It was a chilly afternoon with several clouds hovering low in the sky, threatening to rain on the one afternoon they didn’t want it to. Hailey and her three friends were getting ready for a Halloween party that they had been planning and looking forward to for at least a month. It had been almost impossible to find people who weren’t already going to another party and they had a grand total of three sure’s, four no’s, two maybe’s, and one ‘I’d rather not.' It wasn’t looking very promising and neither was the weather.

The worst part was that two of her friends were convinced the house they were having the party in was haunted, and the third was mocking that by moving stuff around when they weren’t looking and pointing it out. Amy got them EVERY time and Hailey’s ears were beginning to go numb from their screams. It was only entertaining the FIRST two million times.

Even though they didn’t think many people would show up, they were still rushing trying to be ready on time. It wasn’t easy when all the food was about two hundred feet away in Hailey’s house. The party was taking place in her uncle’s camp that he rented out every summer, and although it was still light out it looked creepy anyway. With the sagging porch, secluded location, and musty furniture it was the perfect setting for Halloween. Yet the fact it was down a dirt road probably stopped many people from coming.

Emma was the only one not doing much. She had just finished arranging the food on the table and was looking for something to do. Although she never really said much, Hailey could tell she was anxious. She jumped every time Amy tried to pull another fake ‘ghost attack,' and was looking kind of queasy. Even though Emma was awesome at pulling pranks, she didn’t like being on the other end of Amy’s. Nearby Maya was sitting on the couch arranging the fake skulls on the table next to her. Suddenly she got up and trudged out to the porch. A minute later she was back with a disappointed expression on her face.

“It finally started raining, and I don’t think it will help the fact that no one’s here.” She said sarcastically. They all knew the road only got worse when it rained, and along with that they discovered that the roof needed more than just a few repairs.

“I think we need another bucket!” Shouted Hailey from the bedroom where she had been putting up fake cobwebs.

“There aren’t any more!” protested Maya, “We just used the last one in the kitchen.”

“Well, I guess the pillows can soak it up.” Muttered Hailey as she walked out to the kitchen. She was met by silence, and she looked around. No one was there, and the house was completely empty. Where had everyone gone? They were all there just a second ago.

“Guys stop kidding around I know you’re trying to scare me!” When no one answered she got nervous, “Okay you got me I have no idea whats going on here, you can come out now!” She almost expected hair-raising music to start playing. This was just the kind of thing that would happen in a horror movie. Hailey forced herself to stop before her imagination took over and made her dream up some kidnapper lurking in the closet behind her, ready to jump out and take her to wherever he had taken everyone else.

“Hello?” She squeaked in panic. In response she heard a chorus of giggles, and seconds later her friends were back.

“We got you good!” teased Amy, “You should’ve seen the look on your face, you were all ‘Oh no! Where is everyone, where did they go!’”

Now Hailey was mad. “Okay you know what, I’m sick of you trying to freak us out Amy! If you don’t stop I’m gonna have to get you back.” Hailey knew Amy couldn’t resist a challenge, and she seemed to be in an especially competitive mood tonight.

“You wouldn’t be able to even if you tried!” Amy said in a challenging tone, just as Hailey had hoped she would.

“You’re on! Whoever pulls the best trick wins.” Hailey said, a smile breaking out on her face. She knew that with Emma and Maya’s help she could beat Amy without trying.

“Okay and whoever loses has to spend the night here...alone!” Amy said pausing for suspense, “I’m so gonna win, and I won’t even have to try!” Despite her nonchalant attitude, inside Amy felt a little nervous. What if she lost? She could never force herself to sleep in the big, musty bed below the huge window and near the closet that had a sinister feeling about it.

“Whatever you say.” Hailey proclaimed sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She was starting to feel extremely confident and part of it might have been from hearing the reluctant tone in Amy’s voice.

For the next hour the four friends didn’t do much while they waited for anyone at all to show up. To pass the time they put up a few more cobwebs and after a while Hailey noticed that Amy had disappeared to some place and no matter how hard they looked they couldn’t figure out where she was hiding. This made Emma paranoid, so when Hailey’s mom came knocking on the door to check on them she screamed and jumped on the couch to huddle in the corner. Once her mom made sure that they were fine, she pulled her hood back over her head and trudged through the woods back to Hailey’s house. They didn’t let on that they were missing Amy and Hailey’s mom was clueless. They didn’t want to worry her when Amy was probably just trying to scare them.

After a while they began to worry although they knew there was a 99.9% chance that Amy was just trying to freak them out before her prank. Where the heck had Amy disappeared to? It’s not like there was anywhere she could have gone. They’d checked every place she could’ve gotten to. Except for the attic... Hailey realized this just before Amy jumped down (wearing a stupid costume of course) while Maya walked underneath the trap door that no one had noticed was open. She had misjudged her timing and knocked them both to the ground in a tangled mess.

