• "Will someone please take all this down?" Chrissy cried into the house, swatting away fake spiders and cobwebs, pushing past the translucent ghost in the way to her room.

    "Chrissy's home!" A small cry came from the next room over. Soon a small gadget appeared in her doorway.

    "Hi Chrissy." The small thing said, then disappeared. Chrissy raised an eyebrow and threw her school stuff to the bed, now covered in orange, spiderweb bedsheets and a giant spider pillow.

    "Ah, Chrissy, get into the spirit." Her older sister said from the top bunk, leaning over the edge. Her bed was decorated in a similar manner.

    "The spirit? That's the lamest joke I've heard yet, Amanda." Chrissy flopped down on the bed and stared at the bottom of the top mattress. She had long since stuck things to the short ceiling of her own bed, including a picture of her dearest love, Warrant. Her was-be dearest love, Warrant. She ripped the picture down, crumpled it into a ball, and missed the garbage can on the opposite side of the room. It took her a moment to see the can had been switched to a standing, spindlling tree that took up most of the room.

    Chrissy propped herself up on one elbow, staring at the obnoxious thing.

    How did I miss that? Chrissy thought to herself.

    "What happened with Warrant?" Amanda leaned over the edge, braided hair flopping over her head in the appearance of Pippy Longstocking.

    "What makes you think something happened?" Chrissy retorted.

    "You just tore his head off the bed and threw him across the room. Why wouldn't I think something's happened?" She held her twin braids to the side to stare at Chrissy easier.

    "Wouldn't you like to know?" Chrissy huffed and threw herself back onto the neon orange blanket.

    "Yes, actually. I have a friend who's been wondering when you two were going to break up. Did it happen?" Amanda waited, but Chrissy just glared angrily at her.

    "I'll take that as a yes." She disappeared back over the side, shaking the wooden frame.

    "Not like he'll say yes. Which friend is it?" Chrissy turned over and stuffed her face in the spider pillow. It smelled like moldy, wet sawdust.

    "Ginger." Amanda said, sounding preoccupied. Suddenly, the dialing of a phone interrupted Chrissy's thoughts of what might have been lurking in the dirty attic, along with this very black pillow.

    "He won't say yes." Chrissy lied. Ginger was beautiful, perhaps the most popular in the school. Of course Warrant would say yes, no doubt about it.

    "Yeah, is Ginger there? Thank you." Amanda's soft voice was heard, along with the squeaking of the old bed as she shifted her position.

    Chrissy pulled herself from the bed and tumbled out of the room, barely dodging the fake ghost in time. She didn't want to hear any more of that conversation, she was sure.

    The living room was disgusting. Every inch filled with some sort of decoration, from fake spiders to a toy that beeped every time you stepped past it. Just to prove her point to herself, Chrissy walked unnecessarily across the room and back, chuckling to herself as the annoying noise sounded.

    "Chrissy, do you mind?" Amanda called loudly from their room, then was lost in conversation once again. Chrissy sighed and walked down the steps to the living room, where her father sat reading a book. He looked up as she stumbled in, smiling his warm smile.

    "Going with us trick or treating tonight, Kiddo?" He asked softly. Chrissy could all but guess her mother was sleeping in the next room. She worked early in the morning until the afternoon, about the same time Chrissy got out of school. The job exhasted her.

    Over in the corner, the gadget beeped quietly, crying out, "Warrant's here, Warrant's here!" Chrissy froze as her dad leapt out of his seat to silence the creature.

    "Damned thing needs to be tossed in the trash." She thought she heard her father mutter as he returned to his seat. The doorbell rang.

    "I'll get it!" Amanda called from upstairs, then the sound of scurrying feet sounded across the ceiling. The father looked up questioningly at Chrissy, and she sighed.

    "Warrant broke up with me today. I don't know why he's here." Chrissy confessed.

    "Maybe he's here to take you back?" Her father suggested, then turned back to his book. Chrissy sighed again, then bounded up the stairs. Warrant was comfortably sitting in the cobweb covered couch, a nervous look on his face. Amanda was blabbing to him about how great Ginger was, but he didn't seem to be paying much attention.

    He stood as Chrissy emerged from downstairs, and she halted in her tracks.

    "Hello, Chrissy." He stammered, and Chrissy nodded once.

    "Yeah? What do you want?" She asked impatiently.

    It all came out in a rush, and Chrissy blinked in surprise. "I want you to come back, Chrissy. I was so wrong to dump you like that, and I want you back. I hope you can forgive me for what I said, I really didn't mean it. Please, oh please come back to me. I'll do whatever you want, I swear--"

    "Warrant!." He stopped midsentence. "Breathe."

    "Yes, I will come back." His face brightened, while Amanda scowled. "But only if you never do that to me again. Okay?" Chrissy walked over and stood on tip-toes to kiss him gently.

    "Happy Halloween." She whispered.

    "Happy Halloween." He returned, then kissed her lovingly. Out of the corner of her half-closed eye, she saw Amanda storm out of the room, phone up to her ear expectantly.

    Suddenly, everything seemed alright, the Halloween scheme. The cobwebs would disappear over the next few days, the ghost out of her life completely until next year. A new Warrant picture would soon find its way onto the underside of the top bunk, right where the old used to be.

    And knowing Warrant was in her arms for good was obviously comforting.

    All's well that ends well. Chrissy thought happily, and hugged Warrant tighter.


    Happy Halloween Everyone