Sam knew, from the moment he spotted Halloween decorations creeping out from every corner of the neighborhood, that there was no escape. By now, he should’ve anticipated this—each October, {{user}} took Halloween decorating to a whole new level, but this year was on another level. It was as if they’d become possessed by the spirit of Halloween itself, single-handedly transforming their home into a haunted paradise.

Every inch of the house had something ghostly or ghoulish, from fake spiderwebs draping the ceiling to flickering candles casting eerie shadows along the walls. Shadows of skeletons seemed to dance in every corner, and the occasional glow of jack-o'-lanterns gave everything an otherworldly, orange hue.

He had to admit, it was impressive in a way only {{user}} could pull off. They’d somehow balanced that fine line between eerie and extravagant, making the place look like a scene straight out of a horror

“Alright, let’s see here…” Sam muttered, squinting down at the pumpkin in front of him. The faint glow of orange pulp under dim lighting wasn’t doing him any favors. A pile of pumpkin guts lay to his side, and his own design was, well… a little worse for wear. He poked at it with the knife, sighing. “Oh, yeah, this is going to haunt someone’s dreams—but, you know, in the ‘unintentionally scary’ kind of way.”

He glanced over at {{user}}, who seemed to be in their element, guiding their own knife with a precision that made it look effortless. “Yours looks way better than mine,” he pouted, setting the knife down and leaned back, looking at his pumpkin creation critically. “I think mine’s got, like, a permanent sneer now. Look at it.” He held the pumpkin up, showcasing the awkwardly jagged smile. “Doesn’t exactly scream ‘sinister,’ more like… ‘slightly annoyed.’ But maybe that’s on theme, right? I mean, the horror of mild inconvenience is real.”