by Robin Roseau
The path weaved around some of the other static features, the fog, sound effects, and lights continuing to give a spooky glow. As we approached the front steps, Dolores moved up next to me. Then there was an inhuman, primal scream from above us and a shape was hurtling out of the dark. I screamed again as it landed on two feet directly in front of me, and Solange pulled me away, pushing me behind her.
It was just Aubree, and instead of grabbing me, she grabbed a shrieking, giggling Dolores, bending her back and lowering her mouth to Dolores’ neck.
“Aubree!” Solange yelled.
Aubree kissed Dolores’ neck then helped her stand back up straight. Dolores was laughing madly.
I crowded behind Solange, waiting for my heart to slow down again.
“Damn it, Aubree,” I said. “You scared the crap out of me. How did you jump from up there?” She’d come down off the roof.
She turned around, and I saw she was wearing some sort of harness, attached to wires. Dolores stepped up and unhooked Aubree, and a moment later the wires lifted into the sky, disappearing in the dark.
“You can’t do that to the kids,” I said.
“I know, but I just couldn’t help it.” Aubree grinned.
“We were going to let her grab you,” said Dolores, “but she said Solange would freak out.” She gestured to the door. “You haven’t finished.”
I crowded against Solange’s side, pulling her arm around me and wrapping both of mine around her. We stepped up to the door. Nothing happened.
Dolores and Aubree were standing well back, and I just knew they had something good waiting.
“Go ahead,” Dolores said. “Ring the bell.”
“You ring it,” I said to Solange.
So she did.
The house screamed at us, a horrible scream, and when it ended, all around us, spider webs dropped down, and countless spiders skittered down them.
I screamed again and banged against the house when I flinched away from everything.
After a brief moment, the webs lifted again, and I couldn’t even see where they went.
Dolores was chortling. “You’re the perfect victim, Sidney.” She high-fived Aubree, who seemed pleased, too. “There’s a different path to leave.” She gestured.
There weren’t any more shocking surprises as we made our way back out to the street. We followed a winding path past far tamer displays. Even by themselves they were spooky, but I didn’t scream again. Dolores and Aubree followed along behind us. We gathered in the street.
“Well?” Dolores said.
“It’s brilliant,” I said.
“Everything is on a remote,” she explained. “We’re going to have one of us manning the gate, maybe two of us, and we’ll escort people to make sure they behave and stuff. We can control which setting everything is. You got a ten. On a one, we don’t do any of the close stuff, and we can even turn all the sound effects off entirely if it’s a real little kid.”
“Basically for settings, we have off, low, medium, high, and scare the pants off Sidney.”
I laughed nervously. “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”
“We have a sound effect for when you open the door, too. It makes a creaking sound.”
“You went all out,” I said. “I can’t believe you got all this done.”
“It’s been some late nights building some of the sets,” Dolores explained. “The ghosts and bats were tricky, but the other effects weren’t bad. A speaker and a motion detector all tied to a computer.”
“That was all automatic?”
“Yep.”
I shook my head. “My heart is still pounding.”
Dolores hadn’t stopped grinning, but she stepped up and hugged me tightly.
Everything on my driveway was easily moved. Aubree and Dolores moved it all inside to the side, and Solange and Aubree retrieved their cars, parking them in my driveway. Then they put most of it back in place, setting the stage for next Friday.
The inside was decorated, too, but other than the creaking door, there weren’t any surprises. I thought they’d want to play cards, but instead we made a big nest in the middle of the living room, changed into pajamas, and watched horror movies until late, eventually sleeping right there in a slumber party pile on the floor.
* * * *
We all took the day off work, with Solange spending the night before at my house. Aubree and Dolores showed up together shortly before lunch. We made room for Aubree’s car in my garage, and I had picked up Solange, so she didn’t have a car. Aubree and Dolores made last minute touches to the decorations, and then we began baking.
“What time do the kids start arriving?” Solange asked.
“Sometimes as early as five,” I said. “We’ll have to get ready starting about three, I figure. It’s going to take time.”
We baked right up until the last minute, then put bread in the oven when it was time to get ready.
We all wore period costumes. Solange and Aubree wore similar but different gowns in red and black with a lot of lace and long, full skirts. I’d tried to get Solange to agree to 18th century French fashion, but she refused. “Do you know what they wore? No. Pick a different era.” We settled on Victorian era, leaving all four of us in corsets. Solange and Aubree were dressed as members of the upper classes; Dolores and I were dressed somewhat more simply, but I still thought it was elegant.
It was in our makeup and hairstyle that we different the most. Dolores and I did makeup for both Solange and Aubree, giving them a stark, white look with dark eyes and bright, red lips. We added a line of “blood” from the corner of their mouths. We did their nails in the same shade of red as their lips.
They even both wore white powdered wigs.
“I want to see the fangs,” I told Solange. “I have two pair of plastic fangs, and I’m not afraid to make you each wear them.”
“You’re going to have to trust us,” she said. “I promise you won’t be disappointed.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I better see some fang before the first kid gets here.”
In turn, Dolores let them do our makeup. We were each given a wan appearance, and the “blood” from the corners of their mouths were given matching wounds on our necks.
