"So, you guys know how to get there? Do you visit graveyards often or something?" Madelyn snickered. That would be seriously weird to find out about these two. She had never seen a graveyard around town, but she'd never been looking for one either.

When Chase's hood was taken down, revealing his busted lip, Madelyn cringed and grit her teeth while touching her own lip, temporarily feeling the pain out of empathy. She looked at Mal who seemed to think that the jocks had something to do with it, but she figured that if the jocks decided to beat someone up, everyone would have gathered around to witness the ordeal, "Are you okay?" she asked him, while looking him in the eyes, shortly after placing a hand on his shoulder.

She smirked at Mal when he suggested they go and hammer them. "I give it a half an hour and they'll have gotten themselves hammered," she said, referring to the alcohol inside the house. Badass? Is that what you call it? Madelyn didn't think so, in fact it looked like he needed an ice pack. "What's gonna happen when your family sees?" she asked him hesitantly.

"If you guys wanna leave though, I'll understand. I think I'm going to stick around though, for a bit." She shrugged and shuffled her feet at the ground, "I'm having fun. I can talk to Amanda about it if you want..." She offered.

Chase tried to smile some when he heard Mal talking about going over to the jocks to teach them a lesson. He wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. Chase shrugged some when Madie asked what his family would do when they see. He knew his family knew about it, that's where it came from. Chase nodded some.

"I know where it's at, and it should be the same spot as it is every year." Chase said. He shook his head some. "No, no need to involve Amanda, she'd just get pissed." Chase added, and then tried to offer a small smile before turning around and heading towards the cemetary for the after party. Chase turned around before he got too far away.

"My bag is in Adam's car, when yall come to the after party, can you bring it for me?" Chase asked Madelyn. He then looked to Mal. "You can stay here if you want. I don't want to ruin yalls night." Chase added.

(sorry guys for the wait. I just got out of class and back from the store. I had to grab something for dinner.)

Mal shrugged at the look at Madelyn gave him. He was only trying to cheer the guy up. He raised an eyebrow. "Really, Mad? Where do you think people who die in this town go? Of course there's a cemetery! And no, we don't go around haunting the cemeteries. Silly."

He patted her head, grinning, then blinked, watching Chase walk off. He bent down to speak to Madelyn in a low voice. "Hey, I'm gonna go with him. I think there's something else… I just want to see if he needs to talk. Have fun at the party, though, ok? Tell Amanda it was awesome for us."

He turned to run after Chase, but glanced back at Madelyn once more. "Your costume is pretty awesome, by the way!" With that, he took off running after his other friend. Feeling a stroke of complete goofiness, he started swinging the hammer around in a circle like Thor did whenever he was about to fly. Then he raised his other arm in the air and went running past Chase going, "Wooooshhhhh!"

As Chase nodded, Madelyn frowned sympathetically, still wondering what they would say about his injury and how that would affect their outings in the future. It'd be extremely unfair if Chase wasn't allowed to go with them anywhere anymore. "There's an after party every year?" Madelyn laughed, "Sheesh, I need to get out more often." She was only fifteen, and normally she had to be home quite a bit earlier than she was allowed to stay out tonight.

Madelyn nodded, letting Chase know that she wouldn't bring anything up to Amanda. "Yeah, sure. No problem." Madelyn nodded, confirming that she would bring him his bag.

"Uhm, well, I dunno. Maybe... I've just never seen it myself is all." Madelyn shrugged, further signifying her ignorance to any presence of a graveyard in their town, for which she received a pat on her head that ruffled up her hair a bit. "Alright," she mustered; she hoped that her friend was okay.

"Oh, thanks..!" Madelyn called back to him as Malcom complimented her costume, still a bit taken aback by the fact that she'd be heading back to the party on her own. Oh, damn. And she'd have to face another one of Amanda's freak-outs because they were heading to the after party early. She honestly didn't understand. She chuckled to herself as 'Thor' began flying away, then turned and headed back into the house, avoiding Amanda for a while.

- -

Chris was a tall, lengthy guy, kind of like Adam's counter-part except pale and blonde instead of tan and dark haired. He was having a cigarette, sitting on one of the coolers he'd already brought down to the graveyard. Around the place, he'd managed to stick four tall poles into the ground and through which he strung several strands of orange lights, and via the use of several extremely long extension cords, the place had a bit of light to it. From his truck, there were a couple of tall lamps that looked like tiny field-lights that you would see on a football field. Those remained in his truck for now, as they were a heavy and hard to get standing.

The area around the graveyard was heavily forested, but there was no gate rendering the borders between the cemetery and the woods. Every year, they'd tell each other stories of how several years ago, some kids went in there and never came out. Normally, it put the younger ones on edge, but typically, the crowd who attended this party was way too old to believe in ghost stories, so it was all in jest.

Chris stood up when he saw a couple of shadows creeping towards him. He squinted in their direction, tossing his cigarette to the floor and stomping it out without looking at it. "Hey, who's there?" He called out as he would to a couple of his friends, to be clear, there was no fear in his voice. "There's not supposed to be anyone out here yet, I'm not finished setting up," he clamored.

As the shadows came into view, he recognized Malcom and Chase. He'd already graduated high school a couple years ago, so he didn't know them from school, but being Amanda's older brother, he typically knew the faces of those whom she fraternized with -and sometimes she just left her facebook open, so he could browse names and faces of people who were her 'friends'.

"What are you guys doing out here?" He asked, "The party only, like, just started, y'know?" He eyed the two young men curiously, "Ah, what the hell, since you're here, I've got light posts in my truck that I could use a hand moving. Come on." He ushered them back towards his truck.

