What's Happening to Everyone?

Amy was really excited. Her favorite holiday was here, Halloween. It was eight o' clock at night and her family was getting ready to leave. Dad rushed down the stairs. "Almost ready to go?" he asked Amy. "Sorry, Dad but I'm going out with friends this year. I could always stay in my room all night, but you don't want me to do that, do you?" She always knew how to make her parents sympathize with her, and Dad always fell for it. "Well,... alright. Before you leave I want a list of all your friend's phone...." Her hand was already out with a list on a piece of paper. "...numbers," he finished saying. "So you know the basic rules, right? Hang out only with people you know, check all your candy before eating it, and don't get into comprising situations." "Thanks, Dad." She gave him a quick hug and ran outside, closing the door.

Her friend Carrie was dressed in the same pirate outfit that Amy was. "So what took you so long?" Carrie asked as they walked down the street. "My Dad gave me the old safety speech, you know the one." "Right... so, are you ready to get scared?" Carrie asked her.

The girls stood in front of the haunted house, looked at the make-shift booth out in front, and the security guards flanking the front door. The windows were either barely lit, or flickering from a blue strobe light. "Scared, Carrie?" whispered Amy, right into her ear. She jumped. "Now I am!! Don't do that!!" Amy laughed at her as they walked up to the booth. A dirty looking farmer behind it said, "Welcome to the Haunted Mansion. Entrance fee is five dollars." The girls paid the fee and headed to the front door. They showed security their I.D. cards and they opened the door for them.

The front room was barely lit. Dust covered everything and the air was stale. "Ugh, it stinks in here," Carrie commented. There was a loud creaking sound that came from a corner of the room. A light bulb flickered on from the wall, right beside the girls head. Amy yawned, "Boring." She walked around the room and looked at the old photographs on the walls. "At least it looks real. Let's go to the next room," Carrie said. The hallway was really narrow and full of doors. It looked like smoke was coming out of some of the doors. Suddenly there was a loud thump against one of the doors. Whatever it was, it slid down the door and came to a stop at the bottom. The girls were not scared, but they still held each other close. In the middle of the hallway they heard the same sound all around them four times in a row. They waited. "Isn't this the part where someone jumps out to scare us?" Amy asked. The girls went into the next room where a table was set up with the usual Halloween food. Peeled grapes in red punch, wide noodles mixed with big chunks of ham, and plastic spiders mixed in with popcorn. A big place card on the table written in red ink, read 'Do not sample the food!!!!' Despite the warning, plastic cups, paper plates and forks were set up right on the table. Amy stepped toward the table.

When she got close to the table, more smoke appeared from underneath. Both girls did not notice a chair draped in a white cloth, right beside the table. A hand shot out, aiming to grab Amy's arm. Both girls screamed and jumped back, startled. The person underneath froze suddenly, and crashed to the floor. "Hey, man... I think you scared us enough," Carrie said. She tried to shake the person on the floor, but there was no response. "Let's get out of here, Amy. This place is too creepy." As the girls navigated through the house, they came across costumed bodies passed out or just sitting in chairs. "They seem to be breathing. Could it be a prank?" Amy asked. "With the way that they are passed out, I don't think so. Do you smell anything?" Carrie asked her. "No." When they got outside to the backyard, Amy said, "Let's play laser tag!!" "Yeah!" agreed Carrie.

They arrived to the laser tag building and payed at the front counter. As they put their gear on to play, smoke creeped along the ground as the safety instructor told them the rules. "Remember, don't run too fast, you can trip on your costume and..." he stopped talking and froze. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground. The rest of the people there gasped and stared at him. The girls immediately stepped way back. "This is too much of a coincidence. Let's get out of... " Amy stopped in mid-sentence as another person teetered and fell to the floor. Carrie was frozen. All of a sudden everyone else crashed to the floor, unconscious. "Come on," urged Amy. They went to the front counter. "Everyone is passed out in there, can we have our money back?" asked Carrie. The woman at the counter gave them a dubious look. "Let me see." She turned to leave. "Wait, before you go, can we get our money back, please?" implored Carrie. "Alright." She gave them their money back and went into the room where the safety instructor was. "Let's go," whispered Carrie. Heading to the door, they heard the lady thump against a wall and to the floor. The girls ran out the door, terrified.

They were outside of another friends house, Rachel. "Let's try to figure out what is going on here," said Amy. "People are passing out or falling asleep somehow. Why?" she asked Carrie. "I know it has something to do with the fog that the fog machines are putting out. And there's a weird smell, too..." Carrie got lost in her thoughts. "A smell? It's probably just you, I never smelled anything." Amy stood up from the porch steps. "C'mon. Let's just get Rachel and get something to eat before we figure out what we are going to do." Carrie stood up and yawned. "Tired?" Amy asked her. She knocked on the door. "No, but ever since that haunted house, I've felt...'' Carrie trailed off. Rachel opened the front door. "Hey, Rach!" Amy said. "Well, you felt what?" She turned towards Carrie just as her body went limp. Amy grabbed her falling body and Rachel gasped. "Set her on the couch," Rachel said. They looked at her prone body. "What happened?" asked Rachel. "This has been a crazy night, Rach. We went to a haunted house and went to play laser tag, and everyone just passed out. It's all connected to the fog from..." Rachel's body fell over the coffee table and Amy saw what caused it- a fog machine was set up in the living room!

Amy headed towards the door, but it was too late. Her limbs felt weak and her vision slowly went dark.... Her body fell to the floor.

She didn't really dream, her mind sort of had flashbacks of her Halloween night. Amy felt her body shaking, and she opened her eyes in a daze, shouting "What is happening to everyone?" A hand was shaking her awake, but she didn't realize it. Amy was still waking up, and she tossed and turned trying to make sense of it all. "Amy!" It was her dad. She sat up from the floor. Amy hugged him. "How did you end up here?'' she asked. "It's almost midnight. I called you and hour ago and you didn't answer, so I came to Rachel's house. No one answered when I knocked, and the door was left ajar. I figured there was trouble. What happened? It sounded like you were having a nightmare!" Amy sighed and leaned against the couch. "It all started at this haunted house...," she started to say.