Fall time in Connecticut is always such a sight. The orange, yellow, and brown leaves lay on the floor like fallen soldiers. The air has such a crisp feeling to it. But, not everyone admires the beauty as they sweep the leaves from their driveway, forming colorful piles for the neighborhood children to become tempted enough to jump through in a form of chaos. Poorly carved and artificial pumpkins are propped upon each doorstep to be fully prepared for the season.
From one small home in particular, a woman steps through her door to lay a large, uncarved pumpkin on her porch. The rest of her noticeable decorations consist of mini ghosts hanging from the bare branches of the autumn trees. The woman takes a moment and sits on one of the few chairs that sit upon her lonely porch. Her lips appear to be moving, but whatever sound waves come out of them are not to be heard, considering no other being is in sight.
This woman’s name is Veronica Serling and her sound waves are, in fact, being recognized.

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Some background information is essential for the telling of this story. Veronica Serling, or Ronie as she prefers, has lived in Hartford, Connecticut most of her life with her single mother and her brother, Guy Serling. About two years ago, Guy passed away in a traumatic car accident. He had been driving on a bridge when he lost control and plummeted into the river below. That night, Ronie mourned while her mother showed no emotion, as if she was not aware of the event that had occurred. That night, Ronie went home to find Guy rummaging through her snack pantry. It was as if that night did not occur and he was still alive.
Ronie stared at her brother in disbelief, as would any normal person. She tried to speak but did not know what to say or how to say it, while Guy went about his actions; he seemed to be a quizzical figure rather than human. Eventually, she grew the courage to speak and ask him why and how. He had no clue.
Ever since that night, he has been staying by her side relatively every moment of everyday. Ronie thought of it as some strange miracle, but dared not to tell anyone else. As far as they knew, she was talking to herself on her lonely front porch.

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Ronie got up from the wooden porch chair and started making her way back inside her small house. Guy chose to embrace the condition he’s in and walked through the walls of the house to meet her sister inside.
“Look I’m not saying you can’t sit on the porch chairs,” Ronie argued, “but it’s another thing when you sway back and forth. One look from the neighbors and who knows what they’re going to think.”
“Oh they wouldn’t do anything even if they did see.” Guy replied, “Besides barely anyone walks around the neighborhood anyways. It’s like the only time you actually see them is on Halloween.”
Ronie knew that was freakishly true. She had to admit, this place has been pretty weird for the past few years.
“Just don’t be creepy.” She said with a somewhat straight face as she quickly tidied up the house.
Bland. Bland was the exact definition of her house, with its pale walls and furniture. But, she liked it that way; it was her style. Her appearance composed of dark jeans and plain sweaters with her favorite boots, all of which went along with her dark hair and dark eyes. Guy, on the other hand, had the lightest eyes in the family, but proved that belonged with his dark hair. He usually strut around in boots, dark jeans, and plain v-neck t-shirts.
They weren’t that different from each other.

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The next morning was as crisp and clear as the rest of them. Ronie woke up feeling a strange sensation going about the house. She rose to her feet with a reaching gesture and prepared for an out-stretched yawn. Grabbing her bland pajama cover and her pale slippers, she made her way into the kitchen.
Guy wasn’t in his usual seat at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee and a bagel. As a side note, despite his condition, Guy can very much do all humanly actions. Although, he is only visible to Ronie and can walk through walls, which lets face it, is pretty cool.
Ronie grew suspicious as to why this day had just begun and already felt so strange. She called out for Guy, looking every which way. When he suddenly appeared behind her, she jumped in a mini panic, as any normal person would do.
“Holy c---!” She exclaimed, “You scared me half to death!”
Guy gave her a look filled with judgment and sass. Well, mostly sass, as he replied, “You’re really gonna say that to me?”
Ronie just rolled her eyes, as she did often to several of Guy’s replies or remarks, and went to grab a some-what fresh cup of coffee.
“Happy Halloween,” Guy added.
Ronie’s expression turned confused for a moment or two as she gathered all her thoughts. Of course this day felt so strange, she thought, It’s Halloween. This place is always a bizarre mess on Halloween. Through her thought process she never regained herself to answer Guy. He stood there looking at her, as she traveled so deep in thought, with a humorous expression on his face.
“You okay there?” he asked. “Don’t hurt yourself from thinking too hard or anything,” he sarcastically answered with a chuckle.
“Sorry,” Ronie replied, “today just feels like an extremely weird day. More than usual.”
“I know what you mean,” Guy said as he reached for a bagel from his stool at the counter.
But did he?
Ronie stood almost frozen in the kitchen with the steaming coffee in her hand, looking out into the brightness of the new day. Halloween. She had no idea what she was in for.

