You might have noticed it’s not actually Halloween anymore. Well, I had a touch of food poisoning last night, so unfortunately last night’s story didn’t get written. But November or not, I owe you a Halloween story and the last entry in this year’s 31 Ghosts!
Thank you to everyone who has read these stories all month – I love hearing what you all think. I also love running into people who I had no idea were reading the stories – that’s fun, too! So, whether you’ve been around since the beginning or are new to 31 Ghosts, or somewhere in between, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Our protagonist has been around as well – he was in the first Halloween 31 Ghosts, way back in 2017 and again in 2020. He’s older now, of course, but still looks forward to Halloween.
This is where I talk about how I’m going to do all sorts of writing that I never end up fulfilling – it’s my form of New Year’s Resolutions. Well, I’m not doing that this year. I have a few more modest goals for this winter, and I might make announcements when they come to pass. But until then, thank you again!

“Why don’t you admit you’re just scared?” Theo sneered.

Aiden looked more befuddled than angry at the taunt. He shrugged, “Because I’m not scared.”

“Then why won’t you do it?” Lacie, Theo’s girlfriend pressed. “Because you’re scared!”

“No. Because breaking into a house is against the law,” Aiden said, surprised he had to explain such an obvious thing.

“It’s not against the law if it’s a haunted house,” Theo countered.

“Dude, the law still applies, haunted or not.”

Theo and Lacie exchanged looks. “Nah, that’s not true!” Theo said laughing. “Look at all those ghost hunting programs – you don’t see them getting arrested!”

“They have producers that..” Aiden looked down the overgrown driveway at the Murphy place – a dark, derelict house, abandoned for as long as he’d lived here. He knew it was wrong and illegal to break in, but he didn’t want to go around again with Theo and Lacie. Going inside and taking pictures was the easiest way to shut them up. “You know what? You guys are too stupid to listen to reason. I’m going to go in there and take the damn selfie just so you two shut up.” He started walking down the driveway, tripped over a crack in the driveway that an errant root had caused, and kept walking.

“Look at him scared walking!” Theo laughed.

“I tripped, you assholes,” Aiden didn’t turn around, but did hold his hand up, middle finger raised.

As he walked around the house, studying the boarded-up windows and doors for a reasonable way to get in, he reflected on how this Halloween had gone so off the rails. Theo and Lacie weren’t his friends. But Theo was Tricia’s brother, and Tricia was Rebeca’s best friend and Aiden really wanted to go out with Rebecca. Trouble was, Rebecca had already agreed to hang out with her friends. Aware that her friends weren’t his, she asked if he wanted to bring his best friend, Jacob, along.

And things had started great – they went to a haunted house where Rebecca startled at an actor in a Michael Meyers outfit and leapt back into Aiden’s arms and then held onto him for the rest of their time. Afterwards they all went to Denny’s. And that’s when things started to go off the rails… Aiden didn’t think Jacob even knew who Tricia was, but when he went looking for his friend who had forgotten something in the car he found them making out. And then Rebecca got a call from her mom saying she needed her to help with her baby sister who was throwing up candy, and next thing you know, it’s just Theo & Lacie teasing Aiden about not wanting to get arrested for breaking and entering.

Around the back of the house, he found the door to the garage only had one piece of wood across it, and the nails holding it in place were starting to pull out. One good tug and the 2×4 came loose. The door handle turned freely, but the door was stuck shut with age. Aiden put his hip into it and it gave way, letting him into the cold, pitch black garage.

If Aiden were afraid, now would be the time for him to be very afraid. But he wasn’t lying when he told Theo and Lacie, he wasn’t afraid. He thought back to the times he and Jacob and Olivia had swapped candy with ghosts. He knew it was just a few years ago, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. After that year, they started high school. Olivia ended up at the private school across town her parents insisted she go to. Jacob was still Jacob… when he wasn’t abandoning his friend to suck face. Aiden sighed. He couldn’t blame the guy – he would rather be doing the same with Rebecca. And, heck, he was pretty sure she’d prefer making out with him than dealing with an eight-year-old with a Gummy Nerd overdose.

