An excerpt from the Halloween story "Join the Club" from the new book "Not From Around Here".

“I really like you,” she whispered. “I feel the same about you, Jessica.” “There are a lot of things I want to do with you Alan, but I don’t feel comfortable doing anything else, if you’re not a member of our club.” “Why?” “Well, for two reasons: One, we made a pact among the members. The reason we made the pact is once we join the club, we do everything we can to not be like everyone else. I’m not like other girls, and I promise you we could have a good time like you would never have with any other girl, but you need to join the club. I’m sorry to be so abrupt and demanding, but we only can arrange very few pledge nights, and one of those very few is tomorrow; Halloween.” Jessica looked into Alan’s eyes, almost pleadingly. “Why Halloween?” “We prefer special places under special circumstances. Everything has to be right, including the atmosphere. It’s all about the show, right?!” Jessica leaned into Alan and gave him another deep kiss and he pulled her tighter and wrapped his hands around her and started to rub her, over those very tight jeans. Moments later, he broke away from her to say: “Let’s do this.” “Great! Do you know Overlook Street?” “Yeah.” “The cul-de-sac at the end of Overlook and Fairview?” “Yeah, that’s where the Kensington Mansion sits.” “Yes, though it’s really just a big house. You know, it’s never been sold since the murders. No one’s lived there in so many years,” Jessica mentioned. “Yeah, I remember reading about it. Something about two drug addled vagrants, sneaking in.” As Alan said that he started to remember the things he had read and heard. The two homeless men broke into the house to rob it, but for some reason while the family slept, they killed them all; the parents, the daughter, her younger brother, the wife’s mother and the husband’s, adult autistic brother. They were particularly gruesome murders. The men said they were trying to hide everything, and some body parts were never found, including the adult brother’s head. Then Alan asked; “What happened to the murderers? I don’t remember hearing if they were ever caught?” “Yes,” Jessica answered, “a neighbor suspected something was wrong, and called the cops. The robbers got shot and killed that very night, somewhere on the property.” “So what about it?” Alan asked. “They say the house is haunted.” Jessica spoke softly. “Yeah, so? You don’t believe in that, do you?” “It matters what you think, not what I think.” Jessica said. “Why?” Alan asked. “Because you have to spend the entire night in that house; from 11pm until dawn.” “What?! Why?” “That’s the task, if you want to join the club.” Read the rest in Not From Around Here