“She’s just acting,” I assured the woman, apologizing for leaving Nancy in her front yard unattended, but as we walked off, I couldn’t help going over those words in my mind. Nancy had been behaving quite strangely, ever since she’d put that costume on… Sure, I’d joked about it, but, to be perfectly honest, it almost seemed as if she really had become the baby she was dressed up as.

I shook my head, giving a single, discordant laugh. “That’s just stupid,” I said out loud, all the better for convincing myself. I was just getting a little too much into the Halloween spirit. Like Nancy. “You haven’t really become a baby, now have you?”

She stared up at me, one hand removing itself from my arm and slowly finding its way back up to her mouth. “I big giwl!” was her answer.

“Seriously, Nancy, stop it for a second, okay? I know I’m being stupid, but just… Just tell me everything’s fine.”

She didn’t even dignify it with a response, which was probably for the best. I knew that it was a stupid question as I was asking it, I just couldn’t stop myself, somehow. Still, it would have been nice for her to at least acknowledge my question, instead of just walking on. It would have been more comforting, anyway, and would have helped dispelled the last traces of doubt from my mind.

She stuck by me after that, though, perhaps having finally gotten the hint that her antics were a little much. Having her permanently attached to my arm wasn’t as much of an improvement as I might have hoped for, but I could live with it. It did make it a little more difficult to navigate the crowd of other trick-or-treaters, and I found myself apologizing on her behalf to a few little kids.

However, it was me who ran into the first grown-up, too busy looking at a pretty hot, but unfortunately married, guy with the same costume as me, who’d just given us each a full sized Snickers bar. His porch was pretty nicely decorated as well, with skeletons sitting in rocking chairs, and spiderwebs draped about, partially obscuring the number 1428 beside the door. I felt Nancy shiver slightly, but I assumed she was just getting chilly after all, despite her earlier protests. I didn’t even bother turning my head, before I felt myself bump into something not too much bigger than me, though pretty obviously not a child.

“Oh, sorry!” I said automatically, looking up sheepishly. He wasn’t a particularly tall man, and pretty thin, yet there was an air of danger about him, somehow. I found myself shivering a little, too. “I wasn’t…”

“It’s fine, little lady,” he smiled, giving a little mock bow before slipping around us and continuing down the street.

Nancy began to tug on my arm, and finally I blinked, throwing a quick glance behind us before cutting across the road, back towards the car. ‘Don’t be a dumb-ass’, I tried to tell myself, to no avail – my mind was stuck on the memory of the man bending over, showing off quite clearly the scar running through his right eyebrow. Nancy didn’t protest our sudden departure, either.

“Was that him?” I asked a minute or two later, slowing down. She didn’t make any move to answer, or give any indication that she even understood the question. My heart began to beat faster, as I glanced behind us nervously. “Nancy, we’re done trick-or-treating, okay? You can give up the act, all right?”

“Ooo, swings!” she exclaimed, suddenly pulling free for the first time since we’d reunited, toddling away from me towards a chain link fence around a large, dark yard. I followed after her, afraid that she’d wake up whoever lived in the house, only to notice the sign declaring it “Forest Green Daycare”.

“Sorry, but I don’t think you’re gonna be able to get in there,” I told her, following her to the gate. Sure enough, it was locked. “I think there was a playground at the school, though… Maybe we can play there for a bit if you’re a good girl. Can you be a good girl and wait until then?”