Almost a few days ago, we had a harvest festival. It was wonderful. The first festival I have ever had on a new planet. It won't be the last. But I found out that of all places, this planet Saclaurilia, has never heard of the holiday Halloween, which is weird, because they can get TV channels from Terra. They broadcast Halloween shows every year. I have a feeling they are broadcasting one right now, on some channel.

I had to find a way to show them what Halloween was.

Yes, Halloween is not exactly a typical holiday. Everyone has heard of the Yule Festival, where we sit in front of a decorated tree and open presents. And somewhere, wherever you are, there has to be something similar to Thanksgiving. Just like we had. The Great Harvest Festival. Halloween celebrates many things, including the lives of people who aren't with us anymore. Saclaurilia is one place that is strange when it comes to holidays.

I guess the reason this planet doesn't do the traditional Halloween is because there are no pumpkins, which is kind of sad. No pumpkin pie. No pumpkin bars. No Jack-O-Lanterns. Not even The Great Pumpkin. Poor Linus. I had to find a way to at least celebrate my second favorite holiday, right before Christmas.

Were there any types of squash that can be used as a replacement of the pumpkin? I had to find out. Even if I made a Jack-O-Lantern, how could I get people to celebrate Halloween? If I dress up and go door to door saying trick or treat, they will think I am nuts. Plus, no one would pass out candy. This planet is a healthy planet. Which isn't fair for me.

While I traveled through town, nothing is going on. I look through stores thinking of what I could do to make it feel Halloweenish. I passed an old building and stopped. What am I thinking. I can still make it Halloween, without all the candy and pumpkins. I bet there are plenty of haunted houses out there. Plus, we can always watch a scary movie and tell scary stories.

I rushed home as fast as my little legs could take me. I knew I could think of something. This was going to be the best Halloween ever.

I went to the home phone and called up my friend Brianna.

“Hi, Brianna, I have something fun we could do today. You wanna come over?” After getting a yes from her, I blushed, because I decided to call Cory. He may be right next door, but I am a little nervous to just go over and ask him in person. I picked up the phone and dialed his number. It rang. When he answered, I hung up. I was too nervous to talk.

I knew I should have blocked my phone number, because he called me right back. I was also stupid and answered it without even reading the caller ID.

“Hello?” I said when I answered. I started to blush.

“Hi, Courtney,” Cory replied, “You called me just now?”

“Um… No,” I lied. “It must have been someone else.

“I'm sure it was you, I saw your name on caller ID. It shows who dialed the number. You do remember that caller ID on the planet is far superior to the ones on your older planet. It knows who was using the phone and who called.”

I started crying. I didn't know he could figure out it was me. I hate these new kinds of caller IDs.

“Maybe I called you by accident,” I lied again. I was getting a little more comfortable on the phone now with him. “Anyways while I am the phone with you, would you like to come over? I have something fun we could do today.”

“Sure why not, I will be right over.” I hung up the phone and sat down on the couch, waiting for my friends to come. I knew it wouldn't take long for Cory.

When Brianna finally came over, I was already blushing. I liked Cory. It's clear that everyone knows that I do. If I was on Terra, I would be picked on at school. I can imagine all the kids singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song. The kids on this planet seem friendlier. I have not been picked on at all.

“I have a wonderful idea for what we could do tonight. On Terra tonight, or I guess in a few days, because they are only a few days behind us, for some strange reason, they will be celebrating a holiday traditionally for kids. We usually would go door to door asking for candy.”

Cory and Brianna stared at each other. I can tell they thought I was nuts.

“Yes, I know what you're thinking, but that's what they did. We usually would say Trick-or-Treat. We also carved an orange squash called a pumpkin. Usually it would be a scary face or whatever you wanted it to be. Well, since we can't do that here on Saclaurilia, I am bringing one other tradition. Haunted houses.”

That opened both Brianna's and Cory's eyes up. I think they like the idea.