On top of everything, for when we went outside, we had long, flowing cloaks.
I decided we all looked fantastic.
Aubree, Dolores and I really got into it. I thought perhaps Solange was feeling more reserved and perhaps a little embarrassed, but she let us have our fun. Aubree and Solange did indeed have inserted fangs, and they looked amazing. I could have sworn they were real. Solange had a difficult time speaking around them, but she an had insert that looked a lot like a dental retainer. It completed the look.
The first little kids arrived at 5:30. Aubree and Dolores were already outside, manning the gate. They took turns escorting small groups of children — and frequently their parents — to the front door.
“Oh wow, Sidney,” said one of my neighbors when I answered the door. “Is that you?”
“Hello, Madam,” I greeted her with a smile.
“Trick-or-treat!” said the cutest little five-year-old girl you could ever imagine.
“Well, if it isn’t Mulan!” I said. I gave her the treat.
The girl thanked me, then her mother said, “They told me at the gate to come back later, without Mulan here.” She looked at me shyly. “They told me to make sure I go to the bathroom first so I don’t soil myself.”
I laughed. “Good advice.”
We didn’t scare the little kids, but I got my share of teenagers at Halloween, and I heard a lot of screams throughout the evening, male and female alike. Some of the kids tried to play it cool, but I was pretty sure we startled some of them, too.
Later, some of the parents came back, and they got the full treatment. Aubree even captured some of the smaller women, dropping down from the roof, grabbing them, and then jumping back onto the roof, pulled up by the cables. If there
wasn’t a small woman to grab, she might grab a shrieking Dolores instead. I was worried someone would get hurt, and I didn’t want to think about what my insurance would do, but I didn’t interfere, and not once did Aubree drop anyone.
I was impressed.
Solange took to popping up from behind to grab me after I had given away the candy, if the kids were older, and certainly for the adults. That caused more shrieking, some of it from me when she surprised me.
It was nearly ten before the streets emptied. Dolores and Aubree posted a “Closed, Keep Out” sign on the gate at the end of my driveway, and another at the exit, shut everything off, and came inside. In a moment of silly play, Aubree and Solange then chased a shrieking Dolores all over the house, catching her, mock-biting her neck, and then letting her go again. I laughed hard enough to bring tears to my eyes. But then all three of them rotated to me, and it was my turn to try to escape from them.
I shrieked like a little girl. I hadn’t had so much fun in a long time.
Aubree
I knew I was dreaming. I’d been dreaming of Aubree on and off for a while. They always seemed current, sort of like a live news broadcast, and in the dreams, she was walking through dingy neighborhoods. I didn’t understand the dreams. It didn’t make sense that Aubree would be in those neighborhoods late at night.
This one started like the others, and I was watching through Aubree eyes for a while as she wandered aimlessly.
But then the dream shifted, as if I had zoomed out, and I was watching from above Aubree’s head and behind her, almost like I was playing a video game and Aubree was my character in the game. Then the view shifted, turning to the right, and a half a block away, hiding in the shadows of a dark house, was a man. He was watching Aubree. I watched the man for a while, and he moved closer, staying to the shadows and moving cautiously.
He pressed his hand against his throat and spoke. I couldn’t make out his words.
The dream shifted, zooming up a side street, and there was another man. Then it shifted again, and if it had been a video game, I might have gotten vertigo from all the zooming around. There was a third man, and then a fourth.
The view zoomed back and forth from man to man. They were all dressed in dark clothing, but then the dream lightened, and I saw a holstered gun. I saw knives. I saw what looked like army camouflage.
The view zoomed again, from one of the men to another as two stalked Aubree, herding her to two more waiting for her.
I woke, screaming, “Aubree! Run!”
It was Friday night — Saturday morning, now, I suppose. I was with Solange. She woke with my screams and immediately was sitting up beside me, holding.
“Sidney!” she said. “What’s wrong. Sidney!”
“It’s Aubree! It’s Aubree!” I said, my mind in a complete panic. “She’s in trouble.” I turned to Solange. “Aubree is in trouble!”
“Shh,” said Solange. “Aubree can take care of herself. Calm down, Sidney.”
“You don’t understand. They’re going to kill her! We have to call the police. We have to call Detective O’Keefe!”
“Sidney, calm down. How do you know?”
“My dreams. You know about my dreams. Detective O’Keefe will believe me.”
“I believe you, Sidney. Tell me what you saw. How many men?”
“Four. They’re stalking her. They’re acting like special forces or something. We have to call Detective O’Keefe!”
“You need to tell me what you know, Sidney. Quickly.”
I explained the dream, speaking rapidly. Solange asked only a couple of questions, which I answered, and then she was rolling out of the bed and picking up her phone.
“His number is on my phone,” I said.
“I have my own contacts,” Solange said. She speed dialed a number. “My room. Now.” She hung up and then dialed another number. It took a moment before someone answered.
“You’re being hunted.” She paused. “Sidney is a seer.” Pause. “Four. She said they’re special forces.” Pause. “I’m on my way.”
