Trick or Treating Gone Wrong Written bY: Cayden Cimala Illustrated by: Cayden Cimala & Zach Ousley

Hey, have you ever been trick or treating before Hey, have you ever been trick or treating before? Well, I have, but let’s just say my best friend’s family and my family probably don’t like it as much as you, because our families are cursed! Zach Ousley’s Papaw and my Papaw started tearing down a wizard’s house and ever since then, our families have been cursed! I don’t like to talk about it, but it’s true. If you like scary stories, then you’ll love this one!

Here’s the story of how our families got cursed in the first place Here’s the story of how our families got cursed in the first place! It all begins on Halloween night in 1872. Dennis Ousley and Derek Cimala were best friends. They were both 12 and it was their last year to go trick or treating. So, their parents let them walk on their own together. It was 8:00 pm when they started trick or treating and they finished every house by 10:00 pm. They were walking back to their house and Dennis saw a path on the side of the road. “Hey Derek, there’s a path in the woods, leading to more houses!” Dennis said with excitement. “Alright, but this is the last house,” replied Derek. They walked up to the house at the end of the path. They both looked at each other; this guy must be a billionaire, they thought. He must swim in money! His house was ginormous! There were Halloween lights all over the front door. Then all of a sudden they saw a man in the house, just sitting, doing absolutely nothing! Dennis stated, “He’s home! I bet he’s going to give us the biggest candy bars we’ve ever seen!” They both reached to ring the door bell. He looked at them and then opened the door slowly.

Derek and Dennis looked at each other, then both yelled, “Trick or Treat!” “I have no candy!” the man responded in a very monotone voice. Derek looked past the man into the doorway, there on the table were candy bars larger than books! “You liar! You do have candy, I see it!” yelled Derek. The man slammed the door in their faces! They were both furious. They started talking about what they were going to do to the old man. Derek and Dennis came up with a plan,… egging! Yes! They’d egg his house! They came back 15 minutes later.

They came back from Dennis’s house with 5 dozen eggs They came back from Dennis’s house with 5 dozen eggs. When they started egging the man’s house he thought it was hailing on Halloween night! The old man went outside to see what was going on. When the man came out of the house Dennis wanted to make a smiley face out of the eggs on the door, but the old man swung open the door right as Dennis started throwing the eggs! SPLAT! Five eggs landed right on the old man’s face. The grumpy old man was furious! He yelled, “That’s it! You’ve crossed the line!”

The old man quickly zipped off what was apparently a costume, because all of a sudden a wizard appeared; he was a wizard! The old wizard man looked to be a hundred million years old! He had a huge beard and he had a glittery emerald green robe. The wizard was so mad he put a curse on both the Ousley and Cimala families. He stared into the boys eyes and said, “Every 75 years the Cimalas and the Ousleys will knock on my door on Halloween night and fall into my haunted house and be stuck there for all eternity if they can not escape in 5 hours!” Dennis and Derek were petrified! They started crying and ran all the way home. After that scary Halloween night they both started counting year after year, after year until they died in 1946.

Then one year later it was Cayden and Zach’s last year of trick or treating. They were great-grandsons of Dennis and Derek. Cayden and Zach weren’t scared of Halloween because they didn’t know about the curse. Their great grandfathers never spoke about it. In fact, Halloween was their favorite holiday of the year! Cayden and Zach went alone together. They started at 6:00 pm and ended at 9:55 pm. All the front porch lights were off except for one old house. It was the wizard’s house. It was 10:00 pm and they were super drowsy, but they wanted to go to one more house, so they did. Cayden and Zach walked up to the front doorstep and knocked on the door. Creeeeak!

After that, they looked at each other, but both walked into the house After that, they looked at each other, but both walked into the house. All of a sudden they were falling in mid air! There were holes in the first five floors of the house and they had fell right through it! They landed on the last floor with a hard thump. When Zach and Cayden could feel their tail bone again they stood up, and then they started hearing voices all around them. “Hello, is anyone there?” Zach asked. The wizard said, “Hello, Cayden and Zach, nice to meet you.” Cayden asked, “Who are you? And how do you know me?” “Ahh, you don’t know? I’m the wizard that cursed your families!” replied the old wizard. He then stepped out of the shadow and said, “If you don’t get out of my haunted house in 5 hours you will both be locked in here for the rest of eternity! Muha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! As the old wizard flew away, he whispered, “Happy Halloween!”

The wizard went to the first floor he found the key and locked the house up and gave the key to one of his best and most loyal monsters; a horrifying beast. Cayden and Zach walked up to the screechy slimy steps and they saw weapons laying at the top of the stairs. “I wonder what these weapons are for?” asked Zach. All of a sudden horrifying ghosts came out of the walls and zombies came out of the floor. “Ahhhhh!”, they both screamed to the top of their lungs! “Get a weapon! Get a weapon! Quick!”, Cayden yelled. Zach and Cayden grabbed their weapons and after one long hour they had finally assassinated the zombies and ghosts. They only had four hours left to find a way out or they’d be trapped their for eternity. They went to the second floor; they needed to get the first floor to unlock the door and escape. They still had their weapons in hand, when out of the shadow came a strange creature that was half gargoyle and half zombie! “Ahhhhh!” they scremed in horror again!

The bloodcurdling beast was colossal, he had sharp gnarly teeth, and he had two heads! Cayden and Zach quickly made a plan, and it was one good plan too. Cayden would be the distraction and lead the beast into a dark corner of the room so he couldn’t see, then Zach could jump up behind the beast and chop his head off. They put their plan to work and boy did it work! When Zach cut off the monster’s head, green and red blood came splattering out. The beast’s body landed right on the floor and they key to the house came out of his pocket and landed right on the floor. Zach and Cayden saw the key and yelled, “The KEY!” They both lunged for it! The key was covered in red and green blood. Cayden wiped it off with his costume and they went to the first floor, unlocked the door, and escaped the haunted house!

Cayden and Zach started hugging each other and shouting, “Yay Cayden and Zach started hugging each other and shouting, “Yay! We escaped!” After that they both wanted to get as far away as they could from the creepy house, so they did. They got their candy bags and went back home. In conclusion, the Cimalas and the Ousleys think Halloween is one of the scariest and creepiest holidays. However, they also think it’s the best holiday! Let’s just say a old wizard curse isn’t going to stop them from having fun!