Halloween Horrors

Who: Dylan and May
Where: Phone then Alden's house
When: Right on dusk

Dylan's day had been busy. Aside from school, he had fought with his brother and had a father-son chat with Frank which had been strange. Good, in a way, but still very strange and uncomfortable in parts. And his dad had denied him the right to turn the attic into his bedroom which was unfair but it also meant that Dylan finally packed his clothes and things into the set of drawers beside his bed. It didn't make him feel any more at home but maybe it would help him find his gym socks easier each morning. Even though they had fought in the morning, he was still mad at Nate for what he had said in the car and since he couldn't hide in the attic any more than he already did, he had pushed the two beds as far apart as the small room would allow and added electrical tape down the middle of the floor to divide it in an almost comical way.

The whole time he had been working on fixing his bedroom, there had been an annoying flicker of light darting around the room but he brushed it off. It was just the dreamcatcher hanging from the curtain rod or a car going past. Something, anything, that sounded rational because the alternative was much scarier and he didn't want to think about it. By the time he was finished, the light from outside was fading and he needed to call May. He picked up the phone, typed her number in and counted the rings it took before she answered on the other end.

May was surprised to see an unknown number come up on her cell phone, but she assumed that it was Dylan. He'd said he'd call but, Oh. My. God. he was actually calling?! It took a moment for the girl to gain enough composure to flip the phone open and answer with a shaky little breath. "Hello?"

God let it be him and not just some random wrong number.

"Hi, I'm looking for May, uh...Mei-something and..." It was clear that Dylan had been practising this speech before he called. It was something he always did, he hated to use phones and hated even more to be caught out unprepared and talking to a random stranger, be it a shop clerk or a friend's mother. He stopped though, replayed what she said and smiled. It was either May or a sister, did she even have a sister? He wriggled to get comfortable, to try and calm his nerves then smiled. "Um...May? Yeah, it's Dylan. Uh, from school."

So she was grinning like an idiot by the time he finished. "Mei-Ling." she murmured. "May, it's easier." she added. "But yeah, it's me, hey. Hi. What's up?" God can you be any more dorky, seriously? He's never going to call you again you big fat loser. She felt like a complete moron and was thanking the heavens that the boy on the other side of the phone line couldn't see her cherry red face.

"I don't know, I like Mei-Ling. It's different and, I don't know..." Dylan trailed off. Man, wasn't he just so eloquent? No wonder Leija didn't like him, he was such a dork. He mentally slapped himself, he had to get it together or this new friend wouldn't either. "Um, so, I'm sorry I wasn't in English today but uh... I'm kind of bored over here and it's Halloween so do you want to come over and help me hand out candy or something? My dad will forget and I don't know if there'll even be many kids around since the were...uh, weekend with the animals? But yeah, if you're not doing anything..."

He want's me to come over?! The little girl in May's mind fell over. Completely. Flat on her face, in shock at his question. So in shock that she May couldn't even get her brain to send any vocal signals to her mouth. "I uh," she began lamely. "Yeah. Sure. Of course. No, I'm not busy. Um... yeah. So... yeah, totally. Candy, sounds good." You're so dumb! "Um... I could get my dad to drop me off... give me your address?" Oh my god I'm going to his house!!!

It took Dylan to recall his address. It wasn't that he didn't know where he lived but Nate or Frank were the drivers and he never really paid attention. When he remembered, he recited the address and promised he'd see her soon. After he hung up, he went out and tried to convince Frank to leave (no luck) and set about tidying the living room and kitchen. He didn't know what they were going to get up to but the thought of his father being around for it, whatever it was, left him feeling uncomfortable. His dad wasn't an embarrassment, he was worse. He was rough and rude and all sorts of things Dylan didn't want to share with his friends. When he was sure the house was as clean and homely as it could get, which wasn't much at all, he stood by the front door and waited to spot May's car.

May finally convinced her father to bring her over to Dylan's house. At least it wasn't that difficult. It could have been much harder, but he reluctantly agreed since it was Halloween and dropped her off at the house. Once he was out of sight, she reached up to knock lightly on the door. She couldn't believe that she was standing here, having been invited over to his house and not even to do homework but just hand out candy or hang out or something. She honestly didn't care. They could be doing homework and handing out candy and she'd be just fine with that.

