“Honey, did you buy the candy?” Hannah asked her partner, Jack, as she was fidgeting with the zipper struggling to zip up her SWAT team costume. “Yes, I did, four different variety packs, plus a few king size bars,” Jack replied. He came up behind Hannah and zipped up her dress, relieving her of the struggle. Hannah thanked him and went into her closet to grab the remaining accessories for the couple’s costume, cop and robber. The pair’s plan for the evening was to pass out candy to the trick or treaters in their neighborhood for a couple hours, and then head to a party with their friends. Overall, it seemed like a perfect night for the two, but unfortunately, they would never make it to the party that night.
“Jack, our house is going to be a huge hit tonight! Between the decorations and the candy, we are going to be the talk of the cul-de-sac!” Hannah squealed out as she poured the candy into the festive bowl with the skeleton hand popping out. Halloween has always been Hannah's favorite holiday. While most kids loved Christmas, “the most wonderful time of the year,” Hannah had always enjoyed what she called, “the spookiest time of the year.” For as long as she could remember she had always had the best costume and went all out. She was always extremely committed to the costume, so much that she was willing to dye her beautiful long, luscious blonde hair to whatever color suited her costume best that year. Needless to say that throughout the years it had seen almost every color in the rainbow plus some more. There was never a time that she didn’t win best costume at a Halloween party. This was something Jack had learned to love about Hannah in their 8 years together.
The pair had invited a group of their friends over to help pass out candy and to just hang out during the trick or treating hours. They had invited two other couples, Sarah and Jonathan as well as Catherine and Mark. Mark and Hannah had gone way back, as they had been good friends since the 7th grade, and throughout the years, Mark became more enchanted with Hannah but never told her so. Much to Mark’s dismay, Hannah asked Mark to introduce her to Jack at a college event, Hannah indicating she liked Jack’s looks. Eventually, Mark met Catherine and they became a couple though Hannah was never truly out of Mark’s mind.
Five of them had attended Northwestern University together and Mark had attended Loyola in Chicago. All six of them moved to various suburbs north of the city after graduation. Sarah was a nurse, as was Hannah, and they both worked at Northwestern, usually making the long commute into the city together. Mark practiced law at a very prestigious criminal law firm in the city, Jack worked for the company W.P. Carey handling stock portfolios, Jonathan owned his own olive oil company that he started with his brothers called Old Town Oil, and Catherine was a pediatrician. The group was extremely tight-knit, and did everything together, well into their late twenties.
With everyone's arrival at Hannah and Jack’s, some looking frighteningly scary and others adorable, the group started passing out candy. The doorbell was constantly ringing and each of the six took turns giving a big handful of candy to the mermaids, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, and Elsas that came their way. This went on for hours but everyone was enjoying themselves. As it got darker, and the number of trick or treaters dwindled, the couples packed up and headed out for the costume party. Each of the couples left on their own, leaving Jack and Hannah behind. Hannah cleaned up their kitchen and living room as Jack made his rounds to lock all the doors and turn off all the decoration lights as well as the remaining lights around the house. Hannah promptly reminded Jack to make sure he had turned off the front porch light to indicate to trick or treaters they were no longer handing out plastic wrapped goodness. Jack flicked the light off and the two grabbed the artichoke dip they had made for the party and headed towards the garage door. Even thought it was dark inside the house, the doorbell rang.
“Jack, I literally just told you to turn of the porch light. How did you forget?” Hannah snapped, worrying that they were going to be unfashionably late. “I did turn it off; someone must be confused. I will just let them know we are out of candy,” Jack snapped back at Hannah. He set the warm dish with the dip down on the tabletop and headed toward the front door, Hannah leaned against the wall, waiting impatiently. Jack opened the door to the assumed trick or treaters however this person was alone and there was something sinister in his demeanor. In the darkness, a man was standing, mask on, with a white face, wide smile, and blood dripping down the sides. There was an emptiness in his eyes, as if he was dead- on the inside. “Hi, can I help you?” asked Jack, with a sudden pit in his stomach. The man said nothing. “What is taking so long, Jack,” as she approached Jack from behind. “Who is out there? “ The man advanced towards Jack, still saying nothing, but pulling out a knife. Jack continued to back up, and with the advancement of the masked man they both were now standing in the foyer of the house. The intruder closed the door behind him.
Hannah saw the man- then the sharp, silver knife in his glove covered hand and she screamed. Not just a regular scream but bloody murder scream.( like the siren of a fire engine) Eerily, the stalker, lifted his finger to his mouth and made a “shhh” sound. Both Jack and Hannah simultaneously felt their hearts pounding out of their chests. Their minds were racing, what was going on? Jack, trying to show bravado, yelled, “O.K., come on, knock it off, whoever you are. Enough is enough.” Infuriated, the white masked man grabbed Jack and dragged him into the kitchen and sat him down in one of the chairs that sat under their dining table. He tied Jack up with a rope he pulled from his backpack, and he did the same with Hannah. The man was extremely careful with every move he made, he was even wearing gloves. It was as if he had done it before, he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. There was no hesitation, he went right over to the drawer and pulled out the duct tape from the supply drawer just to the left of the refrigerator. Something was up, this man had been in their house before. How else would he know where they kept their duct tape? Jack felt a pit in his stomach, this had to be someone that they knew, someone that had one point been welcomed into their home. Hannah seemed to be in too much shock to notice these details, but it was all Jack could think about.
This was not a robbery. This man had a motive for being there, in that exact house, on that exact night. That motive was not to steal, but to hurt. Halloween was the perfect night because for this because it was not suspicious to wear a mask and approach someone's door. Lots of people are out and about in the streets, and many people wearing the exact same mask. It was the quintessential night to commit a crime.
The masked man paced back and force in the kitchen, muttering to himself softly. He seemed unsure of himself. Jack yelled out, “What are you going to do to us? Huh?” He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Jack, saying nothing. He walked over to Hannah and used his knife to cut her free. Shrieking, crying, she begged him to let her go. He dragged her flailing, fighting body down the hallway and up the stairs. As they moved farther and farther away, Jack could hear her screams less and less. Jack did not know what to do but he had to do something.