“Owwwwww....” Maya groaned, “What was that for?”

“Sorry....” Amy helped Maya up and looked remorsefully at her feet, “I guess I shouldn’t have hidden up there.”

“Ya think?” Maya admonished.

“Hey was that your prank?” Hailey interrupted, trying to conceal her smirk.

“No!” Amy was quick to deny that her failure had been the big prank she was planning, “I was warming up. My real prank is gonna be much worse.”

“Well, I hope you mean worse in scariness, because if you mean pain I don’t want to be the victim again!” Maya exclaimed, rubbing her shoulder that had been pinned to the floor when Amy knocked her down.

“You didn’t have to hide up there. I would’ve been plenty scared if you had just jumped out of the closet with a scary mask and a fake bloody ax or something.” Hailey added sarcastically, and could almost see the anger burning in Amy’s eyes as she realized what had been said about her attempt at a scary prank.

“Okay, I know you two are having a competition and all but I have to say, I think someone’s here!” said Emma, trying to prevent a potential argument.

“Really?” Amy fell for it, and was so hopeful she ran outside.

“Okay let’s go!” Emma exclaimed once Amy was out of earshot. “Hurry up! Jeez if you want to win you’ll have to be sneakier than that!” she said as Hailey tripped over the coffee table and fell with a thump onto the dusty floor.

“What are you doing?” Hailey asked, although she already had an idea. Hailey jumped quickly to her feet, slightly embarrassed by her clumsiness.

“Helping you win! Now lets go, she’s coming back!” Emma said leaping through the front doorway and closing it quietly as Maya and Hailey followed her. Hailey knew Emma had some experience with pranking, probably because of her brothers and how they went overboard every year on April Fool’s Day, but what happened next was better than anything Hailey could have imagined. They left the porch and ran around to the back door and crouched near it, waiting to hear Amy’s panicked shouts. Emma whispered plans to them as they held their breath and waited for what would surely come.

“GUYS, I GET IT OKAY, IF YOU ARE TRYING TO SCARE ME YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO TRY HARDER THAN THAT!” Amy yelled, more than a hint of fear in her voice.

“Now,” whispered Emma. Hailey and Maya ran to the edge of the woods where they couldn’t be seen and Emma crawled under the house where she wouldn’t be found.

“Help! Oh Amy please! We aren’t fooling around, HELP!” and they both broke into what they hoped sounded like screams of agony. Taking the scissors they had near the rope holding up the life sized doll they had bought cheap at a yard sale, Hailey cut the rope at the bottom and watched as the doll swung down from the treetops, twisting back and forth. It was well worth the hours they had wasted setting it up. Hailey couldn’t believe how realistic it looked, and hoped Amy would fall for it.

Just in time to see the eerie sight, Amy bounded out the door and froze in place. She was so startled she tripped down the stairs and fell on her face in the dirt. Hailey and Maya, who couldn’t conceal their giggles anymore ran over to Amy and helped her up. “I-I-I...” she stuttered, trying to talk but too astonished to say anything understandable.

“We got you good!” Emma exclaimed from the doorway. Amy turned around to protest, but screamed when she saw the gruesome mask Emma had slipped on and the fake bloody ax she was holding above her head as if ready to swing.

“Okay I think she’s had enough, we don’t want her to have nightmares.” Maya said, getting a little worried about Amy, because she was looking a little green, “Do you need to lie down?” She asked with concern for her friend.

“No, I’m sure I’ll be o-” Her last word was cut of as she fell to the side and clutched her throat, grimacing as if in pain.

“Okay I may be going out on a ledge here, but I think we all know that you’re faking.” Hailey said over her shoulder as she strode towards the house and closed the door Amy had left wide open.

Amy sat up, “Ya but it was worth a try. Do I really have to spend the night here alone? It’s kinda cold out,” she said shivering dramatically, trying to get out of her punishment for losing the bet.

“No, I think you learned your lesson, and now you know it’s not fun to be pranked.” Emma said, finally putting the ax down and taking off the ridiculous mask. “Lets go inside, it looks like it might finally stop raining, but Amy’s right. It’s really cold out here.”

They all went inside and just as they were closing the door, headlights flashed down the driveway. It was Georgia, who had gotten lost on her way to their party and was showing up two hours late. Even though she was the only person who showed up, they had fun anyway and instead of Amy spending the night in the annex all by herself, everyone decided it would be fun if they all spent the night there. Although the party wasn’t what they had hoped, it was better than they could have imagined at the same time. Also, the anonymous pranks Hailey, Maya, and Emma had been getting recently mysteriously stopped.