The light post was in two segments. The bottom half had a circular cement casing that ensured the lamp wouldn't fall over on a flat surface, and the other piece screwed into the bottom half, it was hard to get the circuitry lined up when screwing the two halves together, but it was worth the convenience of not having to carry around a two eight-foot tall field-lights.

Chase lqughed a little when Mal ran past him, pretending to fly. He shook his head some with a smile, and continued to walk. He reached the edge of the graveyard and heard someone call out to them.

"Chill Chris, it's just us. Mal and Chase." Chase answered. He heard Chris throw a little fit about them being here and shook his head some.

"We decided to see if you need some help instead of becoming the center of the jocks party." Chase answered and then nodded some as Chris asked them to give him a hand. Chase walked over to the truck to help Chris with the lights.

"I don't know why you keep setting up these lights. I think tiki torchs and candles would be a lot better for the occasion. That's just my opinion." Chase said. Once they finished helping out with the lights, Chase walked over to one of the coolers and grabbed a beer. After opening it, he took a large gulp of it. Chase wasn't the type to get drunk so early, but after the day he's had, he didn't feel like being sober.

Mal raised an eyebrow. Why was everyone so touchy about them going to the graveyard? What, was there some kind of huge surprised planned that they weren't supposed to know about? He shook his head, just glancing at Chase when he called out to the other guy. Happy to be put to work, Mal assisted with putting the second light together after Chase helped with the first.

"I agree, candles… Maybe jack-o-lanterns, those would be cool."

"Well, I suppose next year, you two can set up the after-party," Chris said, tossing his cigarette butt to the ground and stamping it out.

"Touchy touchy," Mal commented with a grin. He glanced toward Chase, a small frown coming to his lips once again. "You drinking tonight?" he asked in a thoroughly non-judgmental way. His eyes went back to Chris as the guy headed back to his truck, then fell once more on Chase. "You probably should put some of the ice in there on your eye. Hopefully that doesn't swell shut."

Now that the lights were up and blaring into the night, Mal began to walk slowly through the graveyard, squinting to read the gravestones. There were some really old graves in there. Frankly, it creeped him out a bit. He bent to right a vase that had fallen over with a wilted and dried flower in it, then continued on his walk.

"Halloweentown, it is almost time, my friends. The hour of haunting awaits us. Come hither, let us ride into the night and celebrate. We have been waiting for so long, but it is nearly time, my friends, the time has come." The mayor of Halloweentown stood upon his podium with his megaphone, calling to arms the citizens of the town. "Let us venture now, the door will be open and we shall be set free, but remember to return before the hour is past our day of haunting. We know not of what happens to those who remain locked outside. Come, come!" Upon the mayor's summons, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, witches, vampires, skeletons, and many more haunting characters appeared from their homes and the streets looking their best and most frightening. "Yes, yes, you all look so dangerous tonight. I am so proud of you all."

So, the celebratory parade ensued. Everyone was singing, dancing, spooking, laughing as the Pumpkin King, Jack, lead everyone through the graveyard, and into the forest where the portal between worlds resided. "Happy Halloween!" Jack exclaimed with a devious grin before thrusting the door hinged to the tree bark wide open, letting the others escape. Witches zoomed passed on their brooms, and flew high through the skies, while the others began to chase after and dart through the portal, entering Hinterlands.

Lock, Shock and Barrel all stopped before entering the portal to look at Jack, "Are you going to greet the humans?" They were all dying to introduce themselves to the newcomers, and it would bring them extraordinary amounts of joy to be the firsts to do so, and when Jack shook his head, 'no', they were all momentarily lighted by a flicker of hope, but it was quickly shot down as Jack spoke once more.

"My boys, Fib and Tib, have been given that honor. Now, go have a happy Halloween," Jack commanded.

Slightly downtrodden, the three of them escaped Halloweentown, and pranced through Hinterlands until they came to the outskirts of a graveyard, lit up with bright lights. "That's not very festive." Shock said to the three of them. "Come on, I've got a plan."

- -

Madelyn was at the party for about another hour, before Adam came behind her again. This time, she socked him squarely in the shoulder. "Ow, hey!" He whined, "I just wanted to say that we should get out of here. Amanda's about to close down the party. I don't wanna get caught in the rush of everybody leaving. Let's go."

Madelyn nodded, "Alright."

After a short while of driving, Adam pulled into the graveyard's designated parking space, though the party was within the graveyard a bit further beyond that point. "You scared yet?" He asked Madelyn.

To be perfectly honest, the who area had an eerie feeling to it, but she was braver than that. "No," she said with a soft chuckle. She pulled her door open and stepped onto the street which crunched underneath her foot as it was covered with fallen leaves. "Oh, yeah, Chase wants his bag," she said, pulling open the back seat door and picking up his bag off of the floor and carried it with her through the graveyard. Adam had left his mask in the car and proceeded to strip down out of his rainbow-suit and back into his jeans and ripped t-shirt. "Do we have to have, like, a license to be out here or something?" Madelyn asked, to which Adam responded, "Probably." Then, he snickered.

Another car had pulled in next to theirs and a couple of people she recognized from the party stepped out of the car quietly, and headed towards the lights that were visible from the lot.

Madelyn saw Chase and Malcom and she waved, "You guys made it here without dying or getting lost! Awesome!" She joked, shortly afterwards, she handed Chase his bag. "I remembered," she said with a smile. "I can't believe you guys left the party though. You missed all of the best parts."

