Trick or Treat 

The Spaulding Mansion was decorated for the festivities. Alan wasn't one to cut corners, the front lawn had been transformed into a graveyard, complete with tombstones, skeletons and open coffins. The house was illuminated with candles . Spooky organ music was playing so loud it could be heard from the road. Danny and Michelle drove up to the house in awe.

 Alan Spaulding certainly likes this holiday" Danny remarked sarcastically as they waited in line for the valet to take their car.

 "Come on. This is going to be fun. Behave and maybe I'll let you suck my blood later...", Michelle laughed.

 Danny grinned and grabbed at her knee. "I've been wanting to do that since you came out of the room dressed like this...", he leaned in to nibble at her ear.

 "You like the wig? Huh?"

 "Uh-huh..." he growled into her ear.

 "Danny. Drive."

 "Later...", he whispered and put the car in gear.

The valet opened the door for Michelle and she stepped out of the car carefully. Wrapping the long black velvet cape around her body to shield her from the wind, she stared at the Jack O'lanterns lining the entrance way. Danny met up with her and whistled. 

"And they say my family is weird..." 

"Danny!", Michelle couldn't help but laugh. It was a bit extreme.

The party was a benefit event for one of the Spaulding charities. Money was being raised for Unicef. The invitation had been hand delivered by Lizzie Spaulding three weeks before. She had her little cardboard box and was collecting money for Unicef. Michelle had gladly reached for her purse to make her contribution.


"Michelle. Grandpa Alan is having a party on Halloween night. Here's the invitation. "

The invitation was on parchment paper and scribbled in red ink that had "bled" all over the page was the announcement.

 Spaulding Enterprises invites you to a night of haunting surprises Saturday October 31 at 9 o'clock PM...

 In the bottom left corner it read...

 Attire: Please wear a costume in the spirit of the holiday

Michelle had loved the idea of a Halloween party. That same afternoon she had begun planning for their costumes. Danny wasn't too thrilled with the idea of going to the party, especially because the house would have been theirs for the night. Before getting dressed he had tried convincing her to stay home.

"Picture us. ALONE. In this house. No one asking us if we want cookies or brownies. No one, but me to fight over the remote with. And maybe tonight we can take a shower together without having your Aunt Meta come in with fresh towels. Does anyone in this house knock?" 

"Danny you know that Aunt Meta wasn't expecting us to be home at two o'clock in the afternoon, much less, did she expect to find us sharing a shower. She was very sorry... I really, really want to go to this party. Please? It'll be fun."

Once he saw Michelle in her costume, he decided being Dracula was not such a bad idea. Taking from a scene from the movie, "Bram Stoker's Dracula", Michelle was dressed as one of Dracula's wives. She wore a black wig that fell in ringlets down her back and a crown on her head decorated in gold beads with several colored stones placed in an intricate design around the base. Her eyes were darkened with charcoal grey eye shadow and her lips were covered in blood red lipstick. The costume had not been easy to come by. Ultimately, she had decided to ask Aunt Meta for help. She had on a sheer black gown woven with gold threads that shimmered in the moonlight with a plunging neckline and underneath wore a flesh toned body suit. The effect made her appear to be naked under the dress. The gown was belted at the waist with a rope of fake black pearls. The slit in the side panel of the dress ran from her ankle to her thigh. Her black sandals were accented by her red painted toe nails.

They entered the main hallway and were greeted by a man dressed as "Lurch" from the "Addams Family". The staircase was covered in cobwebs. Old fashioned iron chandeliers lit the room. There was what appeared to be a nest of bats hanging from the ceiling. A projector beamed images from classic horror movies onto one wall of the room.

Both Danny and Michelle were surprised to see Prince Richard. He was dressed in his royal garments. They saw Harley, dressed as a flapper, talking to Cassie Layne.

"Looks like Cassie decided to come disguised as a princess. I think she's into Richard...", Danny whispered in Michelle's ear, laughing.

Michelle slapped him on the arm playfully. "Stop! Let's go say hi to Bill and his date. I wonder who she is...". They made their way toward the pair stopping to say hello to those they knew...

"Rick, what or who are you dressed as?", Michelle asked clueless.

"I'm the guy from "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest".", Rick said joyfully, playing with the straight jacket.

"How fitting.", Michelle said dryly. They continued moving. Michelle stopped suddenly.

"Oh my God. Danny, Reva's dressed like a princess too!"

"I told you the plan to rescue her was crazy. She didn't want to come home the first time I was there, but NO!, you all insisted...", he muttered.

