Halloween House

She lied to me.  She didn't leave for an appointment.  Well, maybe by appointment she meant one of her TV shows was on.  She did tell me she was retired and she looks a little eccentric.  One thing's for sure, she knows more about the mansion than she told me, Ana thinks to herself as the mansion begins its transformation before her eyes.  She again believes she sees someone in the kitchen window.  This time they wave.   

Ana catches herself waving back and freaks herself out.  I'm going to find out what Rose knows, now, Ana thinks as she calls the kids and they all walk next door.  She knocks on the door repeatedly, but there is no answer. She was sure she didn't leave.   

"So that's how it is.  So much for having a friendly neighbor," she tells her kids as they walked back home.  

 For the next week she kept the blinds shut in the kitchen.  A couple of days later she begins to avoid looking at the mansion. 

Meanwhile, Jack shows up with a new dog he has saved from a fire.  The house was a complete loss and the owners could not keep him.  He was a huge Bull Mastiff mixed with a German Shepherd.  The kids loved him and he loved the kids.  They named him Bull.  Ana was watching John, their five year old boy play ball with Bull in the back yard when the timer went off for the cookies she was baking for the upcoming Halloween party at the station.  As she entered the kitchen the smoke billowing from the oven told her she cooked them too long.  After taking out the cookies she opened the kitchen window to let out the smoke.  After throwing out the cookies, she went straight to work washing the cookie sheets.  That's when she glanced out the window.  The mansion again came "alive" but this time she noticed something different.  In the topiary garden there was now a bush shaped like a little boy and another like a dog with a round green ball/bush between them which looked just like the scene in her backyard before the timer went off.  She could not believe her eyes.  She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the mansion returned to its decaying state.  Ana walked back to the backyard and John was now rough house playing with Bull.  Ana went to check on her two year old daughter Hanna, who was taking an afternoon nap, before returning to the kitchen.  Looking at the mansion again Ana gasped and ran to the backyard screaming John's name.  This time when the house transformed the topiary showed a dog standing over a headless boys' body with the boys head lying next to the ball.  When she reached the backyard John was lying across Bull and Bull was half turned licking John's face.  Ana called for John to come to her and he ran to her arms asking what was wrong as tears were streaming down his mothers face.   

 Bull who was close behind John came over to investigate.  In seeing Bull Ana grabbed him by the ears and looked directly into his face and warned, " You better not ever hurt a hair on these kids heads or it's straight to the pound for you."   

Ana once again returned to the kitchen, and just in case anything were to happen she asked John to play in the front yard with Bull so she could keep an eye on them.  Ana kept watch through the kitchen window as she made a new batch of cookies to take to the Fire Station tomorrow as it was Halloween and although Jack was off many of his "brothers" would be on duty.  Ana was watching John and Bull play as the house transformed.  This time the parlor window was open and a lights illuminating the interior showed figures moving, no dancing, as if at a formal party. Ana stood transfixed at the sight when two of the couples stopped dancing and stood in a line along the window facing her.  Ana looked away as if caught peeping into a party that she wasn't invited too.  When she looked again the party had moved to the front yard with people standing about.  Ana became very disturbed when a man in a top hat turned to her and raised a glass and then waved for her to come join them.  Then the party seemed to stop and all the guests turned to face her.  She looked at John and Bull who were no longer playing.  Bull was facing the mansion and letting out a deep growl which became a vicious bark.  "Get inside now!" she yelled out the window.  

 John just stood there as if trying to figure out what Bull was barking at.  Ana raced out the front door and saw that the people across the street were moving towards them.  She grabbed John and turned him around and yelled, "Run!"  She then grabbed Bull by the collar and dragged him to the door.  Bull stopped at the door and turned again to bark at the apparitions when Ana noticed something truly horrifying; three of the figures in the mansions yard were not dressed in period clothing like the others, but in modern classic Halloween costumes.  With almost super human strength she pulled the bull mastiff in the front door causing him to yelp.  She locked the front door and then raced to the kitchen, locking the door and shutting the blinds.  She continued to act in this manner until all of the windows and doors were locked, and all of the blinds were shut in the entire house.  All the while John was following her asking what was wrong and what was Bull barking at.   

"It must have been a cat or a squirrel … or a cat.  I just didn't want him to run off and get hit by a car," she told him.   

"He wasn't barking at the people across the street was he?" John asked.    

Shocked, Ana answered, "It must have been a cat, nobody lives across the street.  Don't say anything to your father, understand."  

"Yes, Mommy," he replied; before going to the living room to watch TV.   

It was a long night as Jack's shift did not end until six in the morning.  Ana was up all night going over the events of the day, but she was too afraid to look out any window to see if what she saw had actually taken place.  When Jack got home in the morning she told him she had a rough night with Hanna and that she would take a nap after he slept, and when she wakes up she would run the cookies over to the Fire Station.  Ana woke up about four thirty and delivered the cookies.  Jack stayed home to give out candy as it would be about dark when she got home.  Not one "trick or treater" even came down their street.  When Ana had not arrived home by five thirty Jack looked out the kitchen window and noticed Ana's car was in the driveway behind his still running.  It was already dark and raining out so Jack put on his raincoat and grabbed an umbrella for Ana as it wasn't raining when she left.  When he got to the car the drivers side door was  opened but Ana was not inside; her purse was still on he passenger seat.  Jack noticed the interior was soaked when he reached over to grab her purse.  Jack looked around wondering where she was.  He was staring at the mansion as he tried to think of where she might have gone when he noticed a change in the way the mansion looked across the street.  It was very subtle as it was pitch dark.  Then a glow started emanating from the house and the parlor window lit up from within.  He could see people moving inside as though there was a party going on.  One lone silhouetted figure of a woman stood facing out the window towards him.  She was frantically waving at him.  Jack shook his head and wiped the rain from his face; the mansion returned to darkness.  The authorities never found Ana.