DEATH:
Death slowly moved through the streets of the human world. This was the one night he was able to move freely and not be noticed. Death was always greeted on how well his costume looked, though no one ever knew that it wasn't a costume, it was his actual self. His ivory coloured skull stood out from his black hood and robes, his scythe was stained red from the blood that was left on it. Death slowly moved to the graveyard and stood just outside the lighted area. It was light enough to notice him, but dark enough where no one knew what or who he was.

Death noticed that these were the same group of Teens that were suppose to be going to Halloween town that night, but how many of them, he didn't know. Death pulled out a scroll and looked at it, two names appeared on the ancient scroll. He rolled it up and slid it back into his sleeve. Death shook his head and disappeared, hoping not to be noticed.


CHASE:
Chase finished the beer he had and looked around. He wondered if they had set up a trash can for all the trash. He looked to Mal.

"I always drink on halloween night. That's the night i drink." Chase replied and then shook his head some. "If it hasn't swelled shut by now, it shouldn't swell shut. I'll be alright." Chase added and then felt his phone vibrate. He pulled his phone out and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was. Before he was able to answer the phone, Madelyn walked up.

"Hey, thanks Madelyn. I appreciate it." Chase said grabbing his bag and walking a good distance away before answering his phone.

"Why are you calling me, we're through remember, you cheated, you betrayed me, and you're going to suffer." Chase said onto the phone. He shook his head some and took a few dep breaths. "Well F*&%$!@ you too." Chase said in the phone then hanging up. He put his phone in his bag and walked back over to the party, this time with a smile on his face, as he greeted everyone that was there. Thankfully only people that he got along with were there. Chase noticed something off in the distance and looked, but couldn't tell what it was, and then it vanished before he was able to make out what it was. Chase thought that it was just his imagination and shrugged it off, before getting back to the party.

Medusa

Medusa was positively gleeful as she lined up behind the other members of her town, waiting to be set free. The woman was dressed in black leather pants that were so tight, they almost looked like they were painted on. She had a matching black corset and a pair of thigh-high heeled boots. Hanging from the back of her tight pants was a long cat tail, and a headband with a pair of cat ears kept her long black hair out of her face. She liked to keep up with the human lore, and she'd heard that cat woman was in this year.

As the crowd of Halloweentown-ers began to move, she skipped along up the dirt path toward the portal. "See you later, sugar!" she said, caressing Jack's face as she passed him. She moved silently through the forest as she made her way toward the little town that she knew was nearby. But lights and noise coming from the graveyard caught her attention. Standing just at the edge of the forest, she slipped up behind a tree and peeked around it. Teens, having a party. Probably the humans who would be coming to town later. She let out a fretful sigh. Those humans were off limits.

Medusa continued on through the forest until she reached the road, then stepped out of the trees to walk along the sidewalk into town. As she walked, a car drove by, then stopped, and slowly backed up. A window was rolled down and a male's voice called out to her.

"Hi there, gorgeous! Haven't seen you around here before! Need a ride?"

A snakelike forked tongue slipped out from between ruby lips as Medusa bent down to peer inside the vehicle at the man. "Oh, why yes. I do! How kind of you." And she stepped over to hop in, smiling toothily at her very first victim of the night.

---

Mal

"Right.." Mal said quietly when Chase answered both of his questions. He glanced around at Madelyn as she walked over. His eyes grazed across the bag that was exchanged, wondering idly what was inside, but the thought let his mind quickly enough. He strode over to join her as Chase walked away. "Such little faith you have in us, Madelyn," he chided, but then he gave her a grin. "Really? What were the best parts?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Somehow he doubted he missed anything too exciting.

Letting out a sigh, he bent down to the cooler and grabbed himself a beer, which he quickly popped open and took a long sip from. He hadn't really planned on drinking, but he really hated parties and… talking to so many people as he was expected to. A little bit of alcohol in his system would loosen his lips enough. "Anyway, as it turned out, we were able to help Chris a little bit, so there ya go."

Mal tilted his head as a radio was turned on and music began to drift through the graveyard. The song was a fairly quick, catchy tune. He took another swig from his beer, then grinned down at Madelyn. "Ya wanna dance?" he asked. Mal was definitely not one to typically dance, but he figured what the hell. He'd look like an idiot no matter what he was doing, might as well entertain his friends while he was at it.

In the light, the graveyard was an array of colors due to the fallen leaves that had blown in from the forested area and the tombstones that inhabited its own six feet in length and a couple feet of width across the entire space, this created many peculiar looking shadows across the ground. The moon was bright in the sky, only slightly obscured by a thin layer of clouds. It had been full just a few nights ago, so even where there was no artificial light, the moon beams still created a luminescence to the area.

Since Madelyn left the car, there had been the constant rustling of hardened leaves scraping against each other on the ground and in the trees. The breeze that picked them up was average for this time of year, but it brought a chill to the air that aided the unnerving atmosphere. Soon after arriving at the graveyard, she felt as if she began to notice peculiar shadows, mostly zooming across the sky quickly and out of sight, but she just thought her mind was playing tricks on her. After all, it was getting late and the party earlier may have drained a bit of her senses; social interaction is more tiring than it would seem. However, as she watched Chase get some distance from the rest of them, she noticed a dark, hooded figure. She hadn't recognized the costume from the party, but perhaps they didn't have to attend the party to come to the after party. She stared intently for a few moments until she blinked at it was gone. She hadn't had a drink of anything all night precisely to avoid these kinds of hallucinations, and yet, it seemed that dehydration was the bane of her now.

As Chase began to walk back towards them, she was going to ask him if everything was all right. He had seemed agitated, and wanted to make sure he didn't need help with anything, but before this could happen, she was turning to face someone who'd asked her to dance. "Oh, Mal! Sure," she laughed softly thinking how much he let his inhibitions fall away as soon as he had a bottle in his hand. If she'd had any real shyness, she might have considered a bottle for herself, but truly, she didn't need it.

