It was Halloween night of
2007 Freshman Year in High School, and I was with my friends Ivan, Ryan and Jesse
We were all dressed as a super Mario characters. [I] was Luigi since I was a second tallest
Ivan was Mario since he's short and buff, not that Mario was buff
Jesse was Waluigi because he's freakishly tall and skinny and Ryan was Wario because he's just really fat
So they were the perfect group costumes for us
We live in a very non congested Suburban neighborhood with a decent amount of space in between houses on
Halloween, that's the worst thing ever less bang for your buck
We were trick-or-treating for hours way past dark and eventually came the time when most trick-or-treaters were heading home
My feet started to hurt and I had to constantly switch arms for holding the now ten pound pillow Sack of Candy
but we planned on going until our bags were completely full
A lot of the houses by now weren't answering anymore. It was probably passed their cutoff time for giving candy to Trick-or-Treaters
Approaching our next house
We saw a purple bucket on the stoop which was the best feeling ever
I was the one to get close enough to realize it was empty which was the worst feeling ever
I turned around when I heard a knock at the window of the house
We all looked at the window couldn't see anyone, but heard someone call out wait
the door opened and an older men late forties already bolding stepped outside
He told us to come inside so he can get us some more candy. I said we could just wait out here
he responded saying something along the lines of
Nonsense come on in will get you your candy
Ivan stepped in and said it's alright come on Dan. Let's go
I told the guy to take care and apologized
He just stood there watching as we walked off not saying anything
I felt bad, but at the same time that guy seemed like a creeper
and I figured I just dodged a bullet not going in there
If the story ended there it wouldn't be scary, so of course it didn't end there
We skipped a few of the guys neighboring houses just to get further away and continued on with our business
We were walking down close to the nature preserve now. So there weren't many houses around us
At this point we were now walking back closer to Jesse's House
I noticed Ryan had stopped walking, and I turned around to see what's up
He said he heard someone moving from behind the trees in the preserve
Now this was before everyone's phones had flashlights, so we couldn't just go searching in the woods for someone
Besides we were just telling Ryan that it must have been a raccoon or something
You may think this is a bit of a cliche
But when things like this happen in real life you always assume the more logical possibility. It's just natural
Why would we assume we were being followed?
I had to put my arm around Ryan shoulder nudge him forward
A little ways down the street he and I even picked up on the sound as well
When we all stopped the sounds of the footsteps from Beyond the trees stopped as well
Ivan yelled at the obvious stalker to go away, or we would beat the shit out of them
I knew he was just bluffing though. I could hear the nervousness in his voice
The snap of a twig from Beyond the trees triggered a fight-or-flight response in all of us. Me, Jessie and Ryan all ran for it
Ivan was at first charging to attack, but he quickly followed after realizing we had all taken off
We ran down the dark street
And we all noticed the sounds of at least two or three pairs of footsteps crushing the twigs and leaves in the woods
We banked it hard right down Jessie's street when it finally came up and ran straight for his backyard
entering his house through the back door
The first thing we did was peek out through his livingroom window
We couldn't see anyone
We all had to gather our thoughts and discuss what the hell just went down in his living room when all of a sudden
We heard Jesse's backyard gate slam shut
Jessie dove to turn off the lights
There was a click and a bang from down in the den. It was more than likely Jessie's Backdoor
We all agreed to go down armed with knives and face them
Jessie turned on his backdoor light, but there was nobody out there
Just then the front door opened, and we all screamed like animals
Jessie's Mom and sisters came rushing downstairs. They had just gotten home from their friend's little house party
We all rested assured knowing. It was just them
Jessie explained what happened but made it seem a lot less dramatic, Me and Ivan went home after that and called it a night
At 12:30 a.m.
I got a disturbing text message. It was from Jessie. It said "It wasn't my mom!"
I texted back saying "what?"
He responded back quickly saying "It wasn't my mom in the backyard!"
My finger slammed the buttons on my phone responding back. "What do you mean?"
There was a long pause before he finally told me that his mom and sisters said they never went in the backyard
I told him to immediately check the backyard from his upper deck, he had already done just that
He also told his mom everything and she had already called the police
They didn't find anyone back there, but Jessie did mention the guy who invited us in while trick-or-treating
Nothing ever became of that and nothing ever happened at Jessie's house again after that one Halloween night