"Stupid container," Zac muttered to himself frowning as he stepped into the shower stall in the bathroom, he groaned at the pain in his leg, he hoped the turpentine wouldn’t infect his leg, he had no idea if the turpentine had been previously used.

Zac let the hot water wash away the traces of the stuff away from his skin, but unfortunately the smell of it seemed to linger, no matter how much soap he used.

This really sucks, he thought glumly. Grounded for Halloween, seeing weird guys outside your house, and now falling into a pool of turpentine. Just brilliant.

Zac leaned against the tiled wall, feeling utterly dismayed. Nothing could get worse, he thought, he gave his body another once over with the soap, but it seemed to do no good to remove the smell. He tried Taylor’s heavily scented shower-gel, Zac hated the smell of Brut but it had to do for now, the scent of the gel seemed to overpower the smell of the turps, and Zac smiled in relief, after realising he'd probably spent twenty minutes trying to remove the smell alone. He was about to turn, just to pull the curtain and grab a towel, when he noticed a dark silhouette stationed behind the curtain, tall, well-built and very sinister, this wasn’t Kathy, Zac knew that. Zac stood paralysed in absolute terror, this wasn’t Kathy, it was too big to be her, so who was it?

Without another thought about it, Zac let out a scream, ducking down into the corner of the stall, holding his head in his hands, still screaming in fright, he heard a thud, the bathroom door either closing or opening, then Kathy’s voice interrupted his screaming.

"ZAC!!! What is it?! What are you screaming for?!" she demanded, pulling the curtain, not realising Zac was naked at first, then she pulled the curtain back, blushing. "Oh…sorry!" she yelped.

"Kath! There was a guy in here!" Zac whined, huddling into the corner, his eyes closed tightly.

"Where?" she asked, she grabbed a towel and slipped it into the stall through the curtain, she then stood outside the bathroom.

"Outside the shower!" Zac said, shivering uncontrollably, he pulled the oversized towel around himself, pulled the shower curtain away and looked out, his dark eyes darting nervously like a frightened rabbits.

"There’s no one here," Kathy pointed out from out in the hall.

"But there was!" Zac swore.

"I didn’t see anyone leaving the bathroom when I was coming to see what you were screaming about…"

"He must have gone through another way…but he was here!" Zac said, stepping into the hall with the towel around his waist, his long blonde hair dripping down his shoulders, his eyes wide and frightened.

"Are you sure you weren’t just seeing your own shadow?!"
"No!" Zac said. "I saw a silhouette of a really tall guy, maybe around six feet , really broad…he was standing like he was watching me, perfectly still…"

Kathy sighed, taking a towel from the bathroom and wrapping it around his shoulders. "Zac…I think you’ve been watching too many horror movies, kiddo…"
"You don’t believe me!" Zac whined.

Kathy sighed again, looking at him. "Zac…go get changed…we’ll discuss this when you come downstairs," she said.

"But I saw—!" Zac tried to explain.

"Go on…you’ll catch your death of cold," Kathy reminded.

Zac sighed disappointed that she would not believe him, and he went off to the bedroom he shared with his brothers, feeling lost and frightened. He grabbed a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt, and pulled them on without bothering to dry himself properly, he kept a towel around his shoulders to stop his hair from soaking the T-shirt, then he made his way downstairs, and back into the living room, where Kathy was sitting with the phone to her ear, seemingly waiting. The television was still on, the movie was still Halloween, but there was no sound – Kathy had put the television on mute.

"Who are you calling?" Zac demanded immediately, he moved over and sat down next to her.

Kathy hung up. "Trying to call Isaac," she sighed. "but no one was answering, and I just noticed that the music isn’t playing anymore from across the street…and the lights are all out…" she pointed out.

Zac got up and moved over to the window, timidly pulling the drapes and peering out. "Yeah…like no one is home…" Zac nodded sadly.

There was a soft compilation of chimes as the grandfather clock in the outside hallway began to strike.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

Zac froze. It was midnight. Midnight on all hallows eve. The hour of the dead was upon them. Zac looked at the clock on the mantle, just to be sure. It was definitely midnight. "Midnight…no wonder no one answered at Gary’s," Zac's bottom lip trembled. "Ike and Tay will have gone to the cemetery with the rest of them…"

"Terrific…I’d rather have one of your brothers here to calm you down right now…you seeing things and all," Kathy sighed, toying with her braid in a worried manner.

"You’re pretty damn sure that I’m seeing things! I know what I’m seeing and I know they’re real, why don’t you believe me?!"

"Because you’re only – what? – Eleven years old?" Kathy asked, her serious eyes narrowing.

"I’m twelve!" Zac hissed. "And I know I’m not seeing things, stop trying to make me believe I’m hallucinating!"

"Maybe you are hallucinating…very close to hyperventilating…" Kathy looked worried.

"Was that meant to be a joke?" Zac asked, seriously.

"What?" Kathy asked.

"The ‘Hallucinating-Hyperventilating’ thing," Zac answered.

"Why would that be a joke?" Kathy asked curiously.

"Because…because…because…" Zac suddenly remembered she didn’t know about the stardom he and his brothers possessed, and that was suddenly awkward. "It doesn’t matter now," Zac changed the subject to "I know that I saw someone…I’m sure of it…"

"Zac…what time did you go to sleep at last night?"

"One in the morning…" Zac answered.

