My brothers, my sister, and my parents soon after, are all puzzled, after being greeted at the door by a garbage full of chunks of wood. “What happened,” my dad asked. Oh boy, I thought. Here we go.

It all started with the day before Hallows Eve and all the children of the town were anxious for the next day. Ready to go door-to-door begging like hermits, becoming vampires as they sank their teeth into their treats. Ready to dress up as their favorite character of that year to show it off as if they had actually become the very thing they were mocking. I for one, was not dressing up, I was planning on opening the door when a unsuspecting group of hermits ringed the bell and scared the living daylights out of them with Dumatris. Dumatris was my ventriloquist dummy that I've had since I used it in the school talent show. Dumatris and I were silenced off the stage as if we hadn't done anything at all.

Now I was staring at Dumatris and wondering if I should make him extra scary by actually practicing my material and working on my bad habit of talking while he talks. Just as I started to reach my hand into the empty hole in his back, I got interrupted by a voice. “It's time for dinner,”my mother's voice seeped through the small crack in my door, filling the walls of my room and sending me downstairs. Sitting at the dining room table with the array of people I call my family, thoughts rushed through my mind and I caught a chill. I didn't know what was going on, but I would soon find out. All of a sudden, my mom asked, “Will you be alright home alone tomorrow? Your father and I were invited to a Halloween office party.” I nodded in response as if I had a choice. After dinner I headed back to my room to work on my habit with Dumatris.

As I looked down in my room for Dumatris, he wasn't there. I started to search and search, and..... I found him under my bed. Hmmm....., I thought to myself, what was I going to do to make those kids pee themselves? What would make them promise themselves to never come back on such a night to ask for and then dote on the very candy that I gave them? I thought of a brilliant idea and started working for what seemed like only minutes, but were actually hours. I put Dumatris down and looked him in his huge, glass eyes. I was suddenly filled with the same symptoms that I got at the dining room table. Now I had a strange feeling even looking at Dumatris. I got into bed and pulled on the cover. The chill came instantly as I started to even think about Dumatris.

I woke up thinking, Great, it's Halloween! This was the first time in a while that this wonderful holiday fell on a weekend. I absolutely hate Halloween on school days. All the giddy little children prancing around the school in their little costumes made me sick. The smell of pancakes overpowered me, my stomach becoming a mind of its own, hungry to be fed. I went downstairs, only to be greeted by a little fairy princess chasing around two little firemen. At the bottom of the stairs, I was also greeted by Dumatris. I was shocked, confused, and a little bit scared.

OK, I thought, this time I know that I left him in the corner on my bedroom floor. Something was really wrong. I though about it all day, then came night when I decided to put Dumatris in my closet, just to be safe. When I started to pour candy in the plastic pumpkin head, I heard crashes and booms coming from upstairs. Walking up the stairs, the noise got closer, closer, louder. The noise was coming from my bedroom. I opened the door and looked around. I didn't see anything, but then the noise got louder. I ran around my room, looking everywhere, trying to find where the noise was coming from. I passed my closet, and thought, It couldn't be. I opened the closet anyway, but very slowly. I looked around the closet , but saw nothing, not even Dumatris.

Then the noise stopped. I felt foolish to think Dumatris made the noise. The chill came again, but with a little wind behind me. I turned around, becoming frozen with fear for what I saw. It was Dumatris, and he was in the corner like a small little man with his back turned. I'm not sure why I said this like I would get an answer but I asked, “Dumatris? Dumatris?” To my surprise, I got an answer. “Karly, you locked me in the closet. I couldn't breathe,” Dumatris said too calmly, still turned around. “You're not real, of course you couldn't breathe!” I yelled, shaken up. “Okay Karly, get a grip, you're just hallucinating,” He turned around and calmly said through his wooden mouth, “I am too real. You locked me in the closet and I couldn't breathe. Now you must pay.” I almost peed my pants. Funny, 'cause this was really close to the way I was trying to get those kids to. I screamed, and I mean to the top of my lungs. Dumatris started to come towards me very slowly. I almost couldn't move but of course I did start to back out of the doorway. I started to run but stopped. I've seen too many freaky movies to know that if you start to run, they will start to run. His glass eyes looked creepy as he came towards me. Then the doorbell rang. Saved by the bell. I thought that he wouldn't care and would still come towards me. But he said in an evil voice, “Hurry, I have an idea. And if you don't listen, I will kill you.” I would have laughed at that if I wasn't so scared. He jumped up to me and said to put my hand in his back and answer the door. “Trick or treat!” A thousand little voices called. I was still in shock so I kind of just stood there. All of a sudden Dumatris shook in my hand.

Oh, I thought, if I don't do this, Dumatris might kill me somehow. But if I do this, the kids will leave and he will go back to his revenge. I thought up an idea. “ Hi kids,” Dumatris said, but as I moved his wooden mouth, “do you want some candy?” “Yes!” “Well, OK!” Dumatris' head turned toward me and I brought the candy from the table. “Here you go.” A pain went through my arm so I had to think quickly. “And now for the finale.” I eyed an ax in a boy's hand and took it. I removed my hand from Dumatris, and chopped him in half. And I have to say, I couldn't be happier for the little kids and their costumes.