
    * * *

    A few hours later Dylia's mom called the girls up for dinner. She laughed as their thundering footsteps echoed in the hall. They all came into the kitchen laughing happily and sat down around the table.
    Payton sat in the chair closest to the window. Dylia sat to her left, Taylor to her right, and Kayla on the other side of Dylia. On the other side of the table Dylia's sister, Riley, and her friend, Emma sat. Payton smiled at the other two as Dylia's mom sat down plates of food.
    "We bar-b-qed, hope that's alright with everyone. We have chips and stuff here too." She said, grabbing bags of chips out of the cabinet and laying those down in the center of the table. Payton smiled and grabbed a hot dog and a bun. "This is great, thanks." She told her mom and leaned back in her chair, putting ketchup on her hot dog. "So, Payton, you never said what you were going to dress up as." Dylia said, looking at her. "Oh, just a grim reaper, nothin’ special." She said, taking a bite.
    Taylor reached over to grab a bag of chips. "I still say we all go as the power rangers but oh well." She added, giggling. Everyone laughed, Dylia's mom shook her head, smiling too as she walked past into the living room. It got quiet for a second while everyone was chowing down. A sudden cold feeling washed over Payton, making goose bumps raise on her skin. She scrunched her eyebrows.
    "You okay Pay?" Kayla asked, looking at Payton with her head tilted to the side. Payton wiped away her worried look and smiled. "Yeah it's all good, just thinking that’s all." She said, Taylor laughed. "Yeah, you always get that very determined look on your face when you try to think." She joked. Everyone laughed with her. Payton turned slightly to look out the window.
    The sun was starting to set, casting a long, dark shadow over the back yard. Payton started to turn away but something immense and black caught her eye. She jerked over to look at it. Nothing was there though.
    “Pay, are you sure you’re all right?” Dylia asked, leaning over to look through the window with her. “Yeah, I think that you’re dog ran past and just startled me.” Payton said, looking back to her plate. But she noticed that Dylia’s black coated dog was sitting next to Riley. And her outside dog was gold. Maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her.
    “So, it’s getting dark. Scary stories anyone?” Dylia's sister asked, arching an eyebrow at everyone. I smiled and shook my head, Dylia shrugged but Kayla smiled. “I do.” She said, putting down her napkin and leaning forward.
    “Well it was about year ago. You know that guy that went missing right. Well this has to do with him.” She started her voice quiet and menacing. We all had to lean in to hear her.
    “Well it was Halloween 2009, exactly this time last year when Jordan was at a friend’s house. Just as we are. Well it was about six o’clock and it was dark outside. It was a strange dark though. It was too dark. The shadows seemed like they wanted to reach out and claw at you’re legs. There was no moon, and the cold pierced through you.
    “Well, it was just Jordan and his little group. They were laughing and having a good time. They didn’t notice the strange, threatening night. So they dressed up and went out to trick or treat.
    “They were out for some time. But they were in a crowded neighborhood. A lot of lights were on and a lot of people were out and about.” Kayla’s voice had a strange tone to it, it made Payton shiver. But she smiled and leaned in closer.
    “So they were about done with those houses when they over heard these people talking about this huge house that handed out three bags of candy each. But it was about six blocks away. Jordan didn’t have a problem with that so he and his friends decided to go check it out.
    “They were about half way there when they suddenly noticed there wasn’t anyone around. And all the lights were off. Houses were placed farther apart. They started getting worried. But Jordan was brave, so he pressed forward.
    “Suddenly, there was a long, plaintive, yowl. The friends all started running down the street, saying that it was a zombie coming to eat them. No one believed that of course, they were just joking. They just thought it was a cat.
    “But soon it came again…-” Kayla was cut off by Dylia’s mom, “Time for presents then cake and ice cream.” She said. Payton sighed and relaxed her stiff shoulders. Kayla laughed and her voice returned to normal. Everyone was apparently freaked out about her story.
    * * *

    After a while the cake and ice cream was done everyone was dressing up to go trick or treating. Payton was in her grim reaper costume, the others in theirs. They grabbed bags and headed out the front door laughing and joking around.
    They trick or treated for a while. The time flew by, and their bags got heavier with lots of candy. Even eating some as they walked around the neighborhood.
    As they strolled around they had hit most of the good houses. Since it was her neighborhood she knew where a few more houses were they could hit a jackpot.
    Dylia pulled out her phone and called her mom, telling her where they would be going. She agreed and they started off.
    “So Kayla you never got to finish you’re story.” Taylor said, but Kayla shrugged. “I don’t even remember the last part anymore.” She said. Payton laughed, “Yeah that defeats the purpose of a scary story huh.” She joked.
    They strolled down the street; there were never any cars out here on Halloween. They didn’t have a care in the world. Only when it started getting unnaturally dark did they quiet down.
    “Is it just me or is something different around here?” Payton whispered. Dylia nodded, nobody else said anything. The lights on the surrounding houses were off. The cold rushed up on them. They all shivered.
    There was a sharp whack behind Payton. “Taylor stop.” Payton said, turning around. But she wasn’t there. “Pay, I’m right here.” Taylor said, peering around Dylia.
    “Then what was….” Payton said, trailing off, staring into the darkness. Her eyes widened when there was a flash of darker shadows in the distance. The same thing she had seen at dinner.
    “Uh, guys lets go.” Payton said, turning back around and quickening her pace. “What is it Payton?” Dylia asked curiously, coming beside her. “It’s-” Payton started, but was cut off but a long, ear-splitting, gut wrenching shriek.
    The girls froze, never have hear anything like that. Payton could hear her heart ringing in her ears, and pounding in her temples. All the girls abruptly started running. They tried to go as quietly and as quickly as they could.
    Payton felt her stomach rising in his throat. “Faster.” Payton gasped, her friends didn’t object. Up head in the street two, smoldering slits of crimson appeared. The girls slid to a stop in the street and froze.
    “What… is that?” Taylor choked. No one answered, because no one knew. All they could hear was the wheezing of each others breaths. “Just back away slowly and maybe it’ll go away.” Dylia offered and step by step they started back down the street.
    They let a sigh in relief as the red slits disappeared. Their hearts were pounding. “I think it’s gone. I think it worked.” Kayla sighed. We nodded, but once again the loud wail pierced through the night.
    They screamed and turned around to run, but it was there. It was a very large dog. It was about four feet tall. Its eyes were crimson slits. Its mouth was open; blowing rancid breath was blowing in their faces. Teeth sharper than a knife and longer than a dagger were placed row upon row in its jaw. The body was quivering in layers upon layers of muscle. Thick, smelling saliva was dripping from its lips. Hunger fierce in his face.
    Payton was plunged into a pool of black, scorching fear. She couldn’t hear over the roar in her ears. She felt hopeless. She and her friends were going to die.
    The hell hound gave one sniff and lunged.