"And what time were you up at?" Kathy asked.

"Seven thirty, why?" Zac asked.

"Because you only had six and a half hours sleep last night, don’t you even feel tired now?" she asked.

"No, I’m used to it," Zac shrugged. "We’re up at all hours in the morning," he admitted. "Why does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I was just kind of thinking that maybe it you only had so much sleep last night, and you’re tired now that you could be hallucinating out of tiredness, I get that a lot when I have insomnia, I start seeing things and stuff," she admitted.

"But I’m not tired," Zac assured, he sat back down beside her. "I’m not a kid that needs eight hours sleep, I'm used to only getting around five, its been a thing with me for about a year now. I sometimes take a half an hour nap in the afternoon, and that makes me fine, I had a short nap earlier today."

"So you’re not tired at all?" Kathy asked.

"No," Zac answered. "And I don’t think that has anything to do with this guy hanging about…" he looked around. "I’d like to know how he got in though, the doors are locked, aren’t they?"

"I locked the front door the minute Isaac left…"

"I should check the back door, and the pull down door in the garage," Zac realised.

"I’ll do it if you like," Kathy said, about to stand.

"No!" Zac said quickly, then realised how harsh his answer must have been. "No…that’s alright," he said, smiling lightly. "I’ll go check the doors, you sit here and watch the rest of the movie," he ordered. Then left off to check the kitchen – where the backdoor was.

I wish Ike had told her about us…it would have been better than her finding out from somewhere else. If she went to the garage, she might have seen the instruments…thank goodness the lights were out when she found me lying between the garage and the hall, she could have seen the keyboards and drums and just clicked on who we are.

Zac entered the kitchen, and peeked in, no one seemed to be around, the lights were on and there were no dark corners, no one could have been hiding in here. He quickly made his way over to the backdoor and grabbed the handle, the handle didn’t move when he applied hard pressure on it. It was locked securely. "Good," he told himself, then he made his way for the garage. He checked the garage rolling entrance, and that, too, was locked. He smiled in relief, but then realised if someone had gotten in, maybe they’d locked it behind them, to give him a false sense of security.

Someone could still be here…Zac realised.

Zac sighed and left the garage. "Maybe I am just seeing things," he said to himself. "Maybe I’m just paranoid because I’m in the house without Ike or Tay to look after me."

He reached the living room again just as the phone rang, Kathy reached out and pressed the speakerphone button. "Hello?" she asked.

"Hi, Zac??" came Taylor's soft voice from the other end.

"Here, Tay!" Zac rushed over. Kathy had the look on her face that said ‘so that’s the other brother…’

"Zac…we’re not gonna be home until one…"

"Why?" Zac asked suddenly.

"Partying in the cemetery…I'm at a payphone down the street from the place," Taylor answered.

"Where’s Ike?" Zac asked immediately.

"He and the guys went ahead…" Taylor answered.

"Tay…" Kathy leaned over. "I think you and your brother should come home straight away," she admitted.

"Who's that?" Taylor’s voice immediately became concerned.

"Kathy…from next door," Zac answered into the phone.

"Oh…yeah, now I remember, Ike said something about Kathy babysitting you until we get back…" Taylor admitted.

"She’s not babysitting," Zac huffed. "She’s just keeping me company."

"Whatever…" Taylor said. "Why should we come home, Kathy?" he asked.

"Zac’s seeing thin—" Kathy tried to answer, but Zac cut in.

"There's some guy hanging around our house, Tay, he was in the bathroom when I was taking a shower, and I think he put a container of turpentine at the garage door…"

"Uh, actually, the turps was there because I was using it to keep the door open…" Taylor admitted sheepishly.

"Oh…but Tay, there’s some guy, he could be in the house right now…"

"Prozac, calm down man," Taylor said in a soothing voice. "Its probably just your imagination…you know your imagination is quite overactive sometimes. Have a warm glass of milk, snuggle into bed, and sleep, its probably lack of sleep that’s doing that to you…"

"But, Tay—!" Zac whined.

"Listen, Zac…gotta go now, my money’s run out….see ya in an hour or so, okay?"

"But—" Kathy tried to speak.

Taylor had hung up.

"Shit!" Zac groaned.

"Hey, language!" Kathy belted him playfully.

"Sorry…" Zac swallowed hard, looking around. "Kathy…I think we should call 911 and say there’s someone here…"
"They’re not gonna take that kind of call on Halloween, they’ll think its someone playing a prank…" Kathy sighed. "Anyway, all the doors are locked, we have a phone in case something really bad happens…we’re together, nothing can go wrong…"

Zac looked at her. "Can't it?" he asked. "I reckon I should get some shoes on and me and you should go to your house…what do you think?"

"We’ll be fine here…" Kathy said. "And anyway, not that I think there is someone out there – but if there is, then we’re better staying indoors, don’t you agree?"

"Oh, yeah," Zac nodded. "But its…scary," he admitted.

Kathy turned to him, taking the towel from around his shoulders and placing it on his wet hair, she began drying his hair gently. "Don’t be scared. Isaac was perfectly right when he told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I won’t."

"You swear?" Zac looked at her, his dark brown eyes wide and frightened.

"I swear, cross my heart, poke my ribs, see my lips? They tell no fibs," she laughed and pulled the towel over his face playfully.

Zac lifted the towel off of his face and smiled. "Thanks, Kath."