Dylan was excited to have somebody over but his reasons weren't the same as May's. She was his first friend to visit him since his mother's death. Sure, Aaron and Heather had come to pick him up that one time they had gone bowling but it wasn't the same. He had a new home now, he had friends and one of them was visiting just like when things were still normal. He waited impatiently in the living room until the knock at the door came. He jumped up and rushed to the door before Frank could get it. He still wished his dad would leave but since that wasn't going to happen, he opened the door quickly. "May. Come on in. My dad's home but he won't bother us. I hope but what do you want to do? Like, now you're here."

May stepped into the house and smiled at him, letting him shut the door behind her. She gave him a little shrug. "Um... whatever you wanna do." she told him. "I'm not really too picky. We can do pretty much anything. It's Halloween so I don't have to be home for a while. Dad'll be too busy talking to clients on the phone."

"What does your dad do?" Dylan peeked out into the street to make sure that nobody was out there, after the last weekend he couldn't be too careful, then closed the door. He turned around to May and shrugged. It had been a long time since he had a friend over, since he had a chance to be normal like that and he didn't know how to entertain her any more. "Um, I don't know," he mumbled. He glanced down at his feet and scuffed one shoe across the floor. God, she was going to think he was such a dork. "Could watch a movie or hang out in my room or, I don't know. Something."

"He's a psychiatrist." she told him easily and she smiled a little when he looked down at the floor. "A movie sounds fun." she nodded. Then she did something daring. She didn't know why she did it, but she did. She reached out and touched him, catching his chin with her fingertips and tilting his head up again. "What kinda movies ya got?"

Dylan was about to say something but as soon as she stepped closer, he forgot what it was. His eyes went wide and he stared at her, unsure of what she was doing. That was the kind of move he might make on a girl he liked, to get closer to her, but May couldn't be hitting on him, could she? "Umm..." he said. "Uh, not many. Most of them are in California but my brother has some bad scifi going on? Like, Ed Wood-bad."

His eyes were wide and he stared at her like she had done something completely outrageous and she pulled her hand away from him like he was a snake ready to bite. "Sorry." she mumbled, tucking her hair behind her ear and looking at the floor. No more trying to be bold. Just be... quiet and normal and... god you totally just blew it with him you idiot. She bit her bottom lip and slowly looked at him through dark lashes though she didn't lift her head all that much. "I think I can suffer through some bad scifi..."

Dylan didn't know what he had done but the way she jerked away from him told him he'd done something. He stared at her before he finally closed his mouth and licked his dry lips. Had he said something wrong, had she been hitting on him? No, that was impossible. They were friends. He looked away from her and nodded, suddenly glad that Frank was in the house. He didn't even know how he'd get his dad's attention if things were awkward let alone what he'd do to help but hey, at least there was some sort of comfort there. He pushed the thoughts away and looked back at her. This was May, this was just May and she was a nice girl. Harmless. He gave her what he hoped was a comforting smile and shrugged. "Um, yeah, cool. Come on."

Dylan walked past and almost reached behind to pull her along by her shirt but after the way she tore her hand away, he didn't think she'd like that very much. He led her into the living room and gestured vaguely to the couch as he went straight to the TV. His brother's box of movies, mostly horror, were beside it so he knelt down and began to flick through them. He pulled out a copy of Ginger Snaps at first. It wasn't a bad movie but he'd tried to watch it after the werewolves attacked on the weekend and had to turn it off very quickly. There was something about things, dogs or people, being eaten that understandably freaked him out. So horror was out. He looked through for the worst science fiction and pulled out Plan 9 From Outer Space. He grinned and turned around to hold it up for May. "I did promise you bad, this has to be the worst one ever."

May sat down on the couch and watched silently as he looked through the movies. She felt like a complete idiot and knew he probably though she was insane. She didn't know what to say or do at this point. Everything just seemed so crazy confusing now. After that display he's never going to see you as anything more than the creepy girl who touched him without permission and then jerked away like a total loser.

She nodded when he picked up the movie and showed it to her. She'd never even heard of it, but she trusted his judgment and for a moment wondered why she was purposely watching a bad movie. She pushed those thoughts away and forced a little smile. "Guess we'll see just how bad it really is."

