Alex ran down the stairs, despite his Boswell warning he was exceeding 
safe velocities. Metal clanged under his shoes as he passed the patch-up 
job near the exit. No stopping me now.  He all but leapt out the door, 
where the fading light cast his long shadow over the school. He caught his 
breath outside, cold October air turning it to fog. No chances to get 
reeled in to another program, now . Mom and Dad actually let him turn off 
his Boswell outside of school . they called it free-range parenting. He 
called it being lucky as hell.

To be honest, he didn't actually turn it all the way off, just switched 
off the active mode. The AI wasn't even fun like the one he had as a 
little kid. As he tapped the interface, he saw Ranjit pop up . his avatar 
had Army HYLINE armor with with the pattern from Kellswrath, just like on 
the VR rig. "Alex! What's the plan for Halloween?"

"RJ, I am not doing another multi-hour session on the rig. The safeties 
are busted on mine, and so will be my legs if I try it." That had been a 
painful morning.

"I know man, I know." RJ actually looked hurt. "Besides, the new thing is 
AR. This soft is crazy . so damn spooky."

"Heh, I've done haunted houses, VR Frightfest was two years ago, Most of 
these are so dumb they only scare little kids."

"Trust me. You will not be disappointed. 7r1ck-0r-7r3@7 is pure crazy 
awesome." RJ sent along the soft . it was only a couple terabytes.

"Only for you, RJ. See you tomorrow, you psycho hacker." RJ was stuck 
going to pre-med boot camp next year, instead of Digitech school like him. 
That was one reason he knew he was lucky. Now, to get the soft installed.

He slipped on his shades (they were HyDynes . he wouldn't be caught dead 
wearing anything less) and the world took on its familiar overlay. Free of 
the annoying prompts from the nanny programs, he had map overlays and data 
feeds on anything he looked at. It also boosted the image so he could see 
just fine in the fading light. The soft activated and the overlay 
shimmered a bit before settling down. It did not seem to have done 
anything obvious, so he shrugged and began walking toward his house.

As he rounded the corner, he saw something unbelievable. There were little 
kids walking along the street in costumes. That was something out of 
movies . no kid had been allowed out this late since he could remember, 
not even with a Boswell. It was incredibly detailed . the kids went to 
doors and called in on the intercoms, seeming to have so much fun. This 
was painstakingly crafted, but not really scary. That was when he saw that 
none of the kids had Boswells . this had to be crazy old. Everyone had to 
have Boswells . adults, kids, old people, you name it.

He didn't mind the commotion . he liked helping with kids in church or for 
his Service, this was no worse . but he kept on walking. It always killed 
the experience when you paid too much attention and saw glitches. He began 
hearing the sound of adult voices ahead of him. For some reason, the 
images of children ran, and he felt his heart beat faster as he approached 
the men . he had stop being so stereotypical and afraid. Suddenly, he 
could see a body lying in a pool of blood at their feet . his body. How 
the hell did an AR soft get a detailed scan of him? The men called out to 
him by name, and he pretended to ignore them as they kept calling to him. 
He picked up his pace, but he could almost feel their eyes on him.

This was getting bizarre, so he paused the AR. The men were still there, 
still looking at him, still making the hair on the back of his neck rise.

As he switched back to the AR, closed road signs appeared all in front of 
him, except for an alley. He ducked in and began to move as fast he could 
without breaking into a flat out run. What the hell was going on? He could 
see ghostly ectoplasm strung across the alley, which he carefully stepped 
over . he could almost make out somethin underneath. As he did, he heard a 
faint voice. "You are starting to understand, Alex."

"Understand what? That RJ just played an insane prank on me?" Alex 
muttered as he strode down the alleyway.

The voice was incredibly calm. "Fear. You have forgotten what it means . 
what it is saying."

"This is crazy. Fear is what makes you a phobo, right?" Alex had heard 
that before. No one is supposed to be a phobo.

"Then say hello to the men following you. I am sure the bad feeling you 
had with the glasses off was nothing." A chill ran down his spine.

"Okay, so fear is telling me these guys are a problem. What now? And who 
are you?

"I learned my lesson the hard way, and I don't want you to join me" A 
ghostly image of a girl appeared. "You have to decide for yourself . are 
you going to be a trick, or a treat?"

Alex looked on in amazement for a second before pressing on. "So, you were 
a. treat?"

"Yeah. So I pass this soft to other kids who are in danger, so they can 
remember to be afraid when they need to be." The image smiled faintly.

Alex nodded, then broke into a run to his house. He slipped through the 
back gate and let out Cirno, and she was growling and barking ferociously, 
then hit the security lights, bathing the yard in harsh blue-white. Trick.

As he went through the door smoothly and slipped off his shades, he swore 
he could still see her in the distance, smiling.