“Wait for your mom here, Hales,” my dad announces, leading me into the familiar lobby of the physic iatric clinic. “And study or else your mom‘ll have my head.”

“Fine,” I moan, shifting through the songs on my IPod. Honestly dad, I don’t care about what you or she says. I collapse onto the plush armchair, dropping my backpack beside me. Instantly, I resort back to memorizing new Panic! At the Disco lyrics. Annoyed, I glance up to check if he’s gone, but he’s still there, pointing at the lights for some vague reason. I nod at whatever he‘s saying, waving him away. He takes the hint and leaves.

For the next hour, I sulk alone. I’m tired of my earphones, so I start looking around. This clinic is always so boring. The only reason I’m here is because my mother had a meeting and I wasn’t trusted to be home alone. Otherwise, I’d ditch this psycho ward just to get on MYSPACE. The people that work here even decorated their private offices for Halloween. How dope is that? Plastic ghosts are plastered all over the clear windows circling the building and the mauve-colored walls are decked with ’spooky’ posters. We don’t even do that at school! I sigh, checking the time on my phone. What in the world! It’s 8:57. Mom said she would be here at 8:30. What‘s taking her so long? I look towards a row of vending machines to my right, suddenly hungry. Getting up from my seat, I force my dirty Vans past the front desk, conscious of my dad’s vacuuming somewhere in the building.

The choices before me don’t surprise me. A bunch of healthy stuff. I shake my head, then my phone’s ring tone echoes in my pocket. Unknown number. I answer, but all I get is a bunch of static. I hang up. Stupid Halloween pranks. Don’t kids have better things to do than bother other people? NO! I kinda prank call all the time. Suddenly, everything goes dark. No, I didn’t faint - everything has literally gone black. The only thing I see lit is the green exit sign on top of the main entrance.

“Hey Dad?” I call. No reply. I maneuver my way back to the front desk, nearly killing myself over a carpet. I hear my phone ring again, but I don’t answer this time. Probably the same kids from school or something. I feel along the counter, looking for some source of light when the phone of the clinic sounds beside my head. I jump. Okay . . . this is-

Clack-clack-clack. I whirl around. Somebody’s knocking on the glass screen of the building . . . from the outside. It's too dark to see, but I manage to distinguish a bulky figure behind the door. The front desk’s phone begins to ring again. This is definitely not normal. I panic. I dash down a corridor, staying pressed against the mauve colored walls. The tapping stops, but the phone keeps ringing. I continue sliding forward, praying for my dad. I bump my head on a painting hanging on the wall, but I dismiss it. Unexpectedly, my cell rings again. I ignore that too, listening for- and there it goes. Clack, clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack. Someone is clearly trying to get in. I gulp; the fair hairs on my arms rise up. Oh man, what if it’s one of the patients. Instantaneously, the clinic phone starts to ring for a second time. Frantically, I rush down the hallway, enveloped in total darkness.

I turn a corner and BAM! I fall over what feels like a vacuum. I realize with joy that this means my dad’s close. The boisterous tapping at the main door remains audible, except now it’s louder, as if someone is pounding the door with a clenched, powerful fist. I scramble to my feet, tangling up in my own stone legs. Tripping over, I fall before a closed door. That’s when, out of nowhere, a shrill cackle erupts from that very door.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Through my peripheral vision, I see a pair of glowing orange eyes, staring at me. That does it. Everything inside me stops: my heart, my brain, even my breathing. I can’t even scream. I suddenly think I’m in a nightmare - a nightmare that I hope will end soon. I’m frozen in place; petrified, in other words. I haven’t even blinked.

Then, all is bright. I’m blinded by the blinding lights overhead which illuminate the entire space. As my brown eyes adjust, I see the source of my scare. A stupid witch hung from the doorknob, sensitive to all types of movement, even in the dark. I hear a different noise other than the ones that made me hysterical just a while ago.

“I thought I left you in the lobby,” Dad wonders, gathering up the vacuum as if nothing happened. Maybe I was sleepwalking, I think to myself. All of a sudden there sounds the recognizable knock. I stiffen. “Oh, that would be your mother.”
"Oh I know," I whimper. "I was just coming to say good-bye and I love you."