Dylan's mind was barely even on the touch now. He liked this movie, it was silly and he could make up his own plots and jokes about it. He could just relax. He waited until he was sure it was playing before he moved back across the floor and settled down in front of May. He watched the movie start but after a moment, he leaned back to look at her. His back rested against her legs and he smiled. "Thanks for coming over, it'd be shit tonight without someone." He flicked his hair out of his eyes as he sat back up and fell into silence, his mind completely on the very bad films in front of him.

Her heart practically stopped beating for a moment there when he leaned back against her and smiled like he did. She held her breath and nodded and softly murmured back a "Mhm." to him in response. "Don't mention it." she added on. She tried really hard to focus on the movie. Focus on what was happening on the screen, but for some reason even the back of his head seemed more entertaining than that.

Dylan barely even noticed that May wasn't paying attention. After the day he had, he needed the distraction and found it in the movie. He was quiet as he watched it but sometime towards the end as the room was growing darker in the twilight, he saw a flash of a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't turn, thinking it was May or his dad getting up. "Bathroom's on the right," he said absently. "Can you get me a coke from the fridge while you're up?"

May snapped back from her process of memorizing practically every strand of hair on the boys head when he spoke. "What?" she questioned, blinking confusedly at him. "I don't have to go to the bathroom, but I can get you the pop if you want..."

The voice came from behind him, not out in the hallway like he had thought it would. He glanced back behind himself to check just in case but no, there she was. He turned and looked at the door but there was nobody there. He had thought the shadow he'd seen was too small to be his dad but that was what it must have been. Yeah, the end of it or something. He turned back to the TV with a shrug. "Nah, nah, it's cool. I just thought I saw you get up. Nah, just stay." He reached behind him and put his hand over the toe of her shoe. "'S cool."

May was confused. Completely and utterly confused. She hadn't seen anything. But then again, she wasn't really paying attention to much of anything except the boy before her. At least at the time. She paid a bit more attention now. His hand on her shoe, the sounds from the television, the sound of his steady breathing. She wondered what he could have possibly seen, but for the moment she let it go. It was probably nothing.

Dylan frowned for a moment but then he forgot about it, letting his attention fall back to the movie. He didn't see the shadow again for a while but towards the end of the film, he patted May's foot again and stood up. "I'll be back, you want anything while I'm up?" He headed to the doorway and waited for an answer, ready to disappear down the hall as soon as he got one.

"Um... sure." she smiled. "Thank you." She bit her lower lip when he patted her foot and glanced over her shoulder at him at the doorway. "Just like water or something though. Soda just... lots of calories." Always counting those calories. She didn't want to gain a single pound and have anyone notice it and pick at her less than flawless body. Yeah, it was just easier to drink water.

Dylan rolled his eyes at her comment about the calories but he didn't say anything and disappeared out of the room. He never did get girl's obsessions with things like that. He'd never had to worry about it and, okay, maybe he still had a little bit of baby fat around his middle but his mother had always promised he'd grow out of it. He had been a lot bigger at the beginning of the year, he was getting taller and slimming down now. And Nate, three years older, was skinnier too and probably had lost the same puppy fat. He thought about this on the way to the bathroom and then stopped by the kitchen to grab a soda and, of course, a 'water' before he started back to the living room.

It was after the boy left that May saw the little girl walking through the house. She said hello, but she didn't seem to be paying attention. She just went over to sit down by the wall. She looked a little hazy, but May wrote it off to the dim light in the room. When Dylan returned she raised a brow at him. "I didn't know you had a little sister."

There it was again, that shadow. Dylan caught it as he walked down the hallway but only when he looked up and by then, it had disappeared into another room. Maybe his dad was spying on him. It didn't sound like Frank but then again, who really knew with that man? He headed into the living room and sat down between May's feet. He leaned back against her legs to hand her the cup of water, the coke can in his other, then laughed at what she said. "What? No, that's my brother. Nate. I thought he was at Kavin's house but I don't know. He looks like a girl, hey? I think it's the long, flowing locks."

May shook her head. She knew what Nate looked like. She had a class with him after all. "No..." she said softly, not reaching for the cup. "I've seen Nate, that's a little girl..." she whispered, pointing in the direction of the tiny thing in the corner sitting down. "Don't you see her?" For a moment there, she thought she might be imagining the girl, but she was right there.

