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Speaker 1: My friends and I were trigger treating a few years

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ago when we were thirteen to fourteen years old. This

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was our second year going without any of our parents

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coming with us, so we were pretty excited to run

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around the neighborhood collecting candy and just having a good time,

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something we'd do every year. Before Halloween. Was plan out

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our trigger treating route so that we could go to

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all the biggest houses and hopes to get full sized

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candy bars. Earlier this year, a whole street of newly

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built luxury homes were finally finished and people had moved in,

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so we decided to start there and then make our

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way around to the other neighborhoods afterwards. This new street

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of houses wasn't too far from my place, so we

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all met at my house on Halloween evening, then we

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headed out to begin trigger treating. We stopped at a

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few houses on the way just for some extra candy,

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and then turned down the sidewalk that led to the

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new streets. To our surprise, we didn't see any other

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kids walking around here. We figured we were the first ones,

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and we got really excited and ran over to the

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first house. A kind older man opened the door and

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gave us each a full sized Hershey's chocolate bar. Once

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we were out of the driveway, we all got super excited,

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as we were already off to a good start, but

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as we rang the next door bell, nobody answered, and

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neither did the next house or the one after that.

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One thing about this street was that each house had

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a really big yard, so the walk between them would

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take almost two to three minutes. After about ten houses

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not answering, we were starting to feel like we were

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wasting our Halloween here and not getting anything. We could

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see the next house, though, and it was the biggest

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one on the street as far as we could see,

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so we agreed to try there first. This house had

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a really long driveway and led to an even larger

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circle driveway. As we were walking up, I saw a

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woman looking at us from the small window right next

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to the door, but as soon as I made eye

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contact with her, she quickly backed away. I figured she

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was just waiting for trick or treaters, and I was

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just glad to see that someone was home and hopefully

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had some candy for us. We got up onto the

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porch and I rang the doorbell. Almost immediately a woman

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opens the door, and standing behind her was another older woman,

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the same one that I'd seen in the window. They

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both smile as we say trick or treat. Then she

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opens the door wider, revealing a huge round table set

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up inside of their large entrance room. On the table

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was pretty much every kind of candy you could find

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at a store. I couldn't believe someone would spend this

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much on Halloween candy, but with a house like this,

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I guess it made sense. She told us to come

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in and choose two of whichever candy we wanted. Without hesitating,

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we all ran in and over to the table to

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look at everything they had. All of us, in that

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moment were so happy getting to decide on pretty much

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whatever candy we wanted. But as I was trying to

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decide on what my second choice would be, I heard

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the door slam shut. All of us turned and looked

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at the woman standing right by the door, still smiling

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at us. She then asks us to stay here for

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just a minute, as she'd forgotten to put out some

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dessert for us to have on our way out, and

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then she walked away Quickly. I looked around, noticing the

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other woman wasn't there anymore either, I could tell all

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of us were panicking and scared. Only seconds later, footsteps

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started coming towards us from down the hall. I immediately ran

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for the door and opened it, letting all of us outside.

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As we could hear the woman call out for us

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to wait. We all ran down the driveway and didn't

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stop until we got all the way back to my house.

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We sat on my driveway, terrified and confused as to

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watch us happened. We thought about telling my parents, but

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we knew they'd yell at us for stupidly going into

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the house when we were told so many times before

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to not go into anyone's home, so we didn't say anything.

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After a little bit, we ended up continuing our trick

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or treating in my neighborhood, being a lot more cautious

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and trying to make sure we weren't the only kids

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walking around. It was definitely the weirdest thing that happened

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to me on Halloween, and my friends and I still

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talk every Halloween about what we think those women were

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trying to do and what would have happened if we

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stayed in their house for the dessert. Last year was

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the first time that I had ever lived completely alone,

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in a house, as I had just rented a small

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place in a new neighborhood that was closer to my work.

