The decision was made for them by the sound of an approaching police siren. They weren’t sure if it the cops were looking for them, but explaining why they, two minors, were in the middle of nowhere at four in the morning, seemed a good reason to get off the road. Zach took point into the bushes, closely followed by Yuki.

“What the hell?” Zach mumbled when he was through.

“What’s wrong?” Yuki wanted to know, lightly pushing his rear to get him out of the bushes.

Zach stood up, shivering at the night dew on his bare legs, then just quietly stared at the dozens of tombstones around them.

“There’s a graveyard here,” he said, quite clearly confused, “It used to be a farm.”

Yuki joined him and looked around as well. With only the moonlight illuminating it, the place had a distinct sinister appearance.

Zach walked up to one, then squinted to read the inscription/.

‘Agatha Hannigan. 1932-1985’.

Slightly taken aback, he put his hand on the stone, then laughed when he felt it was made of wood.

“Christ, Britt…” he muttered.

“Who?”

“Some chick that goes to school with me. She’s apparently been building a haunted house for Halloween.”

“Already?”

“She always says she wants to make the best in the country, so she got a head start on everyone else.”

“How do you know it’s her?”

He tapped the name on the tomb stone, “Miss Hannigan is our math teacher. Britt hates her.”

Scanning the rest of the stones, he found other names of teachers and adults that had drawn her ire, including the odd student here and there.

As he searched for his own name, it suddenly clicked that the odd sound he and Tara had heard the last time they decided to crawl into the bushes had been nothing scarier than Britt’s music taste. She had mentioned it before, calling it something like ‘in starting new boats’ or something. Zach didn’t know, he didn’t speak German.

Taking point through the fake tombstones, he gestured to the dilapidated farmhouse. It had the windows boarded up and the door half falling from its hinges.

“I hope she hasn’t gone all out yet…”

Zach was the first into the house and, out of habit, tried a light switch, surprised to find it working.

A soft orange flickered to life and he gasped, before realizing that the severed ears that dangled from the laundry were fake. Most likely anyway.

He sighed and looked around. The room looked pretty normal. A comfy chair, strangely kitchen appliances in what appeared to be a living room, and a neat set out tea set.

It looked normal until he looked at the details anyway. The doily on the chair appeared to be made of human skin. The tea set was filled with blood and the dishwasher had been filled with rubber body parts, fingers and toes neatly in the cutlery box.

“Britt seems… fun?” Yuki suggested.

“She’s okay,” he said, picked up the fake human skin and tossed it to the floor, “Guess we can sleep here if there’s no bed.”

Yuki smiled and pushed through a door.

“There’s a bed,” she said, “But

Zach followed and found a bed, sans mattress, that only held a plastic skeleton suspended by the foot and headboards.

“Bit weak for her doing,” he said to himself, “Chair it is.”

“We could check upstairs,” Yuki said, then trailed off when she saw half the steps to the upper floor were missing, “...or not.”

Zach led the way back to the living room and stared at the empty chair. It was definitely large enough for two, but he felt awkward suggesting it.

He shuffled his feet, nervously glancing at Yuki.

She giggled, “What?”

“How do you suggest we, you know…”

Yuki sighed and shook her head, “Too passive.”

She grabbed his hand, pulling him to the chair and used the motion to drop him into the chair, then without waiting for him to settle, dropped down in his lap.

“Yuki…?”

She put an arm around his neck, another around his waist, then nestled against his chest.

Zach awkwardly put his own arms around Yuki and let her push him backwards into the chair. The old backrest immediately gave way under their weight, extending so they could lie down properly. He stroked her hair nervously, wondering if he’d get any sleep…

A few hours later, they were woken by the sound of voices and music, that was followed a few seconds later by the sound of hammering and two girls yelling.

Zach struggled to look at his watch to find it was ten in the morning. Yuki stirred in her sleep, clinging tighter to him.

He gently poked her in the sides, trying to wake her up and only getting a soft muttered ‘yada’ from her.

“Yuki,” he whispered, “Wake up. We’re not alone.”

Yuki yawned, looked around groggily, then pulled herself firmly against Zach again, muttering that she wanted five more minutes.

Zach sighed, replied with a muttered insincere apology and pushed her off.

“Itai!” she mumbled, “Zach...why?”

“People,” he whispered, “People I know.”

He hurried to go through his satchel, pulled out his wig and put it on, “Besides. We should get going anyway. Should I walk you home? Will you be okay?”

Yuki yawned, stretched and got to her feet, “I am going to have to be, right? Besides, I think people like that sleep during the day.”

Zach looked dubious, but nodded, “Fine, let’s get going then.”

“Wait,” she said, smiling as she adjusted his wig, “...Now it actually looks like it is your hair.”

“Thanks, Yuki...”

“I have said,” she observed, keeping her hands on the back of his head so he couldn’t look away, “That you are too passive.”

“I guess…”

“So I show you…”

“Show me wh…”

Her arms slid down, tightly wrapping around his neck and she pulled him closer, then firmly pressed her lips against his.

Unsure how to respond, Zach put his arms around her waist and clumsily tried to kiss her back.

Yuki pulled back and grinned, “Needs work.”

He leaned in, but she pushed him away, teasingly adding, “Missed your chance, Zach. Should have tried last night. … Do not look like that. You can try again on our next date.”

Zach laughed, lightly taking her hand, “Is this how you normally date in Japan?”

“I wish…”

In the mid morning sun the graveyard looked less intimidating and more like the high schoolers project it was. The high schoolers in question were currently working on constructing what appeared to be a noose.

“Act natural,” Zach mumbled. Yuki squeezed his hand to reassure him. They calmly kept walking towards the gate and Zach Realized they must have been walking by an overgrown path for weeks.

The two girls looked up as one. One, Zach’s classmate Tiffany, was dressed sensibly in dungarees and was was wearing a tool belt. Her hair was neatly tied back and she had a nail between her teeth, frowning at what she saw. Britt meanwhile was a whirlwind of black clothes and hairspray, all topped off with pale white makeup that made it impossible to read her expression. She had a cigarette between her lips, making it quite clear which of the girls was doing the most work.

She took the cigarette out and was about to challenge the duo’s reason for being there, but in the end was too confused to bring out anything more than, “Not scary enough?”

“Well, the power,” Zach started, remembering to put on his girl voice halfway through the sentence, “The power was off, Britt. I’m sure it’ll be great when you’re done.”

He hurriedly led Yuki through the gates and down the dirt path, hearing a single question from Tiffany.

“How’d the foreign girl know your name?”