She comes with a mask with no face and knocks on our doors, loudly uttering the quintessential halloween phrase: “Trick or Treat!”

And you’ve got to hand her candy. If you don’t- you die.

Nobody knows where she comes from or where she goes. She’s always been here, part of the community as long as anyone can remember, and she’ll be here long after. There are theories and where she comes and goes and what she is but none have ever been proved to be true.

There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and occasionally you’ll have the daredevil teens or the newbie homeowner who wants to know- and tries to follow her.

Usually they come back, memory erased from the night. Or maybe they speak of something horrible beneath the mask, a face like no other. An image so savage and raw it was enough to drive the insane sane, and the sane- insane.

A couple years ago Danforth Davidsman moved in.

He was a cruel man who would take any opportunity given to inflict the most evil of things on people. He would call the police on neighbors having a simple drink, or kids having fun.

That year, that Halloween the girl in the mask with no face paid us all a visit, as usual.

Danforth didn’t listen to our warnings on the girl- though it wasn’t like we warned him well, if you know what I mean.

Danforth lived across the street, and when the girl knocked on my door, screaming “Trick or Treat!” I opened the door, and across the street I saw Danforth, arms crossed, a bible in his hand.

He was grunting menacingly and trying to lecture passers-by on the demons of Halloween and that we were inviting devils into our home.

I handed the girl- who oddly never held a bag a few packets of candy. She giggled and thanked me, just like any other child. “Hey-” I began, pointing at the now-screaming Danforth “I heard that man gives really good candy. You should go over there!”

“Really?” the girl gasped. If she had a face behind her mask her eyes would have been wide. “That’s awesome!”

I smiled and nodded- the girl wouldn’t kill him- it would take more than a simple refusal to kill. At first- there were stages to the effects of the girl.

I watched nervously and the girl in the mask skipped over to my neighbor, and elderly old woman who lovingly handed over six packets of candy. I’d heard she tried to follow the girl to wherever she came from, many years ago, and since then was terrified of what she had seen.

The girl thanked her loudly and finally skipped over to Danforth.

It was as if the whole neighborhood collectively held their breath then. We all knew what happened to those who refused the girl candy- nothing too life threatening- and we all wanted Danforth’s crimes against the community to be paid for.

“Trick or Treat!” the girl laughed. Even across the street her voice was joyful and loud.

Danforth looked at her, quite puzzled. He’d been quite loud in his preaching against the Halloween joy and was quite stunned when the girl seemed to completely ignore him and loudly scream (now twice), “Trick or Treat!” at him.

“Now listen here young lady,” Danforth began, “Halloween is a creation of evil, and any pure soul must know that-”

“Trick or Treat!” the girl once again exclaimed, ignored Danforth’s lecture. When Danforth did nothing but continue, the girl skipped away, happy as before, to the next house over.

Danforth started to go back to preaching. After a few lines he stopped. All eyes were really on him now. This wouldn’t be something to miss.

He began to cough now, and immediately we saw it: blood.

The man coughed again, and more blood erupted- and now, not just blood- but needles. He coughed more violently and more and more needles sprang from his throat, scratching him and falling on the floor.

It lasted about a minute until he stopped- and then he angrily charged forward- running at the girl.

Oh no.

He grabbed her by the neck and shook her, violently screaming, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?” and a flurry of curses and prophetic condemnation.

The girl didn’t respond, only staring up at him with the mask of no face. Danforth shook her more violently- somehow more than before and asked: “What the devil have you done to me- TAKE that mask off YOUNG LADY- a GOOD GIRL LIKE-”

And then he tore off the mask and screamed.

I looked away, of course, and to my knowledge, so did anyone else who was watching. I looked into my hands and the bowl of candy I was holding. I heard screaming like I had never seen before, screams that went on and on-

Until the screams stopped, and I- although gingerly peered back outside.

Danforth was on his knees now, a blank look on his face. He stared into the torn off mask, now held in his hands. He remained silent. Unmoving. And then he collapsed.

The girl hopped and skipped away- she had collected her fill for the night. And though old, mean Danforth had torn her mask away- another had emerged, covering her face as the moonlight shone above.

She skipped her way off into the distance as we watched- and as she vanished we breathed a sigh of relief.

When I first moved there six years ago I thought it was an elaborate prank. An friendly urban legend to spook to kids- I have two. When the girl actually did come I thought it was part of the prank- and fortunately, gave her candy.

After Halloween I asked who had been the cheerful little girl that aligned perfectly with the legend- and to my surprise they all stayed true to their story.

Some of the older people shared stories about the girl- terrible tales, and gradually, I was left with no choice but to accept that things were just that way. But before I saw what happened to Danforth- there was always a tinge of doubt in my head.

After Danforth, though, did I realize it really was true.

