Followed

      Abdala's best friend, Cantiel, was joining her that night on her trick-or-treating. She was just as excited as her friend, but for different reasons. Cantiel pictured herself sitting on the couch, eating candy by the handful. What better way to spend a boring day with nothing to do?

      Time passed by, and Abdala spent the entire time sitting on the couch, waiting for sunset. As the clock stuck eight, she jumped up from the couch and began to put on her costume.

      "Abdalaaaa! Time to go pick up your friend at her house!"

      Abdala headed downstairs with an empty sack in her hand. She yelled "Byemom!" very quickly and ran out the door to Cantiel's house.

      Cantiel's family lived in a very old, large NeoHome. It was hundereds of years old, and it was said that there were ghosts in there. Cantiel had never seen a ghost, but she had heard many strange creaks coming from the attic in her 10 years of life.

      "Hi, Abdala!" said a Shoyru who peered out the door of the supposedly haunted house. She was dressed in an Illusen costume to go with what her best friend was wearing. "Let's go!"

      Abdala simply stared into the NeoHome with eyes of disbelief. It wasn't the ancient halls and paintings on the walls that surprised her. She rubbed her eyes, but it was still there. It was a ghost.

      "Hello, girls, how are you doing?" a voice said.

      Cantiel turned around. A Ghost Ixi was floating right there, cackling in her face! Cantiel screamed at the top of her lungs.

      "Let's get out of here!" said Abdala, running off with Cantiel.

      "Nice try, girls," said the ghost, "but there is no way you can escape from Tranius!" He floated back up into the air and followed the two girls down the street.

      "Trick or treat!" Abadala and Cantiel said at the door of a random NeoHome. A nice old lady had answered the door, and was about to put a handful of candy in their bags, when Tranius suddenly appeared.

      "BOO!" Tranius shouted. Abdala and Cantiel ran away screaming before the old lady could put anything in their bags. She stood on her doorstep, puzzled.

      "Hide in the alley!" Cantiel shouted. Abdala followed her friend to a dark, polluted alley, where they both hid in garbage cans.

      "This is disgusting!" said Abdala. "I'm taking a bath when I get home…Cantiel, do you hear me?"

      "Of course I hear you," said Cantiel. "But be quiet! I think I hear something."

      The two friends kept silent. They could both hear someone whistling and humming a tune. It definitely wasn't Tranius.

      "Cantiel! Who is that?" Abdala whispered so the person wouldn't hear. He was coming closer and closer to the two garbage cans.

      Cantiel lifted the lid up a little bit so she could see. The guy was a Tuskaninny in a dark green uniform.

      "I think he's a garbage guy!" Cantiel whispered.

      Abdala and Cantiel kept their bodies completely still. The Neopet lifted the garbage cans onto a cart and pulled the cart out of the alley.

      "Where are we going?" Abdala asked.

      "I have no idea," Cantiel whispered. "Probably the Neopian garbage dump."

      "Garbage dump?" Eww!" Abdala whined.

      "Shh," said Cantiel.

      The two girls were silent for the rest of the trip. Eventually, the cart stopped. The garbage man emptied out both cans into a pile of disgusting garbage.

      "Okay, now I am definitely taking a bath when I get home," said Abdala. A rotten banana peel sat on her head.

      Cantiel didn't seem to mind the garbage. "Just be glad that Tranius isn't here," she said.

      At that moment, a ghost Ixi appeared in front of Abdala and Cantiel. They both recognized him as Tranius.

      "Well, well, it seems that you two have no idea how to hide from someone ultimately evil, like me. You better run now, children, or you'll end up being ghosts like me!"

      The two best friends ran off into the distance. They found themselves on a mysterious street that neither one of them had seen before.

      "Where are we?" Abdala asked.

      "I have no idea," said Cantiel. "but Tranius is coming to get us. Maybe somebody who lives on this street can help us!"

      Abdala pointed to the house beside her. There was a sign on the gate that read "We sell magical weapons and potions".

      "This house looks promising," said Abdala. "Look at the sign! Maybe they sell something to us that helps destroy ghosts!"

      Both girls stared at the house. It was small and scary-looking. The wood that it was made of looked as if it were going to rot. Many vines grew around the ancient house, and a garden of overgrown plants grew in the front yard.

      "We have to go in there!" said Cantiel. She took two steps toward the house when Abdala pulled her back.

      "Don't go in there!" said Abdala. "It's too scary!"

      "Do you want to get away from Tranius or not?" said Cantiel. "Speaking of which, he's coming this way! Let's go!"