Michelle ignored the comments. She had lost sight of Bill and scanned the room looking for him. He had been seeing someone ever since Pilar had dumped him, but no one knew who she was. Michelle was curious about the mystery woman. She hoped Bill had found someone else to make things better, considering he had tried to make her be his source of comfort a few weeks before.

Walking into the crowd of people they found themselves on the dance floor. Suddenly the music changed from a slow waltz to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca".

"Now that is strange.", Michelle admitted, as they watched Alan Spaulding, dressed as a Shogun, begin to gyrate on the dance floor with India, who was a Japanese Geisha. Next to them Beth Raines danced with Jim Lemay, who's costume seemed out of place. He was wearing a suit, which made him look funnier as he tried imitating Ricky Martin's dance moves from his performance on The MTV Video Awards.

"Jumpin JJ must have decided to forget the costume this time around.", Danny said, remembering Jim's magician's garb from their trip to San Cristobal.

"Jumpin who?", Michelle asked looking at Danny strangely.

"Long story. Don't ask him about it though...we'll never get home.", Danny replied.

"What?"

"Forget it. What's Beth dressed as?", Danny asked.

"I think they both forgot to wear a costume."

Jim danced Beth over to them to say hello.

"Hey nice costumes.", Jim said eyeing Michelle.

"Hi guys.", Michelle responded while Danny gave Jim a dirty look.

"Guess who we are?", Jim asked excitedly.

Danny and Michelle looked at each other and said in unison, "Who?"

"Well, I'm James Bond and this babe here...", he rolled Beth out and displayed her, "...is a Bond girl.", Jim said proudly. "Yeah, I really loved re-living my days as a Navy Seal down in San Cristobal, so I figured why not dress like the best secret agent of them all. And Beth, well, as you can see, she fits her roll perfectly."

Danny and Michelle stared at Beth's black dress that fit her like a second skin. The dress was back-less and the neckline plunged low.

"Ohhh!" Danny and Michelle said together.

As Jim and Beth danced away Danny said shaking his head, "Can you imagine he was a Navy Seal."

"Danny are you going to spend the night criticizing everyone? You're worse than Aunt Meta and her friend Ethel...Jeez!"

Michelle was still looking for Bill. I wonder where Bill went? Michelle thought as she saw Vanessa and Matt Reardon dressed in their wedding attire. She couldn't help but laugh. That had been some wedding.

"Okay, this is getting weirder. Matt's wearing a skirt?", Danny said.

"Remind me to show you the pictures from their wedding, sometime."

"Wedding?", Danny asked.

"Long story!"

Just then Michelle thought she saw Bill leave through one of the balcony doors that led to the back yard. "Come on, there's Bill.", she dragged Danny towards the doors.

Once on the balcony they found themselves alone. They could see Lizzie's dollhouse on the lawn. Danny pulled Michelle close to him and began kissing her neck.

"Danny...later!", Michelle moved away from him. "I think I see someone over by the dollhouse.

Danny reluctantly followed Michelle to the dollhouse. "Michelle? Don't you think he might want to be alone with his date?"

"I want to know who she is."

"This is going to be one heck of a "Hello! How do you do?", then.", Danny warned.

When they reached the dollhouse, they couldn't hear or see anyone. Michelle opened the door and in a sing song voice said, "Hellllooo!"

There was no answer. They bent their heads to enter and then found themselves able to stand up once inside. They looked around the little house.

"Nice house.", Danny said eyeing the bed in one of the rooms.

He reached around Michelle and hugged her to him. He rubbed against her back and she let herself lean in to him. He turned her to face him and began kissing her. His hand found her breast. She reached down, in an almost involuntary action, to touch him. His desire was more than evident. He moved them towards the small bed. "Danny..."

"Hmmm?", his breathing was heavy.

"Not here What if...", she gave in as his hands reached between the folds of her gown to touch her. She melted into him as he lay her down and knelt in front of her. "Hurry...", she gasped.

"I'm hurrying.", he breathed back as he began to unzip his pants, trying to move his cape out of the way.

His phone rang.

Michelle sat straight up annoyed, and said, "I thought I told you to leave that thing at home." She rearranged her dress and stood up. Danny answered his phone.

"Yeah. I'm here. Yeah, at the party. I can't see you either.", he couldn't help but smile thinking that he couldn't explain to Phillip Spaulding that he was in his daughter's dollhouse. "I'll find you." he hit the "End" button.

"It's Phillip. He wants me to meet some people...", Michelle's face had not changed. "...people from the music industry...from New York...I have to."

"Go.", she said resigned to the fact that they would always be interrupted. "I'll be right there."