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I moved in in early October, but it seemed like

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most of the neighbors kept to themselves, so I did

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as well. But everything it was pretty normal otherwise for

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the first few weeks. Anyways, it was Halloween now and

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I noticed only a couple houses actually had decorations up.

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They didn't have anything crazy, just a few pumpkins or signs,

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but it was more than any of the other houses.

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I decided to put up a small trigger treat sign

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on my door, and I bought a small bag of

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candies to hand out. Where I used to live, i'd

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buy three or four big bags, but I didn't get

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the feeling that these people really celebrated Halloween here, so

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I figured one bag would be enough. The afternoon came

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and I got a few small groups of kids, but

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that was pretty much it. I was a little bit disappointed,

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as I always found Halloween to be enjoyable, even if

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I was just the one handing out treats at my house. Anyways,

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it started getting late around ten PM, so I put

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the bag of candy in my pantry and sat on

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the couch to watch a scary movie to end the

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night on. I think I was halfway through the movie

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before I heard the doorbell ring. A little bit confused

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and annoyed, I got up and looked out the peephole

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to see who was there. I saw what looked like

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a small boy, maybe ten or eleven, standing at the

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door in a homemade costume. It didn't look like anything specific,

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just black cloth with red accents and a black mask.

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I opened the door and he said trick or treat.

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By now, it was almost eleven, so I was a

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little worried that he was alone walking door to door.

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I smiled and told him to wait a minute while

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I'll get him some of the candy that I'd put away.

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I went back to my pantry and grabbed a big

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handful and then brought them back to the door and

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dropped him in the boy's pillowcase. Then I looked around

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behind him to see if his parents were on the sidewalk,

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or maybe a group of friends, but I didn't see anyone.

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He turned around and started walking away, but I stayed

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in the doorway for a few seconds just to make

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sure he was okay. But again I didn't see anything

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or anyone, so I closed the door and went back

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to the couch. A couple more minutes went by before

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the doorbell rang again. This time, I went to the

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pantry first and got the bag of candy, and then

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headed for the door. When I opened it, I was

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surprised to see the same kid standing there, but without

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a pillowcase or a bag. This time, concerned, I asked

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him if he was okay, to which he didn't reply.

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I looked around behind him again, but this time I

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noticed someone standing in my neighbor's driveway across the street,

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watching us. It looked like a full grown man, but

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he was wearing a similar costume to the kids. Is

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that your dad over there, I asked nicely. The kid

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waited a second and then said yes. Then I asked

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him why he came back to my house, to which

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the boy responded asking for more candy. I was even

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more confused by this because he didn't have his pillowcase,

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but I held out my bag of candy for him

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to take out of but the boy looked, almost annoyed

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for some reason, then reluctantly reaches in and grabs a

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single piece before running off. That whole interaction creeped me

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out a bit, so I made sure to lock my door,

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and then I went back and finished the movie. It

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was pretty late at this point, so I decided to

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get ready for bed. I got up from the couch

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and began walking over to the stairs, but out of

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the corner of my eye, I saw a light flash

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from outside one of my windows. I nervously went over

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and looked outside, and then realized that it was the

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motion sensor lights that were by my garage. I stayed

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in the window looking around for a few minutes, as

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I was getting pretty creeped out now, but nothing else happened,

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so I closed the blinds and headed upstairs to my bedroom.

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I laid in bed for probably thirty minutes, thinking about

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that boy from earlier and how strange the whole thing was.

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But as I started adrift into sleep, I heard a

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soft ruffling noise followed by loud thumping bangs on my

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front door. I shot up and jumped out of bed,

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then quietly made my way downstairs and over to the

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front door. Just before I looked into the people, three

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more loud bangs shook the door and made me jump

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back a little. I waited there for a few seconds,

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then looked. It was the man that I'd seen across

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the street from earlier, that the kid had said was

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his dad. He was standing there just inches away from

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the door, still wearing that creepy black and red costume

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and a mask. I could tell something was in his hand,

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but he was too close to the door for me

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to see what it was. There was no way I

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was opening that door, as I had no idea what