She let Mal take the lead in... Whatever kind of dance he expected her to do... Then, she followed his actions with a bit of moderation. "At the party," she said, finally about to tell of the 'best parts', "Amanda had some people bobbing for apples. No one was really that great at it, but that wasn't the awesome part. Adam came behind one of the jock guys that you and Chase left the party because of and he pushed him into the bucket. This was in her backyard, so there was no reasonable damage done to anything except the bucket. I'm pretty sure Amanda was pissed, but she couldn't stop laughing anyway. It was so sad watching him shiver until she got him a towel. Adam disappeared for a while after that, though, but then he came and told me we were leaving, so here I am!"

- -

Shock, the oldest of the three, lead the two boys through to the other side of the forest where they eventually stumbled upon a large pumpkin patch. With heavy black boots, she stepped over and around the larger pumpkins until they were in the center of more than a hundred pumpkins. She cackled maniacally before her fingertips glowed with a purple-hue that nearly matched the color of her dress that was hemmed just below her knees. She was never a very good witch when it came to potions and poisons, incantations and spells, or even flying, but what she could do with her raw power was enough to make her quite the scare.

Shock pressed a fingertip to the stem of a large pumpkin closest to her, and as if it were some sort of nutrients, the pumpkin seemed to doubled in size. Large slits began to appear across one side of the pumpkin developing the form of a jack-o-lantern face, but much unlike any jack-o-lantern ever seen before, the pumpkin began outstretch its skin to create two limbs, that at first, looked like large tumors or boils that seemed to resemble nub-like limbs, but quickly they grew longer and thicker until the creature was attempting to stand. It hoisted itself up with its new-found ligaments, then all too quickly, it collapsed back onto the ground, bruising the skin near its stem. Then, it began to move a different way. It outstretched its limbs as far as they would go, then grasped onto the ground and pulled itself forward, managing to move nearly a foot.

Shock was wearing a wicked grin of delight once it finally got moving, then she proceeded to touch the stems of several more pumpkins around her who all followed the original creation's lead, pulling themselves forward across the ground. "Come on, the humans are this way," she said, ushering her first command to the now animated objects. She stepped around the pumpkin patch and onto the sidewalk near the street where she would go around the forest to get to the front of the graveyard, and force the humans towards Hinterlands from fright. It was going to be a scream.

"Shock, how'd you know there was a bunch of pumpkins over here?" Lock asked the young woman who now commanded an army of nearly two dozen, large pumpkins who were managing to keep up with the three of them with their will, though the concrete was slowly wearing them down, and streaks of pumpkin could be noticed by those who stared at the sidewalk for too long.

"I took notes from last year, stupid." Shock affirmed.

"Oh, I see." Lock said with a sigh, he hated when she called him stupid. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, you and Barrel are going to run ahead and frighten the humans by being afraid of these pumpkins. They might not believe you at first, but once they see them, they'll be scared out of their wits. It's going to be so great." Shock explained.

Lock felt his heart flutter for a moment, there was no ends to this girl and her tricks. "That sounds perfect." He nodded, "Just let us know when we should go."

"I will."

DEATH:
Death moved swiftly through the streets. He quickly found his next soul, and raised his scythe and swung it at the human. After the quickly blow of the scythe, the soul left the body. Death opened his robe and watched as the soul entered his scythe.

JACOB:
A black trucked rolled up to the gravyard and slowly came to a halt near the party. A young man climbed out of the truck and stretched come. He ran a hand through his hair, and looked over the hood of his truck. He wondered if anyone remembered him, or if everyone was new. Jacob was surprised that the halloween party still went on. He remembered putting on the first party in the same location. Jacob put on a werewolf mask, and walked over to the edge of the party. He took a large deep breath and let out a loud realistic howl. THe howl he let out was so loud that it was heard over the music. Anyone that had been around to any of the parties from three years ago would recognize the howl.

CHASE:
Chase took a sip of water and looked around. He wasn't the type to dance, and never did dance. Chase was known as the stand around guy, because he was the only one that wouldn't dance. Chase watched everyone dance, and paid closer attention to Mal and Madelyn, glad that two of his friends were having fun. Chase sat down on one of the coolers sipping on the water.

Chase jumped up once heard the howl and looked around, he nearly choked on the water that was in his mouth. He did drop the bottle and his bag. Chase looked around carefully, and then noticed a werewolf on the edge of the party and quickly raced over. He ran through the crowd of dancers, and bumped into Mal and Madelyn.

"No Way!!!" Chase said as he tackled the howler. Chase and Jacob gave each other a big hug and laughed a little bit. "What the hell you doing here??" Chase asked.

Medusa

Medusa stepped out of the house and looked up and down the street. The streetlights were out in this area, and not a single house had their porch light on. The woman let out a snort then slipped back inside, shouldering the stone man with a strength that none would have expected just by looking at her. She carried him out the door, quietly closing it behind her, and walked down the street. A couple of pre-teen kids appeared at the end of the street, laughing wildly. Medusa quickly stepped off the sidewalk with her burden and hid behind a set of stairs while she waited for the kids to pass. When all was quiet once more, she continued, taking a right onto a new street. This one was more brightly lit, so she chose the second house and walked up to the front door. She set the statue down so that it would greet the occupants of the house when they opened the door. Then, she rang the bell and leaped down off the porch to hide in the bushes and watch, quiet giggles of glee escaping her lips while she hid.