But, yeah, ghosts didn’t frighten him.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he focused on a section that seemed… darker.

Then it moved.

Aiden was now afraid of this ghost as the darkness blocked his retreat. He turned and picked his way through the debris strewn around the garage for the door leading to the house. He reached for the door knob as the dark blob started making its way towards him. The door was stuck. He started to panic and rammed his shoulder into the door which opened and sent him sprawling into the middle of a party.

He swore he heard a needle scratch as dance music stopped and everyone looked at him. There were dozens of people talking, dancing, having snacks – all eyes were now on him. And as he returned their stares, he realized… not a single one of them was solid. They were all ghosts. Behind him, he saw the dark figure come through the doorway and as it crossed the threshold it turned into a middle-aged man in a bad Elvis costume who gingerly stepped over him, looked down at him, shook his hips theatrically as he pointed his fingers at him, and said, “Sorry kid, you look all shook up.”

The crowd groaned and turned back to their conversations.

“Aiden?” came a voice that sounded familiar.

Aiden looked around and found Anthony’s smiling face. “Anthony! It’s so good to see you! It’s been forever,” Aiden grinned and started to his feet.

“Man, when did you get old?” Anthony laughed as Aiden stood up, now taller than the ghost who loomed over him when they first met.

“It’s been, what, four years since we hung out? Growth spurt.”

“Well, you’re lucky I’m dead,” Anthony said. “I’m sure I would have been due myself. My dad was six foot four!”

“Nice,” Aiden laughed. “Where’s the rest of your group?”

“The kids are still out trick or treating.”

“Oh, right – they’re still kids!”

“Ghosts don’t age, man. They just fade away…” He laughed.

“I forgot. What’s all this about?”

“Oh, the party?” Anthony asked. “It started small, a few years ago. But when the property seemed like it was going to stay perpetually abandoned, the ghosts from the neighborhood decided to start having a big Halloween party here each year. It gets crazier every year.”

Aiden looked around at the costumed ghosts chatting and eating horror-devours. “This is crazy?”

“For ghosts? Yeah. We all usually just stick to our own houses or vacant lots, or cemeteries. All these ghosts hanging out? This is nuts, man.”

“I guess so…” Aiden took it all in.

“Okay, but what are you doing here?” Anthony asked.

“Oh, it was a dare,” Aiden said. “Some annoying not-friends dared me to sneak into the ‘haunted house’” he made air quotes, “and take a selfie.”

“You know that’s breaking and entering, right?”

“That’s what I tried to tell them!” Aiden yelled.

“But I’m glad you did, man. It’s good to see you!”

“You too!”

“Where’s Jacob and Olivia?”

“Jacob’s making out with a girl he just met…”

“My man…” Anthony grinned.

“And Olivia had some Halloween party with a bunch of girls at the private school she goes to.”

“Aww, that’s too bad,” Anthony said. “We all thought you two would have made a cute couple.”

“Me and Olivia? We’re like brother and sister, no…”

“Hey, can’t blame ghosts for dreaming!” Anthony laughed. “So, you need to take a selfie, right?”

***

It had been an hour already. Theo and Lacie discussed whether Aiden had tripped and died inside or gotten eaten by ghosts, and what was their responsibility in either case – none, they had decided. They’d never speak of this again and hoped there wouldn’t be some kind of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” but “I Know What You Did Last Halloween” that revolved around them sending Aiden to his death at supernatural hands.

“Hey, you waited!” Aiden’s voice from behind them caused them to scream and jump. Aiden laughed as they recovered. “Who’s afraid now?” he lightly teased.

“You just startled us,” Theo said.

Lacie recovered first. “Do you have a picture? Or did you just go hang around outside and never actually go into the house?”

“Oh, I’ve got a picture…” Aiden said, holding up his phone.

The picture was indeed a selfie with Aiden smiling in the middle of the frame. Around him, various hats and jackets crowded in… with no one inside them.

Aiden didn’t know Theo or Lacie could run, but he laughed as they fled down the street towards their homes.

Anthony stepped out of the shadows, laughing. “That was fantastic,” he said. “Happy Halloween, Aiden.”

“Happy Halloween, Anthony.”