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this guy could possibly want from me. I knew this

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was either some sick joke or something much worse. I

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ran back upstairs and grabbed my phone, then locked myself

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in the room and called nine one one. The man

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continued banking on the door for probably a whole minute

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before it went silent. I waited in fear, hoping he

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had left for good. Then I got up and looked

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out of my bedroom window, which had a small view

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of the sidewalk that led to the front door. But

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as I was looking, the sudden sound of glass shattering

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came from what sounded like the kitchen downstairs. I was

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completely terrified at this point, with no way to defend

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myself if they came upstairs. Thankfully. Just moments later, I

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could hear police sirens down the road, followed by footsteps

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rushing outside from downstairs. I waited for the police to

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call for me at the front door before I made

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my way downstairs to let them in. They searched the

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house to make sure the man was gone, and noticed

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a broken window in my kitchen, where it was obvious

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the man had entered. I ended up staying at a

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hotel for the next few days just to be safe,

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but I guess the guy never came back. I run

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through the whole night in my head a lot, wondering

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if he was just using his kid as some weird

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way to gain entry into my house. I don't really

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know for sure, but nothing was stolen, though, which makes

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me question what the man was really trying to do

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breaking in my house. Anyways, It's been almost a year

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now and Halloween is in just a couple of weeks,

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and I'm starting to get pretty paranoid that the man

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from last year might come back to finish what he started.

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When I was a kid, I lived with my parents

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in a small neighborhood. Halloween was never really a big

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thing as far as trigger treating and stuff. So we'd

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always do something else. One thing my dad and I

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always loved doing on Halloween was exploring creepy or abandoned

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places together. It's funny. I would never do this kind

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of thing alone or even with friends, but with him,

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I felt safe and I was never scared of what

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we might find, at least up until this day. After

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driving around for a while, we found a worn down barn.

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This thing had to be vacant for years. The sighting

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was half gone and the roof was carved in. If

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it wasn't for the little slivers of paint here and there,

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you would have never known it was red. We maneuvered

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around broken glass and slabs of wood, finding left behind

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tools and garbage, and then I saw it. A cute

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little scarecrow perched up on the side of the barn.

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I pointed to it and my dad led the way.

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But the closer we got, the worse it started to smell.

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Poor guy, I heard my dad say. As I looked down,

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there was a big wild raccoon lying motionless, not too

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far from the scarecrow's feet. What do you think killed it?

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I asked. He examined it for a bit as I

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looked back up towards the figure. But then I froze.

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It was staring right at me. I could have sworn

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it was looking straight off into the distance before, but

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now its eyes have shifted on to me, still smiling

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and sitting upright, but just the eyes had moved. Dad

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he didn't respond. I looked over at him, and he

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pointed at the raccoon with a more disgusted look this time.

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Then I saw what he was looking at. All of

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its insides were missing, and usually there would be a

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big mess or something. But the strange part about this

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was that it was heartily noticeable unless you looked closely.

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I didn't want to, but I looked up at the

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scarecrow once more. My stomach sank as I realized it

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was still staring at me, but its eyebrows that were

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once raised were now furrowed, and its smile was gone.

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Then I started to notice the scattered blood stains seeping

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through its raggedy clothes. I felt a sickness come over me,

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and I got really dizzy until my dad put his

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hand on my shoulder. Probably just a coyote, he said,

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then started leading the way out. His words made me

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feel better, but I wasn't too sure if I believed it.

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As we walked away, I looked back at the scarecrow,

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and it was just how we found it, looking off

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into the distance and smiling with its eyebrows high. I

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never told my dad, as I wasn't quite sure if

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what I saw was real or not, and I didn't

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want him to worry that I was seeing things and

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not take me on adventures anymore. I still have no

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idea what I was seeing, or if it was even

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real at all. But what creeped me out the most

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was that my dad went back a few days later

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to sketch the barn with my brother, and when he

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came back, he showed me the pictures, but on them

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was no scarecrow.

