The crisp chill in the late October air washed over 18-year old Nicole Green as the teenage girl stepped out the front door of her house. Red and gold leaves, scattered across the front lawn and the sidewalk, crunched underfoot as she walked down the street, letting her know that Autumn was definitely here, with winter just around the corner. She was thankful for the warm sweater she’s put on before stepping outside as a gust of wind blew through the neighborhood, whipping leaves around her ankles. The young woman was carrying a brown paper sack. Inside was her costume for the party tonight. It was October 31st, Halloween.

A short way down the street, Nicole reached the house of her best friend, Rachel. She hurried up the path to the front door and rang the bell. A moment later, it was opened by Rachel’s younger sister Laura. The young girl was dressed as a miniature Sherlock Holmes, in a coat and hunter’s cap with a toy pipe and magnifying glass.

“Hey Nicole!” She said with a smile, opening the door. “Rachel’s up in her room, getting ready…”

“Thanks.” Nicole replied, stepping inside. She’d spent enough time at Rachel’s house to know the way to her friend’s room. Along the way, she ran into the two girls’ mother. Mrs. Morgan was dressed as a pirate, in a red striped shirt and knee length black pants, with high leather boots with the tops rolled down. Her long red hair was pinned back and a brightly colored bandana tied over her head.

“Avast!” Mrs. Morgan cried enthusiastically, raising her eye-patch. “If it isn’t me daughter Rachel’s best shipmate Nicole! Arr!”

Nicole couldn’t help but giggle. “What are you doing this evening, Mrs. Morgan?” she asked.

“I volunteered to take Laura and her friends trick or treating tonight.” The older woman answered. “Hope you two have fun at your party.”

“Thanks!” Nicole nodded, continuing on her way. She climbed the stairs up to the second floor and made her way to Rachel’s room. “Rachel?” she called, knocking.

“Hold on! Just a second!” Rachel shouted out. A minute later, the door opened and the redheaded girl peeked her head out. “I was just getting my costume ready, come on in!” She stepped back, opening the door all the way to let her friend into her room. Never the tidiest person in the world, at the moment, the teen’s room was extremely messy, with clothes strewn everywhere.

“I couldn’t quite decide what I wanted…” Rachel said with a shrug, picking her way through the clutter. She pointed to the door of her bathroom. “Why don’t you go get your costume in there? I’ll finish mine real quick.”

“Alright.” Nicole said, crossing the room, stepping carefully around piles of clothes, stacks of books and magazines, which covered most of the floor. Reaching the bathroom, she turned on the light and closed the door, locking it. Setting her bag down, Nicole reached down and grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head. Underneath it, she wore a loose grey tank top.

Nicole reached down into the bag and pulled out a long white dress. She pulled it on. The hem of the dress came down about the middle of her calves. The teenager crouched down and rolled up her jeans. When she stood up again, they couldn’t be seen. The dress was a little loose around the waist, so Nicole took out a short length of gold colored rope and tied it loosely around her waist as a belt.

Reaching into the sack again, Nicole pulled out a pair of costume wings. She slid her arms into the elastic straps, than glanced at her reflection in the mirror, adjusting them so they were even on her back. The young woman reached up and undid the hairband on her pony-tail, letting her light brown hair fall loosely around her shoulder. She took a plastic halo, attached by a thin wire to a hairband and put it on.

A pair of white dress shoes replaced her sneakers, and Nicole’s costume was finished. She grabbed her socks, shoes and sweater and stuffed them in the paper sack. Checking one more time in the mirror, to make sure everything was just right, Nicole turned and unlocked the bathroom door.

“What do you think?” Nicole said, twirling around to show off her costume.

“You look amazing!” Rachel replied. The teen was in the process of putting her own costume on: a black business suit, slightly too large for her that she’d borrowed from her mother, white dress shirt and tie, with black patent leather shoes. As Nicole watched, Rachel slid one ear bud from her headphones in her right ear, and then stuffed the other and the wire down the collar of her shirt. A brightly colored plastic squirt gun was slid into the makeshift shoulder holster she’d assembled from black colored cardboard and shoelaces. The last thing Rachel did was slid on a pair of dark sunglasses and her spy costume was finished.