“We have seen lots of haunted house movies on TV and have always wanted to explore one. I think this would be a good time to do that. I know my dad would allow us to go there. He is big on haunted houses and he would love to join in on the fun, especially on Halloween.”

“Hallow what?” Brianna asked.

I forgot to say Halloween when I told about the holiday. What an idiot I am. “Halloween is the name of the holiday on Terra. It's always in the month of October on the 31st. It's the most spookiest holiday of the year. Some imagine, the dead wake up on that day. Or it's the devil's holiday or even his birthday. Lots presume witches powers are much stronger on that day. There have been stories about ghosts encountered in haunted houses. That is also the reason why I wanted to go to a haunted house here on Saclaurilia.”

When I told dad what we were going to do, he was in an agreeable mood. He knew of a famous haunted building that would frighten the willies out of us. Mom wasn't into the idea of having us get scared. I wanted Mikayla to come. Dad agreed to end the whole thing, if anyone said they wanted to leave because they were too terrified. Mom finally gave in and allowed it. But she was not going to be part of it.

So Mikayla, Cory, Brianna and I all hopped into the car.

Once we were ready, dad set the GPS on the car to the coordinates of where we wanted to go. The best thing about cars on Saclaurilia is that we don't need to drive. He sat back and we took off.

I love flying in the car. It's one of the best things. We never did this on Terra. The FDA would never allow it.

I watch outside at the world. It's so pretty. I'm not sure where we are going, but I am excited. I watched the ocean. It was very bluish. I cold spot animals in it. Not exactly knowing what they were. Finally, we were slowing down and landing on an island. The island had a brick building. Not sure what sort of building, but I feel it's the building that we will explore.

It didn't appear like we were the only ones here. Others were also parked in the car park. As we walked up to the building, we noticed something. The sign on the building. “Psych Ward Amusement Park”

“We went to an amusement park?” I cheered. Everyone was also cheering.

“Not just any amusement park, a haunted themed amusement park,” dad pointed out.

We still cheered. “Why is it on this island?” I asked.

“This used to be an actual Psych Ward. When it closed, they didn't want to tear it down. Because it was so huge, they decided to fix it up and make it an amusement park. It's one of the biggest parks indoors.

We stepped up to the sales clerk. “Children under 12 only costs ₭35 today, but adults are ₭120”.

Seems like it was a perfect choice to come today. They must know it's Halloween, or something. When we walked in, the first thing we did was scream. This guy dressed up as a patient came out of nowhere. The first ride we decided to go on was the roller coaster. It looked spooky and popular. It took ten minutes before we could get on it.

“Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. You will get scared. Enjoy the ride.”

The ride starts out slow. But it speeds up very fast. I'm not sure how fast it was going, but I sure was freaking out. I screamed the whole time. I can hear my sister and Brianna screaming. That was a two minute long ride, but it sure was worth the ten minute wait.

The next ride was a log chute. It sent us in a dark tunnel. It seemed like things were crawling all over me.

When we got off that ride, we were a little starved. We decided to go eat at 'The Choke and Puke'. It was their name for the cafe located in the old cafeteria that was used during the Psych ward.

I had a burrito. It was food colored green to appear disgusting, but it tasted quite like a burrito. Mikayla had something that looked like a hot dog. Again, it looked like it was rotten, and also the bun appeared moldy, but it wasn't. Brianna and Cory chose a slime-burger, a cheeseburger with slimy and moldy looking green cheese.

No, we didn't get sick. It was meant for the theme of the park. We all had fun. Dad was video taping us eating those foods. It wasn't like we were grossed out or anything. But I bet it sure would gross out mom.

After we ate, we went in the haunted house. Mikayla decided to stay out. While we were in there. She stayed and watched the undead horse race. I believe she chose to skip the haunted house, just so she could watch that.

Eventually, we were feeling exhausted and wanted to head home. We went on many rides. I believe this was one of the best Halloween I have ever had. I hope we can make this a tradition every year.

Why go out door to door getting candy? Being with friends and family is the whole reason for this holiday. That's my opinion. This is Halloween.