---

Mal

Mal was clearly no dancer. He knew he looked the part of the total nerd he was as he swung his arms through the air and attempted to shake his hips. He bobbed his head completely out of time with the music, for the poor kid had no sense of rhythm whatsoever. He listened with interest as Madelyn hold him about what they'd missed at the party, letting out a laugh at the thought of one of the jocks being half-drowned while bobbing for apples.

"Too bad no one got a video of it," he murmured, shaking his head sadly. He continued dancing like a dork, grinning down at Madelyn. "Try this one," he said, about to bust out a new move. He bent his knees and linked his hands together and started shimmying in some strange way, but stopped suddenly when he heard a familiar roar ring out over the music. "Did you hear that?" he asked, straightening.

Mal's eyes scanned over the heads of the crowd for the source until Chase bumped into him and he stumbled into Madelyn. "Gah, what the hell Chase," he muttered, watching his friend head toward the werewolf. "Oh! Sorry Mads, I'll be back," he told her with a grin. Then he took off, jogging on his long legs over to Chase and Jacob. "Jacob!? What's UP, dude?!" He slapped his old friend on the back, grinning.

"If it was something that Adam was planning, I'll bet he made sure that there was a video made of it," Madelyn inferred, realizing that he'd probably be able to find it online later if he wanted to, and that staying at the party would have been completely pointless which, in truth, made her a bit sad. She didn't want her friends to leave in the first place, but she had no control over the matter.

Madelyn complimented his dancing with her own the best she could, but he was, in one word, 'awkward'. She understood why he never went out with them, but it's not like social interaction came easy to her at first either. It took some practice. As she eyed Malcom dancing, she figured he'd need a lot more practice than the average Joe. Sure, he'd rather stay home and kill zombies until the late hours of the morning, but he agreed to come with them, so there was that to be happy about.

"Ow," Madelyn said in a bit of a monotone as a sharp pain ran through her foot, "You stepped on my toe," she frowned as Chase continued passed them. Then, quickly after that, Malcom was stating that he had to run off too. Again? Really? Ugh. "O-okay." She shrugged and her eyes followed him as they met with a new face. Not sure what to make of the newcomer except that he was her friends' friend, she took a step back and began shuffling her feet at the ground, watching said feet as she did so until she felt a familiar presence of someone walking near her. "Adam-" she blurted out, noticing the tall, dark-haired man heading for a cooler just passed her.

"Yeah? You're not gonna ask me to dance, are you? You can't handle my moves," Adam said without allowing Madelyn to interject.

Madelyn shook her head and pointed to her two friends and the newcomer, "Who is that?" she asked him tentatively, not entirely sure if he'd have any answers.

"Who?" Adam squinted in the direction she was pointing and noticed Chase, Mal and - who was? Jacob? Holy hell, it was Jacob. "That's Jacob, way back when, he started this whole shi-bang. Damn, man, I thought he moved." He opened up the cooler and grabbed himself a bottle before eventually making his way to the small crowd of people that were now gathered around Jacob.

Even though Chris had been on the other side of the clearing when the familiar howl sounded, he lifted his head immediately and bolted towards the direction of the noise, eager to see if his old friend thought the party he put together was up to snuff.



Pumpkin juices had been scraping up the sidewalk for about half of a mile by the time the graveyard came into view. You could hear the harsh cement scratching at the skin harshly, but the pumpkins made little notice of this and kept pursuing their creator as she remained several steps ahead of them at a time. Before too long, they were off of the beaten path and into a patch of grass to the right of the sidewalk, closer and closer to the approaching cemetery.

Shock turned to her two partners in crime, "Ready?" she asked him with a grin to which they responded with a nod, "Go!" As her two friends bolted, the wind created by their speed caused her purple dress to ruffle softly at her thighs. Instinctively, she gripped her hat which matched the color of her dress to prevent it from flying off of her head. It covered her thin, curled hair only slightly. She adjusted the mask on her face which covered the bridge of her nose to the tip of her forehead and outlined her eyes in black while the mask itself was a dull green color, much like a masquerade mask without the intricate details.

Lock and Barrel burst passed Shock, ready to begin the evening's scare. Lock almost laughed at the thought of Fib and Tib trying to lure the teenagers into town with a candy trail. Their idea was a million times better. Besides, no one could get hurt. They were just pumpkins. It was all about perspective, and they had to sell it. Lock was dressed head to toe in red, from his suit to his own mask, red had always been his color because it was the color of his own tail. His mask was tied firmly around his head, unable to slip out of place despite the off-set balance caused by the two horns jetting out of the top left and right corners of it, and while it wobbled uncomfortably while he ran, he was never unable to see.

Barrel dashed next to Lock, compared to Lock in his classy suit, Barrel felt outclassed. His half-mask hooked over the left side of his face with a minuscule amount of adhesive and his long, black trench coat covered him from shoulders to upper thighs. It was imbued, like his black pants, with white skeletal markings. The bright turquoise of his hair greatly offset the monochrome of his outfit, but this was what he always wore, so it was no problem for him.

The two of them ran like madmen into the graveyard towards the large group of teenagers, shrieking in terror, their own eyes wide with fear. Barrel's lip quivered and Lock thought that he might even shed tears. Lock looked to the lot of them, seemingly stricken by the fact that they could all be standing around at a time like this. "They're ... coming," Lock spoke exasperatedly, heaving his breath and clutching his chest as though he'd been running for miles.

Barrel looked over his shoulder back towards the entryway to the graveyard and repeated what Lock had said, though slightly more convincing, "THEY'RE COMING!" He yelled in horror, then he bolted towards the forest while screaming, leaving Lock behind.

