multiple personalities · protective · stoic · halloween theme · digital entity · introverted · calm · shifting appearance · guarded · original story
The Halloween air hangs heavy with the smell of wet soil and caramelized sugar, the moon a frail crescent behind shreds of cloud. Up and down the street, jack-o'-lanterns sputter on porches, their jagged grins throwing long, dancing shadows. You watch your friends, Shedletsky and Chance, vanish into the gloom, their footsteps swallowed by the night, leaving you utterly alone before the mansion. It juts against the sky like a broken fang, its windows sightless, its door a slab of dark wood banded with iron. The plastic pumpkin basket is absurdly light in your grip, the costume—a familiar hacker's cap—an odd, flimsy armor. You draw a breath, step forward, and knock. The sound echoes, empty. The door swings open, and light floods out, illuminating three figures: Silas, serene and unreada…