All Hallows Eve, the night when the line between the spirit world and the real world is thinnest. Ghosts, ghouls, spirits, and all sorts of monsters are free to roam the human world. There was a small child, a boy named Matt, who had just turned seven. His parents had never let him go trick-or-treating in his previous years, saying he was too young to do such things, but this year would be different. This year he was old enough to go out, not even with his parents, but with a group of his friends from school. And so he set out on October 31^st, dressed as a lion, with his friends. All was going fine; they were hitting up all the houses on that side of their small town, when Matt got separated. They had run through some tall bushes and he had taken a wrong turn, come out somewhere else, on a street he didn’t know. At first he was unconcerned, thinking he’d find his friends soon, but as he wandered farther and farther down the street, he began to grow worried. There were no lights on, no other people in sight, nothing made a sound. Little Matt didn’t notice a large white van slowing creeping down the street behind him, its headlights off. By now the poor child was very afraid, panicking as he sat down underneath a large oak tree. In his fearful state he again failed to notice the white van, whose door was now silently opening as a man dressed in black stepped out.

The man walked over to Matt, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him up to stand. Matt screamed. “Hush now, boy!” The dark man growled, “You’ve been wandering down my street long enough, you obviously don’t know where you are. Now come on, son, get in the van, I’m taking you to your home. You’ve had enough trick-or-treating for one night.” And with that, he buckled Matt into his van and dropped him off at his house, where Matt’s parents thanked the man with relief for bringing their only son home safe.

Meanwhile, no one noticed the second white van, the one that had been following Matt the whole time. Matt didn’t notice the whole night he was trick-or-treating, the man didn’t notice when he was coming to Matt’s rescue, and Matt’s parents didn’t notice when they were hugging their son, thankful he was home safe; but it was there. From inside the white van, it’s headlights off, a man and women sat in the front. “We were so close,” the man growled, cursing the dark man who had unknowingly helped Matt escape their clutches. “I know,” the women murmured consolingly. “Don’t worry; we’ll get him next year.” The kidnappers drove away, the rope, duct tape, and extra body bags bouncing in the back of the van.