Danforth, of course, regained consciousness the next day. He picked himself off the street and returned to his house, confused and still terrified. He made himself small and didn’t stopped bothering people.

At first.

The moment Christmas hit Danforth returned to his old and devilish ways of ringing up the cops whenever some poor soul was ‘too loud’ for his liking, or if the music they were playing was pissing him off in some way.

There wasn’t much we could do about him. He was rich, and held a mighty sway over the local government.

As the months passed and Halloween approached things Danforth began to grow more crazed. We’d thought he’d finally shut up about Halloween and abide by the legend, but no-

Now, Danforth was more vocal against the dangers of Halloween. A full month before Halloween and he was already speaking out.

And not just him now- no, now he had CRONIES. Two other Danforth-like copies who echoed anything he said.

“We’re gonna kill that menace!” he shouted, blasting really really annoying music as he went door to door, handing out flyers that told us not to feed her candy- claiming that we were giving the devil our souls.

“She’s going down!” one of his like minded copies echoed.

“We’re prepared this year!” said the other, holding up not one, but TWO bibles.

“Sure,” I murmured, slamming the door in their faces. By now Danforth had heard the legend for himself, and anything he’d choose to do now was entirely going to be his fault.

The legend tells us that the first visit is only a warning. Fail to appease the spirit of the girl and you disappear.

She takes you with her and you go away, never to return or to be seen again. And there’s no escaping her either- I took the kids and me away on vacation a Halloween once (lame, I know) and she was there, knocking on my hotel door.

“Trick or Treat!” and fortunately, I was prepared, handing over a protein bar I’d completely forgotten was in my bag. She looked at it, puzzled, but skipped away and vanished.

Nothing bad happened to me, and since that night I was always prepared.

Halloween season was really rolling in now, and Danforth and his cronies had begun to take down decorations, much to the cries of innocent children. We couldn’t wait until Halloween- then that weirdo would have his word’s worth.

At last, did Halloween finally roll in.

“Trick or Treat!” I heard, as knocks that were far too heavy pounded on the door.

I practically leaped over and opened the door, seeing the girl once more, a mask with no face still being worn- although a thin almost smile had now emerged.

“Here you go!” I cheered, handing her an especially large grouping of candy. The girl was practically bouncing with joy, and it was clearly not because of the candy. “Why are you so happy today?”

“Today I get more treats,” she replied, jumping up and down for joy. And now, in a more- almost adult tone, “More treats than I’ve ever had before. More treats that will bring peace and justice back to our community.”

“What?” I began, but by then, she was off, skipping away- but then being ambushed by Danforth and his cronies.

“You devil!” he called out, stopping the girl in her tracks. His cronies surrounded her. “I order thee to leave our holy community!”

One of his cronies began to chant something- I was too far away to hear. The other had both bibles up and was… waving them around? It wasn’t really very clear.

“In the name of all that is good and holy, I banish thee!” Danforth growled, reaching for the mask and preparing to rip it off- “I reveal to the lord the face of a devil- may he destroy you and bring peace to our fine land!”

I was too captivated too look away as Danforth ripped the mask off the girl’s face, revealing her true identity a face off- of nothing-

An endless void- and yet there were shapes- shapes that didn’t quite make sense. I didn’t see her face in full- no, just from the sides, and I quickly averted my eyes, fearing the impossible geometric shapes that riddled her face.

Danforth’s cronies screamed as they saw whatever else was in that void, and they began to run.

One of them tripped in the sidewalk- and tripped- yet impossibly being thrown backwards, right into Danforth’s house, shattering the windows. The other suddenly stopped in place mid-run and-

I don’t really have any words to explain what exactly happened to him. He froze in place and began to float just ever so slightly off the ground.

And he went up and up, slowly gaining speed, until he was never seen again.

And Danforth? Well, whatever happened to him was clearly worse than the others. He began to throw up now- but not needles, rather packets and packets of candies- all empty.

He began to choke, and yet more fell out.

The girl reached down on the ground and picked up her mask, putting it back onto her face. Danforth stopped vomited candy wrappers and looked back at the girl, who then placed her arms upon his shoulders- and whispered something.

Danforth’s eyes bulged in horror- and then they were gone- his eyes. They became candy wrappers that fell to the ground, floating away in the wind. The rest of him followed soon after, until he exploded in hundreds of orange and black candy wrappers, that drifted away under the gaze of the moon.

And the little girl, happy as ever, skipped into the the horizon.

Now, as I finish typing this up I hear that familiar sound of a knock on the door and those perfectly timed words: “Trick or Treat!”

Things are good now, without Danforth. We all pay our dues to the girl in the mask and not a single soul has been harmed since.

So if you ever see a little girl in a mask that had no face- do give her some candy. She really does appreciate it.