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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

And there’s the zombie house, with the frosted screens in the upstairs windows and those shadowy hands pressing, over and over, trying to get out. The graveyard with the moaning werewolf. And the house at the top of the slope, Casper’s mansion, graveyard in front, a glittery, dancing projector-image ghost darting from window to window like magic.

They invite us to come inside their homes this night, but they don’t really think anyone’s paying attention to them. And yet, if we peek, we see so many things. There’s a mom in an upstairs window, adjusting her cape. Adding darker eyeliner than she would for any other day. Is she crying? Hiding the puffy circles under her lashes? In another window, a dad steals a miniature candy bar from the bowl, swipes it while his wife’s in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the casserole she prepped for the pre-party potluck, the smaller get-together before the get-together, the one exclusively for the Ivy Woods gang. A few stray kiddos are already outside in their costumes, running across lawns, chasing each other with plastic swords and light sabers.

Someone wheels out a cooler. Card tables get unfolded. Cheap plastic orange tablecloths fight the breeze. The grandparents show up with cameras that don’t take good pictures in the dark. There’s a howl deep in the woods, but no one hears it because of the one house that always blasts “Monster Mash” on repeat.

The party starts out the same, but it isn’t going to end the same. Not this year.

In the corner of one of the houses, on a porch, two masked shadowy figures huddle. One’s shaking, with fear, or rage? We can’t really tell.

“I won’t let them do this to me anymore.”

“Yes. They need to pay.”

They slip off the porch and join the others.

They’d hate to ruin the festivities.

Six Weeks Before Halloween

SIX WEEKS BEFORE HALLOWEEN

FOUR

Theresa

Lily and her new friend, Ellen, were in the living room watching a movie, each sprawled across an end of the sectional with a bowl of cheddar popcorn propped on her belly. Lily’s long hair was splayed out on the pillow, and she was twirling it around her finger.

“You guys look comfy,” I said as I came down the stairs.

Ellen sat up and snatched the remote to pause the movie. Candyman—one of Lily’s favorites.

“You didn’t have to stop it,” I said. “I’m heading out.”