Sammi and Terry had been best friends since they were born. They did everything together, from taking their first steps to starting their last year of high school. Sammi was a short girl with elegant blonde hair, and her curls bounced with every step she took. Terry, on the other hand, was a rather tall girl with straight brown hair and light blue eyes. The pair of them usually wore blue jeans with comfy oversized sweaters and sneakers. Sammi’s family was slightly poor, so Terry’s family took them in; they lived in New York City, and they loved it. No place was better for them. They enjoyed the sights of the city and the horns honking every second.

On a chilly Halloween night, the cars were speeding by, the lamp posts were flickering, and you could hear the faint sound of dogs barking with no one around. The air was as cold as ice cream fresh from the freezer. Sammi and Terry were on their way home from trick-or-treating in the city. Only three blocks from the warmth of their home, they saw a man at the door to a bank, and it looked as though he had a gun in his back left pocket. Sammi screeched, and Terry stomped on her foot. “Let’s walk slowly around him, and when we get home we can call the cops,” Terry whispered. “Good idea. Now be quiet!” replied Sammi, shaking. They began walking in stealth mode when the man turned around. They ran for it. Silently panicking, they continued running, trying to find someone on the streets they could ask for help. Antonio, the man, kept chasing them.

Antonio was gaining on the two panting seventeen-year-old girls. “AHH!” Sammi shrieked as she tripped over the sewer. Terry followed, and they were both down. They began scrambling to get back on their feet, but they weren’t quick enough. Antonio grabbed them by the collars and dragged them to his “house.” “Where are you taking us?” Sammi and Terry shrieked simultaneously.

“Shut your mouths and no one gets hurt!” Antonio screamed, grasping them tighter.

“Get in and stay quiet!” Antonio screamed as Sammi and Terry scuttled to escape. They were shoved into a small closet down in Antonio’s basement. It was pitch black and smelled like wet dog. “Try to find a light,” Terry said.

"I am working on it,” Sammi replied, sounding terrified.

“If we ever get out of this place alive, I am never ever going trick-or-treating alone again. Especially in New York,” murmured Terry.

“I found the light!” Sammi screamed.

“SHUSH!!!” bellowed Antonio.

The pair of them quickly sank to the ground as Antonio came pounding down the steps. Shaking and almost on the verge of tears, Sammi and Terry listened to the criminal. “I am telling you one time and one time only, DON’T TALK! I don’t want to be disturbed by a duo of two little girls.”

“Sir, why are we h-” Sammi got interrupted by Antonio.

“No questions.”

Antonio left, and Terry immediately jumped to her feet and turned on the light. They both crept to the door and found that it wasn’t shut all the way. Making sure they didn’t get caught, they tiptoed around Antonio and closed the closet door behind them, leaving no clues of their escape. Surprisingly, they made it around him undetected. When they were on the main floor, Sammi started inspecting the area. It was covered in dirty clothes, and all the couches were dusty and old. The walls were painted black, and there was only one source of light. “Nothing seems to be wrong,” she paused. “Oh wait! Lasers. How do we get through those?” she asked Terry.

“I saw in a movie once that you have to crawl under and step over them. Otherwise, you may get singed or an alarm could possibly go off,” Terry retorted.

It was boiling hot in the room from the glowing red lasers. Sammi went first. She did the crab walk to get through the higher beams and jumped over the lower beams, landing as softly as possible. Terry followed, using the same method. “Oh, my!” Terry whispered, as she tripped, pulling a back handspring over one of the lower lasers.

“I’m coming!” Sammi responded.

They both finally made it through the lasers after a few minutes of struggling and got to the kitchen. “Uhh! It smells like rotten fish!” Sammi exclaimed. The kitchen had dirty pots and pans everywhere and was a dark shade of brown.

”What are those?” Terry said, backing away.

“I think they're dogs. Really vicious dogs,” Sammi responded in a frightened tone. “And this is a one-way kitchen that leads to the door.”

“What are we going to do?” Terry whispered.

“Grab the jar, throw whatever is in it at the dogs, and hope it confuses them.”

Terry grabbed the jar, unscrewed the lid, and threw the contents. Flour went everywhere. The dogs began pawing at their eyes, and Sammi grabbed Terry’s hand and dashed.

They ran until they were safely outside. Terry ran to the closest pay phone, inserted fifty cents, and started dialing 9-1-1 as fast as possible. “How may I help you?” a voice said.

“Hello. My name is Terry, I’m seventeen, and my friend and I just escaped a criminal’s house. We are on 107 Broadway Street,” Terry said, as calm as she could.

“The police are on their way,” the woman responded.

“Thank you."

Sammi started panicking and yelling for help when Antonio ran out. “I GOT YOU NOW!”

“Freeze! You are surrounded; now put your hands where we can see them!” a short policewoman yelled over the piercing sirens. Terry and Sammi ran over to her side, and she asked if they were hurt in any way. They told her that except for a few bruises here and there, they were fine.

“CUT! That’s a wrap everyone. Great work today,” the director yelled. “Julia, Sam, and Mary, please hang back a moment. I need to talk to you.”

“Hey, Tim. What’s up?” Julia asked.

“Julia, work in your role of Sammi a little bit more. I need it to be perfect for tomorrow’s scene. You as well, Mary,” Tim paused to catch his breath. “Terry’s lines were a bit scratchy at parts, but that can be fixed in editing.”

“Great,” Julia and Mary said in unison.

“And me? How were my lines?” Sam asked in his deep, tough-sounding voice.

“You were fine. Just make sure to practice your lines for tomorrow,” Tim replied. “And all of you get a good night’s sleep!”