Dylan thought that May might be playing a trick on him. It was Halloween after all and maybe she was just trying to scare him. That thought died when he looked across the room and there, there was a little girl there. A real one! A see-through one! He let out a huge scream that, in other times, he might have been ashamed came from him, but right then he was more concerned with getting away. He scrambled up onto the couch beside May then, deciding that wasn't enough, brought his feet up onto the seat and stood up in case he needed to get away. He pulled on her shoulder and pointed across at the very confused girl. "She? She's not mine, I don't know her, who the fuck is it and why the hell is she half invisible? May, May, get rid of it. Kill it!"

She just blinked at him, too afraid to really move or do much of anything. She wasn't his? She was half see through and now May was freaking out a little more and she stood up beside Dylan. "Kill it?" she questioned, horrified as she grabbed his hand, twining her fingers through his and squeezing tight. "How am I supposed to kill it when I don't even know what it is?"

Dylan was squeezing her hand just as tightly but he didn't even notice that they were holding hands! He was too busy focused on the little ghost girl. She wasn't actually doing anything and he probably would have thought of her as an illusion if May didn't see her too and the ghost didn't look so... so real! "D-dad?" he shouted. Frank would know what to do, Frank could save them. He waited but nobody came and when he tried to peer out of the window, he could see the front porch light on but the driveway where his father's car had been was now empty. "Shit. Shit, shit. We're alone, don't know where he's gone but...but that's a ghost and we're here and shit. What do we do?"

May was practically shaking where she stood beside Dylan, fingers holding tight against the boy as if he might be able to save her. Of course that was unlikely if he was just as terrified as she was. "I... I don't know..." she stammered, eyes flicking between Dylan and the little girl who seemed more confused than frightening at the moment. "She's... not doing anything..." May whispered.

"I know," Dylan whispered back. He shuffled a little closer to May and tried to hide behind her, as if that would stop either of them from being hurt of dead girl over there wanted to do anything. He didn't take his eyes over her and was ready to leap over the back of the couch if she tried. "Why isn't she doing anything? She should be or... or we should be or something. Go, like, I don't know. Shoo her away?"

"Me?!" she said, shaking her head. "How bout we just leave her alone and go somewhere else..." she said. Leaving the room sounded like a good idea. "Maybe she won't follow us." At least May was trying to sound hopeful though she didn't feel very hopeful at all.

Dylan didn't turn away from the ghost but he nudged May forward a little bit more. "Go, I don't know, talk to it. Cross it over. Kill it, quote the Bible at it I don't care." He knew it was probably there for him. Wasn't what that whole show with that ghost detective chick was about, the one with the girl from Party of Five? He hadn't watched it but he knew the gist. So maybe this ghost was his problem but it didn't mean he wanted it. He nudged May in the shoulder again. "We can hide in the attic, just distract it or something."

May looked from him to the ghost and back to him. She had absolutely no clue what she was supposed to do to distract it, but she squeezed tighter on his hand and held her breath for a moment, then let it out slowly. "Um... hey... little girl... ghosty... thing... um..? Look... look over there." she said, pointing at the wall. God, that was lame. And it totally didn't work either. She sighed and reached down, grabbing a pillow from the sofa and tossed it at the girl, it flew through her middle and she looked down at herself and that's when May took off running out of the room, releasing Dylan's hand. "Where's the attic?"

"Oh shit, oh shit, May!" Dylan exclaimed. He watched the pillow fly through the ghost who didn't even flinch and when he looked back at May to ask what next, she'd already gone. He let out a yelp of surprise and, casting another wary look at the ghost, took off after her down the hallway. He caught up to her quickly and grabbed her by the hand to stop her. He jumped up to grab the cord from the stairs and pulled the attic steps down. Another look around, no ghost. Good. "Quick, get up," he said and pushed her a little too roughly towards the ladder-steps.

She nearly lost her balance and practically tripped up the stairway, but she managed to get into the attic without hurting herself and without getting run over by Dylan on his way up. She glanced around the room as he climbed, squinting and blinking a little to get used to the lack of light in the room. "Please let there be no ghosts in here..." she whispered to herself.

Dylan ran up after her. He was a little too close and was practically leaning over May's back as she climbed. He didn't want to be in the house at all but alone would have been much worse. Didn't people always disappear in horror movies when they were alone? Once in the relative safety of the attic, Dylan pulled the ladder back up and flicked a couple of the lamps on. He'd made the room into his own little den, even if Frank wouldn't let him stay up there for good. Amongst the boxes there was a mattress and a make-shift desk out of one of the tougher cardboard boxes. Scattered on top were school books and the ones he'd borrowed from Nevermore that week, the one about werewolves was open to a page about signs of one. He looked around the room but when there were no ghosts, moved to sit by the window and gestured for her to come closer. "I think it's safe up here, maybe they can only float through walls and not ceilings. I don't know."