      Cantiel pulled Abdala onto the doorstep of the mysterious house. Cantiel rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, a dark shadow answered the door. Abdala hid behind her best friend. The dark shadow came closer and closer, until the light shone upon it and a friendly-looking Techo stood there.

      "Hello, girls! How may I help you two?"

      Abdala came out from behind Cantiel.

      "We were…um…wondering if you could help us!" Abdala said nervously.

      "Of course I can, come in!" the Techo said nicely. He held the door open so Abdala and Cantiel could get in.

      "So, what do you two need?" the Techo asked, closing the door.

      "We need something that will help us destroy a ghost," said Abdala. "We're being followed by a very annoying one."

      "I see," said the Techo. "Your request is very difficult for me to fill. You need a special potion, which is very rare. I have all the ingredients, except for one."

      "What don't you have?" Cantiel asked.

      "The ingredient I need is called haunted grass," said the Techo. "It only grows in the Neopian graveyard, which is not too far from here. It looks like ordinary grass, but it is black."

      "Thanks for the info," said Abdala. "I guess we'll just leave and-"

      "Wait!" said Cantiel. "Abdala, I think we forgot something!"

      "What did we forget?" Abdala asked.

      Cantiel whispered something into Abdala's ear. Abdala giggled a bit and agreed.

      "Trick or treat!" the two girls said to the Techo in unison. He smiled and put a few candies in their bags.

     ***

      "Black grass. Black grass. Black grass," Abdala repeated over and over again.

      "The Techo said that the Neopian Graveyard wasn't too far from here," said Cantiel. "We've been walking for half an hour and we still haven't found it."

      "Hold on," said Abdala. "I think I see it!"

      The two girls peeked through a wall of overgrown bushes. On the other side was a grassy field covered in tombstones.

      "This is it," said Cantiel. "Let's go in there!"

      "But it's too scary!" Abdala whined.

      "You are such a chicken!" said Cantiel. "We don't want Tranius to find us and destroy us! Let's go!" Cantiel dragged Abdala into the graveyard.

     "Hey, look!" said Abdala, looking at the gravestone in front of her. "This gravestone says 'Tranius'. You think that's the same Tranius who's been following us?"

      "Probably," said Cantiel. "But look! There's black grass growing around his grave! Quick! Take some of it before he finds us here!"

      Abdala pulled a handful of black grass from the ground. The sound of Tranius's ghastly howling filled the air, and it was getting louder.

      "RUN!" Abdala yelled. She and her friend ran for their lives.

      "Where's that Techo's house?" Cantiel asked as she ran.

      "I think it's this way!" Abdala asked, running at top speed. "Or maybe it's that way! Or this way! Or…oh forget it, just run!" The two girls ran in a random direction. Just by coincidence, they found the Techo's house. Just as before, Cantiel rang the doorbell and the Techo answered.

      "I see you two are back again," said the Techo. He immediately saw the haunted grass in Abdala's paw. "Ah, I see you got the haunted grass! Now I can make the potion you need! Come in and get comfortable while I make what you need!"

      Abdala handed the haunted grass to the Techo as she and Cantiel proceeded into the ancient house. The couch cracked when they sat on it, and both girls were afraid to move without breaking it. They sat still for what seemed like hours. Finally, the Techo came out of his workshop with a dark potion in his hand.

      "I take it that this is what you needed," said the Techo.

      "Yes, that's it!" said Cantiel, standing up as the couch cracked loudly. "Do you mind telling up exactly what it does?"

      The Techo laughed a bit. "I can't say, but it is quite funny. Now go before I get another customer! Goodbye, young ladies!"

      "Thank you!" Abdala and Cantiel shouted as the exited the house.

      The sound of Tranius's howling came again. For once, Abdala and Cantiel were glad to hear it. It grew louder and louder, until Tranius floated directly in front of the two best friends.

      "Catch me if you can! Ha ha ha!" Tranius cackled.

      "You can't escape from us," said Cantiel. "Not with this!" Cantiel slowly unbottled the Techo's potion. She and Abdala laughed out loud when they saw it.

      Out of the bottle emerged a splash of pink and purple colour. Tons of yellow smily faces came out and circled Tranius as they sang a song of happiness.

      "Noooo!" Tranius cried in horror. "Not the smily torture!" the Ghost Ixi ran off, crashed into a building, and disappeared.

      "Yay!" said Abdala and Cantiel together, slapping hands.

      "Let's go do some REAL trick-or-treating!" said Abdala.

     ***

      "So, Abdala, how did your Halloween go?" Abdala's mother asked on the morning of the first of Storing.

      "It went great," said Abdala. "We had no problems at all. And, best of all, we got lots of candy!" She smiled as she threw a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

The End