No!

But mum all the boys are doing it.

No!

But I'll be laughed at and bullied again.

No!

Why?

Because I'll not let my son be a nuisance to the neighbours. I don't believe in witches and hobgoblins but I do believe in evil. This world is too dangerous for me to let a nine-year-old boy wander the streets in the dark on his own.

I wont be on my own there is a least 7 of us and we will be meeting up at Sainsbury's.

We're meeting at six in the car park.


I'll take you down at 6 o'clock.

They will call me mummy's boy.

Well you can go but if you are not back home at 7 o'clock, I'll come looking for you.

Thanks mum.



The boy raced upstairs, he painted his face put on his pointed hat and cloak, picked up his little goody bag and then raced off to Sainsbury's.

He arrived at a quarter to six and was the first there. At 6 he was still on his own but he waited. At 6.30 he decided to go home. He felt silly with his painted face and daft clothes so he went home using the back roads where he would meet less people.

He was very near his home and walking down a street that joined his road at right angles. A man was stood outside his house by his car and as the boy passed him the man said

You're the first trick or treatster that I've seen all evening so you're in luck. I've got lots of goodies so come indoors.

I've got to get home by 7 so I'll not come in thank you.

It won't take a minute come in its cold and rainy out here.

The boy went in.

His body was found 3 weeks later it had been hidden in a large drainage pipe stored at the back of a Builders Yard that was at least 70 miles from the Boys Home. He had been abused and then strangled. He was naked but his face was still painted.

TRICK OR TREAT?