THE HALLOWEEN

BASH

large deciduous tree with no leaves stands outside one of several suburban homes. A Woman, Mary Winchester, wearing a white nightgown, carries a small child, her son Dean, into a dark room.

"Come on, let's say good night to your brother." Mary turns on the lights: it's the nursery of a baby, Sam, who is lying in his crib and looking over at Mary and Dean. Mary sets Dean down. Dean leans over the side of the crib and kisses Sam on the forehead.

"Night, Sam." Little Dean says.

Mary leans over Sam as well. "Good night, love." She brushes Sam's hair back and kisses his forehead.

A man appears in the doorway, watching. "Hey, Dean." He says as Dean turns around. The Man in the doorway wearing a USMC T-shirt is John. Dean rushes over to him.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, buddy." John scoops Dean up. "So what do you think? You think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?"

Dean shakes his head, laughing. "No, Daddy." He says.

John laughs. "No." He repeats. Mary passes John and Dean on the way out of the room.

"You got him?" She asks.

"I got him." John hugs Dean closer. "Sweet dreams, Sam." He carries Dean out of the room, flipping off the lights. Sam watches them go, gurgling, then tries to reach his toes.

The baseball-themed mobile above Sam's crib begins to spin on its own while Sam watches. The transportation-themed clock on the wall ticks, ticks, stops. The moon-shaped nightlight flickers.

Later that night, lights flicker on a baby monitor sitting on a nightstand next to a photo of Mary and John. Strange noises come through the monitor. Mary, asleep in bed, stirs. She turns on the light on the nightstand.

"John?" Mary asks and turns: she's alone. She gets up. Mary walks down the hall to Sam's nursery. John, seen only in silhouette, stands over Sam's crib. "John? Is he hungry?" Mary asks.

John turns his head and puts his fingers to his lips. "Shhh." He says.

"All right." Mary heads back down the hallway. The light by the stairs is flickering. Mary frowns and goes to tap at it till the light steadies. "Hm."

More flickering light is coming from downstairs: Mary investigates. A war movie is on TV and John has fallen asleep watching it.

If John is here, Mary realizes, then the Man upstairs cannot be John and must be a danger. She runs back upstairs. "Sammy! Sammy!"Mary enters Sam's nursery and stops short.

pstairs, Mary screams. John wakes up. "Mary?" He scrambles out of the chair. "Mary!"John runs upstairs. John bursts through the closed door of the nursery. "Mary." The room is quiet and appears empty except for Sam awake in his crib and John. He glances around and pushes down the side of Sam's crib. "Hey, Sammy. You okay?"

Something dark drips next to Sam. John touches it. Two more drops land on the back of John's hand. It looks like blood. John looks up. Mary is sprawled across the ceiling, the stomach of her nightgown red with blood, staring at John and struggling to breathe.

He collapses onto the floor, staring at Mary. "No! Mary!" Mary bursts into flame and the fire spreads over the ceiling. John stares, frozen. Sam wails. John, reminded he's not alone, gets up and scoops Sam out of his crib and rushes out of the room.

Dean is awake now and comes to investigate. "Daddy!" He yells.

John shoves Sam at Dean. "Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!" He yells. Dean turns and runs. John turns back to the nursery. "Mary!" The entire room is on fire. Mary herself can barely be seen. "No!"

Dean runs outside, holding Sam. "It's okay, Sammy." Dean turns to look up at Sam's window, which is lit with gold.

John runs outside, scoops up Dean and Sam, and carries them both away. "I gotcha." Fire explodes out of Sam's nursery window.

Later that night, The Lawrence fire department has arrived. A Firefighter gets out of a fire truck and takes over at the gauges for another firefighter. "I got it. You go hold the line up." The second firefighter goes to the back of the truck and takes a hose from a third firefighter.

That firefighter takes the hose towards the house where a fourth firefighter is spraying through Sam's nursery window. A paramedic opens the back of an ambulance. A Police Officer waves some neighbors back. "Stay back. You have to stay back."

Across the street from the house, John and Dean sit on the hood of John's Impala, John holding Sam. John looks up at the remnants of the fire.

"Sam!" A young woman, Jess, comes around a corner; she is wearing a sexy-nurse costume and adjusting her hat. The photo of Mary and John from earlier is on the dresser. "Get a move on, would you? We were supposed to be there like fifteen minutes ago." Jess walks off. "Sam! You coming or what?"

A Young Man pokes his head around the corner; this is Sam. He's wearing jeans and three shirts, not a costume. "Do I have to?" He asks.

"Yes! It'll be fun." Sam comes into the room. "And where's your costume?"

Sam laughs and ducks his head. "You know how I feel about Halloween." He says.

A bar is decorated for Halloween (including a gargoyle with cobwebs and a baseball hat that says "GET NAKED"). Someone pours someone else a shot. Everyone is in costume. Jess raises a glass as a Young Man in a ghoul costume, Luis, comes up to the table where Sam and Jess are.

Sam is still not in costume. "So here's to Sam-" Jess says. "-and his awesome LSAT victory."

"All right, all right, it's not that big a deal." Sam says.

Jess, Sam, and Luis clink glasses. "Yeah, he acts all humble. But he scored a one seventy-four." Jess says.

Luis drinks his shot and so does Sam. "Is that good?" He asks.

"Scary good." Jess drinks.

"So there you go. You are a first-round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want!" Luis says and sits next to Sam.

Sam smiles. "Actually, I got an interview here. Monday. If it goes okay I think I got a shot at a full ride next year." He says.

"Hey. It's gonna go great." Says Jess.

"It better."

"How does it feel to be the golden boy of your family?" Luis asks.

"Ah, they don't know."

"Oh, no, I would be gloating! Why not?" Luis asks.

Sam looks down. "Because we're not exactly the Bradys." He says.

"And I'm not exactly the Huxtables. More shots?"

Jess and Sam speak in chorus. "No. No." They say.

"No." Sam says finally.

Luis goes up to the bar anyway. "No, seriously. I'm proud of you. And you're gonna knock 'em dead on Monday- and you're gonna get that full ride. I know it." Jess says.

"What would I do without you?"

Crash and burn. Jess smiles and pulls Sam in for a kiss. When they pull apart, Sam notices a girl watching him intently.

yes, I am re-editing this book so it looks nicer. if you have any questions, please message me