One

One Halloween not so long ago a little girl named Jane was getting ready to go trick or treating. She was nine years old and was dressing up as a witch and had a witch's hat and a broomstick. Her mother helped her to put on green face paint. They were going to visit houses in an area where lots of people had treats to give out. Jane's friend Kate and her mother were going to meet Jane and her mum to go around the houses together.

At 4:30 Kate's mother phoned Jane's mother to say that Kate wouldn't be able to go because she had got sick. Jane was disappointed and didn't want to be going from house to house without her friend. Her mother said “Let's go anyway and we might meet someone there that you can go around with – maybe some other kids from your school.” Jane reluctantly agreed, but still worried that she wouldn't find a companion.

Jane's mother drove them over to the trick-or-treat neighbourhood and parked the car. They both got out and had a look around at the groups of children all in costumes to see if they recognised anyone, but they didn't spot any of Jane's friends. Just as they were about to give up an older lady walked over to Jane's mother and said “Excuse me, but my grandson has no friends to go around the houses with. Would it be ok for us to go with your group?” Jane's mother laughed and said “That would be perfect because at the moment our group is just one witch. How old is your grandson?” “He's nine and his name is Steven. Steven, come here and say hello” Steven was staring at Jane from behind his granny and looked a little shy. “Hi, Steven this is Jane and she's also nine. What are you dressed up as?” “A ghost” Steven said, looking down at his shoes.

Jane wasn't sure that his costume was that great: he was very pale looking and his clothes were old fashioned, but there was no gorey makeup anywhere. “Hi, Steven don't you have a bucket for candy?” “I knew there was something we'd forgotten” said Steven's granny “Where are we going to put all your sweeties, sweetie?” Jane's mother unlocked the car and fished out a plastic bag from the boot “Here you go – you can use this”

They set off and went from house to house, following the crowds from one decorated door to another. Steven and Jane were initially shy, but after a while they got talking and Jane learned that Steven used to live in Amsterdam, but now he lived with his granny far away and that they were back for a visit. They talked about school and other things and Jane found out that there were no computer classes in Steven's school which she thought was weird. He also wasn't familiar with any of the video games Jane mentioned and didn't seem to know much about youTube. Jane asked him where he learned his English and he told her that his mother was from England.

After about an hour Jane's mum and Steven's granny said that it was time to go home. Steven and Jane pleaded for more time, so finally they agreed to go to one more house. Jane and her mother walked ahead of the other two towards a big plastic jack o'lantern illuminating a front door. As they approached the bowl of candies a woman came to the door on the inside and said “Oh I think I see another wicked witch” Jane smiled but didn't say anything. “And a ghost” said Jane's mum, turning to look at Steven, but he wasn't there and there was no sign of his granny either. She was holding his bag of treats – he had absent mindedly handed it to her before Jane and she got ahead of the visitors. She looked up and down the road but saw nobody at all – most of the houses involved in trick or treating were a block away and out of sight. The street was eerily quiet.

“Who are you looking for?” asked the woman from the house. Jane's mother explained the situation to her and said “I can't imagine where they've gone: one minute they were walking behind us and the next they vanished. Weird!” The woman from the house stepped outside and looked up and down the road also and said “Maybe they had an emergency of some description” “Well I can't imagine what would be a quiet enough emergency that we didn't even notice it and what am I going to do with all this extra candy?”

Jane noticed that her mother was staring at the wall inside the door with a look of shock on her face. I'm sorry to intrude, but I must ask you who that is in the photograph.” “The woman looked sad for a moment and then said “That's my son, Steven. He and my mother were killed in a car crash ten years ago”. Jane's mother took a deep breath and said “He was with us tonight, and your mother too”. The lady extended her hand and said “My name is Evelyn” Jane's mother took the proffered hand “Charlotte, nice to meet you and this is my daughter Jane”.

After that Evelyn brought Jane and her mother into the house and sat them in the front room where she showed them lots of old pictures of Steven and his granny. She seemed a little sad at times, but said that she was happy to chat about Steven with someone – that it kept his memory alive. When an hour had passed and tea had been drunk Jane's mother said “Thanks for the hospitality, but we'd better be getting home now. It was lovely to meet you and your other family members”.

As they drove home they were excitedly talking about Steven and his granny and about ghosts generally. “It makes you wonder how many of the ghost stories you dismissed in the past were actually true” Said Jane's mother. Jane was surprised that there was nothing scary about the first two ghosts she had met and couldn't wait to tell her friends at school about it the next day, but he mother said no. “If you tell people in school they won't believe you – maybe you should keep it between us for now” Jane relucantly agreed, thinking that she mightn't believe it herself if she hadn't personally experienced it.

That night Jane was very tired. She was up later than usual every halloween, but the time spent in Evelyn's house meant it was extra late this time. She and her mother told her father all about the evening's events and he was incredulous, but he believed them. “After all” he said “Why would you make it up?”

Life continued as normal for the next few weeks except for one thing: Jane kept seeing Steven. Once he was at the end of a corridor in school. When Jane saw him she waved and walked toward him, but when she got close she couldn't see him anymore. Another time he was standing at a tram stop as she went by on the tram. She wondered why he wouldn't just come and say hello. She told her parents about the sightings and they told her that she would have to be patient; that maybe there was a reason he couldn't come closer. She kept spotting him in the distance at the edge of a crowd or somehow separated from her. She couldn't manage to catch his eye. It seemed always as if he wasn't aware of her. Jane wondered if he had forgotten about her.