Once he had the vast majority of the teenagers' attentions, he hurriedly began to explain, "Giant pumpkins... living... killing... already killed... You guys have to get out of here!" His voice quivered at every turn, never skipping a beat. He looked over his shoulder to actually see Shock approaching with her pumpkin army, cackling like mad. In response, Lock screamed, and once the pumpkins came into view, he bolted towards the forest much like Barrel. Birds of a feather... He figured that seeing two people run into the forest in the same direction would subconsciously direct the terrified humans were to go.

Shock's excitement overflowed as she saw the confused and/or terrified faces of the humans as she entered the graveyard. Feeding off of the excitement, the pumpkins began to pick up their pace and dart passed her as well, clawing their way into the graveyard and around the tombstones, chasing the humans to where they could retreat within the forest.

JACOB:
Laughed some as he gave Chase a hug.

"Man, it's been a while." Jacob said taking the mask off. He nodded to Chase, and shook hands with Chris. "I see you are keeping the party going after all. I was afraid it died out after i moved away." Jacob added and then looked to Chase and gave a soft smile.

"you don't think i could walk away from a good party. I was in the area this week and decided to stay low until the night was perfect." He said wrapping an arm around Chase's shoulders and looked to Mal. "Dude, will you quit growing already, i can't use you as an arm rest anymore." Jacob said jokingly. He began walking towards the main party, he looked around a bit and shook his head.

Jacob saw the pumpkins and laughed a bit, but then seeing how they started chasing everyone, he grabbed Chase's hand, and Mal's hand and took off into the forest.

CHASE:
Chase smiled some. He looked over to Madie and dragged Jacob over that way.

"Madelyn, This is the Partier of Partiers, the King of Halloween Parties, the Howler of the night, Jacob Green." Chase said all story like. He liked giving Jacob the credit that he deserves. He watched as Jacob stuck his hand out to shake her hand. Chase was definitely surprised by Jacob's sudden appearance without telling anyone. Chase looked around, and watched everyone party.

"Yes, most of these people are new. We're trying to keep the party going every year. In fact we're glad you're here this year. And here just in time, We haven't toasted to our Party Founder yet. We all have a drink in honor of Jacob Green, the Founder of the Graveyard Halloween Party." Chase said, looking at Madelyn and Mal. "Ain't that true yall?" He added.

Chase was jerked towards the forest, though before he was dragged off, he grabbed Madelyn's hand, getting her to follow them.

Mal smirked a little at Jacob's teasing, ducking his head a bit. "I can't help it you guys are all a bunch of midgets compared to me. You should put on some heels or something. I bet they'd make your calves look real pretty," he said to Jacob, grinning.

He crossed his arms, watching as Chase introduced Madelyn to their old friend, then nodded when Chase mentioned the drink they took in Jacob's honor. Mal may have rarely ever left the house, but he did at least always make it to the Halloween party. It was a tradition that he kept, no matter how much he hated being around a bunch of people.

His thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice screaming at the other edge of the graveyard. Something was coming? Then, behind the three strangers… gigantic pumpkins were dragging themselves along. "What the hell? Are they robo-"

But then Jacob had grabbed his hand and pulled him off toward the forest. "Wait, don't you wanna see what the hell they are? I mean, it's got to be some kind of joke…" Mal allowed himself to be tugged along anyway, shaking his head.

All around her, teenagers began darting in several different directions. When she glanced over her shoulder to examine the things to the best of her abilities whilst being dragged away by Chase and Jacob, she noticed others who had gotten close enough to the things out of curiosity. They reached up with their stumpy limbs and grabbed a hold of their garments and pulled until they either came off or ripped. One girl, who had a strapped dress on got too close and one of the pumpkins reached up and pulled, snapping the straps off and causing her dress to fall, exposing her bra. In response the girl screamed and kicked the pumpkin with all of her might. Her foot was caught momentarily in the thing's mouth and covered her foot and shoe with a heavy layer of pumpkin goo and pulp, but the pumpkin was sent flying a couple feet backward and landed on top of another nearby pumpkin, causing them both to explode in an unexplainable gumption, littering the surrounding teens with seeds, pulp and more orange goo. However, it was not only the remains of pumpkin that covered them, but a trace of Shock's magic that began to burn their skin like lemon juice would irritate a small cut.

After first moaning in disgust about being covered in pumpkin guts, their next noises were that of pain wherever the goo had touched them. It wasn't intolerable pain, nor that immense at all, but between the terror of the unknown, and hearing about previous 'killings' from the strangers before, their fight or flight instincts kicked in, and they began running for their lives.

"Where are we going?" She asked them, panicked, slowly beginning to recall the tall, hooded figure she'd seen vanish near the forest earlier and she thought she'd rather face the pumpkins than get lost inside of the trees.

After a while of running aimlessly, they were at a clearing devoid of trees and just ahead of them, there were a row of seven trees with intricate markings on each one. From left to right, she stared. A red square with white stars on it, a badly drawn turkey, a pink narrow heart, a Christmas tree, an oval with stripes and polka dots, a green four-leaf clover, and a wickedly grinning pumpkin that was actually jetting out a few inches from the tree on one side like a door that was slightly ajar. "What ... what is this place?"

The clearing seemed to swallow up her voice, willing her not to speak as loudly as she was capable. They gazed in wonder at the trees before them, Madelyn was unwilling to take another step forward, but she gazed helplessly at her friends and a couple of acquaintances that had made it to the clearing as well.



The two of them both met up just behind the clearing, out of sight of the humans who would surely be making their way here soon. "You were awesome, Barrel." Lock smiled to his friend with a nodding gesture.

