Four

A few hours later, after Sadie had come home from work and Joel tried to whip up a light supper for them both, they settled in for the evening.

Since it was Friday night, they had the rest of the weekend to enjoy together, except Sadie did have to work Saturday evening.

As Sadie washed up, Joel checked to make sure the outside lights were off. Treaters were already out, some with parents, some alone. To Joel's surprise, some kids were actually walking. But most were climbing in and out of cars and SUVs as parents drove their children from one lighted house to another.

"For goodness sake, are you going to unwrap the candy and feed it to your kids too? I guess you can't have kids' arms and hands getting tired from all of that work." he thought as he stood and watched in the fading twilight.

He looked up and down his street to see if he recognized any of the parents or the children. Perhaps, his brother-in-law, Derrick, had his boys with him and would bring them by to show off their costumes. The thought brought joy to his heart and a smile to his face.

"Sadie would love that!" he spoke to himself.

Just then, as he turned to go back inside, Joel spied a group of what looked to be boys walking along the street. As the night continued to come on, light fading away, and the street lights came on, this group stayed in the shadows as if not wanting to be seen at all.

This, of course, had the opposite effect on Joel, peaking his curiosity. He moved away from the house toward the curved road. The street that Joel and Sadie lived on was just off the main road that ran through Rocky Mount. The road moved down a slight slope, straighting, the curving up to the right as you would pass the Baker home.

This meant that Joel could see from an elevated position who or what would be approaching his home from either direction. Trying to act nonchalant, he carefully gazed at the group.

It was obvious they were just Halloween treaters, but how they were all dressed alike that was what was startling to Joel. Their clothes were tattered and torn, and every one of them wore makeup on any exposed skin, arms, chest, legs--everywhere. The expressions on their faces were haunting, an evil and gaunted hungering look to them. It was as if they knew they were evil and dared anyone to stop them. Except when they rang a bell or knocked on a door get treats, that same haunting expression never changed.

Joel took all of this in as he made a show of checking both of his vehicles as if he were looking for something. As this little group drew closer, Joel headed for the door of his home. It was almost dark now, with the last rays of light from the sun dying away, the majority of the light that illuminated the street coming from the street light.

As he reached the safety of the porch, he didn't know why the kids seemed to bother him or maybe he was just feeling on edge because to the day and all that was going on. Still, he couldn't shake the bad, foreboding feeling that even though he would probably never see these individuals again, he would see that look sometime soon.