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The light turned to darkness almost instantly and Ronie was nervous about, well, everything. She was jumpy, jittery, and all that jazz. She couldn’t seem to understand why tonight was so different from all other nights.
Prepping for all of the trick-or-treaters she put on her nurse outfit and grabbed a bowl with one of those fake hands designed to scare people (but did they really?) and poured happiness in the form of sugar into it.
Doorbell chime after doorbell chime and kid after kid, she began to run low on happiness. After all, this was, for some reason, the busiest night this town has ever seen.  A couple more chimes and she was all empty. Immediately after closing the door it rang again. She hesitated for a moment then proceeded to open the door, beginning her apology for not having candy at her fingertips. Once she looked up at the child, she knew candy would not send this one away.
With frozen and wide eyes, the child stared at her. He wore normal clothing, shorts and a shirt, but was covered in, what seemed to be, dirt. Dark marks along his arms, legs and face, especially under and around his eyes. He held no trick-or-treating bag.
“Can I help you?” Ronie said in that voice that adults use when talking to children.
He instantly responded, “They sent me to inform you that something is about to happen. You will soon find out everything that has been hidden from you.”
She tried to speak but the boy just went on, “You were able to ignore it, but now you cannot hide from it. It’s coming.”
Her heart was beating rapidly as she stared at the boy. Ronie was unable to utter a word and less than a second after his last word, he ran away. She shut the door making and made sure to flip the lock. By now, she was way over giving out candy and way over this night.
In one hand, Ronie still held the candy bowl and the other held nothing, but shook with fear. Dropping the cliché bowl in a panic, she became flustered and uneasy. She tried to register what had just happened, but could do no such thing. She had to find Guy.
When she couldn’t find any trace of him throughout the house, she resorted to the busy streets filled with every predictable costume you could think of. The faces around her blurred as she turned this way and that way, only to find no sign of Guy anywhere.
Eventually from her pace, she made her way all the way through the neighborhood down to the city bridge. It was nothing extreme, just a small bridge with a nice flowing river below it. You’d think the water would soothe her, but it only made her even more uneasy.
There he was. He sat there upon the walls of the bridge with his head laying low. In a blink of an eye, Ronie could no longer see him and a scream escaped her mouth as she ran towards the bridge wall. She looked down to the river, but could see no sign of Guy. She thought that he could just be pulling one of his unneeded pranks, but he would never go this far.
Warm tears began to roll down her chilled cheeks and down into the flowing river, where it then became one with the water. When she turned to look over her shoulder she saw him. It was Guy. But, was it? He did not look as he did the days before. Not ghostly or holographic figure, but real.
“What happened?” she whimpered.
Guy looked straight at her with bold and scared eyes.
He replied, “I died.”

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I understand if you feel puzzled at the moment. This story, in no way, is like the others you have read. I have deceived you and will now confess the truth about each and every aspect of this story. Veronica Serling died several years ago due to a heavy illness, where she wound up in the hospital for months and never left. Like everyone else that went through she did and more, she passed on and found herself in The Other Place. What happens there is that you are given options on how to go about your ghostly days. Veronica was shaken up at the time that she did not give as much thought as she should have into her decision-making. She chose to live what seemed like a normal human life in the place that she grew up. Everyone she encountered was, in fact, dead, such as her mother, her neighbor with her small children, and everyone else.
She also chose to be unaware of where she was or what happened to her in that hospital. For all she knew, she was healthy and very much alive.
Her big, and final, decision was having someone there with her to get her through her days. She chose to have her brother there. Of course, it was impossible to have her actual brother there, but The Other Place had a system and a solution. What looked a ghostly figure of her brother was put into play. He appeared, acted, and sounded like the real Guy Serling.
The Other Place knew that Veronica would eventually become aware of where she was
and what was actually going on. But, Veronica did not.
When Guy suddenly appeared in the same state that Veronica was in, claiming that he died, his ghostly figure no longer existed for he was now there. He now belonged to The Other Place and was given the same options as Veronica. Considering they are now together, he chose the same conditions that Veronica chose when she first arrived there.
They aren’t that different from each other.