She didn't argue with him, eyes still flicking all over the room as she headed over towards where he was and sat down probably much too close for comfort, but right now, she just didn't care. She was terrified and they were in an attic hiding from ghosts! She could be scared and clingy, damn it. "Remind me to never come to your house again." she whispered. "Did you know you had ghosts?" May questioned as she slid her hand to his and twined their fingers together again.

If they were in a different situation, Dylan probably would have edged away from May. Instead, he was just as scare and needed the comfort as much as she did so he wriggled closer. One arm wrapped around her waist to draw her closer and he hid his face against her shoulder. If there were going to be any more ghosts visiting them, he didn't want to see them. "No, didn't know. No clue. My dad should be home soon though, we can just stay here. Are you okay?"

She let out a breath that she hoped wasn't noticeable when he slid his arm around her body and pulled her closer. But then his face was against her shoulder and she forgot entirely about that breath, concentrating instead on what he'd said. "I'm... I'm okay.." she told him. "Scared..." she admitted. She brought up a hand and ran her fingers through his hair comfortingly. "Are you okay?"

Dylan didn't notice anything different about May's breathing as he leaned against her. He just didn't want to see anymore ghosts and maybe if he kept his face hidden, he wouldn't. He did feel bad for her since he was sure the little girl had come to talk to him, wasn't that how it worked on those sorts of shows, that they all went to the psychic to be passed over? It was always funny because the medium looked like they were talking to themselves a lot but... He frowned, thinking it over. Then why did May see her too? "Hey May," he murmured without sitting upright again. "Why did we both see that ghost? Are you, like, psychic too or something?"

She raised a brow even though he couldn't really see it from the way he was sitting. "A psychic too?" she questioned, blinking a couple times. "You think you're a psychic? Are you a psychic?" She didn't know what to think about that. It was interesting, but confusing. He obviously thought he was a psychic if he'd said that, but she shook her head knowing she definitely was not a psychic. "No... I don't think so." she told him. "Not a psychic."

Dylan didn't look up but he nodded as much as he could, jolting his forehead into her shoulder a little. "Yeah, I think so. Kind of. Nate says he is too so maybe it runs in the family but I don't think my dad has it. He..." He kills things like that he almost said but that wouldn't be right. Besides, he was told never to tell people what his dad did for a living or else the wrong people might hear. But this was May and she was harmless, wasn't she? Still, he didn't want to tell her just in case she had connections. So instead he said, "He doesn't seem to be very... you know, intuitive or whatever it is."

May wasn't sure what to say to that, so she didn't say anything, she just nodded slightly. "Are you okay?" she questioned, pulling the topic away from psychics and the like. Her own body was trembling in fear. Hiding from ghosts on Halloween seemed more like a bad movie than her life.

Dylan tugged her a little closer, it was as much of a comfort to him as it was to her. He needed the closeness, the contact, the chance to hide his face against someone so he couldn't see the ghost again. He nodded against her shoulder and kissed where his lips pressed. "I'm okay, just... Just scared. We can stay here until Dad or Nate get home, they'll know what to do."

She nodded, though she did practically die when his lips pressed against her shoulder. "O-okay..." she said softly. She would have pulled him closer still but the only way to do that would have had her sitting on the boys lap practically, so she forced herself to deal with the closeness they'd already achieved. "I wish I knew why this was happening..."

"My dad will know," Dylan repeated. And he hoped Frank had answers, he needed them desperately. Maybe he wouldn't be able to explain the hows or whys of everything that was going on but he would be able to provide some sort of answer. A reason or an explanation, maybe even a way to defeat them! That was if he could see them too but May could and she wasn't psychic so... he hoped his dad could tell him something anyway. He sighed softly and nodded against her shoulder, "He'll be home soon. Let's just stay here until."

May nodded again and held tight to him. She had no problems with staying here until then. Not a single problem at all. When ghosts were about, hide in the attic and hope for the best. That was her plan and she wasn't about to venture out of the attic until Mr. Alden got there. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd moonlight as a ghost buster.