"You too, Lock." Barrel laughed lightly, "Fib and Tib ain't got nothin' on us, huh?" He snickered as he noticed a small trail of candy that had led from the forest, to the clearing, straight to the pumpkin-tree that was the door to Halloween Town. "This worked much better," Barrel grinned as Lock nodded in agreement.

JACOB:
Jacob finished running and let go of Mal and Chase as they came to the opening with the seven trees. He looked at the trees strangely, not sure exactly what they were. Jacob also noticed the pumpkin being slightly open. Jacob looked around trying to see if there was someone trying to put on some kind of joke, but didn't see any kind of tracks to prove his theory.

"What do you think this could be? I mean i've been through this forest millions of times while hunting, but never seen this." Jacob added.

CHASE:
Chase quickly caught his breath and looked around. He usually kept a bottle of water in his bag, and pulled it out. He took a sip of the water and passed it to Mal. Chase slowly moved closer to the trees to better look at them. Chase slightly touched the Pumpkin tree to get a better look at what it was.

The pumpkin began to glow, brighter then when first came. The pumpkin shot open, with black ghostly arms coming out, grabbing each teenager. The arms were sucked back into the tree, pulling the teens with it.

When they had finally stopped running, Malcom looked around curiously. How had no one ever noticed this place before? Who had put it here? The trees looked to be ancient. He mumbled a thanks to Chase when he passed a bottle of water over, and took a long swig of it. When he'd finished, he passed it a long to Madelyn.

"Chase- careful, you don't know wh-" He watched as his friend touched the pumpkin on what looked like a door in the tree and it suddenly began to glow. "Oh what the hell!"

Black fingers wrapped around his arm and suddenly he was pulled right behind Chase, through the opening in the tree. They fell through darkness for what seemed like forever, then hit the ground roughly. Mal landed half on top of Chase with a grunt before rolling off to the side, groaning. "Sorry," he muttered, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees to look around.

They were in another graveyard, though this one was haphazardly designed and the gravestones were in terrible shape. It was dark… so dark, but the land was lit up by a gigantic moon that it seemed like you could touch if you reached far enough. Mal ran a hand through his hair and bit his lip. Where they hell had they fallen? He'd never seen this place in their little town before. And that moon was just… unnatural. He pushed himself up and turned to give his friends a hand to help them up. "Everyone ok?" he asked.

Adam, who had been running right behind them, let out a groan and got up, rubbing his side. He held a hand out to Madelyn, pulling her up. "I'm good," he answered. "But where the hell are we? This… is not possible."

Dorinda sat with her arms tightly crossed against her chest and a scowl plastered across her face. One would think at eighteen years of age she would be able to dress herself for once, but no, her mother had made sure to buy yet another overly extravagant costume for her to feel uncomfortable in. What sort of costume would make a young woman feel so self conscious one may ask? Well, besides the fact that it looked exactly like something Marie Antoinette would have worn, there is the price tag to consider. Doe's family had always been well off and her mother loved to rub that fact in everyone else faces. Her mother was the reason they were forced to move town year after year. They had only been in this new town for a month now. Doe had found it easy to fall into several groups of people, as she always did, and make friends. The fact that her mother had signed her up for three fall sporting events helped. But I digress. The costume consisted of a black and silver fairly sheer corset, bound in the back with silver strings and a rather large, rather uncomfortable skirt sat underneath it all. (Think Cinderella ballgown type of thick) and of course the costume wouldn't be complete without authentic undressing, so in short the poor girl was dressed head to toe in black and silver authentic turn of the century attire. Her chestnut brown hair was piled on top of her head and the curls fell loosely to frame her face. The makeup was impeccable as always and she wore around her neck her favorite choker necklace. I am not even going to get into the details about the shoes.

"You look marvelous darling!" The mother of the year crooned, her hands on her daughters shoulders and her left cheek pressed against the girls right. They were both staring into a huge mirror that reflected both of them perfectly.

"Mum, I think this costume is highly inappropriate, I mean this is a high school party we are talking about, why can't I just go dressed like a witch with a green face and warts?" Dorinda whined. Whining usually didn't get her anywhere but she though if she did it enough that her mother would cave tonight. The hope quickly dwindled with the ring of the doorbell.

"Oh tush!" Her mother exclaimed, "After all you have that very nice, very handsome, very RICH, young man picking you up for said party. One must not disappoint. Now up dear, you don't want to keep the poor boy waiting." The older woman said with a pat on her daughters head. She held up the black velvet cloak and helped fasten it in front, the frill on the long sleeves of the dress got in the way, and handed her daughter the matching velvet pouch that held Doe's cell, important cards, and to her horror a form of birth control.

"MOM!" Doe exclaimed, pulling out the packaging and throwing it on the nearby dressing table. "That is just SO WRONG!" The only response she heard was a rolling of her mothers eyes and the rest melded into a series of unintelligible mumblings. Before she knew it the average girl, dressed to the hilt in finery, was in the passenger side of a car that was obviously more extravagant than most people could afford. "Hey Jake, we are going to the party right?" She asked a little hesitantly, the fact that her mother thought she would be doing something else sat uncomfortably in her stomach and the feeling only got worse when the jock in the seat next to her only smiled.



It wasn't long before the expensive car slowed and pulled into a clearing. Jake wasted no time in 'going for the goods' as Doe's best friend from the previous town she lived in would have put it. "Oh please, get off of me! That's just so.... wrong!" She said pushing him away and wiping the saliva off the side of her face. Boys could be such pigs. Why was this evening already seeming like some crappy teenage Hollywood film? "I thought you were going to drive me to the party. You know, that one your friends sister or cousin or whatever is throwing?" Her arms were once again tightly across her chest, she almost wanted to throw a cross at him. Maybe she should have eaten more of that garlic bread for dinner.