“No!” I screamed. “What can you do? I don’t think she needs a lawyer! She needs the fucking cops.”
The door burst open, and Giselle, Solange’s cook, was there.
“I’m on my way,” Solange repeated into the phone. She hung up.
“Giselle, I am stepping out. You will help Ms. Welsh put something on then take her downstairs. Give her whatever she wants, but she is not to leave the house or touch a phone or computer. Do not let her out of your sight.” She turned to me. “Do what Giselle tells you.”
“You have to call the cops!” I screamed.
“I will as soon as you promise to do what I said.”
I nodded frantically. “Promise. Hurry!”
It took Solange thirty seconds to exit the bedroom, half of which was spent searching my clothes for my phone, pocketing it with her own. She was still pulling clothes on as she ran down the hall. Seconds later I heard the sound of a high powered automobile engine being pushed to its limits.
“She has to call the cops!” I screamed.
“Ms. Welsh,” said Giselle, “Ms. Casper knows what she is doing. Let’s get some clothing on you.”
“She took my phone!”
“You won’t need your phone. Everything is going to be fine.” Giselle spoke soothingly while helping me into a pair of undies and a bathrobe. “Let’s go downstairs. We can have a little late night snack.”
I didn’t want a snack. I wanted to call the police. What did Solange think she was going to do? Wave a contract at them?
But Giselle was patient but insistent. I soon found myself in the kitchen, cradling a cup of tea. I managed to decline any food, but the tea was soothing.
Giselle spent most of the time telling me, “Ms. Casper knows what she’s doing, Ms. Welsh. I’m sure she called the authorities from her car.” I didn’t get any of my questions answered, and she didn’t let me near a phone.
However, she lied to me when she said she didn’t have a phone, as her pocket rang perhaps ninety minutes later. She fished out her own cell phone, and I gave her a dirty look. I didn’t hear the other end of the phone, but Giselle said, “She is distraught but has been no trouble.” A moment later she held the phone out to me.
“Solange?” I said, my panic returning.
“She’s fine,” Solange said. “Everything is fine. The men in question are in custody.”
I began crying in relief. “What did they want with Aubree?” I managed to ask.
“Everything is okay, Sidney,” Solange repeated. “It isn’t completely clear what they wanted. I’m sorry, but neither Aubree or I are going to be able to answer your questions.”
“Why not?”
“Would you believe it?” she asked. “National security.”
“Seriously?”
“They weren’t going to kill her. One of our clients is a defense contractor. I’m sorry, I can’t say anything else, Sidney. You understand.”
“I suppose,” I said. “But they were the bad guys?”
“Oh yes,” she said. “They were the bad guys.” She paused. “We’re going to be a couple more hours, giving statements and what not. Giselle is going to give you a little something to help you sleep, and you’re going to let her tuck you in.”
“I want to talk to Aubree first.”
“But then you’ll let Giselle put you to bed, and you’ll do your best to sleep?”
“I’ll try.”
“All right. Here she is, then when you’re done, give the phone back to Giselle.”
A moment later, Aubree said, “Hello, Sidney. Thank you for the warning.”
“What were you doing there?” I asked.
“I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to answer any questions. But I am fine. Solange is fine. We’re safe, and the men in question are in custody. The authorities are taking it from here.”
“You’re sure you’re fine?” I asked.
“Fit as a fiddle,” s
he replied. “The right forces swooped in, and it was all over in seconds. Now, put Giselle back on the phone.”
I held the phone out. Giselle spoke briefly, then hung up.
“There?” she said. “You see? I told you Ms. Casper knew what to do. Now, you wait right here. I am going to get you something that will help you sleep, and then I’ll tuck you into bed.”
It didn’t occur to me at the time, but she was treating me like a little girl, and I responded in a fashion consistent with my treatment.
“All right,” I said. I even pulled my feet up on the stool and cradled my tea cup in my hands, hunched over it.
Giselle was gone for a minute or two. When she returned, she filled a glass of water, handed me two little pills and the water, and then watched as I obediently took them. Giselle led me back upstairs, helped me into a night gown, and then tucked me into bed. She encouraged me to roll over so she could rub my back.
“Everything turned out fine, Ms. Welsh,” she said. “You just relax now, and when you wake up, it will be morning. Ms. Casper will be here holding you, and all will be right as rain.”
I didn’t think I would actually sleep, but I did.
* * * *
It was full daylight when I was next coherent. Whatever Giselle gave me must have been incredibly strong. I woke fuzzy-headed and didn’t move right away. From beside me on the bed, I heard the page of a book turn.
I opened my eyes, a little confused at first, then I remembered. I rolled over.
“Good morning,” Solange said gently. “Everything is fine, Sidney.”
I blinked up at her. Solange put her book aside and began stroking my head. I rolled over further and clasped my arms around her waist, then shifted so my head was in her lap. She continued to stroke my hair and speak soothingly to me.
“What time is it?” I finally asked.
“A little past ten,” she said.
“No one got hurt?”
“None of the good guys got hurt. Sidney, I know you want to know everything, but I can’t tell you.”
“I didn’t know you had clients like that.”