Together the two girls left Rachel’s bedroom and made for the front door. “Mom! Nicole and I are
heading out now!” Rachel called out as they stepped outside.

“Alright dear!” They heard Mrs. Morgan call back. “You two have fun and don’t stay out too late! Halloween or not, you still have school tomorrow!”

As Nicole walked across the front lawn, a gust of cold wind blew through the neighborhood, blowing leaves to and fro. The teenage girl shivered. The thin white dress she had on wasn’t quite up to the late evening chill. She hurried to the car to get out of the wind. Rachel ran around and got in the driver’s seat, started the car and slowly pulled away from the curb.

The party they were going to was at a house about halfway across town. Nicole looked through the window at the houses flying by as they drove. More than a few had Halloween decorations up, some just jack-o’-lanterns, plastic or pumpkin. A few had gotten more elaborate, turning their yards into makeshift cemeteries, with fake tombstones and plastic skeletons, or draping the trees and bushes with cobwebs. One house had skipped not just Halloween but Thanksgiving as well and had Christmas lights up already.

The sun was already setting over the roofs of the houses, as Rachel pulled off the main road into another neighborhood. They were in the nice part of town. The houses here were spread out, with wide lawns kept green and neatly trimmed by professional gardeners. The buildings themselves were large, three or four story estates, of red brick.

“That should be the one…”  Rachel said, pointing to one of the mini-mansions. Sure enough, about half a dozen cars were parked along the street in front of it. As Rachel slowly pulled up and looked for a place to park, Nicole saw a min-van drive up. It stopped in front of the house and a princess and batgirl got out. The two teenage girls quickly spoke with their mother, waving as she drove away.

Rachel stopped the car and the two got out. Together, they walked up to the house. Rachel rang the doorbell. “Rachel! Nicole! Good to see you!” Amy Chen said, opening the door. The two girl’s friend from school was dressed as a wicked witch, broom and all. “Glad you could make it. We’ll be starting in the living room.” Amy turned, leading the two across a large entry hall to another room.

The large living room was well furnished with padded chairs and couches. Along one wall was a large flat screen TV. The expensive stereo system was currently playing ‘The Monster Mash’. Along one wall were several cabinets filled with VCR’s and DVD’s. Opposite it was a long table, draped with orange and black cloth, which was piled high with snacks of all kinds. The ceiling was strung with cobwebs, plastic bats and spiders hung from strings.

Milling around the room chatting and eating snacks were about a dozen teenage girls, all in costume. Nicole saw several fairies and a girl dressed as a ninja. Super girl was currently chatting with Batgirl, while another dressed as a French maid was loading a tray with several drink cups for her and her friends: a vampire and a nurse. Nicole and Rachel recognized a couple girls from school or elsewhere.

Also in the room, keeping an eye on things, were two older women. The first was a short, dark-haired Asian woman who wasn’t wearing a costume, as far as Nicole could tell. She was Amy’s mother; Lilly Chen. As for the other…

“Hello Rachel! Nicole!” Stephanie Jones said, cheerfully, walking over. The older woman was wearing the slave girl outfit worn by Princess Leia in The Return of the Jedi. Every detail was right off the big screen and all the pieces were metal or cloth, no plastic anywhere. Needless to say, she looked amazing in it.

“Miss Jones!” Nicole said, cheerfully. “I didn’t know you’d be here! Fantastic costume!” Mrs. Jones was an old friend of Rachel’s mother. About a year ago, she had bought the two at a charity slave auction they’d entered and treated them to a weekend of fun and bondage. Nicole grinned. If Miss Jones was here, that could only bode well for the party…

“Thank you very much!” Miss Jones replied, smiling. “This was just something I had lying around the house from a convention a couple years back. I needed a costume quick and pulled it out.”

