There were plenty of horror movies playing on television that night, but Cat went to one of her streaming services and put on her favorite—the same one she watched every year. The originalHalloween.The flick had come out six years before Catherine was born, but it was her dad’s favorite, too. When she was twelve, her momfinallyrelented and allowed Catherine to sit on the couch and watch the movie with her dad, and it scared the living daylights out of her. But her dad had been there to warn her when the scariest parts were coming, and he assured her that night before she went to bed, that he would never let anything happen to her.

Now, even though the movie still freaked her out, she liked watching it.

As the opening credits rolled, she texted her father, who was notoriously bad at using his phone but who tried anyway.

CATHERINE: Hey, did you watch our fav tonight?

A few seconds went by, and then his reply came through. It was clear to her that he had used the voice-to-text function, which never quite picked up everything he said correctly, given his thick Indian accent.

DAD: I try a million times but could not fund it anywhere. Do you have it?

CATHERINE: Yeah, here’s my login. If it’s not too late, we can watch it together. I just started it.

Five minutes later, her dad responded, saying he was starting the movie as well but said he was likely to fall asleep on the couch before it was over. In the meantime, however, he sent her commentary via text, and though it was exactly the same as being together in person, Catherine was happy to be able to share the experience with her dad again after so many years of not being home for Halloween.

2

The next morning, much to Catherine’s surprise, McKenzie was already waiting outside her apartment building when Cat arrived to pick her up. Usually, Catherine had to text her friend a few times before McKenzie came down, running as she struggled to get her shoes on or still had half a bagel in her mouth. And that was on days that her friendwasn’tmassively hungover. The fact that she looked more or less ready to take on the day, not even a full twelve hours since they’d seen each other the night before, was an odd turn of events for sure.

“What’s going on?” Cat asked as her friend slid into the passenger seat and took the coffee cup from that side of the center console. McKenzie drank from it with a desperation that Cat better recognized and smacked her lips together afterward.

“What do you mean?”

“I am shocked to see you looking—well, not as dead as I thought you would.”

“I only ended up going to a single party last night,” she said. “And it left me with a sour mood, so I went home afterward.”

“What put you in a bad mood?”

McKenzie didn’t answer right away. She took another long sip from her coffee and looked out the window for a few seconds. Catherine was driving slowly through the residential neighborhood, knowing full well that kids hyped up on sugar and still riding the excitement of the night before weren’t likely to be looking both ways on their way to school.

“There was someone at the party that, let’s just say, I really wasn’t happy to see. And to make matters even worse, this person made an effort to come over and talk to me. I hate it when people do that.”

“You hate it when people come and talk to you at a party?”

“I hate it when people I don’t like try to talk to me at a party,” McKenzie corrected her. “I really didn’t think that was going to happen last night, but I suppose that was the Universe playing a little Halloween trick on me.”

“Who was it?” Cat ran through the list of McKenzie’s ex-boyfriends and writers she had a feud with. There were at least three or four she could come with up who could’ve made McKenzie mad enough to leave a party. “Ooh, don’t say Isaac.”

“No, not Isaac. I’m used to seeing Isaac around since we still run in a lot of the same circles.” She laughed. “Honestly, a part of me was sort of looking forward to maybe seeing him last night.”

“What? Why? He cheated on you!”

“I know,” she said. “But helovesBowie, and I have a feeling my costume would have driven him

a little wild. And I had a couple of one-liners I have been working on—things to say to make sure he really understands just what he’s missing out on.”

“Ah, yes. That’s the mature approach.”

McKenzie glanced at her. “Look, you’re not allowed to judge how I handle my breakups. Plus, like you said, he cheated on me! I can be as immature as I want!”

“I know, I know. I was just kidding. So, if it wasn’t Isaac, who’d you see?”

Again, she hesitated. This wasn’t like McKenzie at all. She typically loved sharing gossip, and they’d already made plans to talk about her night at the parties over morning coffee, so why was she holding back now?

“Kenz,” Cat said. “What’s up? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I just don’t exactly know how you’re going to react to what I have to tell you. I’m trying to get the words right.”