He kissed her and said, "Later?"

"Maybe...", she teased.

Then he left.

Michelle looked in one of the mirrors on the wall and decided she needed to re-apply her lipstick. She found the tube in her purse and leaned in to the mirror. There was a noise coming from the other room.

"Danny?" She moved to the doorway, "I'm right be---", The room went black as she fell to the floor.

Theresa Sandoval stood over Michelle's still body and smiled to herself. Checking Michelle's pulse she pulled her body across the room to closet, she pushed and pulled, trying to cram her body into the small space.

"Now, I'll wait for Danny to come looking for his wife!", Theresa felt pretty good about herself. She had used all of her strength to keep from revealing her hiding space while Danny had fondled the brat. Just thinking about it made her angry. When he returned, he'd know what he had been missing, she thought as she took off her clothes and slipped between the soft cotton sheets of the little bed. It would be over before Danny noticed he was making love to her and not Michelle.

Bill Lewis stood outside the dollhouse and watched Danny leave. Michelle was still inside. He fought with his conscience, debating whether or not to go inside and try to convince Michelle that they belonged together. His date had disappeared onto the dance floor with David Grant. Bill knew she was a goner once she saw him dancing in that chippendale dancer costume, headdress and all. He spent a good twenty minutes mulling over the situation and decided to go for it.

He went into the house, ready to claim what was supposed to be his. The lights were out and the house was dark. He came upon the bedroom and saw her sleeping form in the bed. He thought it odd that Michelle had opted to take a nap in the middle of the party. She wasn't moving and hadn't heard him come in. He removed his fake eyeglasses and the pocket protector from his jacket.

"Thank God you came dressed as Bill Gates and not that Pokemon character.", he thought to himself.

Michelle was still oblivious to his presence. He took off the rest of his clothes and moved towards the bed. Michelle would accept him. She had to.

Theresa heard him moving about and pretended to be sleeping. She had her back to him and anxiously waited for him to join her.

She felt the cool air on her bare back as he pulled the sheet back and climbed into the bed. He began kissing her shoulder. Theresa snuggled closer to him.

Her hand came up to touch his face, while she moaned in pleasure.

Michelle came to in the closet and moaned in pain. 

Her head was killing her. She tried to move and realized she was in a tiny room. Her legs were folded underneath her. What had happened? What was going on? She thought she heard someone else groan outside the door. Oh God, maybe they had hurt Danny too. She tried to find the door knob.

Danny had been looking for Michelle for about ten minutes. He had met the people Phillip wanted to introduce, unfortunately, they were the genuises behind the latest teeny-bopper invasion. Danny had no interest in promoting another male group, a la "Backstreet Boys". Even worse he had to stifle a laugh when one of the wives of the business men had come over dressed as "Brittany Spears". He hoped he could find Michelle and convince her to go home. He couldn't find her any where in the house and decided to go back to the dollhouse. It hadn't been that long, maybe she was still there.

He reached the little house and called out her name. "Michelle?" There was no response. He went inside. He heard sounds coming from the bedroom.

Bill put his hands on "Michelle's" breasts and squeezed. Theresa thought it was a bit rough, not like the Danny she remembered at all. "Maybe he's lost his touch", she thought. She turned her face to his and began kissing him. His tongue pushed into her mouth almost gagging her. This was not what she had been dreaming about. She felt him touch her nipple and then he pinched her. "OWWWW!", she yelped.

Danny heard the cry and burst into the room. Someone was hurting his wife. "MICHELLE!", he yelled.

Theresa realized that the voice yelling for Michelle was Danny's, but it had not come from the person on the bed with her. "Oh God!"

Bill froze. He had been caught, naked, in bed with Danny Santos wife. "I'm a dead man." He felt himself shrink against "Michelle".

Danny peered in the darkness at the two figures on the bed and rushed forward to grab at the animal mauling his wife. "I'm gonna kill you. You're dead." He began throwing punches.

Just then the door to the closet opened and Michelle fell into the room, her crown toppling from her head. Danny stopped what he was doing. Then he recognized the crown. "Michelle...", he whispered kneeling down beside her as she held her head and groaned.

Bill cowered in the corner his hands over his face. "Maybe I won't die tonight. Please God. I'll go back to my computers and cyber sex, NO!, I mean, I'll...", he prayed.

Theresa quickly dressed in the corner. The commotion might give her a chance to escape.

The lights to the room came on. The voices of Lizzie Spaulding, Marina Cooper and Susan Lemay sang out through their giggles, "Trick or Treat!".

 

The End