“For a wonder, I found myself with no plans this Halloween…” Miss Jones explained. “…but a couple days ago, I got a call from Miss Chen, asking if I’d like to help her with her little party this evening. After she told me what she had planned, well…” she shrugged. “How could I say no?” Before the two could question her any further, the older woman excused herself, turned and rushed off to greet a girl dressed up as Jasmine from Aladdin.    

Grinning in anticipation, Nicole turned to her friend. “Well, let’s have a good time!” The two friends proceeded to do so. First, they swung by the snacks table. Nicole grabbed a couple pumpkin-shaped cookies of a tray and a can of root beer from a cooler filled with ice underneath the table. Rachel loaded a plate up with all kinds of sweets.

Nibbling on their snack, the two mingled with the other guests for about half an hour, chatting and complimenting everyone on their costumes. Periodically, the doorbell would ring and Amy rushed off to play hostess to the new arrivals. They straggled in, one or two at a time, until, shortly after the sun had gone down, there were about 20 teenagers altogether, including Nicole and Rachel, at the party.

“Could I have your attention please!?!” Amy called out, walking over and shutting off the music. As the sounds of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ cut off, the buzz of conversation in the room slowly subsided. All eyes turned to Amy standing at the front of the room. “Thanks for coming to my party! You’re all in such lovely costumes! We’ll have a contest for the best costume later in the evening, but first…” she grinned. “We’re going to play a little game. You see, two of the guests here at the party are, in fact, kidnappers! And we’re going to have a little game, where we try and figure out who they are.”

The room was filled with a quiet murmur as the guests whispered to one another. Amy waited for the noise to quiet again before continuing. “When I’ve finished telling you the rules, everyone will split up and wander around the house. All the lights will be off, so you’ll use these…” she held up a small, plastic candle. Showing it to everyone, Amy flipped a small switch on the bottom and an electric flame lit up, flickering, on the top.

“When you hear the music playing, that will be the signal to return here. Of course…” Amy grinned. “If the kidnappers do their jobs, not everyone will return. Then we’ll hold a trial and see if we can find the guilty girls, who will, of course, be thrown in jail.” She gestured over to one of the doors, which now had a paper sign taped to it, showing the word “Jail” enclosed in metal bars. “Carol here will be out Jailer.” Amy nodded to a girl near the front of the room, wearing a hooded, orange striped jumpsuit, complete with ears and a tail. Nicole and Rachel knew Carol was one of Amy’s friends; who was also into light bondage games.

“Then we’ll split up again and see if we were right…or whether anyone else goes missing.” Amy continued. “The kidnappers will keep their victims stashed somewhere safe, until the end of the game, tied up of course.”

“Oh!” A girl at the front exclaimed. “It’s just like the card game mafia!”

Amy nodded. “That’s right. To encourage you all to explore the house a little, we’ve hidden some prizes around the house for you to find.”

“For safety, everyone please be careful in the dark. Walk, don’t run.” Miss Jones added. “And if you do run into the kidnappers, I’d suggest doing what they tell you.”

“If you’re chicken and don’t want to be tied up, feel free to stay together in a group.” Amy continued. “Of course, you’ll have a harder time finishing the scavenger hunt. Still, if you get caught, you won’t finish it either. That’s the risk we’ll be taking. Now…” she picked up a box filled with the plastic candles. “Everyone come up and grab one of these …”  

Along with everyone else, Nicole and Rachel hurried forward. The two girls made their way to the door. “Well, good luck, Nicole!” Rachel said with a cheery wave, slipping away into the darkness. Nicole fumbled with her candle for a moment, as everyone headed to different parts of the house. After a moment, she found the switch and turned it on.

She had just got it turned on when someone shut off the lights in the living room, plunging the house into darkness. Nicole squinted in the dim, flicking light of the candle. It gave off just enough illumination she could see a few feet in front of her, barely. As she walked forward, slowly, Nicole could see the flickering lights of the other guests, and dimly make out the girls holding them as vague shadows. Holding her candle out in front of her to illuminate as much of her path as possible, Nicole shuffled forward, uncertainly in the dark…