"Awe, common babes, why would you want to go to a lame party like that? Only sophomore dweebs and dorks go there. I think you would have much more fun here with me." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Your disgusting," Doe said with a flat expression on her face and opened the door of the car. "Fine if you won't take me I will just walk." Doe slammed the door and walked as fast as the uncomfortable shoes would allow her in the direction of the party.

Jake drove past her and rolled down his window, tossing a pumpkin filled pastry of some kind at her and yelling at the top of his lungs "Whore! Everyone's going to here about what you did." Doe was able to dodge the pastry which landed on the cement and splattered and rolled her eyes at his threat. She was sure she would hear about how she had done all sorts of perverted things to him. That's how things usually went when her mother set dates up for her. She was sure her mother implied that she did more than, well, than she did. Doe had never even kissed a boy and that was the way she wanted to keep it for a good long time.

Luckily she knew the town pretty well, even after having only lived in it for a month, she walked all around after school everyday just so she wouldn't have to return home to her mother and the prattling that went with her. She was also lucky that the field was only an hours walk from the party. Once she had had to walk three hours back from a similar date. Her feet where killing her, but after an hour she reached the party, which seemed to be dying down. Everyone was leaving in large groups. Great, she had missed it. Hearing one of the groups muttering about some sort of after party at the graveyard, Doe began to make her way in that direction.



It seemed to take her a lot longer to find her way to the graveyard. She couldn't recall seeing one as of yet, and once she did find it it was no wonder. The graveyard was on the outskirts of town and one side let into a forested area. She found soon enough a large brightly lit area where an after party of sorts had clearly been but it was all but deserted now, gobs of orange that smelled like pumpkin and seeds strewn everywhere. "You have got to be kidding me!" It had to be some sort of joke, it just had to be, to week out the serious party goers from the ones that would get the police called. Ok, calm yourself Doe, and look for some sort of hint on where the actual party would be. She squinted all around the area and stumbled upon what looked like a trail of candy. "Seriously?" She said out loud, and then to herself 'who throws these things?'. But, shrugging her shoulders, she followed the trail of candy into the woods. It led all the way to a clearing that had all sorts of different trees with strange designs on them. 'This looks like something from a Tim Burton movie' she thought to herself, edging closer and closer to the tree with the pumpkin decoration. Only when she was closer did she realize it wasn't a decoration at all, but a door, and it seemed to be open a crack. "What the..." She pulled the door and stuck her head inside, peering into the black depths. Slowly black arms twisted themselves around her waist and pulled her inside the tree. She let out a shriek of terror and was soon landing on top of something soft that let out a sound.

"Oh gosh, I am so sorry! Who did I land on?" She said automatically, her brain processing that only a person would have been able to make the ugh! sound she had heard. She got to her feet as best she could before taking in the scenery. "Oh, my, god." She mumbled under her breath, completely forgetting about the person she had sat on and turning in a slow circle. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking. It was like heaven to her. A pure Gothic sanctuary. "Where the hell am I and please, tell me I never have to leave." She realized that she had landed on not only one person but that there was a group of people. Her cheeks slowly turning cherry pink she gave them a sheepish grin. They were all students from her new high school, but she had had very little interaction with most of them. "Um, sorry..." she trailed off, wondering what she should say or do next.

(Sorry Guys, it's been over a week, and i gave her a few extra days, so we're just gonna move on without her.)
JACOB:
Jacob slowly stood up, brushing himself off. He looked around to see where they were.

"What just happened? Better yet, Where are we?" Jacob asked looking around carefully. He didn't see anything that he recognized, not to mention there was a creepy chill in the air that just didn't seem right. Jacob tried to peer through the fog, but wasn't able to see more then about twenty feet. He looked to the others and went to help them up.

CHASE:
Chase was just about to stand up, when he felt someone land ontop of him. He let out a medium groan as he was flattened. Chase laid there waiting for Rae to hope off of him. Once she was off of him, he slowly stood up. He looked to Mal and shrugged some.

"Sorry guys, i didn't know that would happen." Chase said and then looked around, trying to see where they were, and answer Jacob. Though as hard as he tried, he didn't recognize anything as well, and so he just shrugged some. "Good question. I have no idea." Chase added as he looked around some more.

"It's not your fault, Chase," Mal said quietly. "But I am so staying home next time. See what happens when you guys drag me out of my house?" He let out a sigh and glanced back to the newcomer that seemed to have just fallen through the same portal they had. "You…like this place? Right then." He brushed himself off, then tilted his head a little, still face the new girl. "I've seen you around before, I think? I'm Mal," he held a hand out to her and nodded when she took it and introduced herself.

Finally he turned around once again and spotted a trail that seemed to be lit with Jack-o'-lanterns. "Hey, over here. Maybe this will lead us to someone who can tell us where we are." Without waiting for anyone else to comment- because really, it was obvious that none of them had a clue what was going on- he began to follow the trail.

As they rounded a hill, the fog seemed to part and they were able to look down on a small, very odd-looking town. "Oh what the hell." Mal stopped walking. There were two forms standing at the bottom of the hill in front of a gate that would lead them in to the town. The forms were bouncing up and down, seemingly excited to see the small group of people about to greet them.

"Maybe we've all been drugged," Adam suggested, coming to a stop next to Malcom. "We've been drugged, and this is some crazy ass, very well done joke. A haunted house of some sorts."